Vignettes

Bite sized

This is just a place for small things that I've thought about that don't deserve their own pages. No reason to write content to just hit a minimum word count.

The Best Career Advice I've Ever Received#

"Find someone you trust. Work on something important to them." - Yannick Bercy (RIP)

Feedback is a Gift#

At some point in your career you've heard that. And, it's true, but not in the way you might think.

It's a gift, because you can not buy it, it has to be earned. Think about the best gifts that you have ever given or received. Rarely are they the most expensive, but they are the ones that show the most thought and caring. Generally they are great because they are unexpected and thoughtful.

When I truly give the gift of feedback, I'm making myself vulnerable to your disappointment, but only because I believe you have earned that trust. If you have not, then you can't truly expect to get a meaningful gift. The best you can hope for is an entertaining Secret Santa gift.

I've given feedback in the past where it wasn't earned. It just creates resentfulness.

Earn the gift. Give the gift carefully.

30 Years Later, Bluetooth is Still Horrible#

I just wish the same guy that designed the Game Boy had designed Bluetooth. Or how about the engineers behind the Nokia 3210?

Getting People to Change#

Sometimes you just have to wait for your ideas, to become their ideas.

Which is to say, there are times you can be right but the people you are working with haven't had the time to process and internalize all of the facts or experiences.

But, if you really want to be successful, when they finally unveil "their idea" and it was the same as yours from a month ago, the only appropriate response is:

"That sounds like a good idea."

You're going to want to say: "I told you so." Resist. Say it to yourself over a beer. You'll know, and everything will be right with the universe.

How to Work With Your Boss#

The best way to determine how your boss wants you to respond to their requests and interact with them, is to observe how they interact with their boss. In general it is an expression of their internal value system.

  • Are they super-responsive and drop everything when they get an email?
  • Do they expect well polished Powerpoints?
  • Do they value speeling nor grammar?
  • Do they emphasize relationships over disagreement?
  • Do they like pineapple on their pizza?
  • Do they prefer well engineered solutions or fast solutions?
  • Do they have their phone available on the weekends?

You're as Competent as a 5-year old#

In the spheres that I have years of experience, you're as competent as a 5-year old to me. In the spheres that you have years of experience, I'm as competent as a 5-year old to you.

To pervert the famous poker quote, if you're not sure who the 5-year old is, it's you.

Via Tom Denton and Facebook, as much as that pains me.

This especially applies to:

  • Investing
  • Medicine
  • Quantum Mechanics

Problems#

Most problems look insignificant and easy to solve, from 30,000 feet (10.000 meters)

College#

  1. Read the material before the class.
  2. Start the homework the day it is assigned
  3. A lot of work is more like physical work than mental, you are limited by how fast you can work. (e.g. programming assignments)
  4. Study for the tests. Open book, multiple choice tests are a trap.

Should#

From a Farnam Street podcast.

When someone comes to you with an idea or project they're passionate about, don't offer suggestions to make it .2% better. It's tempting but demotivating. The brilliant saying is:

"Don't 'should' all over the project."

Work vs Love#

“Do what you love” is for amateurs. “Love what you do” is the mantra for professionals. - Seth Godin

Indispensable People#

"The graveyards of Europe are filled with indispensible men." -Misattributed to Charles De Gaulle, but really, an old saying first documented by Elbert Hubbard.

The idea being, in reality, no one is indispensable. It will be sad/inconvenient if they are gone, but they are not indispensible.

Grandparents#

Grandparents are critical, because they help prevent problems from perpetuating every other generation. Let me explain.

Everyone has things that happened to them that they say "I'll never do that with my children." But, they often don't actually understand the context and the tradeoffs, because, well, they're kids. So, they prevent that for their children, and thereby cause the problem that their parents wanted to make sure "never happened to their children".

Grandparents help provide the context on the original so it doesn't just change into an every-other-generation thing.