tl;dr:Andrew, the CTO at Meta, discusses how “your greatest strengths almost certainly dictate your greatest weaknesses... I have always considered communication a strength of mine. I enjoy speaking and writing, and do so often. I am forceful in championing my point of view. It took years to realize that I was “communicating” so much that I wasn’t listening. I was either drowning out my peers or waiting for my turn to speak.” Andrew discusses how this was a pivotal moment of growth for him.
tl;dr:Andrew, CTO at Meta, discusses the importance of storytelling at work: “Too often we present our work as a series of facts. The sad truth is that most humans are bad at remembering facts. When our audience is in a related conversation days later the data we shared isn’t likely to be top of mind anymore. Our impact remains localized. But humans are amazing at remembering stories. We are suckers for anything with narrative context, dramatic tension, and a satisfying or poignant resolution.”
tl;dr:The environment you are working in has a rate of change (entropy) e.g. competitors, regulators, consumer behavior. The relationship between this rate and the unit of work you undertaking is critical to understand: (1) If the unit of work is bigger than the rate of change, then you will fall behind. (2) If your unit of work is smaller than the rate of change you are likely driving change for others. Sometimes you have an irreducibly large bit of work that doesn’t fit inside the entropy window e.g. a re-architecture. The likely outcome is that midway through the very expensive program you’ll find yourself having to start it over because the environment you are building for continues to evolve.
tl;dr:“Incentives are superpowers; set them carefully.” The Cobra Effect is when the solution for a problem unintentionally makes the problem worse. Andrew believe this issue is more widespread than anticipated. He provides several examples, including: everyone sharing feedback directly instead of through managers. This leads to people withholding valuable feedback to maintain relationships or damaging relationships if they can’t share negative feedback elegantly.
tl;dr:Andrew gives us tips on writing, leading with: "I believe in this concept so completely that I’ll take the importance of writing a step further: I find it valuable to write even if only for my own benefit. Writing is a linear process that forces a tangle of loose connections in your brain through a narrow aperture exposing them to much greater scrutiny. In my experience, discussion expands the space of possibilities while writing reduces it to its most essential components."
tl;dr:From the CTO at Meta: "One of the most common anti-patterns I see that can create conflict in an otherwise collaborative environment is people asking for permission instead of advice. This is such an insidious practice that it not only sounds reasonable, it actually sounds like the right thing to do: “Hey, I was thinking about doing X, would you be on board with that?”" Andrew argues that the problem with asking for permission is that you’re implicitly asking someone else to take some responsibility for your decision while asking for advice creates advocates for your idea but doesn't saddle them with responsibility.
tl;dr:15 traits valued by the CTO at Meta: (1) Ownership: Valuing individuals who take full responsibility for their tasks, allowing others to trust that these tasks will be handled competently without constant oversight. (2) Rigor: Preferring team members who think thoroughly and exhaustively, understanding all alternatives, assumptions, and limitations to ensure well-informed decision-making. (3) Bias for Action: Appreciating those who recognize the cost of gathering information and the cost of delay, and who act decisively to maintain progress.
tl;dr:From the CTO at Meta: "Whatever simple explanations lack in nuance, they make up for in power. People remember them. They become the basis for future knowledge... A good team faced with a hard problem will produce a rigorous document. A great team faced with the same problem will produce a single page. People often aspire to explain the complexity they uncover. But the opposite is more valuable."
tl;dr:“Consider the next week of your life. How would you like to spend your time? Write down all the things you’d like to do and assign them rough percentages of how much of your time they should take. Account for your obligations first. With your remaining time try to give more weight to things that give you energy. Focus on tasks that play to your personal strengths. Now audit where you have actually been spending your time without judgement. Resist the temptation to explain the difference between your ideal and actual allocation. I have been doing this exercise every few months for a decade. I haven’t once found that my actual allocation matches my target. So I make corrections to my schedule.”
tl;dr:To avoid bottlenecks in product development, horizontal teams should establish clear guidelines and standards, allowing vertical teams to work efficiently. This frees up time for horizontal experts to focus on complex issues and enables faster progress in the future.