BlogSat

I recently had two nearly identical chats with a couple of engineers I'd worked with in the past, and remember a similar chat with a colleague a year or so ago.... Him : "I had a conversation with my manager about my bonus the other day. It was a bad talk." Me: "Why?" Him: "As long as I have enough for food and rent I don't really care as much about how much I make. I just want to work on something I like - But h e kept trying to tell me that the bonus was important. I felt awkward. " Substitute "bonus" for "salary" or "promotion" and I've come to realize how often this conversation takes place. I like the break-up above between "Extrinsic" and "Intrinsic" needs. Why this happens: As a manager or a management team, the direct "extrinsic" reward is the most natural thing to focus on to reward an employee - getting a bonus/promotion/increase takes effort on your part and feels like...

A couple of weeks before Jack Dorsey came back to Twitter , a friend im-ed me a link of a talk Dorsey had given at Stanford earlier in the year. The line before the link to that talk was "He is the next Steve Jobs." Ever the skeptic, I responded with "Hmmm....really? I'll be sure to check the video out." I did early next week. I was particularly curious, because for months I'd admired both the execution of and the product design at Square , the company Dorsey had founded; and I'd loved his Golden Gate talk (embedded below.) There's a lot of interesting things he said there, but the part that really resonated for me was the point he made about building something beautiful: The idea of "Let's build the Golden Gate bridge. Something memorable and you can be proud of - not some crappy bridge that may work but no one remembers or drives on" - particularly since as he says, so many people are ok with building crappy bridges. How can anyone...

So I was reading an ebook last week, and came across a quote that I liked. My first thought wasn't "I should write this down" , it was "I want to tweet this." My ebook reading software wasn't equipped for it, and it wasn't trivial to do so I didn't, but I expect most ebook reading software will be updated to do this in the next couple of releases and probably encourage me to as well. Why should reading be left behind? Twitter is already saving live TV . As I look back on the last week watching the Cricket World Cup , a huge part of it for me was watching my Twitter and Facebook feeds for reactions and being part of them. My parents were the only ones that actually called me during the match, but I felt connected to so many more people through FB and the Big T . Wether you're shopping, eating out, playing games, even searching ... apparently "everything gets better with social." We all have a very human, internal urge to express ours...

A retweet led me to this post on the GothamGal blog which makes a very valid case for acting more confident and (as I read it) eliminating a significant amount of doubt from your statements, and some meekness in your approach. The post really is more about women, and how this applies more to them, but it really applies more to a certain personality type or default behavior. Yes, as with most things, I somehow managed to make this about me. :) The reality is that people like their leaders confident, and their arguments simple. On an average, men are more confident and see things more in black and white (i.e. simpler), and this sits well with others when they look for leadership or need to be convinced. I identified a few simple things I could do differently to make things move faster. Eliminate unnecessary word in emails: I use "I think"/"I believe"/"I suspect"/"One way to look at this" a lot. Its not because I'm waffling on arguments I...

I stumbled on to a great post on the EverydayUX blog, that referred to this post on another site . The relevant excerpt below: So which PEOPLE are innovators? And what drives them? The folks I’ve been impressed with have some key attributes: They are better observers than most They ask good questions They listen deeply They are OK working alone or in small groups, but ideally, connect well They are fierce about their passions, and believe deeply in their convictions They are courageous and hungry They aren’t so wedded to your organization that perpetuating the organization (and their place within it and its pecking order) takes priority and so… They often need care and protection most from the same institution that needs them. I agree with the summary and conclusion. Great companies need to ensure that they build an environment where people that question authority and challenge conventional thinking and incrementalism (i.e are able to drive innovation) are protected from the natural t...

About five years ago in my first quarter of business school, as professor gave me a piece of advice during his office hours that affected me far more than I could have anticipated. He said, "I really need to hear more from you in class. In the last 2 months, you've spoken exactly twice. I remembered you because you said something smart, but you seem to enjoy listening and thinking a little too much. That's ok, but that's not the way to excel either in this class or whatever it is that you will do after you leave here." My hand went up in all my classes (except Accounting!) a lot more often after that and by the end of my first year I'd become one of those people that still kinda annoy me. The high point was when a friend came up to me after one particularly loquacious performance when I really felt strong and remarked "I think I just parted with good money to listen to you have an hour-long conversation with the prof." I've dialed it back, bu...

A few weeks ago, after a colleague started complaining to me about some slides he had to make that would shortly be buried in the appendix of a presentation his boss' boss was going to possibly give, I ended up saying "Eh, just pay the tax as efficiently as you can and move on." I've used this analogy often over the time I've had to earn a living, and ended up explaining it yet again a few days ago. Most of us (hopefully) like our jobs. We're excited by the things we're trying to accomplish or some of the things we do day-to-day to accomplish them or (if you're really lucky) both. However there will always be things you need to do that you don't necessarily enjoy and or even think necessary. This is in effect a at-work tax on you: on your time, energy, and general bucket of happiness. As a UChicago grad student, I'm trained to be deeply suspicious of taxes and deadweight losses . But here, as is often the case with taxes, some are necessary an...

I read a great couple of posts today on bus as I headed back into the city (sprinkled in the middle of a Dexter mini-marathon) First, this great post by Ben Horowitz on why CEOs shouldn't feel the pressure to be needlessly positive and often honesty (and transparency) is the best policy. Second, this incredibly thoughtful essay by William Deresiewicz on what constitutes leadership: and the importance of focus and iteration, and the role of solitude in it. I recommend reading both, especially the latter. There's a lot that I took away that applies to anyone supposed to, or who aspires to, lead (CEO or not) Be honest and direct: sugar-coating doesn't work. You're almost never as good at spinning things as you think you are and people can tell. Being honest will get more people thinking about the problems you're trying to solve and that's a good thing. They're more likely to respect you for it as well. Any organization becomes a bureaucracy after a while. ...

Warning: I was in bit of a ranting mood as I boarded a late-evening bus back to NYC when I started this post, but didn't get around to finishing it much later, so the tone may change a bit. :) There's an interesting interview with Mark Pincus., well.. there's an interview with Mark Pincus, in the NYTimes. Now Zynga is extremely successful right now, and Mark Pincus seems like a pretty smart guy. I was at a conference where Pincus was on a panel and he was by far the most interesting and opinionated person there, and clearly pretty sharp. But I have a problem with this article. I find the "everyone is a CEO" terminology annoying and condescending. Why on earth do people feel like they need to be told to be the CEOs of something to do their job well? The real problem I have with this: its seldom true. I appreciate the power of the words to inspire and the empowerment that people feel when you tell them this. For example, you're probably a lot more likely to t...

Google has proved a surprisingly good place not just for great work and good food, but also pretty savvy management advice. Something I've heard from execs at Google a few times (appropriately!) now is the need to repeat to get your message it across. I've heard it stated two ways that I've really liked: "By the time you start to get bored saying something, is the time other people are starting to believe what you're saying" or "It takes saying something 20 times, before people start to get it" I have to admit this was something that annoyed me when I first started here. I'm sure I encountered it before Google as well, but it seemed much more often out here (both internal and external to Google.) I'd often find myself thinking "...but I'd told you this" or "we'd talked about this last week" even as I went over it yet again. It'd get a little annoying. But I've realized that ideas and messages just take time...

Yet more evidence that multi-tasking is bad for you . This isn't surprising to me; I know its bad for me; it reduces the overall quality of work and ease with which I'd get things done; yet I can't keep away from it. The GTD methodology suggests something similar and has the same core thesis and begs you to avoid multi-tasking: do one thing at a time focus on it completely and immerse yourself in it; that's the way to enjoy yourself. use tools (lists, rules about when to do stuff etc.) to schedule what to do when and what to drop; Easier said than done, but reminding yourself always helps.:)

I was having a conversation with a colleague this week, and we ended up talking about what were the qualities of a great manager. We ended up talking about a lot of things: how much the person cares about her/his reports, leadership, inspiration, IQ points, ability to be strategic, integrity, etc. etc. I realized the answers varied for each person, but suddenly remembered the very simple litmus test. If your manager left to go do something else, would you want to follow her/him?

I did something super-uncharacteristic in a meeting today, and felt both bad and stupid right after. It felt very unlike me to do it, but I knew exactly why.....Some people are more easily influenced by styles/personalities/mannerisms of others. I've suspected for quite a while that I'm one of those people. :) I tend to pick up good habits/mannerisms/styles from people, but I realize the flip is true as well. So what's a person to do? Here's what I think: Step 1: awareness is key: watch out always, always, always for what you're doing. Examine your life and actions continuously. I've been able to do this once-in-a-while, but have never been able to keep this "always-on" Step 2: have a strong sense of the kind of person you want to be: in your personal and professional life. An easy way to get there is to have role-models; multiple role-models or even more granular (e.g. a programming role-model, analysis role-model, meeting role-model, a presentation...

About a year ago, a senior manager at Google told me when I asked about how to deal with what seemed like a political situation I saw, by saying "Do what you always do. Be apolitical, make good decisions that work for everyone, and you'll find that it works out." A few things at work, and the section on judgement in the Netflix preso I mentioned below, got me thinking about that again. I realize that applies not just to political behavior, but a bunch of other bad habits that creep into large companies (e.g. not sharing info deliberately, gossiping etc. etc.) I believe that staying above the rat-race rather than joining it, is in fact that smartest option in the long-run. On the other hand, this kinda thinking smacks of UChicago efficient market kinda thinking; and we know how that's viewed right now .:) Personally, I'll stick with this, with the only caveat that acting "good" doesn't mean being unaware of the "evil." Try, and try hard, t...

We had a pretty great training on estimation and planning of engineering projects the other day. I got a lot out of it as did everyone else; I expect it will significantly affect the way we work over the next few months. But anyway, this little nugget the instructor threw in somewhere in the middle seemed post-it worthy for some reason.

Below is a brilliant internal presentation from, by and for the folks at Netflix . There's so, so much good stuff on employee rentention and empowerment, managing people, and corporate culture and processes that I just don't want to pick anything out. Culture Read it when you have the chance. Personally, there's a lot I think that Google does right, and a lot that we could do better. More than that, as Google grows I think there's a lot for us (and any company that is growing rapidly) to chew on and make sure we don't get wrong.

Amazon bought Zappos ... Apparently this is a good move. Zappos' interesting hiring practices were pretty interesting for me to read about. There's a Bezos video that I liked, and a letter from the Zappos CEO to his team that I liked even more. However, it was a great section at the end of the letter (pasted below), that sparked off a thought in my head. It surprising because its naturally funny, and consistent with the writer's style. I'd heard a remark at work a little earlier in the week about having a sense of "whimsy" as you designed products and you go about your work. I think its done well really rarely, and as companies become larger, humor and whimsy (in communication and in product design) becomes either discouraged or something attempted to be done my committee (and hence not that funny.) ----------------------------- Q: I'm a business/financial reporter. Can you talk like a banker and use fancy-sounding language that we can print in a b...

I like the idea . Somehow, I've ended up reading about the idea twice or thrice this week. I loved the idea of one.   Jim Collin's talks about his idea here: " The idea of a personal board of directors came to me when I was in my 20s. I drew a little conference table on a sheet of paper with seven chairs around it and wrote names on them of people I admired. I pasted it above my computer and would look up and in my mind poll the personal board when I was wrestling with tough questions. If I was really stuck, I might talk to some of them. It's sort of like a group of tribal elders that you create for yourself. " There seems to be a more standardi structured approach as well that talks about the different kinds of qualities that you should look for in the members of your board. Now to just go about creating one. One more New Year resolution to add.  That's one more thing: I haven't done this year's resolutions yet.:)

Someone sent around this list of humorous 404 links . Its an entertaining way to admit to a mistake. The first humorous 404 message I remember is Orkut's " No donut for you. ". It was funny for a while, like the Twitter whale and like all the messages listed above; until I saw it too often. At that point I was just pissed at the site, and the attempt at humor annoyed me even more. Humor works; I'm a big fan of using it as much as possible if its part of the way you think. However a couple of times I've had a rein people in from trying to be funny in an apology email. There are a few reasons for this  No one is ever as funny as they think they are. Sure, humor can make the message more "interesting", but if you're sending an apology there's a chance that people are pissed off,  and I'd like to minimize that chance of the fringe getting marginally more pissed because of an attempt at humor. There's opportunities aplenty to be funny when th...

I was confronted with this when I tried to log in to my IPStat account today. IPStat was a counter service that gave me aggregate stats my blog readership, One of the dangers of using any service is of course what you do when it goes way. One of the first questions we were asked at the startup I first worked at was "What happens if your startup fails and is no longer around?" My first project was in some sense the answer to that very question. (Just to be clear I wrote the 1.X software versions of the LKM.:)) The question clearly extends beyond just startups of course. Having a good plan, or even good messaging, for your users and partners if you go out of business or decide to discontinue service is something everyone should think about. Its hard to get right or do without angering people, but its a responsibility every manager should feel, and there is a genuine business reason: generating as much goodwill as possible does ultimately pay off. I feel really, really bad for ...