Jake
@jake
writer, creative programmer, running Printernet and trying to make the internet more interesting.
Jake
jakeweber.net
Vibe Check: o3 Is Here—And It’s Great
every.to
The mathematical genius Alexander Grothendieck once had a metaphor for solving problems. He suggested that instead of forcing open an impossibly hard kernel with a hammer and chisel, one should simply let it sit in water and wait. Over time, the shell softens and opens with ease. This is also true in writing; time is the only non-substitutable ingr... See more
Epiphanies Come From Waiting
What you don’t want to happen is unsustainable stress, or for people to not share failure or tell you when you’re wrong. So you need to actively fight this as the leader by: a) asking for dissent (“does everyone agree this is the right path? Does anyone disagree”? and letting a silence hang until someone speaks) b) reward debate.
Sam Gerstenzang • Operating Well: What I Learned at Stripe
When something isn’t getting done, it’s because the person a) doesn’t have the time b) doesn’t have the skill or c) has some sort of psychological block. The third case is surprisingly common.
Sam Gerstenzang • Operating Well: What I Learned at Stripe
- Can we re-frame this in terms of the customer’s problem?
- What’s the soonest we could get this done?
- What would you need to get this done tomorrow instead of next week?
- What would we need to do to get twice as many customers? Ten times as many customers?
- How does this relate to our goal? Is this the most important thing we can do for our goal?
- What’s mos
Sam Gerstenzang • Operating Well: What I Learned at Stripe
If you don’t learn anything in the interview, that’s bad. If you are bored in the interview, that’s really bad. A good interview should feel like a conversation, not questions and responses.