SWLW #639: Removing stuff is never obvious yet often better, It never gets easier, and more.

Like always, I am sharing my best findings for the week. Under "Culture," you'll find content worth reading and sharing with others; you'll need others' help to pull it off. Under "Peopleware," you'll find content that can help you approach situations differently with new perspectives and frameworks.   

 

This Week's Favorite

Scarcity During Experimentation, Abundance During Scaling
3 minutes read.

Short and easy-to-remember principle you can adopt when building products. This is also relevant for your 2nd+ products, not only the first. Resist the temptation to overcome hurdles with money as the first and only solution.

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.

Product [sponsored]

 Promote your product on SWLW and reach over 33,100 leaders 

Culture

Leaked Image of the Latest Humane Inc Product From HP Printer Division
1 minute read.

My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face.

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.


Removing Stuff Is Never Obvious Yet Often Better
5 minutes read.

Greg Kogan wrote a wonderful post about the painful reminder that often taking things out is the incentive you want to promote in your team: "If you're surprised by this outcome, you're not alone. In an internal poll, 7 of every 10 people in the company thought the version with the calculator would do better. [...] We tend to solve problems through addition rather than subtraction. Even when there's tremendous upside to removing something, it's not an obvious option. We're usually rewarded for adding things rather than subtracting, and your company is probably no different. There's rarely an incentive for removing stuff, though there should be."

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.


Improving Team Morale Is Not an Objective
6 minutes read.

"Morale," like "Burnout," is empty-calorie framing. It doesn't help to understand where you should focus or what to change. "The way I see it, if you exclude the topics listed above, team morale is a byproduct of everything else." -- we can gauge how people feel about how we make decisions, the speed (trend) at which we execute, how we approach hiring and retention, where we invest, and what we're optimizing for as a team.

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.


Your Best People Leave When You Slow Them Down.
3 minutes read.

I'm considering printing this post and hanging it on walls at the office. This should be the repeating mantra for every manager to carefully ask themselves, "are we moving faster than last week?" or, as Hiten writes it: "It’s not about workload. Top performers like working hard as long as their effort translates to real progress. The second they feel like they’re running in place, they start checking out. And once they check out mentally, they check out physically soon after."

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.

Peopleware

It Never Gets Easier
4 minutes read.

"The new normal is not awesome. It may not be so much better. It is only different." -- The key challenge I find in growth phases is understanding what I'll be proud of in a year and what I try to optimize for. I make it a story I can tell myself to keep me engaged with higher-purpose efforts while dealing with day-to-day annoyances.

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.


Getting Up to Speed in a New Role
5 minutes read.

"Some of what I read doesn’t relate to my experience, but I still try to imagine how I’d solve the problem stated in the paper. It’s a valuable exercise that helps me get into the right headspace to read the rest of the paper." -- I love how Paul Osman approached learning in a way that would maximize his ability to learn the fundamentals (e.g., reading papers in chronological order).

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.


The Power of a Morning Routine: Build Momentum for a Productive Day
4 minutes read.

"When the first few hours are already filled with purpose, the challenges ahead feel smaller, the distractions weaker, and the path forward clearer." -- I'm far from being religious, yet I can see how filling my energy around family, spirituality, and body can put us all in a good start for the day. Living life intentionally.

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.

And finally, inspiring tweets...

@tferriss: If you understand principles, you can create tactics. If you are dependent on perishable tactics, you are always at a disadvantage.

@Mindset_Machine: Talent can open doors, but discipline keeps them open.



p.s. if you're interested in joining SWLW's Slack channel, simply reply to this email and let me know. If you're leading a team, consider writing your Manager README (it's free) or getting my e-book and interviews Leading Snowflakes: The New Engineering Manager's Handbook. You can also support me by becoming a SWLW Patron. Thank you ❤️



Keep reading, keep learning.
-- Oren Ellenbogen.