Mogic considers

On the tide of change

The recruitment application tool that the engineers created for me was useful, so I looked at it a bit and noticed that we were interviewing at the rate of 500 people per year.

I am surprised myself that there are so many applications to this strange company in Ishigami .......

This is probably because most interviews are now online due to the Corona Disaster and we are able to meet more people.

Online interviews, online business meetings, online drinking parties, online school trips, online classes, online study abroad.

In just one year, the number of "online-style" things has increased.

Of course, compared to the past, this is still not enough, and we are restricted from seeing each other in person and going to the places we like.

However, 100 years ago, we would have been in a state of "no information or slow to receive even information," so I think we are a little better off.

As someone who uses IT technology for business, it gave me a chance to think about what I can do the next time something happens.

He said that in cases where the organizational structure to which people belong and the method of communication within the organization have not changed much in 100 years, the organization itself can creak and scream if the information channels are open and enormous.

It is as if the body, which has been resistant to starvation since time immemorial, has suddenly entered an age of satiation and developed new problems.

An organization can be said to be a collection of information, so if the way information flows, including outside the organization, changes, it is necessary to create an organization that adapts to these changes.

But the organization inherits something from the previous person in a vein, so inertia is stronger, and it will not be a tide of change unless it is sudden and unexpected.

So what should we do?

It is a very difficult issue and it is unlikely to be answered immediately, so I would like to have a thorough discussion with the members during calm and normal times.

It's blurry, but there you go.

As I waited for the green light at the intersection, I wondered if I would have gone back more than 30 seconds and slowed my bike down had I known I would have to stop at a red light before turning the corner.

If I had known I would have to wait, I would have rowed slower and not rushed.

A curve mirror would have given us some idea of what was ahead, but without a means of knowing future conditions, we optimize our actions with the information we have in the present.

If you are going to a destination somewhere in the near future, if the machine knows the future status of the route, it seems to me that you can arrive at a green light all the way with an assist.

Eventually, the more shopping, cooking, cleaning, housekeeping, investing, side hustling, and video posting are predicted and optimized, the closer our lives become to the algorithm.

Smoothness increases as the best answer is selected from the vast number of branches anticipated in advance.

However, the algorithm is not a panacea, and will probably be too optimized for the current situation, which can be fatal if it is not updated when external conditions change.

It is like receiving an assist without knowing that the switching time between red and green lights has been changed.

So, as we live a life made convenient by algorithms, we need to pay attention to whether the foundations of the algorithms have changed.

It is also important to pay attention to whether the algorithm has been secretly changed to something malicious.

There are even times when someone's good may turn out to be your bad.

As I put my foot on the pedal again, I thought to myself, "It's not the way of life to live only at green lights, but it's also possible to stop at a red light once in a while.

As plants grow.

It is time to start replanting and pruning plants in the office.

I wander around looking at the plants, mumbling to myself how big they have become or how weak they may be, and carry them up to the rooftop.

As Golden Week approaches, we will have more sunny days, and working in short sleeves will be just fine if you are a little sweaty.

There is a store near Shakujii that carries rare plants and trees, so I tend to have plants that I don't see everyday.

Recently, there are many flowerpots with good textures, so if you are particular about what you buy, they end up costing more than the plants, which is not good.

Pampas grass has weakened this year.

The plant bears such large ears that it is commonly referred to as "ghost silver grass.

Originally from South America, including Brazil and Argentina, it seems to have been introduced during the Meiji period (1868-1912) for ornamental purposes.

I bought it a few years ago because it looked interesting to have a large Miscanthus sinensis in my office, but since it loves sunlight, it gradually lost its vigor after being indoors all the time.

We decided to give it over to a room with a balcony to grow in search of light.

They will cut off the long, thin, dead leaves, check the rooting, and figure out how to adjust the soil.

So, as I work on various plants, I look back over the year's growth.

Of course, each room with plants is a natural place for members to grow.

From the Management Concerns Survey

Before I formed my company, I had seen surveys on entrepreneurship and management conducted by chambers of commerce and ministries.

A quick look shows that the company has three main problems: inability to attract new customers, inability to hire good people, and cash flow difficulties.

I thought that would be true, and also wondered why it all boils down to these three.

Can't hire good people because of cash flow difficulties?
Is your cash flow so low because you can't find new clients?
Is it because you don't have the right people?

We will continue to deepen the information to make it more useful to us.

Assuming that we assume countermeasures to the three problems of A) not being able to develop new customers, B) not being able to hire good people, and C) cash flow difficulties, the lack of funds in C) is just a matter of not spending money for the time being, and the inability to hire good people in B) is just a matter of doing my best for the time being.

What remains is A) to develop new customers. The idea is that as long as we can manage this task, we can do something about it.

However, after all this time, I finally realized that I do not have a proper understanding of what a "new customer" is.

We use them because we don't know what they are more than words.

The word "new customer" is also from the seller's point of view, so I really need to imagine a better image of the person with whom I am signing a contract.

Then again, new challenges arise.

What is the expectation that makes you want to sign a contract?
What is normal satisfaction after signing a contract?
What is above-normal satisfaction?
Is it better if the above-normal satisfaction lasts forever?　etc.

Running a company allows us to create our own agenda as much as we like, and that can be fun.

What you see in the subtraction series

There is a theme called the subtraction series, which involves subtracting "what seems most important" from "what is obvious" and seeing what is left.

It is like what happens when you take the red bean paste out of anpan.

You are free to think about whether it will be just bread or air anpan.

I quote at the beginning from a book that considered what would happen if we subtracted year-over-year sales and quarterly targets from capitalization.

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Minority Design
h ttps:// wrl.co.jp/2020/12/25/minority-design/

Since childhood, I have been saved by numerous creators.

omission (of middle part of a text)

But when I jumped into the workforce, I realized that people in the "creator" professions in all industries were tired.

The reason for this is that the economy is eating up the talent that we have.

omission (of middle part of a text)

But on the other hand, I think people are beginning to notice.

That it is not all about meeting numbers such as 10 "1%" sales over the previous year or meeting "quarter" goals.

With a shrinking workforce, shrinking domestic market, and widening disparities in many areas, we are running out of breath and will collapse if we only try to meet our short-term goals at full speed.

One junior student tweeted this to me.

Where the hell is capitalism headed?"

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One answer is "capitalism" - "sales and profits" = "realizing the importance of minorities."

Sales and profits, if left alone, will approximate the focus on the majority in terms of efficiency, so there will tend to be less consideration for minorities.

This may also be the reason why a setting like the SDGs is daringly necessary.

There is no particular answer, but if you subtract "dreams" from "life," "your rights" from "society," and "president" from "company," you will notice things that you may or may not have seen.

Why an office in Shakujii?

It has already been 10 years since we opened our office in Shakujii.

Recently, I have been asked in interviews, "Why do you have an office in Shakujii?" I will try to write down the reason.

There are so many that it is difficult to explain verbally.

Why is the office located in Shakujii?

I wanted a place with lots of greenery and a relaxing atmosphere.

After the Great East Japan Earthquake, I thought it would be better if everyone's home and office were closer to each other.

There are very few IT companies in Ishigami, and I thought I would soon be able to say that I was Ishigami's number one IT company.

There are no other companies to compare with, and they don't seem to be hurried.

I wanted to question the "common sense" of setting up an office in the center of Tokyo.

I felt that 20 years from now, the city center would not be the only office.

I wanted to do something together with people in the community.

I thought I could contribute to local restaurants if there were more people working there.

The office space cost per tsubo was lower than in central Tokyo, and the company wanted to use the savings for employee benefits.

. because I didn't have to ride the commuter train.

I used to have meetings at a family restaurant in Shakujii when I first started.

To do something that is not common sense, I need to consider the rationale for it from various angles.

With all these reasons, there is still room for people to say, "Why not just take the plunge and go regional?" I will answer that question.

For a company that makes extensive use of IT, the power of web engineers, designers, directors, and planners is inevitably important, so from the standpoint of the economy of concentration, it was not a good idea to locate in a rural area from the start. Although it may be possible in the future, we thought that the first step should be to draw on Tokyo's strength.

will be.

Then, after weighing the advantages of the city center = people experiencing IT-ness and the advantages of the rural area = easy living with plenty of space and time, we decided that a location near 17 km from the city center would be better.

Well, I think I am overthinking it, but as a result, looking back, I had a lot of unexpected fun.

And now that various subsidiaries have been established, we will have to come up with ideas for new developments.

Infodemics and News Deserts

The pandemic caused by coronas has brought a huge influx of information to the Internet.

The phenomenon is called an information epidemic.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has an interesting page on infodemic surveys.

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Current Information Circulation on New Coronavirus Infections
h ttps:// www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/whitepaper/ja/r02/html/nd123100.html

Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting (2020) estimates that the world's information transmission capacity has expanded 68 times since the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic of 2002.
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And although it depends on the method of calculation, the title of the Detroit Tohmatsu research report is "Information Transmission Increased 1.5 Million Times in a Century - Rapid Contagion of Information "Infodemics"". In particular, the amount of information and number of contents seem to be having a major impact.

While there is a flood of information, there is also the problem of news deserts.

This refers to the phenomenon that local newspapers in the U.S. are increasingly disappearing with the rise of online media and are no longer providing necessary news to local residents.

Infodemics flooded with information and news deserts depleted of local news.

If only human cognitive capacity could increase 1.5 million-fold in a century, but given that not much has changed, how can we cope with "information that swells and dries up"?

I wonder if there should be a course called "cooking practice of information (infocooking)" at least from elementary school.

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Reference information: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Promotion of Information Education
h ttps:// www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/zyouhou/detail/1369613.htm
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Message in a bottle

Now I am just called "representative" anymore, and I rarely have the opportunity to teach interns or new graduates directly.

It may or may not happen once after the first month of employment.

The executive directors and chiefs are following up on this, so there's no way to get out.

That's all well and good, but a little rusty, I started to create a column site that only those who work at Mogic can read.

There are many miscellaneous topics, from basic knowledge as a member of society, job hunting problems, things to think about in your 20s, the three major expenses of life, the story of how Mogic was created, the stance we want our employees to take, and so on. All in all, there are probably about 200 articles.

The atmosphere at Mogic is a bit different, so I hope people will look at it when they wonder, "Why so many events and education?" and hope you will look at it when you have questions.

Writing a column for a member who will come in the future is in itself a strange feeling.

However, I hope to deliver a bit of today's exuberance along with it, just like the bottle mail that people used to put letters in small bottles and float them out to sea.