Notes

Selected posts I wrote over the years, translated from Russian.

• Why Doma.ai is built on open source 2023
  How the decision to build Doma.ai on open code was made, and its three benefits: a community, code quality and freedom for clients.
• The on-call phone under my pillow 2022
  What running buildings looked like in Liga's early days, and why opening a management company is becoming as ordinary as opening a café.
• What people talk about at MIPIM: open APIs and building data 2022
  Ten takeaways from MIPIM on open APIs, democratizing building data and digitalizing old buildings.
• What the ideal management company should be like 2021
  Five traits of the ideal management company: chosen by residents, treats them as clients, profitable, efficient and mindful of the building's finances.
• Digitalizing a management company is not a resident app 2021
  Digitalization means business processes and objective numbers, and running a building over its life costs twice as much as building it.
• Residents inspect the entrance halls themselves 2019
  An inspection checklist handed to residents revealed the worst spots and strengthened their sense of ownership.
• Why a management company dependent on the developer is a bad option for residents 2018
  Why developers' own management companies are rarely strong, and why the choice belongs to residents.
• The 2013 mistake: a resident app with no system behind it 2018
  A polished resident app is useless if, under the hood, requests still live on scraps of paper.
• Ironman 70.3: why do I need this 2017
  Thoughts after a first half-Ironman on how accessible the distance is, on discipline, and on sport as a business of emotions.
• The model: a headquarters and autonomous teams 2016
  How a management company can grow through a central headquarters and autonomous teams of 100,000 square meters each.
• Relationships with residents are the main capital 2016
  Why relationships with residents cannot be copied and how every call to the concierge office builds them.
• Glass doors in entrance halls: two prejudices 2016
  The fears that glass doors will be smashed or let the cold in, checked against the experience of real buildings.
• A separate bank account for every building 2016
  The money in a building's account belongs to its residents, and every one of them should be able to see what the building paid for.
• A concierge office instead of a dispatch desk 2015
  Why a management company needs a team that leaves residents pleasantly surprised rather than irritated after every call.
• Crowdfunding instead of a general meeting 2014
  A proposal to fund building improvements through money pledged by the residents who want them, rather than through a quorum.
• Home is more than the apartment 2014
  Treating only your own square meters as home leads to yards turned into parking lots and dull entrance halls.
• Why a chain can beat a one-off: coffee shops and homeowners' associations 2013
  A coffee-shop comparison explains why a professional network of building management can outperform a single self-run association.
• We don't need a manager, we need a housemaster 2013
  Instead of a chain of manager, technician and electrician, a building needs one craftsman who changes the light bulb himself.