📚 Lessons for rapid scale, “Simple" to "WTF" scale of product descriptions, Accountability sinks, Now I know, Remarkable life of Ibelin, Hindi lessons with Harshit

Moving from don’t know / could be to clarity, Automating processes with software, Dose of nostalgia with IWTK, Oakoak and more

Nov 11, 2024

Hello, this is post #184.

Life is settling back into its rhythm. Work is picking up, and I’m diving into new areas of exploration, which excites me. I’ve also returned to audiobooks, starting with Kya Khoya Kya Paya by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It’s unabridged, so the storytelling felt a bit scattered, but his poems—my first time hearing them—were incredible. They reminded me how out of touch I’ve become with such rich Hindi. It was refreshing, and I’m eager to explore more. If you have any audiobook recommendations, especially in Hindi, let me know!

This week, I also rekindled my intentional reading habit, so the content mix is shifting. Expect more variety as I reconnect with my favorite sources. As always, suggestions are welcome! Here's what we’re exploring today:

Let’s get started..

💡 Lessons for Rapid Scale

Molly G shares some lessons for rapid scale from her time at Facebook & beyond. Here are a few things that resonated deeply with me.

On hiring people who are better than you.

Hire people who are better than you, the kind who intimidate you. You want folks on your team that you can learn from. These are the kind of people that trigger your imposter syndrome and mean that you are regularly thinking “why are these people working for me??” I’ll tell you why they’re working for you — you are the best person to onboard them, you are the best person to protect them, and you are the best person to set them up for success. You don’t need to be managing them in 1 year, you just need to set them up to take your job and then be ready to move on to whatever is next. Your goal is to hire people who can do your job better than you so you can be ready for whatever new project will show up.

I’ve always taken pride in my hiring, bringing on board many stars—most of them better than me. I used to wonder why they stuck around with me. Now I understand.

On knowing when you’re ready to take up more…

Seek boredom. This sounds insane, but the minute you’re bored is the minute you know that you can take on more. Seeking boredom means hiring / scaling yourself out of a job so you have the capacity to take on more. You don’t want to be the person that your boss or the CEO is thinking — “well, I would give them more but they don’t have capacity / their team isn’t strong enough.”

Simple ideas, useful at any stage of career.

🗒️ “Simple" to "WTF" Product Descriptions

Andrew Chen’s “Why your product idea sounds too complicated” offers a brilliant guide on explaining products to users. He introduces a fun, informal scale to categorize how product builders describe their creations:

Simple
Ok, got it
Uh…
Uh… What?!
WTF (like, seriously?)
Double WTF

While the scale isn’t scientific, Chen’s breakdown is both humorous and insightful, making it easy to remember and apply. The main takeaway? Identify and fix your “WTF” descriptions to better help your users—and ultimately, yourself.

A great exercise and often an eye-opener. Chen also shares tips on avoiding the trap where “simple” turns into “bland.” This post stands out as one of the best pieces of advice on product communication. Highly recommended for product builders and marketers alike.

🕳️ Accountability Sinks

Mandy Brown introduces the concept of ‘Accountability sinks’ from Dan Davies’ The Unaccountability Machine. Here’s a brief overview of the idea…

Organizations form “accountability sinks,” structures that absorb or obscure the consequences of a decision such that no one can be held directly accountable for it. Here’s an example: a higher up at a hospitality company decides to reduce the size of its cleaning staff, because it improves the numbers on a balance sheet somewhere. Later, you are trying to check into a room, but it’s not ready and the clerk can’t tell you when it will be; they can offer a voucher, but what you need is a room. There’s no one to call to complain, no way to communicate back to that distant leader that they’ve scotched your plans. The accountability is swallowed up into a void, lost forever.

It’s a familiar situation, right? The post delves deeper, starting from the basics of accountability. Though brief, it provides clear insights into some of the toughest challenges organizations encounter. Worth a read!

(via Weekly Wisereads)

🛣️ Don’t Know / Could Be to Clarity

Alex Morris nails it again in his latest Strat_Scrap post. It’s packed with valuable insights!

One standout section focuses on the early stages of product development, where you move from a vague idea to something tangible. The journey from uncertainty to clarity involves deliberate exploration and filtering. The accompanying diagram beautifully illustrates this process.

⚙️ Automating Processes with Software

Steven Sinofsky highlights why “Automating processes with software is hard.” He emphasizes this based on his experience that true automation isn’t just about streamlining standard workflows—it’s about handling exceptions effectively.

He posits:

There’s a deep reality about any process—human or automated—that few seem to acknowledge. Most all automations are not defined by the standard case or the typical inputs but by exceptions. It is exceptions that drive all the complexity. Exceptions make for all the insanely difficult to understand rules. It is exceptions that make automations difficult, not the routine. And over time most all systems are about exception handling not routine.

He provides numerous examples—from medical diagnostics to travel and calendar management—to illustrate his point. The post delves into the role of AI in our work lives, particularly in the context of automation as a mode. It's packed with thought-provoking insights.

(via Weekly Wisereads)

🕹️ The Remarkable Life of Ibelin

If you’re up for a heart touching story, just go for “We only learnt of our son’s secret online life after he died at 25” (archived here). Here’s the premise:

When Mats Steen died from a muscle-wasting disorder, his parents believed that his life had been a tragically lonely one — until hundreds of emails from strangers arrived. It turns out that he’d found friendship and even romance in a gaming community.

This is one of the most touching stories I’ve read. Gaming and virtual worlds often get a bad rap, but stories like this reveal the powerful positives they can offer too.

(via Kottke)

✨ Everything else

The cheap action figure that became super popular. This is storytelling at its best—filled with trivia and nostalgia. There's something in it for everyone.
For those looking for some more nostalgia: IWTK has curated some fantastic posts on the origins of classics like the Bournvita Quiz Contest, CID, and childhood staples like Phantom Cigarettes. A perfect throwback to simpler times.
Harshit explains nuances of Hindi language in his Instagram reels. Even as a native Hindi speaker, I learn something new from every reel he posts. If you’re ready for a challenge, check out his one on about panchamakshar.
Oakoak, a street artist with a sharp sense of humor, transforms everyday spaces into clever visual stories. Each piece is playful yet thought-provoking, making the mundane unexpectedly delightful. (via Dense Discovery)
And here’s the final bit from Alex’s Strat_Scrap newsletter: