There are two primary reasons to improve meetings across any organization. Understanding meetings Breaking the above down into sections: When to Schedule Meetings Meetings are the most expensive type of communication in an organization as it is synchronous. When I mean synchronous I mean that the people really have to all find the time to […]
It is common to see people making New Year’s resolutions like ‘Be more healthy’, ‘Excercise more’, ‘Read more’ etc. Typically these do next to nothing to help you be more motivated. Instead have more specific goals in mind when you end the year. For example, say to yourself that you want to have read 10 […]
When discussing investment, the most frequent item of discussion is always about what hot stock is having a run right now or what latest trend is worth putting your money in. (Bitcoin, NFTs anyone?) Most people ignore the best investment available at any given time. Themselves. “Your best investment is yourself. There is nothing that […]
In David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, one of the most important characters in the book next to the eponymous hero is Mr. Wilkins Micawber. His famous quote: Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen, nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. Although this was written […]
As your company grows, it might be tempting to diversify into many different tech stacks. A more diverse technical team with different backgrounds and experiences will naturally want to start bringing the tools they have used before in previous jobs. While there is nothing innately wrong in that, be aware of what you are doing […]
One of the things you learn about in high school is entropy. Entropy is basically the disorder in any system and that always increases with time. This concept of physics surprisingly applies to business and life in general as well. You need an enormous amount of energy to keep a system in order. That means […]
Early on you might be lucky enough to be able to choose between different career paths including choices between small and large companies that you could work for. While the lure of a glittering career at a large company is understandable: prestigious name recognition, great salary and benefits and an almost surefire guarantee of company […]
One of the first things that I initially struggled with as we grew is what title a new hire should have. If someone has more than 5 years experience does it mean they are a senior, while if they have more than 10 years they are a principal engineer and so forth? Turns out this […]
Many companies start with the best of intentions, to serve their customers, and to build the best possible product and to be the best at what they do. Slowly, however, something happens to them. Initially, the change is small, insignificant, and doesn’t hurt anyone. One thing leads to another and before you can see it, […]
As I started managing people, this is one of those things that I wish I found out early. As you hire someone and work with them, you need to trust them completely that they are going to work out and that they are going to do their job and that they are going to do […]
If you read books or blogs on hiring, you might be led to believe that there is a magic set of top attributes that make a difference for a hire or that play a critical role in predicting the success of a team member in a company. After hiring (and sadly having to let go) […]
This is a book that I have been working for a while on. Given the recent interest in remote work, I went ahead and published it so that it could be helpful to everyone interested. This is still work in progress, but can be considered as a good starting point to read. The book is […]
If you are into photography, you have to visit Iceland. Here’s a quick photographer’s guide to Iceland. Iceland is like Disneyland for Photographers with gorgeous and breathtaking scenery at every single turn. There is so much to see and photograph: Glaciers, Snow capped Mountains, Beaches, Cliffs, Lava Fields, Fjords, Tunnels, Waterfalls, Bleak Landscapes, Lush Landscapes, […]
In September 2013, during our 1 year stay in India, we visited North India, doing a quick tour of the capital of India: Delhi, then to the see the Taj Mahal at Agra followed by a trip to the romantic desert cities of Jaisalmer and Jodhpur. Even in september, Delhi was blistering hot and our […]