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Sergey Bensu
blog.sbensu.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2022
Sergey Bensu writes essays on software design, management, and teams, including pieces on APIs as ladders and visual programming.
What HN saysCommenters link his APIs as Ladders post as a reference, and he shares his own essays, such as one on team-oriented versus outcome-oriented work.
22HN people shared it
3linked it in comments
23stories submitted
1.3Kstory points
11 months agolast shared
2022people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Everybody is the main character3 people · 18 points · first shared 2023 · 4 comments on HN
- 2Lieutenants Are the Limiting Reagent3 people · 6 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 3Default Blind3 people · 6 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 4APIs as Ladders3 people · 3 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 5We need visual programming. No, not like that2 people · 1.2K points · first shared 2024 · 494 comments on HN
- 6APIs as Ladders2 people · 66 points · first shared 2022 · 4 comments on HN
- 7High Variance Management (2023)2 people · 3 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 8Incentives as Selection Effects1 people · 2 points · first shared 2025 · discussion on HN
- 9Industrial Macros1 people · 2 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 10Twitter's Sith and Jedi1 people · 2 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 11The Market for Takes1 people · 1 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 12Designing for Support Teams1 people · 1 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 13High Variance Management1 people · 1 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 14Team oriented vs outcome oriented1 people · first shared 2023
- 15Pseudo currencies1 people · first shared 2024
What HN people wrote when they linked it
skybrian · 2024-02-25
I found a more detailed explanation [1]:
> 32,000 schillings were printed (in denominations of 5 and 10 sch.), but only 12,000 schillings were issued by the parish by paying its workers.
> The local currency was redeemable, on demand, for official currency, but there was a 2% fee on such redemption.
> For each schilling of local currency issued, one schilling of official currency was deposited (at interest) in a bank account to cover demands for redemption.
> The depreciation (demurrage) rate was 1% per month. This was called the ‘Relieftax.’
> In order for a note to maintain its full face value, it was necessary to affix a stamp at the end of each month. these stamps could be purchased at the parish office.
> The notes expired at the end of the year, but could be exchange, free of charge, for new ones, so long as all the necessary stamps had been affixed.
…
> Another major ‘gain,’ which von Muralt mentions in passing, is the windfall profit associated with the substantial amount of local currency which was never presented for redemption. He says, ‘However, of the 12,000 schillings worth of relief money issued, only about two-thirds is in circulation. The remainder has disappeared, having been annexed by souvenir hunters and collectors. That such substantial amounts of depreciating money should vanish in this way, contradicts the theoretical intention which aims at accelerating the circulation and not at hoarding. For the parish, however, the disappearance of notes…
yixu34 · 2024-04-26
+1, I like to refer to this post on this topic: https://blog.sbensu.com/posts/apis-as-ladders/
sbensu · 2023-03-30
[self-promotion]
This is very related, but not at all the same, as this essay I just published:
Team-oriented, outcome-oriented
https://blog.sbensu.com/posts/team-oriented-vs-outcome-oriented/
Summary:
Some people are more motivated by caring for their teams, others are by achieving outcomes.