137: Driving Value and Ownership

Delivering value over code and cultivating creativity for knowledge expansion

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Off Topic: Cultivating Creativity

Writing enhances thinking; it's not the other way around. New knowledge emerges from the process of writing. PARA, a universal organization system, works in the digital world. In the arts, paintings, dances, songs, and poems represent different projects. Keep notes, thoughts, and ideas organized and relevant to each aspect of life.

PARA is a production system that changes with life. Ask yourself, in which project or area is this note most helpful? If not, where does it belong? If nowhere, store it in the archives. Identify projects that have yet to be acknowledged and what need consistent progress. Follow up on past events and plan for future ones. As a notetaker, preserve your discoveries for the future to maintain enthusiasm for knowledge. A management system is vital, not dividing tasks into smaller parts. Forgetting unnecessary details is the best method for effective communication.

You boost your creativity by capturing, processing, reworking, and refining your ideas over time. Ideas improve by writing about them, not by thinking about them, as Writing is thinking, more tangible. Humans are the only species that create. Of all the species in the world, we're the only ones to make art, cook food, and build technology. Creation makes us human, as we will do everything we can to improve how we create things—and the thinking that goes into the things we make.

Fear of memory failure? Unnecessary. Organize notes, and categorize them by active projects. Always ask, "How can this message benefit my future self?" Information becomes practical knowledge when put into practice. It's not a luxury but essential for survival. Innovation and impact need a creative process, not a coincidence. Homework should be effortless and enjoyable, saving only the most exciting parts of websites. Capture knowledge from daily life and reading, selecting only essential passages. A collection of inspiring quotes, photos, ideas, and stories can stir inspiration. Unfamiliar data that surprises us can challenge and change our understanding.

Sharing ideas helps identify valuable expertise. Our success depends on using data and thinking. Knowledge is meant to be shared; there's no point in hoarding it like gold coins.

[^]: Building a Second Brain

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Unrelated: Unveiling Company Values

Companies value output more if the result is more valuable than the actual value for clients. The interview process results from that cynical way of viewing the business. Of course, I can't say this is the organization's fault but the people in it. Individuals conform to teams, and those teams work for the whole organization. 

In my experience during the interview, I've seen cues about the actual state of the team that is interviewing or the company as a whole. There are two different types of companies. Companies want to know if you can crank code without introducing any performance problems. The other wants to see if you know how to use the tech stack they are using and if the candidate will do it well or for a legit purpose. 

Companies want to know if you can crank code without any performance issues. These companies are positioned within the FAANG category. Most of these companies' problems are already solved, and they are trying to scale or maintain what they currently have. The vibe within the company is quite chill, and that's why they ask all these questions that no candidate will see. Yet, since so much code has been written in the past, they would like to avoid hand-holding you for a long time when you are in it, even when practices like Code Reviews and Pair programming are well-known in the industry and used in one of these companies. There will be a ton to learn inside, but only a little to implement your ideas. I usually found this a red flag based on my aspirations, not the company's fault, and passed that out. Yet, I would be OK with getting one of these big salaries and learning as much as possible if I ever get a job at one of these companies. I prefer to avoid how they need candidates to show if they can do the job. 

Companies want to know if you know how to use the current stack. Companies that both care about technology and customers. The company as a whole is more interested in correctness than performance. This aspect doesn't mean that the company doesn't have other problems. We are humans, and problems will appear in one shape or the other. Yet, since they focus on improving the business, they try to iterate toward improvements. There's no such thing as an optimal interview process because the process depends on the company's culture. Depending on what the company currently *is* different from what they exactly *needs* will shine through the cracks of the interview. Yet, it is fair to speculate on what would be a good approach for companies to identify their following candidates. I am discussing a candidate's skills to move the business forward. 

The sense at the top is that even more compliance is needed—that everything must be specified. The default assumption is that you can do anything unless a specific policy or agreement prohibits it. We're starting from a position of trust. More freedom leads to more learning, and more understanding leads to better performance. By focusing on execution, we limit the system's growth potential. By making ourselves indispensable, we make our teams and organizations less resilient.

Once a decision has been made, it should be shared along with the rationale and perspectives that shaped it so that others can learn too. Consensus is impossible at scale and needs to reflect how adaptive systems work. Recognize that freedom and autonomy feed motivation.

[^]: Developer Hegemony: The Future of Labor

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