A beautiful post. Thanks for fighting the good fight. I did data for Obama in 2012 and remember Election Day at HQ like it was yesterday. I can’t imagine what it’s like putting in that grueling work and then losing. Thanks to you all and know that you have the love and support of many.
Thanks - I honestly do think losing is easier in the room than out. It seems much more common for people to think "We lost, and I wish I had done more" than "We lost, so I should've done less," even if the effort probably wouldn't have mattered either way.
Either way though, congrats on 2012. After doing it this year, I can understand the draw of wanting to come back to see how it might feel to win. *That*, I'm sure, is a party.
Great write up. Most people in technology have to come to grips with the fact that most of what they do vanishes pretty quickly and nobody remembers it. When I look back at all the projects I worked on most of them were super valuable for their time and now simply do not exist. It’s a strange feeling.
I think it would be super cool for you to create an architecture diagram of that whole setup and explain how it all worked. It sounds incredibly interesting.
Thanks. There are definitely a lot of interesting details to potentially talk about, from how campaigns are kind of bizarro startups, to that architecture. It was a pretty interesting setup and a lot of it was actually built in Google Sheets - which I was skeptical of at first, but by the end, was pretty sure was the right choice. It was one of the more fascinating pieces of tech I've worked on, though not necessarily for the tech, but for how tightly it was built to match this very specific need.
This election got me off the couch. I've been a faithful voter, but this has been the first time I've attended a presidential candidate's rally, knocked on doors, and signed up for phone banking. So impressed with the campaign's technology, I commented to the community organizer that by the next election I would be retired and open to an opportunity to contribute on the data side (or hell, fetch coffee for Benn).
Thanks for all that you did! We did a big team canvass event, and if you were out knocking doors, you were doing a much harder job than I was. That's where the real work on campaigns happen, much more so than me writing some SQL queries.
But if you're up for it, no doubt there will be no shortage of data work to be done next time around, and I'm sure folks here would be thrilled to have you.
Someone quite close to me worked by your side in that nondescript building in Wilmington, and he did turn down a very lucrative job offer in order to do so. Your essay points to the heart of the matter, Benn, about devoting so much work
to the campaign with so much heart, and, after the loss, moving to understand the experience. For all it’s worth, it was worth all the while. Thank you.
I appreciate that, and tell your friend thank you for being part of it. I was just putzing around New York at the time, so he gave up a lot more than I did to be there. And if I actually worked with him directly, probably send him my apologies for whatever obnoxious things I'm sure I did...
This was so heart-wrenching to read but also so inspiring… What a journey! I hope everyone gives themselves sometime to rest and recharge before getting back on track to keep fighting the good fight!
Thanks! And don't worry, next will be a long rant about how democrats lost because they didn't do whatever thing I've always wanted them to do anyway (jk, it'll probably be some nonsense about charts).
What’s the weirdest part about building everything toward a moment? Win or loss isn’t the data work kind of throw away afterwards? Is that a relief or kind of sad?
I'll probably have some longer post about this someday, but it's...nice? Mostly? Knowing that your job has an end date, and knowing that there are no ambiguous outcomes, makes it much more sustainable while you're doing it. That's one of the challenges with a startup to me; it's a sprint, but with no real finish line. With this, you know exactly when it's over, and how long everyone needs to hang on.
It also creates has a lot of interesting effects on the work you do. Building something that you know has to last exactly 25 more days is very different than building something that needs to last for some uncertain - and potentially long - amount of time. And it can be more fun, to be honest, where every day is hack day.
$583m of the donations were spent on staff, or about $6M per day. Maybe, you care to share with us what was the ROI on your Data Team, and how much of that $583m you personally put in your pocket for doing the "good deed"? Appreciate it!
I don't think the campaign spent anywhere near that amount on staff; the ROI on all of it was zero, because the point of all of it was to win, and we lost; and staff salaries were listed on job reqs, if you want to figure out how much of it I was putting in my pocket.
you're not making a strong case for hiring your data team unfortunately. If all data outcomes were measured based on where companies get to an IPO, we would all be screwed.
As for your comp. Nothing wrong with a making a buck. If anything, you probably should have asked for more.
Just important, I think, to disclose this that you were NOT volunteering. Seems like many (Oprah, etc) did a paid endorsement, but forgot to mention the "paid" part.
A beautiful post. Thanks for fighting the good fight. I did data for Obama in 2012 and remember Election Day at HQ like it was yesterday. I can’t imagine what it’s like putting in that grueling work and then losing. Thanks to you all and know that you have the love and support of many.
Thanks - I honestly do think losing is easier in the room than out. It seems much more common for people to think "We lost, and I wish I had done more" than "We lost, so I should've done less," even if the effort probably wouldn't have mattered either way.
Either way though, congrats on 2012. After doing it this year, I can understand the draw of wanting to come back to see how it might feel to win. *That*, I'm sure, is a party.
Great write up. Most people in technology have to come to grips with the fact that most of what they do vanishes pretty quickly and nobody remembers it. When I look back at all the projects I worked on most of them were super valuable for their time and now simply do not exist. It’s a strange feeling.
I think it would be super cool for you to create an architecture diagram of that whole setup and explain how it all worked. It sounds incredibly interesting.
Thanks. There are definitely a lot of interesting details to potentially talk about, from how campaigns are kind of bizarro startups, to that architecture. It was a pretty interesting setup and a lot of it was actually built in Google Sheets - which I was skeptical of at first, but by the end, was pretty sure was the right choice. It was one of the more fascinating pieces of tech I've worked on, though not necessarily for the tech, but for how tightly it was built to match this very specific need.
👀
that sounds fascinating. i want to read about the google sheets data stack.
It was both insane and worked quite well. And I have no idea what to make of that.
(And there will be something about it at some point, just not sure exactly when,.)
This is beautiful and heartbreaking. Thanks for your service.
I'm fanboying out!!
This election got me off the couch. I've been a faithful voter, but this has been the first time I've attended a presidential candidate's rally, knocked on doors, and signed up for phone banking. So impressed with the campaign's technology, I commented to the community organizer that by the next election I would be retired and open to an opportunity to contribute on the data side (or hell, fetch coffee for Benn).
Thank you for your service!
Thanks for all that you did! We did a big team canvass event, and if you were out knocking doors, you were doing a much harder job than I was. That's where the real work on campaigns happen, much more so than me writing some SQL queries.
But if you're up for it, no doubt there will be no shortage of data work to be done next time around, and I'm sure folks here would be thrilled to have you.
Someone quite close to me worked by your side in that nondescript building in Wilmington, and he did turn down a very lucrative job offer in order to do so. Your essay points to the heart of the matter, Benn, about devoting so much work
to the campaign with so much heart, and, after the loss, moving to understand the experience. For all it’s worth, it was worth all the while. Thank you.
I appreciate that, and tell your friend thank you for being part of it. I was just putzing around New York at the time, so he gave up a lot more than I did to be there. And if I actually worked with him directly, probably send him my apologies for whatever obnoxious things I'm sure I did...
This was so heart-wrenching to read but also so inspiring… What a journey! I hope everyone gives themselves sometime to rest and recharge before getting back on track to keep fighting the good fight!
Thanks. And I'm sure they will, while the weaker among us will probably go back to uselessly ranting about databases on the internet.
Thank you for a take that’s different from the million other takes!
Thanks! And don't worry, next will be a long rant about how democrats lost because they didn't do whatever thing I've always wanted them to do anyway (jk, it'll probably be some nonsense about charts).
What’s the weirdest part about building everything toward a moment? Win or loss isn’t the data work kind of throw away afterwards? Is that a relief or kind of sad?
I'll probably have some longer post about this someday, but it's...nice? Mostly? Knowing that your job has an end date, and knowing that there are no ambiguous outcomes, makes it much more sustainable while you're doing it. That's one of the challenges with a startup to me; it's a sprint, but with no real finish line. With this, you know exactly when it's over, and how long everyone needs to hang on.
It also creates has a lot of interesting effects on the work you do. Building something that you know has to last exactly 25 more days is very different than building something that needs to last for some uncertain - and potentially long - amount of time. And it can be more fun, to be honest, where every day is hack day.
$583m of the donations were spent on staff, or about $6M per day. Maybe, you care to share with us what was the ROI on your Data Team, and how much of that $583m you personally put in your pocket for doing the "good deed"? Appreciate it!
I don't think the campaign spent anywhere near that amount on staff; the ROI on all of it was zero, because the point of all of it was to win, and we lost; and staff salaries were listed on job reqs, if you want to figure out how much of it I was putting in my pocket.
you're not making a strong case for hiring your data team unfortunately. If all data outcomes were measured based on where companies get to an IPO, we would all be screwed.
As for your comp. Nothing wrong with a making a buck. If anything, you probably should have asked for more.
Just important, I think, to disclose this that you were NOT volunteering. Seems like many (Oprah, etc) did a paid endorsement, but forgot to mention the "paid" part.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/3222249/how-kamala-harris-plowed-through-1-billion/