Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

Write down a list of what you’re worried about for each project and person so you can immediately see when the list is getting too long and you need to either dive deeper or back off.

In North America and Europe, thermostats control half a home’s energy bill—something like $2,500/year.

The process of convincing someone to buy and use your product needs to respect the customer, needs to understand their needs at different points of the user experience.

You’re somebody’s customer, too—so talk to whoever is doing work for you.

the product manager has to be a master negotiator and communicator. They have to influence people without managing them. They have to ask questions and listen and use their superpower—empathy for the customer, empathy for the team—to build bridges and mend road maps.

Let the scales tip a little on your work/life balance—let your passion for what you’re building drive you.)

“Customers saved 20–50% on their energy bills,” legal brought out the red pen and changed it to “Typical users experienced up to 20% in energy savings.”

Every Monday morning at Nest, that’s how my management meetings started: Who are the great people we want to hire? Are we making our hiring goals or retention metrics? If not, what’s the problem? What are the roadblocks? And how is the team doing? What issues do people have? How are performance reviews going? Who needs a bonus? How are we going to

Always start the pitching process when you don’t actually need money. You want to be in a position of strength, not buckling under the pressure and making bad choices.