They go deep and I’m here for it.

Ryan emphasizes the effectiveness of the copy-paste method in rapidly exploring alternate options.

He also mentions some shaping and analysis tools including Interrelationship diagrams and Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) Four Forces Diagrams.

A key point that struck a chord with me was his perspective on multiplayer tools like Miro. These tools are primarily valuable during simultaneous brainstorming processes like retrospectives.

Actual shaping typically involves a collective thought process, with a single individual transcribing the outcomes. This concept holds true even when using traditional methods like a whiteboard.

Farnam Street:

The key lesson here is that if we are to intervene, we need a solid idea of not only the benefits of our interventions but also the harm we may cause—the second and subsequent order consequences. Otherwise, how will we know when, despite our best intentions, we cause more harm than we do good?

Farnam Street:

Avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance.

Christoffer Stjernlöf:

The perspectives needed for good engineering (And good management, for that matter):

1. Trust the people doing the work.
2. See the problem for yourself and accept reality.
3. Attend to the big picture.
4. (Work with interactions and trade-offs.)

Roger Martin:

Why on earth spend resources to serve these customers with those stripped-down offerings? It is because the company isn’t sufficiently confident that if it repurposed those resources to increasing penetration of its best segment, it would increase revenues and profitability — even though current penetration was pretty darn low.

…

Every time you are tempted to do more things, recognize that it is most likely a sign of lack of confidence, not a manifestation of confidence. When the temptation strikes, before jumping, ask why you are so underconfident in your current business that you feel the need to channel investment out of it into the new thing — whatever that new thing is.

James Clear:

Not being busy is a competitive advantage. Most people are so strapped for time they can’t take advantage of lucky opportunities or quickly resolve unexpected problems. Maintain a bias toward action, but leave room for the unexpected.

From a leaked internal Google document:

While our models still hold a slight edge in terms of quality, the gap is closing astonishingly quickly. Open-source models are faster, more customizable, more private, and pound-for-pound more capable. They are doing things with $100 and 13B params that we struggle with at $10M and 540B. And they are doing so in weeks, not months.

Julia’s posts inspire me to write more.

the most canonical paths across the shared surface of the world’s music, starting at the point of some particular artist and going…outward, every other direction at once.

I’ve enjoyed the playlists generated by this so far.

Years of rumours come to an end. It looks like a nice improvement over the Q2.

Folks seem down on the tiltable screen. I find that to be pretty useful feature on my GFX 100S so I reckon I’d dig it.

Kandi Wiens:

However it manifests, it’s important to remember that workplace cynicism isn’t due to some sort of character flaw or being a “glass-half-empty” person. It originates from the workplace environment, not the individual. Many experts, in fact, see workplace cynicism and depersonalization as a form of defensive coping: Becoming distant and withdrawn is a self-protective measure that places a buffer between an employee and the emotional exhaustion and energy depletion their job is causing. Even relentless optimists’ protective measures can be broken down when they’re exposed to high degrees of stress, especially when that stress continues unabated.

I hadn’t made the connection between rising cynicism and burnout before.

Simon Harris:

Most people want to improve, know that improvement requires change, and want to take an active part in it. Engage with them early and often, be explicit about what is known, and what is still to be worked through, and help them understand for themselves how to use their own skills to drive the change you want to see.

Simon digs into building the currency you need to spend when rolling out change—trust and understanding.

Kristi Hedges:

Inspired people make inspired workers make inspired companies. Encourage workers to define passion in any way they want, and align your workplace to support a wide variety of situations.

This means stretching your own ideas of what ambition looks like. Is it better to have a productive worker who leaves early to train for a marathon or a burned-out worker who’s strapped to their desk? How do you judge the person who declines a promotion because they love their job exactly as it is?

Let’s not punish people who have an updated model of success that works for them.

Jessica Kerr:

There’s collaboration overhead to get interrelated pieces working together. Design, product, and engineering don’t “coordinate,” they collaborate. They work together every day, on a single output.

…

Then there’s alignment overhead. Alignment means we all know why we’re doing this work. This shared understanding lets us make the thousand detailed decisions of the day in ways that support the real purpose of our shared effort.