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When it comes to feedback, Cambridge-based software engineer Jeff Gaston wishes real life was a little more like video games.

“They give fast, clear feedback about your performance,” he says. “If I could compute a score for how my life is going, I think it would be helpful to keep me focused on impactful things.” This idea inspired Jeff to develop a mobile app for himself that measures his efficiency in completing daily tasks. These efficiency estimates are shared in graphs with encouraging words and helpful suggestions for the future. Through using this little app he discovered that a single instance of feedback in his app gave him about 60 minutes of motivation. 

Jeff took that learning and started offering something similar to his coworkers to motivate them: sharing same-day, meaningful feedback. At the end of every work day, he identifies his favorite thing that happened since the previous day and sends a thank you email to the person responsible. He calls this practice “mini kudos.”

For example, Jeff’s team recently noticed some of their builds were getting slower. Ivan Gavrilovic, who works on an adjacent team, looked into it. He reviewed performance metrics, identified potential causes, and reached out to other Googlers who could help come up with solutions to fix it. “It probably would have taken me a while to identify what was going on,” Jeff says. “So I was super happy for the help and emailed Ivan my mini kudos for that day.”

Ivan was grateful for the message. “Jeff’s email really made my day,” he says. “I get satisfaction from helping others, across locations and teams, but this sign of appreciation makes it even better.”

Over the past few years, Jeff has sent these emails to fellow Googlers for suggesting improvements to his code, sharing entertaining stories, listening, giving him the opportunity to be helpful, sharing impactful information, and much more. These kudos are even more motivating as teams work from home, and by Jeff’s estimates each mini kudos email provides a short-term boost of motivation. 

Jeff hopes sending these emails makes his teammates happier and keeps them informed about what behaviors are helpful to him. “I also hope it helps people find meaning and motivation in their work,” he says. “And that it inspires others to send daily kudos! If each person sends an average of one kudos per day, then each person should receive an average of one kudos per day too. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

In 2014, Morgan Pitts was a recent college graduate with a small following of fellow Black women on Twitter and a serious interest in blogging. When we recently caught up with Morgan, she recalled an off-the-cuff tweet that mobilized a community around the #BlackGirlsWhoBlog hashtag and led to her @blackgirlswhoblog Instagram account (with 115,000 followers and growing). Now she uses her platform to curate and promote voices from across the web. Here are the five bloggers she says you should be following now.

CeCe Olisa

Welcome to the latest edition of “My Path to Google,” where we talk to Googlers, interns and alumni about how they got to Google, what their roles are like and even some tips on how to prepare for interviews.

Today’s post is all about Nikhil Nerkar, who started at Google as an MBA intern and eventually found a home and passion on the YouTube Creator and Artist Development team in Mumbai.

What’s your role at Google?

YouTube has millions of creators, and it’s a number that will keep on increasing in the coming years. As a strategic partner manager, I work directly with emerging creators to ensure that they achieve success on the platform and have a great experience. We help the creators build their channels, grow their audiences and turbocharge their reach through the platform.

At the Google News Initiative last month, we felt the love for new publisher tools, training programs and newsroom success stories. See February updates below.

One World Media Fellowship opens for applications

The One World Media Fellowship is a year-long, GNI-supported program aimed at aspiring journalists and filmmakers who seek to report on stories from countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Working in film, print, audio or multimedia, fellows’ projects bring together integrity and creativity to present underreported stories that break down stereotypes and build cross-cultural connections.

Applications are open until April 7, and we particularly encourage submissions from underrepresented ethnic groups, applicants who identify as women, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities ands people from and based in the global south.

Fostering diversity in Latin American newsrooms

We supported the Diversity in News and in Newsrooms course, developed by the Knight Center. More than 1700 journalists from 12 countries participated in the four-week course, which addressed the challenges of diversity, equity and equality and how to cover these issues. Special guests Keith Woods, NPR’s Chief Diversity Officer, and Krissah Thompson, Diversity Editor of the Washington Post, among others, shared their experience and best practices.

In 2015, Myriam Sandler had a problem many moms face: Her baby daughter Nicole refused to eat solid foods. Spaghetti, soup, rice … she wouldn’t have any of it. “That was driving me crazy as a first-time mom and I was determined to find a solution,” recalls the Venezuelan-born Myriam, who grew up in Miami.

Fortunately, Myriam had an educational  background in psychology and, prior to becoming a mom, had worked with kids that had ADD and ADHD. She eventually realized that baby Nicole likely had “texture sensitivities,” which makes some foods seem unappetizing. So she began to create play activities to help her daughter experience things that felt squishy, slimy, wet or rough. Through feeling the textures, Nicole became accustomed to the sensations and started eating. 

“I felt like I had a parenting breakthrough,” Myriam says. This experience inspired her to record short videos of her sensory play activities to share with other parents on social media. What began as an experiment has developed into a booming social media and web presence, as herMothercould brand has attracted more than 640,000 followers on Instagram and 40,000 monthly visitors to her website, along with business partnerships and other opportunities.

Here’s how Myriam went from being a young learning mother to a full-time social media and web creator, promoting her growing, family-friendly brand across multiple online platforms. 

Launching on social media

After creating her Mothercould websiteand a brief foray onto Instagram in 2016, Myriam paused  content development to focus on her family. In late 2018, after giving birth to her second daughter Emma, she relaunched herMothercould brand on Instagram, featuring kids’ play activities and recipes. “There were no videos out there bringing play into food and activity recipes,” she recalls. “It just exploded and the feedback from other parents and educators was so rewarding. It inspired me to keep creating.”