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What Hacker News says
- The best writing on the subject of temporary businesses is by Ted Goranson, especially his short monogram "Whale of a tale", now out of print (I've suggested to him that he simply upload it to Amazon and self publish it, but he has not yet done so).
Of businesses that exist for a specific job he calls them Agile Virtual Enterprises. He traces the history of the AVEs to the whaling ships of the 1600s. He points out that the laws created then continue to shape modern AVEs, and countries that did not do whaling in the 1600s generally don't have AVEs now. He focuses on industries such as film to look at how AVEs evolved during the 20th century and how that culture helped influence modern startup life.
- About this:
"Why was this process so smooth? The team had never worked together before, and the scenes they were shooting that day required many different complex tasks to happen in harmony: lighting, makeup, hair, costumes, sets, props, acting. "
If the subject actually interests anyone, I strongly recommend the work of Ted Goranson, who has devoted decades to studying this issue:
The Agile Virtual Enterprise: Cases, Metrics, Tools
http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Virtual-Enterprise-Cases-Metrics...
He offers a comparison of modern entrepreneurs and the old sea faring culture, in a small pamphlet called "Whale of a Tale.":
http://www.amazon.co.uk/whale-tale-historical-perspective-Pe...
It is tragic that this pamphlet is now out of print. It was only 25 pages, and did a brilliant job showing how the old laws and cultures of the seafaring nations became the basis for the modern understanding of entrepreneurs.
In his pamphlet, Goranson did a great job of arguing that whaling ships were the worlds first Virtual Agile Enterprises. Very insightful reading.
The whaling ships offered a model for modern Hollywood, and tech startup, culture: lots of skilled professionals, who had never worked together before, coming together and working together smoothly.
- >It's a rarely studied era
More accurate: 100 years ago it was an intensely studied era, as the West struggled to understand what had allowed it to conquer the whole world. But it is an era that has gone out of fashion. It is not now widely studied.
But even now, the subject is not unknown. The person who did the best comparison of modern entrepreneurs and the old sea faring culture was Ted Goranson, in a small pamphlet called "Whale of a Tale." It is tragic that this pamphlet is now out of print. It used to be that you could find a copy on Amazon, but now it seems to be gone. It was only 25 pages, and did a brilliant job showing how the old laws and cultures of the seafaring nations became the basis for the modern understanding of entrepreneurs.
I understand that his "whale" story was incorporated into the book he eventually wrote:
http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Virtual-Enterprise-Cases-Metrics...
I have not read the book so I can not vouch for it.
In his pamphlet, Goranson did a great job of arguing that whaling ships were the worlds first Virtual Agile Enterprises. Very insightful reading.
- Unsurprising, perhaps, that such a Whale of a Tale has inspired several songs. The best of those I can find online is 'The Exploding Whale Song' by Dan Tanz[0], but my all time favorite is Kay Shapero's 'Blubber'[1].
[0] https://youtu.be/cR3JcMblV0o
[1] Lyrics only, unfortunately: http://www.kayshapero.net/kaysongs.htm#Blubber
