Operating Principles
Inspired by colleagues, 37signals, and Nabeel S. Qureshi, some principles for working more efficiently that resonate with me. It took time to internalize these.
- Be positive. It is hard to sustain the effort to build something if there is a lot of negativity.
- Be specific. Consider prioritization. Instead of using “low/medium/high” (what is the standard for “medium” vs “high”?), how about using “we are (not) doing this now”? Binaries bring clarity.
- Writing is thinking. It enables the exchange of complete thoughts. Amazon has this right. Here are some tools for a culture of writing.
- Get started and show progress. There is always uncertainty (Bayes!), and some things can only be discovered by working on the problem.
- Done is better than perfect. It is hard to anticipate every detail in complex environments (Hayek!). You can iterate. Do not compare to the ideal, compare to the current baseline.
- Move fast. Moving fast forces you to strip things down to the essentials. Act and move on: most decisions are low-risk and reversible.
- There are no solutions, only trade-offs. A solution is just a trade-off that is “optimal.” There is always an opportunity cost.
- Meetings are expensive. Make them count. Have agendas and follow-ups: such “menial” work is high ROI.
- Context is that which is scarce. Ask questions, seek to understand.
