Small teams (6 people or fewer) can build great products, but they need to be given autonomy to set their own goals, prioritize their roadmap, pick metrics, talk to users, and ship code fast.
Product experiments can be a lot “dumber” than you realize. For example, instead of building out a full feature, try a fake door test. This is where you add options or buttons with nothing behind them to check that people will click on them.
AI Prompt Engineering QuickStart Guide with Tina Huang
Mastering prompt engineering enhances AI output quality by providing clear context, defined tasks, and specific output formats, resulting in more tailored and effective responses. Tips and examples illustrate best practices for meaningful interactions.
If you’re going to pivot, make it big. Stewart Butterfield pivoted two video game companies into Flickr and Slack. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman says startup founders can pivot from failure to success, but only if they “slash and burn” the rest of their business. If it looks similar, go further.
“If you aren't excited about what you're working on, pivot. It's as simple as that. You'll achieve more if you're working on something that feels yours.”
Engineers who focus on backend and distributed systems can usually verbalize their impact clearer, and could see faster career growth – including getting into leadership positions. This creates a reinforcing cycle: as most engineering executives have a backend engineering background: they will recognize and reward backend contributions more.