Always carry a water bottle

5 things worth sharing this week (stolen from the best)

Hi! So I’m trying something a little different. I love RSS, and subscribe to some amazing folks. Over time the list of things I bookmark just builds up and up. I’m sitting on nearly 500 things I’ve bookmarked as interesting.

I’m slowly going through my favorites of that list, and writing them down to share. Hope you enjoy these as much as I did! And yes, if you’re doin the math I’ll never make it through the list, but that’s just fine. 

Meta’s Favorite Product Isn’t AI. It’s the Copy Button.

Zuck knows how to copy and subsume well. He has been doing it since the beginning of Facebook. And that is why I think it is in the company’s DNA. To understand this pattern, look no further than Meta’s secret weapon: a small startup it acquired called Onavo.

I’ve had friends working at Meta, as well as Google, and I’ve asked them about the culture of the two companies. Now, mind you, these are folks working in the product realms as individual contributors—not leading teams or divisions. But their perspective was insightful. 

Meta is mostly bottom up. Engineers have a lot of autonomy, ability to spread their wings, and scratch the itches they see. 

Google is more top down. Initiatives get suggested and handed down, and amazing engineers jump in and figure out how to solve them.

This isn’t what I would have expected, I’d have thought it was opposite, given the history of these companies.

But there’s probably an additional element here that I’ve been missing. Meta is still founder led. Mark can shift on a dime, pay for initiatives, and bring can’t-get-fired energy to anything that strikes his fancy. Sundar can’t. He’s not a founder. 

So I wonder if there’s something in the middle here. Meta operates ground up, except when Mark jumps in with a passion on an area. Google treads more carefully, iniatives have to get approval from the top, and won’t proceed with budget unless they have a reason to exist. That doesn’t mean great teams aren’t pushing for innovation, but they reach a ceiling if it’s not already in the minds of leaders. 

Again, this is all from the outside, so I only have limited insight. But what makes this post from Om so interesting is Mark’s shamless copying of anything he sees around him. After all, stealing isn’t wrong. What fascinates me is how much it works, time and again. Meta sees someone innovating, they copy, and the trajectory of the competition slows. 

In fact I don’t think Meta should be villainized for copying ideas. Execution and scaling is what matters. 

Sometimes nerds just have to explain something

I mean this with as much love and respect as I can muster, but nerds like us can be insufferable. One behavior I’ve witnessed in us—and yes, that includes me—is the constant need to explain things.

Years ago, I was listening to a developer colleague explain a problem. The other person clearly didn’t understand the technical parts of what was being discussed (and I didn’t either). Without fail, the developer began each sentence with the word “so.” He’d lean back, stretch out his arms, take a short breath, and muster up the energy to explain a topic.  

He didn’t mean to diminish anyone else in the room, but he couldn’t help it. It was in his nature to explain and try to simplify things for the benefit of others. And to his credit, this guy is brilliant—he works at a FAANG company and has had a fantastic career.  

Since then, I’ve tried to walk a line between not being condescending, but being helpful where it actually benefits someone. When there’s an opportunity to explain a concept, I’ll first gauge where someone is at to determine how much detail is worth sharing. It’s not perfect, but it helps prevent embarrassment when we assume someone doesn’t know.

Quoting Dustin Ewers

This view is based on a misunderstanding of why people pay for software. A business creates software because they think that it will give them some sort of economic advantage. The investment needs to pay for itself with interest. There are many software projects that would help a business, but businesses aren’t going to do them because the return on investment doesn’t make sense.

I’m going through my old bookmarks and this quote from Dustin, requoted by Simon, is an interesting one. 

I’ve switched from product design focus back to product management, trying to figure out how the features we’re building will increase business velocity, and ultimately bring a return to stakeholders while benefitting users. 

Instead of thinking that I can do this without engineers, I’m thinking about how the engineering team we have can increase our speed to shipping, delight and surprise the folks who will use the software, and ultimately test a hundred ideas in a time where we might have tested three. 

This kind of thinking has me excited for the future. 

Tiny corners

The more I look around the web the more I’m convinced we should all treasure our own tiny corners of the web. My site is precious. Precious for me. It is mine to do what I want. I can build it, I can destroy it, I can shape it, I can let it rot. I can change it or let it stay still. I can make it super busy or let it go dormant. I can make it welcoming or hostile.

We don’t own our content on social media platforms. We can benefit from it, connect with others in a superficial way, and maybe build friendships that move into other channels. But ultimately social apps exist to increase our usage to drive advertisement. 

That’s not inherently wrong. But it’s not where I want to spend the majority of my time. In fact I’ve mostly pulled myself from social media since last year, and the joy of spending more time connecting with people outside these walls, writing, thinking, creating, has more than made up for the time away.

Keep Calm and Carry a Towel

I’ve slowly been turning into someone who just carries a bunch of extra stuff in the car at all times. It’s frustrating when you get somewhere and need something — like a towel — and even though you have dozens of them at home, you don’t have one right now.

I’ve been a fan of minimalism for a long time. But I also like being comfortable and relaxed. Jarrod’s list is more suited to outdoor activites, but I just snagged the pillow he suggested for a flight next week. 

My list is a little different, but useful for me. During the workweek, or on trips, I typically carry around a 25L backpack, filled with water bottle, sunglasses, laptops, iPad, polishing cloth, a carabiner, hair ties, and other misc items. 

But when I’m not working, I still carry a 4L sling. I pack it with a water bottle, sunglasses, sometimes an iPad mini for sketching and note taking, wallet, AirPods, hair ties, and other small misc stuff. 

I’ve noticed that having these small, quality of life items around, is a bit more to think about and travel with (and carry all my stuff), but ultimately makes for less stress.