Empowering decision making

When Evan, John, and I needed to make a decision, we could usually do it pretty quickly. We were all deep every day in customer conversations, the architecture of our software, and how all the pieces fit together. We could imagine how our decisions today would play out over time. Even though we each had our areas of expertise (Evan wrote a lot of the infrastructure, John wrote a lot of the core product services, I wrote a lot of the API, web, and billing layers) we all knew enough to act as one brain. When you hold the whole picture in your heads and you work together every day, you can make progress incredibly fast. That’s the power of a small team—there are no proxies; you’re just directly solving customer problems with your code.That’s the magic that makes startups so special and so productive. There’s so little overhead to manage, the coordination energy is negligible, and people tend to have a tremendous intrinsic drive because they’re so close … [Read more...] about The “dozen-bagel” secret to preserving startup spirit as your company grows

Making the case for a longer meeting While the thought of longer meetings might make your eyes glaze over, the key reasoning is how longer meetings help address the “why” of the task at hand. It gives people the extra time needed to engage in more thorough and critical discourse, which helps to ensure everyone involved knows exactly in which direction the ship is sailing and how quickly it’s moving. What results is increased long-term efficiency and greater team alignment, which subsequently trickles down into every deliverable or action required to move the project forward. … [Read more...] about The case for longer, more thoughtful meetings

We must next design institutions that are inherently inclusive at every level. Over the past year, we’ve seen powerful movements led by historically marginalized communities take center stage in both government conversations and the public consciousness. Now it is time for institutions to follow their lead, building new models of participatory leadership and intentional culture. This includes designing representation into governance, and developing models of shared power that incorporate healthy practices of compromise and cooperation. Rebuilding for inclusivity requires empathy and courage, but it’s essential to rebuilding public trust. … [Read more...] about In a fragmented reality, Wikipedia isn’t just a refuge. It’s a roadmap

But this upheaval was far from unexpected. The pandemic and ensuing economic turmoil of 2020 merely exacerbated a caregiving and childcare crisis that many experts say was already on the verge of boiling over, even if it has often been given short shrift by politicians and the media. “I actually think we’ve been in a child care crisis for a long time,” economist Betsey Stevenson told Politico in July. “The pandemic has just pulled the lid off it, so we’re all staring at that crisis right now.” … [Read more...] about We’re in the midst of a caregiving crisis. Here’s how Biden may address it

The process of buying a home hasn’t changed a great deal since the 1930s. Sure, there are a few more mortgage loans available, agents have mobile phones and websites, and there’s third-party syndication, but there hasn’t been any major, disruptive thinking in the overall home buying system. Until now. … [Read more...] about Meet Doorsteps, The Company That Wants To Take The Misery Out Of Home Buying