Michele Marcucci: the migrating web wizard who makes it look so damn easy
A web service and platform is a bit like synchronized swimming: it’s beautiful, flows seamlessly and is executed with what looks like no effort at all. The reality is quite different for each move takes strength, resilience, discipline and technique. We often forget there is someone floating upside-down, with no way to breath, somehow moving exactly like the person beside her, doing splits and jumps like we never would be able to do on the ground, with normal breathing conditions.
A lot of StreetLib’s under water work is done by Michele Marcucci, Senior Web architect in our tribe. I’m not sure he would agree with the comparison but, when we use the web and all its wonders, we often forget the work it takes to get the system behind up and running. We actually often forget the system behind all together: and that’s what developers and web engineers are here to do.
When I published the first “meet the tribe post” here, I asked Marta D’Asaro (subject of this first portrait) who she would like to read about next and she picked Michele.
“ it could be nice to know a little bit more about Michele Marcucci and his life in Thailand”
You read right: Michele is in Thailand. (full disclosure, he’s actually coming back in a couple of days). When I’m talking about our company, I often explain that we are a completely remote team. Our offices are online, our coffee break are actually chats on Google hangout and our meetings are via earphones. Michele usually works from Ancona, not far from our headquarters in Italy but just spent three months on an Thailandese island.
“I’m an Italian guy living and working in Ancona, why work in Ancona if the office is in Loreto? Because our beloved boss wants to leave us be, free to decide where to stay and of course where to work. He doesn’t mind if you work from the HQ offices or from a beach in the middle of nowhere. He only wants you to do your job in the best way you can.”
(I can vouch for that, I’m currently writing this post in the lovely neighborhood of Sant Andreu in Barcelona)
That being said, being in Ancona, half an hour from the offices and in the same time zone is not quite the same as working from another continent with only half a day to share with the rest of the team (and even less so with our US boss Giacomo D’Angelo when he’s in New York!). But Michele dreamt to spend a season in Thailand, in an heaven on earth, escaping the cold Italian winter so he simply sent an email to Antonio and here is how Michele talks about this conversation:
I sent him the usual simple email :-) explaining my plans and his answer was so nice I will never forget it, he started with “Tu sei matto!” (You are crazy!) but he followed with (and this was the best sentence I ever heard from any boss):
“Il lavoro deve servire ad aiutarci a realizzare il più possibile quello che desideriamo, non a impedirlo”
(Our work must help us achieve our dreams, not prevent them) and, well, he accepted without blinking an eye.
So for three month now, Michele and his girlfriend have been living the dream on a remote island by the lovely name of Koh Kood (or Ko Kut). Waking up a bit earlier than usual to be able to enjoy a bit of fresh air before beginning to work. As Italy and the rest of western Europe only wakes up on Michele’s afternoon, he spends the morning working without all the disturbance of emails, projects conversations, support requests from colleagues, etc. The afternoon is then dedicated to teamwork which seems to be a perfect work balance.
“Also, I have to say the big coconut palm trees surrounding me are a really good incentive to work without stress. (…) And yes we have the only Italian restaurant exactly in front of our place (they are friends). Because sometimes, you need a real pizza. :-)”
The wild life in the middle of colored birds, weird insects and amazing views doesn’t interfere with Michele’s normal work days and actually makes them quite dreamy.
Trading daily chores and worries with watering plants and walking by the beach does indeed sound like a dream and it takes a company like StreetLib (and a boss like Antonio) to make such things happen.
Michele first contacted Antonio about working for StreetLib in 2009 (it was Simplicissimus then) as simply and humanly as everything that seems to go down in our company: he wanted a change, wishing to do a lot more of what he loved on his job and came across Antonio Tombolini’s blogfarm (one of many projects from Antonio). He found he could be of help and contacted Antonio to say so, Antonio agreed: as it turned out, he exactly needed someone like Michele.
Like a child on christmas morning (his words, not mine), Michele started working in 2010 on the Simplicissimus project and has been running with it since then. From managing the couple of servers’ system we had then to managing the hundreds we have now plus managing our web services, Michele also grew to be a pivotal element of our tribe with his web development work.
He indeed worked on the powerful e-commerce system now behind StreetLib Stores, and all StreetLib Sell features while integrating them to our publishing services and other tools.
Now working on StreetLib Stores future releases, Michele is getting back to Italy but already planning his next trip to his sunny other home.
