Although I still think that Dropbox is a great service, I just didn’t like the limitation and uneasy feeling of having my files sitting on someone else’s server. That’s why when BTSync came out, I decided to give it a try and it’s been a year since I switched and thought it was about time I gave my thoughts.

I won’t go into technical details here, but it’s not any insecure than other services. You can find more about it at https://www.bittorrent.com/sync

Things I Like

1. The file syncs lot faster between my computers.
2. Works without making me think about it.
3. The files are on my machines and on my server with a web UI. See below.

4. Free!!!
5. Automatically syncs anywhere.
6. Did I mention it’s FAST?
7. Super easy to set up.

From Security Now

Final Thoughts

Don’t let the “beta” fool you. I’ve been using this for over a year and didn’t even know that this was still in beta. It’s lot better than Dropbox since it also keeps versions for you just in case you make the mistake of deleting files. I personally believe that BTSync IS the Dropbox killer. I have yet to find anything that would make me think that Dropbox is a better product.

If you’re a manager or is about to become one, try these lessons I’ve learned starting from business school (I have a degree in Finance) and all throughout my career at this point. I realized that I’ve forgotten some of these and this is a great reminder.

The best managers do not “manage”, instead, they inspire and create a working environment for others to flourish. They also hire the right people for the job with the personality that fits the team, no matter how talented someone is. The same goes for getting rid of anyone that throws off the team balance.

Here’s my list of “things”:

1. Always eat together. I made it mandatory for everyone to eat lunch together. I never compromised on this and you shouldn’t either.
2. Don’t interfere with productive creativity. In other words, stay out of the way and let people soar.
3. Learn to sell your ideas. The sales skill I learned (yes, it’s learned, not born with as some people would say) still applies to all aspects of my life.
4. Always put yourself in their shoes.
5. Entertain. People should look forward to talking to you, not dread it
6. Protect your people. Never throw anyone under the bus, even if they deserve it.
7. Listen!
8. Don’t try to change things that will never change. It’s okay to accept the fact that cows can’t talk no matter how hard you try to teach it.

I’ve realized that when I switched over to selfthis.com, I abandoned lots of personal notes from RubyHead blog. In any case, now that I’m going through digital spring cleaning, I’m going to transfer them here.