Brian Nunnery

Social Media Program Manager for National Instruments. Husband to @catzter. Cyclist, urbanist, Oxford comma enthusiast, East Austinite. These thoughts is mine.

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A Quick Cities Lamentation

New roads statistically induce demand for... more roads... which in turn induce... more traffic. Until a growing city fundamentally changes the way people move with strong leadership, hardline policies, and sprawl-limiting code, it's unreasonable for anyone to expect progress.

Until a city willingly decides to disrupt its subsidization of sprawl and the industries that depend on it for operability, it won't mitigate traffic effectively or achieve any lofty goals of "liveability."

Perhaps we'll have to rely on self-driving cars or other innovations to disrupt things for us.

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Facebook Made a Poor Ethical Decision

Here's a great binary breakdown of reactions to an experiment Facebook ran in 2012 on 689,003 of its own users from TechCrunch.

On one hand I stress (as TechCrunch's column does) that companies do this type of A/B testing all the time and that the fact that Facebook also did an experiment like this shouldn't surprise anyone. But on the other hand I contend that Facebook's experiment was incredibly questionable from an ethical perspective.

First, Facebook didn't consult its board of ethics on this experiment prior to initiating it. They in fact didn't formally involve any expert in ethics in the decision-making.

Second and more importantly, Facebook isn't a brand or agency doing A/B testing with advertisements that theoretically evoke different emotions in consumers. Facebook's a relational social network in addition to an advertising platform, meaning its users use Facebook to communicate and build relationships with family and friends. That gives Facebook a naturally greater responsibility to ethical decision making here because any testing Facebook does impacts real relationships and real lives. If - as Facebook's proved to an extent with their experiment - exposure to more negative or positive content can in theory change the mood of people and influence the content they post to friends, a modification of content shown to users can have a long ripple effect that changes how a user will talk to a friend, how the friend will react, and so on.

So I can't help but urge us to be careful and critical here. We can all appreciate utilitarianism to a certain extent and understand how this type of research can inform us, but at what level are we willing to impact people's lives without them knowing to get there? To say a decision like that isn't liable to ethics is irresponsible and disrespectful at a very basic level I should hope we all consider.

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Re: Facebook Algorithm Complaints

So, in response to all these brand posts on Facebook asking fans to comment on posts as a way to ensure they continue to see a brand's posts in their News Feed...

Yes, it's absolutely true that engagement like comments can cause a page's posts to be more visible to those who engage with them. But one comment on one post is not enough to make that type of impact. In fact the impact of soliciting one-off engagement like this will be extremely low.

Facebook wants brand pages to focus more on publishing better quality content, which statistically produces better engagement. If a page publishes consistent, good content, Facebook knows based on data that its audience will engage more often, and over time that makes an impact on visibility for folks who like the page.

You can see how Facebook's algorithm changes are strategic in the bigger picture - showing posts to a smaller number of people who are more interested in them and likely to engage, and offering paid promotions to ensure/boost visibility and also help acquire new likes by showing posts to people who may not like your page. Facebook isn't (at least not necessarily) "censoring" brands or committing highway robbery, they¹re trying to enhance the quality of people's brand experiences on the network and fairly charging brands some money for the service. It's now necessary for brand pages to promote their posts strategically - especially posts about campaigns/topics with a higher level of strategic investment behind them.

I certainly wouldn't encourage anyone to use hokey tactics like throwing Facebook under the bus in front of fans and asking for one-off engagement on posts. We know focusing on great content and strategically boosting posts with dollars is exactly what works on Facebook / what their strategy is forcing on users - and we also know Facebook continues to tweak their algorithm (it's changed many times over the last 6 months) meaning if we call our fans to a certain action to get more visibility, that may change again tomorrow and again next week and we should be wary of burdening our social communities with that info.

</rant>

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Adding Lanes to Roads Makes Traffic Worse

(photo: Brian Nunnery, 2013)

A kind reminder that adding lanes to roads actually makes traffic worse. This isn't debatable, folks - it's a measurable fact that was first noticed in the 1960s.

It's easy to believe that making more room for cars will, in theory, reduce traffic by spreading it out. But that belief is short-sighted and doesn't account for induced demand - "economist-speak," as this Wired article says, describing how increasing supply can make people want something more. This is exactly what's perpetuated Austin's traffic problems in the last 50 years, and what's ensured car travel is by far the easiest way to travel in the metro area (the result: little to no mass transit).

As we consider ways to fix Austin's traffic problems, it's critical for us to remember this fact. We have the opportunity to ignore this reality and perpetuate our traffic problems - ie build more lanes, and encounter the same problems, again, in 2-3 years - or make the more difficult (but wiser) choice to diversify our transit system and implement a more sustainable approach to our traffic problems.

The dirty truth behind this? We must pull back from the efforts we've historically made to make car travel the easiest/fastest mode of transit as possible. This is hard to stomach for most of us because we've made major life decisions - like where to live, where to work - based in part on transit. But I continue to urge all of us to consider the bigger picture, much of which this article explains. The reality of what might look like an attack on cars is actually an improvement of traffic and quality of life in the city. And we have to be willing to tolerate the fact that huge improvement comes with compromise.

Those unwilling to accept these things in order to make progress on a deep-rooted problem are not owed anything by the community they live in.

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Should I opt into Austin Energy's GreenChoice Program?

Austin Energy's letting customers subscribe to green power for 1¢ more per kwh of energy (which for the average user = $10 more per month). Their goal is to get the city to 35% renewable energy by 2020.

On one hand, the socialist in me thinks that if our city and state really wanted to implement necessary change to fix its persistent coal pollution problem and contribution to climate change, it'd be subsidizing this option for customers while raising rates for traditional customers. Thanks to recent technological advancements, renewable energy is now cheaper than traditional fossil fuel production, so this isn't an unreasonable expectation for customers considering such subsidies are at least theoretically viable in a cost re-distribution scenario.

On the other hand, rarely do such subsidies succeed in traditionally-conservative states, so it's difficult for Texans to expect this instead of being proud capitalists and voting with their dollars - which is exactly what Austin Energy seems to want its customers to do.

Personally I lean toward not supporting them because of my firm socialist belief that the government must make some "mission-critical" decisions without giving the public an option. If I pay more money to try to drive a change that's without question necessary for public health and also financially advantageous for the state, I'm essentially doing the government's work myself - which isn't my job and makes me an unhappy taxpayer. Clearly the general public knows far less about electric grids, about the systemic contributions Texas' current grid makes to pollution and climate change, and about specific impacts the transition to a sustainable, renewable grid would have on the state's environment and economy - and can be trusted to not look past the $ signs on their electric bills. How, then, is it wise to let the public voluntarily decide - by paying more - to make this happen?

Curious to hear thoughts.

(I express some naiveté here, but stand by my general assertions)

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Finally, my first post on Cambria - the latest addition to my fictional maps collection! Over the next five years I’ll be working on Cambria’s fictional Wikipedia article, map varieties, and also a street map of Shoreham, Cambria’s capital city.

For now, here are early versions of Cambria’s political and topographic maps.

Cambria is an English (west, north) and French (south) island country lying just southwest of Cornwall, England and just northwest of Brittany, France - where the English Channel turns into the Celtic Sea.

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Cities: Considering Cities as People

My wife Cat and I had drinks with our new friend Dan in London last month at a bar on the south bank of the Thames. As we looked across the water toward Westminster Bridge - a view that shows you the London Eye, Big Ben, and the House of Parliament in one glance - Dan made a point about cities that I really liked. It went something like this: “Cities are like people. You can tell their age or stage of life by their behavior, their culture, their energy, and the way they're built.”

London, according to this theory, is an old city. Well-established with rich history and complex transportation networks, London is a wise old bloke that has lived a long life, making a huge impact in the world and standing as a classic in the global scene.

Austin, on the contrary, is in its late teens and early 20s: just getting big, just coming into adulthood, and being thrust into adult city responsibilities like mass transit etc.

You can see how this plays out in other cities. Portland's in its 20s like Austin; Boston's in its 50s; Atlanta's having a midlife crisis; etc etc. You can apply the metaphor to countries too… it works every time.

We talked about how cities are born, grow, die, are re-born, and all matter of examples. Some cities die quickly, some live long healthy lives. Detroit died, and is being reborn again. Other Rust Belt cities lie on their death beds while Sun Belt cities gracefully move into adulthood.

Anyway, it was really fun to consider this - especially with all the trouble I see my native Austin having come into adulthood with such a childish attitude. While in London I imagined Austin meeting London and complaining about new dense condo buildings and how it hates traffic but doesn't want to pay for tolls and mass transit and London just staring back, smirking with its eyebrows raised, thinking “are you freaking kidding me? Grow up.”

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Lifehacks: My Productivity Strategy

Intro I strive to be extremely organized in my digital life. Sure, I’m a bit neurotic about it, but I do it to stay sane - and honestly, I’m so much more relaxed because of it (more organization frees up more mental bandwidth).

My friends and colleagues have asked me to share my “system,” which, I’m told, keeps me efficient to the point of intimidating people (which certainly isn’t my goal, but hey, it keeps me on top of things!). The theory behind the system is to get exactly what you need to get done at the right time with very little effort (and therefore very little stress).

So I hope this post will help you streamline your life as much as I have!

Steps to get started A few years ago I took these steps to build my system:

Discover your things

Sort and configure your things: sort them by type, choose and configure tools to manage them

Manage your things: commit to effective management

Types of “things” First, make a list of the digital things you manage in life. Here’s the list I came up with:

Emails

Texts

Social media mentions

Passwords

Random notes, like from meetings and panels

Documents, like tax forms, spreadsheets, etc

Photos

Receipts

Events

Tasks

Projects

You may come up with a lot more.

Sorting your “things” Second, take a look at tools (apps, really) that help manage those things, and separate your things by tool. Follow these three rules:

Avoid tool sprawl if you can, so integrate when possible

Only choose tools with mobile app accessibility

Make sure the tools are easy and don’t require significant input effort

Heads up: I researched my options very thoroughly and have strong opinions I’ll enthusiastically share below. The tools I chose have managed my life impeccably for over a year now.

Here they are:

Trello: Projects, tasks related to projects. Trello makes it easy to collaborate with others on projects, create checklists within a project, etc - all using Kanban logic. If you’re not familiar with Kanban, read about it and let it govern how you work for the rest of your life. *Use Trello for long-range projects containing lots of little tasks, and for projects involving others.*

Any.do: One-off tasks, repeating tasks. Any.do lets you create tasks by just typing and tapping enter, and lets you drag them to “Today, Tomorrow, Upcoming, or Someday.” For me, Any.do is a rolling cascade of things I need to do. If I don’t finish everything one day, the tasks automatically roll to the next - or I simply assign them to a specific date in the future. *Use Any.do for one-off tasks.*

Gmail (desktop) and Mailbox (mobile): Emails, receipts, #inboxzero. Gmail’s simple filters and keyboard shortcuts put it far ahead of any other email client at the moment, and Mailbox introduces what I believe to be the most brilliant email management feature on the planet: a “Later” feature. Later lets you choose an email message and delay it to a later date - like “Tomorrow” or “This Weekend” or “Next Week” or “custom date and time” - meaning Mailbox will take the email out of your inbox and re-deliver it at your specified time. That means you can effectively buffer your email load and spread it out to make it manageable. Since downloading Mailbox email has become a non-scary thing for me to take control of, especially using Later as a buffer. *Use Gmail and Mailbox to run your email life.*

Google Calendar (desktop) and Sunrise (mobile): Calendar events (pretty much anything that involves a place and time). Because no one can live without a calendar. Sunrise is a delightful alternative to your phone’s native calendar and makes creating events a lot easier. *Use Google Calendar and Sunrise to manage your schedule.*

Google Drive: Documents. Google Drive now has a desktop app letting you sync and store documents in folders both locally and online. I’ve digit zed all my documents and keep them tidy in Drive so I can access them anywhere I am via desktop or mobile. *Use Drive as your digital document library.*

Google+: Photos, specifically because it automatically syncs/backs up photos from my iPhone, with unlimited storage, and thorough (and free) photo editing tools. Honestly those facts make the choice for you. *Use Google+ for unlimited, automated photo storage.*

Pocket: Online article storage for reading and sharing. It’s just much easier than emailing documents to yourself or using an email label or folder to keep track of things you want to read - plus, Pocket lets you share articles to social really easily using the channels themselves or Buffer, my favorite social media scheduling app. *Use Pocket to collect and archive stuff you read and share.*

Managing your “things” Once you’ve sorted your things and configured your management tools, follow these guidelines to ensure your life stays happy:

Keep your mobile phone’s app badges *actionable*: If there’s a red badge on your app icons, make sure it’s an actionable item. Treat your app badges as you would emails, and strive for #inboxzero every day - that is, responding or delaying every single one of them. This will probably mean disabling app badges for game apps, shopping apps, etc.

“Triage” things you can’t get to: If you don’t have time to send an email or respond to a text message, create a quick Any.do item and assign a due date - like “text John” or “send photo to Jane.”

Knock out the little things: They’re usually easy and fast and getting them done quickly reduces clutter and therefore stress.

Don’t create app sprawl: Commit to great ones and forget the rest. Consolidation and simplicity is key.

Include *actual locations* on your calendar events: Most calendar apps integrate with maps, which can be really handy when you’re on the go. Also, be sure to specify time zone on any event you schedule while traveling.

Use Gmail (or other email client) filters for labels, gatekeeping, etc: 90% of your inbound email should be automatically labeled. Start with the obvious labels - anything with the word “receipt” gets a “Receipts” label; anything from [these people] gets a “Family” label - and build out from there. If you don’t want to deal with unsubscribing from distribution lists, simply create a filter for “from:[email protected]” and select “delete before it hits my inbox” to never see them again.

In Trello, or the tool you use for project management, don’t use overall due dates - use “circle-back dates." It’s not productive to base your project efforts on an ultimate due date. It’s better to assign a due date according to the date and time in which the next action in the project needs to happen. Use circle-back dates with push notifications and you’ll never miss a beat… and really freak your teammates out.

A note about security It should be obvious to all that password security is critically important, especially for your most valuable online accounts. If you’re not using an encryption tool like Lastpass, commit to a password strategy of your own that leverages strong passwords for each account you own.

If you have a smartphone you should be using two-factor authentication whenever possible.

Concluding thoughts This system runs on a simple design, a commitment to small details, and rhythmic/methodical maintenance that over time becomes easy routine. To those of you frustrated with noise in your digital life and looking for a new way to “keep up with it all,” I’d say it’s not that you necessarily have too much unescapable noise around you - it’s that you haven’t used the right tools to filter it and take charge!

So go use these building blocks to find a system that works for you! Commit to it, master it, and enjoy.

*No system is perfect - if you have a system for managing your digital life you’d like to share, I’d love to hear about it!*