A simple framework for making proposals

• 💡 1: one problem to solve or opportunity to grasp
• 📊 Measure: how will we know it’s solved/the opportunity is met. What metrics are we looking to shift, or outcomes are we looking to achieve?
• 📋 3: three options we have considered
• 📌 1: our one recommendation
• 📄 Fit proposals onto one page for senior decision-makers
• 🕒 Prioritize the decision-maker's time when presenting proposals
• 📚 Put useful extra detail in appendices
• 💸 Include costs, ROI, and financial implications in exec team proposals

How To Understand Things

• 👩‍🔬 The smartest people continually think about problems even after solving them
• 🧠 Intelligence is not fixed and can be increased through good intellectual habits
• 💡 Energy, motivation, and intrinsic drive are crucial for deep understanding
• 📚 Direct experience and original thinking lead to better understanding than relying on narratives
• 🧱 Start with the basics and go deeper to grasp complex concepts
• 🏃‍♂️ Slow, deliberate thinking and questioning lead to better understanding than rushing through material

You need to understand the business to design a good engineering strategy

• 📋 Understanding the business model is essential for designing a good engineering strategy.
• 🎮 Differentiate between bootstrapped and venture capital businesses as they impact decision making.
• 💵 Follow the money flow and understand how investments influence engineering strategy.
• 🌍 Identify whether your focus is on consumers, enterprise, or a mix in between for growth strategies.
• 🤝 Partner with business experts to learn and align engineering strategies with business goals.
• 🤔 Keep an open mind, collaborate with others, and embrace uncertainty in understanding the business.
• 📊 Familiarize yourself with relevant metrics like CLTV, ARPU, CAC, churn rate, and more for business evaluation.
• 🔄 Use funnels or loop frameworks to measure and impact customer acquisition and revenue conversion.
• 📝 Continuously connect business knowledge with engineering strategy through a systematic approach.

Getting operational visibility from afar without micromanaging

• 📈 Dashboarding is a helpful tool for monitoring data without excessive involvement
• 🏆 Motivating developers to showcase their work can offer valuable insights
• 📅 Quarterly/monthly business reviews can help review progress towards goals
• 🔄 Weekly cross-functional standups can align roles and functions effectively
• 🎨 Design reviews can provide early insight into a team's direction
• 👥 Skip-level meetings can be beneficial for communication and learning
• 🚫 Avoid common micromanagement pitfalls like using 1:1s for updates or attending every session

Managing High Performers

• 💡 High performers often get promoted to positions with higher expectations
• ⚙️ Weak managers let high performing reports do whatever they want
• 📈 Manage high performers to ensure they drive big wins and identify areas for improvement
• 📚 Set clear expectations for high performers and differentiate between good and great performance
• 🗣️ Give critical feedback to high performers and don't avoid it
• 💰 Pay high performers unreasonably to reflect their value
• 🎯 Play to people's strengths and acknowledge deficiencies
• 🛠️ Fix any behavioral issues with high performers early
• 🚩 Spot common pitfalls like unreasonably pessimistic attitudes
• 🚦 Know when a high performer has stopped performing at a high level and take appropriate action

That’s all for this week’s edition

I hope you liked it, and you’ve learned something — if you did, don’t forget to give a thumbs-up and share this issue with your friends and network.

See y’all next week 👋