Betterment

One of the recurring debates about senior engineering leadership roles is whether Chief Technology Officers should actively write code. There are a lot of strongly held positions, from “Real CTOs code.” at one end of the spectrum, to “Low ego managers know they contribute more by focusing on leadership work rather than coding.” There are, of course, adherents at every point between those two extremes. It’s hard to take these arguments too seriously, because these values correlate so strongly with holders’ identities: folks who believe they are strong programmers argue that CTOs must code, and people who don’t feel comfortable writing software take the opposite view.

“If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” That’s problematic advice. Taken to an extreme, it turns us into hustlers. The alternative is to realize that the best asks are actu…

We could make our only law and norm be just “do the right thing”. (Or, maybe, the most economically efficient thing.) Then when someone was accused of acting badly, the relevant judge or jury would consider if their actions were unusually bad, all things considered. But this seems a quite noisy, expensive, and corruptible system So we usually instead try to agree ahead of time on more specific local norms and laws, to give us each a better idea of what is expected of us, and to better hold our judges and juries accountable.

I could use the rain as an excuse, but that would be a cop-out. I did go out often, and there were opportunities to capture images. The rain itself gave me so many opportunities. Even when I did fi…

What if your boots don’t have any straps? Bootstrapping is logically impossible. You can’t pick yourself up into the air by lifting on your boots, no matter how hard you try, because gr…

Will Guidara made his name as the former manager, then former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, which has boasted three Michelin Stars since 2012, and was

Ultimately, our lives boil down to the things we pay attention to. Here is how to be deliberate about where your attention goes.

But we hesitate to be the connector. Everyone wants to be trusted, but we hesitate to trust. And everyone wants to be respected, but we often fail to offer our respect. What an opportunity.

She doesn’t grow plants. The plants grow themselves. Her job is to create conditions for the plants to grow. The soil, the water, the light, the weeds… these are the conditions. But non…

There will always be a gap between our highest pursuits and our everyday reality. But being mindful of that gap is one of the best motivators to make change.

Once you send a memo, it takes a life of its own. As Wayfair CEO, Niraj Shah, is currently finding out. Was this his intention all along? Who knows.

Frederick Lewis Donaldson created a list of seven social sins that was soon popularized by Gandhi. One hundred years later, it’s more relevant and more urgent than ever. Wealth without work.P…

It’s either part of your strategy or you’re paying for your mistake. 800 numbers changed the way large brands dealt with the public. Instantly, and for free, a consumer could contact a …

Practical writing Tips for Manuscript Writing, Posters, and exporting citations to Word, PDF, and Latex.

Oliver Burkeman had a successful column in The Guardian for years titled “This Column Will Change Your Life.” It was all about lifestyle and productivity

“Do as I say.” That’s industrial management in four words. If you don’t follow the instructions to the letter, you’re insubordinate. Not subordinate. Complete subordin…

Shoe sizes are complicated. How can one be a size 9 in the US and 10 in the UK? And it's another size in Japan, which makes no sense! Here's why!

In an economy built on skill, knowledge, and attitude, the single most powerful way to improve your productivity is to learn something. You put in the effort once and it pays off for decades. There…

Robert Caro never learned to type. He pecks out his books two fingers at a time on an electric typewriter. There are two reasons to avoid learning a proven new technology: You know what it can do a…

Here's a simple question to ask yourself - any time you find yourself facing the impulse to give up and distract yourself.

You might not call me "well dressed." But I feel great!

My Journey to Working Multiple Remote Jobs

When the researcher Daniel Chambliss decided to study a group of elite swimmers to figure out what led to excellence, he was surprised to find just how much the top swimmers enjoyed the aspects of training — participating in early-morning practices; swimming back and forth along a black line for hours on end — that […]

Adam Smith and Karl Marx both wrote about the pin-making machine. Not too long ago, pins (for hats, to hold shirts in place, etc.) were incredibly expensive. They were a luxury item, and a handmade…

Last in the series… Most of us were indoctrinated to believe that completing chores is the appropriate measure of productivity. “I did all my homework.” Doing all your homework is…

Or trying better? Fast runners aren’t the same as slow runners, but with more effort. And great chefs or violinists or actors… it’s not about doing what you did yesterday, but mor…

Photo by Fikret tozak on Unsplash Matt Mullenweg’s 40th birthday is coming up — and as a gift, I was going to buy him 40 types of cables. However, for a gift, he wants everyone to blog — especially…

Johnny.Decimal is a system to organise your digital life

If productivity is useful work created by time or money, it’s worth thinking about what we mean by ‘useful’. There are areas where reliability is crucial. It turns out that buildi…