Links: 1-25-2021

How to get promoted – Zero Credibility
Depressing read… do the opposite: "… an opportunist’s career advice is: ignore OKRs, switch projects well before the consequences of your decisions can be measured, act happy and easy-going, package bad news as appeals for slow systemic adjustments, don’t make anyone look bad, perform rituals with enthusiasm, grow headcount faster than baseline, let work invent itself, follow management fashions, avoid acute failures, believe this sincerely."
(categories: career management )
The Mike Speiser Incubation Playbook – kwokchain
Quote: "Principles are only principles if you’d hold them even when they are costly."
(categories: principles leadership entrepreneurship saas enterprise )
Learning Curve: Learning to Suffer – Backpacking Light
Suffering, discomfort, goals.
(categories: discipline hiking outdoors comfort discomfort )

Links: 12-31-2020

Marc Andreessen On Productivity, Scheduling, Reading Habits, Work, and More – Andreessen Horowitz
Great blog post / interview. One quote: "One, they just never have any time to actually think. And that turns out to be a fairly important thing."
(categories: habits productivity betting strategy management time focus reading )
Poisoned Just Enough: Why I’m so Optimistic About 2021
Some positive / optimistic things in this blog post but this quote: "The Future of Work has suddenly accelerated: working from home has been greatly expanded, with almost universal approval. In the future, we will still be able to hang out with our coworkers in person, but we can do it on our own terms instead of 9-to-5 every day just because the boss says so." and the following paragraphs likely only apply to a small part of the working population. It’s better for some… but for many, it’s much much worse.
(categories: working covid remote-first 2020 )

Slack Is the Right Tool for the Wrong Way to Work | The New Yorker
Quote: "… employees who use Slack check communications tools more frequently than non-users, accessing them once every five minutes on average—an absurdly high rate of interruption." That’s insane.
(categories: work focus gtd attention )

Bringing an AI Product to Market – O’Reilly
Guardrail metrics were a new thing to read about, need to read more about the experimentation / AB testing parts.
(categories: ml ai product-management machine-learning metrics )

The (Not Failing) New York Times — Mine Safety Disclosures
Strategy: diagnosis (advertising is dead), guiding principle (journalism matters), coherent actions (clean up balance sheet, invest in content & tech, launch new revenue streams).
(categories: business strategy nytimes.com )
Work on what matters | StaffEng
Quote: "… the only viable long-term bet on your career is to do work that matters, work that develops you and to steer towards companies that value genuine expertise."
(categories: career management productivity leadership )
How to waste your career, one comfortable year at a time – Valley Girl Newsletter
Quote: "1) Accomplishment: Have I done anything noteworthy these last three months? 2) Impact: Would I write a line in my resume about the work I have done over these three months? Would I value this specific work experience if I was hiring for my own company? 3) Growth/Future alignment: Have I acquired valuable insights or skills? Are these skills aligned with my future goals? 4)Challenge: Have there been days when I was thinking about a work problem in the shower so profoundly that I forgot if I used the soap or not? 5) Community: Am I excited and happy to go to work every morning and see my teammates. Do I believe in the mission, vision, and leadership of this team or company? "
(categories: career )