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M Dickerson
Free Radical
Professional Background
M Dickerson is an accomplished professional with a robust background in technology and mathematics. With an impressive career trajectory, M has held significant positions that reflect their expertise in data management and digital services. As the Executive Director at The New Data Project, M spearheads initiatives that leverage data for social impact, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to enhancing public service through informed decision-making.
Previously, M held the role of Partner at Layer Aleph, where they played a pivotal role in shaping strategies that help businesses harness data-driven insights. Their tenure at the United States Digital Service allowed M to contribute significantly to governmental projects aimed at improving the digital landscape of public services. This experience was further enriched by their earlier roles at Qssi and Obama For America, where M operated at the intersection of technology and policy, gaining invaluable insights into the world of data management and public engagement.
M Dickerson began their professional journey as a Site Reliability Manager at Google, where they honed their technical skills and learned the intricacies of maintaining complex systems that demand reliability and efficiency. This role was preceded by their experience serving as a Unix Systems Administrator at Pomona College, where they demonstrated early on their capacity to manage and support critical systems within an academic setting.
Education and Achievements
M Dickerson's foundational education in mathematics at Pomona College has been a significant asset throughout their career. Pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics provided M with analytical skills and a rigorous understanding of quantitative problem-solving, enabling them to tackle complex challenges in the tech industry.
The blend of an analytical mindset from their academic background and practical experience in various high-impact roles positions M as a leader within the field of data management and digital transformation. Their career milestones illustrate a dedication to applying mathematical principles to real-world challenges, thus consistently driving innovation and operational excellence.
Notable Achievements
- Executive Leadership: As Executive Director of The New Data Project, M leads a dynamic team in leveraging data for societal good, showcasing their leadership abilities and vision.
- Strategic Collaboration: At Layer Aleph, M fostered partnerships that helped in utilizing big data analytics, focusing on achieving strategic goals for clients.
- Public Service Contribution: Their role in the United States Digital Service exemplifies M's commitment to enhancing user experience in government services through innovative digital solutions.
- Technical Expertise: M's extensive technical expertise in site reliability and systems administration, gained through pivotal roles at tech giants like Google and educational institutions, underscores their capacity to manage and optimize complex IT infrastructures.
Overall, M Dickerson's professional background is distinguished by a commitment to excellence, a passion for data-driven approaches, and a rich history of impactful leadership across both the public and private sectors. With a solid educational foundation and a wealth of experience, M continues to influence the realm of data initiatives positively, offering insights and strategies that advance public service and technology.
Highlights
Thanks to CrowdStrike and Delta Air Lines, I'm in Minneapolis for an unplanned three-day stopover, and mad at the CIO-industrial complex.
What has happened is that across the 1990s and 2000s, all the businesses that had no particular interest in computers were forced to computerize anyway. Most of the time, CEOs were uncomfortable with computers and got no value out of the transition, just another cost center to pay. They took someone that was hanging around the C suite and gave him the title of CIO.
Now you have somebody that is uncomfortable around computers, running a cost center. The only measure of his importance is the size of the budget, and the only way to get any positive attention is to cut the budget. (If you don't know how to make the spreadsheet bigger every year while "cutting costs" all along, you are not executive material, sorry.) These CIOs are never going to build anything that matters to the business, because they have none of that talent working for them, and can't hire any.
What they do is write giant checks to a handful of vendors that the entire CIO herd uses. The vendors have massive sales teams that are dedicated to pandering to the CIOs, so the CIO will spend most of the year golfing and watching NFL games from Cisco or Microsoft skyboxes. This works great and everyone is happy and content. There are CIO conferences, CIO magazines, CIO podcasts, and CIO awards ceremonies that all sustain and perpetuate this culture.
Unfortunately now it's 2024 and these CIOs run hollow "IT" organizations that are completely dependent on vendor support contracts. There is no adaptability or resilience because there is no skill or capacity in-house. Also, those clunky, overpriced vendor products that were nice-to-have in 1999 are now business-critical. Now, a vendor screwup will bring your whole house down.
Tens of thousands of businesses have all done the same thing, so we have a monoculture where one screwup at one vendor can cripple a meaningful fraction of the economy.
That's why after 4 days, Delta still can't reboot its Windows computers and can't fly planes.
Hello .. It's been a few years, so to jog your memory: I used to manage SREs at Google, then I worked on healthcare dot gov, then I created the "U.S. Digital Service" in the Obama administration. Since 2017, I do consulting jobs with "Layer Aleph LLC," and since 2021, I teach a college class called "Managing Complex Systems."
The common thread among SRE, USDS, and Layer Aleph is that we run intense, short sprints to repair or reorganize an organization and its systems. Doing ~50 such projects in the last 15 years, we have developed some repeatable processes and particular skills. We're calling it "crisis engineering" because we need to call it something.
We're creating a professional-development style workshop to share those skills, and are taking applications for the first cohort (Jan 9-11):
https://lnkd.in/g74aup6H
Here's a little bit of a clue what the content will be like:
https://lnkd.in/gXbXsGYS
I'm not sure if there will be another time this is open to everyone. So if this is interesting at all, please check it out. We're using Maven in part because they help students get their employer reimbursements. Remember that if you leave your training budget unclaimed at the end of the year, the capitalists win.
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.