Me too.
The reason for YMM’s odd behavior & my password optimism is the same.
Why does Your Manager’s Manager (YMM) request a deck/doc during a meeting, says it’s urgent, and then doesn’t respond for days after you create & send it?
Or, why does YMM often respond with trivial feedback (e.g. formatting) & not substantive feedback?
Answers in this thread👇🏾
Me too.
The reason for YMM’s odd behavior & my password optimism is the same.
The Focusing Illusion:
Nothing in life is as important as you think it is while you are thinking about it.
Trust me, YMM had no intention of making you do busywork.
YMM truly believed that it was very impt & urgent to create that doc & review it.
(so now you know why it took weeks for YMM to respond even though YMM had requested it for next Monday)
Ever been to a meeting with a passionate debate on a topic, many action items (AIs) get created as a result, you enthusiastically take on a bunch of those AIs, & then you fail to make progress on them for weeks on end?
Me too. Focusing Illusion
Say YMM responds promptly, but with trivial feedback (formatting, typos, structural suggestions). Doesn’t approve nor disapproves the proposal.
YMM hardly talks about the main substance of your proposal.
Sound familiar?
What gives?
Bikeshedding aka Parkinson’s law of triviality says that people in an organization commonly give disproportionate weight to trivial issues while ignoring more substantive issues & decisions.
https://t.co/qNsY1ACX3m
Yes there are other reasons, but you won’t like most of them.
👇🏾
YMM doesn’t think your proposal is any good (e.g. has *so much* feedback for improvement that YMM doesn't have time to give you all that feedback)
In this situation, YMM might tell your manager (YM), but might not know how to tell you.
(this doesn’t make it right, I know)
👇🏾
YMM has new information that nullifies or drastically changes either the importance of your proposal or the substance of your recommendations.
Again, YMM might tell YM about it but it might not be safe to share broadly just yet.
👇🏾
None of the above is true, but YMM just doesn’t want to or is afraid to make any decisions right now.
YMM might not be able to muster up the courage/vulnerability to say that to you or to YM.
Like the Ostrich Effect.
(again, this doesn’t make it right, just sharing reality)
1) You can’t do much on your own (sorry)
2) Your company's leaders need to understand the Focusing Illusion & Bikeshedding & need to accept that they aren’t immune to those
3) YM needs to take a more active role in holding YMM accountable
With Play-it-Out, you are required to describe upfront how you’ll use said artifact/data & how different possibilities will lead to different decisions.
This stuff is hard.
But with mature leaders & middle managers, it can be solved if we can understand the underlying tendencies that cause us at times to behave in irrational & irritating ways.
All the best to you, to YM & to YMM
👍🏾
https://t.co/w5wrkWVnFI
Why does Your Manager\u2019s Manager (YMM) request a deck/doc during a meeting, says it\u2019s urgent, and then doesn\u2019t respond for days after you create & send it?
— Shreyas Doshi (@shreyas) December 30, 2020
Or, why does YMM often respond with trivial feedback (e.g. formatting) & not substantive feedback?
Answers in this thread\U0001f447\U0001f3fe
More from Shreyas Doshi
A thread of resources for aspiring & new Product Managers:
(should also be useful for Eng, Design, Data Science, Mktg, Ops folks who want to get better at PM work or want to build more empathy for your PM friends ☺️)
(oh, and pls also share *your* favorite resources below)
👇🏾
1/
Product Management - Start Here by @cagan
(hard to go wrong if you start with Marty Cagan’s
2/
Tips for Breaking into PM by @sriramk
(I’ve recommended this thread in my DMs more often than any other thread, by a pretty wide
3/
Top 100 Product Management Resources by @sachinrekhi
(well-categorized index so you can focus on whatever’s most useful right
4/
Brief interruption.
It’s important to understand your preferred learning style and go all in on that learning style (vs. struggling / procrastinating as you force a non-preferred learning
(should also be useful for Eng, Design, Data Science, Mktg, Ops folks who want to get better at PM work or want to build more empathy for your PM friends ☺️)
(oh, and pls also share *your* favorite resources below)
👇🏾
1/
Product Management - Start Here by @cagan
(hard to go wrong if you start with Marty Cagan’s
2/
Tips for Breaking into PM by @sriramk
(I’ve recommended this thread in my DMs more often than any other thread, by a pretty wide
Breaking into PMing - a \U0001f9f5 // A question folks from eng/design/other functions often have how to become a PM in a tech co.
— Sriram Krishnan (@sriramk) April 14, 2020
It can seem non-obvious and differs with each company but here are some patterns I've seen work. All the below assumes you have no PMing on your resume.
3/
Top 100 Product Management Resources by @sachinrekhi
(well-categorized index so you can focus on whatever’s most useful right
4/
Brief interruption.
It’s important to understand your preferred learning style and go all in on that learning style (vs. struggling / procrastinating as you force a non-preferred learning
There is no One Correct Way\u2122 to learn
— Shreyas Doshi (@shreyas) August 15, 2020
Don\u2019t feel pressured to read 70 books/year just becos Super-Successful Person X does that
Videos, Podcasts, Audiobooks, Discussions\u2014all are fine
What to do:
Understand your preferred learning style
Don't resist it, embrace it
Commit to it
🗓️Recap of March 2021 content
Includes:
Solve THE problem
3 types of product leaders
Levels of product work
Getting work done
“I don’t know”
Good people, bad managers
Customer segmentation
LinkedIn Envy
On communication
Important definitions
Life-changing books
& much more..
👇🏾
A story that often plays out when we are not rigorous enough about the importance of the customer problem our product
The 3 types / hats / modes of product
An extremely important observation about product
A thread on getting work
Includes:
Solve THE problem
3 types of product leaders
Levels of product work
Getting work done
“I don’t know”
Good people, bad managers
Customer segmentation
LinkedIn Envy
On communication
Important definitions
Life-changing books
& much more..
👇🏾
A story that often plays out when we are not rigorous enough about the importance of the customer problem our product
A B2B Product Management Story: on discovering problems that customers actually care about
— Shreyas Doshi (@shreyas) March 28, 2021
Very visual story thread\U0001f447\U0001f3fe pic.twitter.com/SQKpmLtBGC
The 3 types / hats / modes of product
3 types of product leaders:
— Shreyas Doshi (@shreyas) March 26, 2021
1) The Operator
2) The Craftsperson
3) The Visionary
It is important for you as a startup founder or CEO, product manager, or a product leader to deeply understand these types, as you make decisions on whom to hire or whom to work for.
Thread\U0001f447\U0001f3fe
An extremely important observation about product
There are 3 levels to product work
— Shreyas Doshi (@shreyas) March 12, 2021
(1) The Execution level
(2) The Impact level
(3) The Optics level
When an individual & their team are fixated on different levels, often there is conflict.
E.g.
PM is fixated on (2), Team on (1)
PM on (3), Team on (2)
PM on (2), Team on (3)
A thread on getting work
How I like to plan my work:
— Shreyas Doshi (@shreyas) March 17, 2021
Limit meetings
\u21d2 Long scheduled work blocks
At end of the work day, plan next day
\u21d2 Easier to disconnect, be present
Fit the next day's tasks in calendar
\u21d2 Forces prioritizing
Plan next week on Friday evening
\u21d2 Go into weekend with a clear mind
More from For later read
The common understanding of propaganda is that it is intended to brainwash the masses. Supposedly, people get exposed to the same message repeatedly and over time come to believe in whatever nonsense authoritarians want them to believe /1
And yet authoritarians often broadcast silly, unpersuasive propaganda.
Political scientist Haifeng Huang writes that the purpose of propaganda is not to brainwash people, but to instill fear in them /2
When people are bombarded with propaganda everywhere they look, they are reminded of the strength of the regime.
The vast amount of resources authoritarians spend to display their message in every corner of the public square is a costly demonstration of their power /3
In fact, the overt silliness of authoritarian propaganda is part of the point. Propaganda is designed to be silly so that people can instantly recognize it when they see it
Propaganda is intended to instill fear in people, not brainwash them.
The message is: You might not believe in pro-regime values or attitudes. But we will make sure you are too frightened to do anything about it.
And yet authoritarians often broadcast silly, unpersuasive propaganda.
Political scientist Haifeng Huang writes that the purpose of propaganda is not to brainwash people, but to instill fear in them /2
"propaganda is often not used for indoctrination, but rather to signal the government\u2019s strength in being able to afford significant resources and impose on its citizens...not meant to 'brainwash', but rather to forewarn the society about how strong it is" https://t.co/mFAurhEHeO pic.twitter.com/WXKKJaPqWQ
— Rob Henderson (@robkhenderson) June 18, 2020
When people are bombarded with propaganda everywhere they look, they are reminded of the strength of the regime.
The vast amount of resources authoritarians spend to display their message in every corner of the public square is a costly demonstration of their power /3
In fact, the overt silliness of authoritarian propaganda is part of the point. Propaganda is designed to be silly so that people can instantly recognize it when they see it
Authoritarians do not use propaganda for brainwashing, "but to demonstrate their strength in social control...propaganda may need to be dull and unpersuasive, to make sure citizens know it is propaganda when they see it and hence get the implicit message" https://t.co/PqRpxjaIPL pic.twitter.com/1y67d2RCjB
— Rob Henderson (@robkhenderson) June 19, 2020
Propaganda is intended to instill fear in people, not brainwash them.
The message is: You might not believe in pro-regime values or attitudes. But we will make sure you are too frightened to do anything about it.
@snip96581187 @Daoyu15 @lab_leak @walkaboutrick @ydeigin @Ayjchan @franciscodeasis @TheSeeker268 @angie_rasmussen Clearly, because as I have been saying for 8 months now, DTRA and DARPA have been using Ecohealth and UC Davis to collect novel pathogens for gain of function work back in the USA. I have documented this in many threads which I will post here just to annoy everyone.
@Daoyu15 @lab_leak @walkaboutrick @ydeigin @Ayjchan @franciscodeasis @TheSeeker268 @angie_rasmussen
@Daoyu15 @lab_leak @walkaboutrick @ydeigin @Ayjchan @franciscodeasis @TheSeeker268 @angie_rasmussen
@Daoyu15 @lab_leak @walkaboutrick @ydeigin @Ayjchan @franciscodeasis @TheSeeker268 @angie_rasmussen
@Daoyu15 @lab_leak @walkaboutrick @ydeigin @Ayjchan @franciscodeasis @TheSeeker268 @angie_rasmussen
@Daoyu15 @lab_leak @walkaboutrick @ydeigin @Ayjchan @franciscodeasis @TheSeeker268 @angie_rasmussen
28. Before moving on to DARPA, let's look at DTRA:
— Billy Bostickson \U0001f3f4\U0001f441&\U0001f441 \U0001f193 (@BillyBostickson) July 31, 2020
A must read!
It is astonishing the number of pies they had their dirty little fingers poking into:
Note John Epstein and Kevin Olival from EcoHealth Alliance are key figures in DTRA:https://t.co/O4QwVWrm7m pic.twitter.com/cnNGZ7AApj
@Daoyu15 @lab_leak @walkaboutrick @ydeigin @Ayjchan @franciscodeasis @TheSeeker268 @angie_rasmussen
24. DTRA Network for Collection of Viruses
— Billy Bostickson \U0001f3f4\U0001f441&\U0001f441 \U0001f193 (@BillyBostickson) January 9, 2021
7. DTRA - Metabiota - One Health - Ecohealth
Bat Research Networks and Viral Surveillance: Gaps and Opportunities in Western Asia pic.twitter.com/SOqSSXF3pa
@Daoyu15 @lab_leak @walkaboutrick @ydeigin @Ayjchan @franciscodeasis @TheSeeker268 @angie_rasmussen
That is the key question
— Billy Bostickson \U0001f3f4\U0001f441&\U0001f441 \U0001f193 (@BillyBostickson) January 5, 2021
1. DARPA/DTRA use NGOs like Ecohealth or Metabiota to collect new pathogens
2. They are sent to US labs (Mailman, Rocky Mountain, Atlanta CDC, UNC, USAMRIID) for GOF work by Lipkin, Nichols, Rasmussen, Baric, Dension, Munster, etchttps://t.co/wqhHK7uZO6
@Daoyu15 @lab_leak @walkaboutrick @ydeigin @Ayjchan @franciscodeasis @TheSeeker268 @angie_rasmussen
1. I wonder why Dr. Angela Rasmussen is so so upset & full of almost palpable venom about a Hypothesis and a "What if" question by @nicholsonbaker8 in the @NYMag https://t.co/a6lxtJLpKR
— Billy Bostickson \U0001f3f4\U0001f441&\U0001f441 \U0001f193 (@BillyBostickson) January 5, 2021
Did I hear someone say "DARPA"?
Did I hear someone say "DTRA"?https://t.co/i27mpxJDw2 pic.twitter.com/x4X3QPnTMS
I’ve been frustrated by the tweets I’ve seen of this as a Canadian. Because the facts are being misrepresented.
We’re not under some sort of major persecution. That’s not what this is. A thread. 1/8
This church was fined for breaking health orders in Dec. They continued to break them. So the pastor was arrested and released on conditions of... you guessed it, not breaking health orders. And then they broke the health orders. 2/8
So then he was arrested and told he couldn’t hold church services in person if he was to be released. He refused. He’s still in custody.
Here is my frustration as a Christian in Canada:
1. They were able to gather, with some conditions. They didn’t like those. 3/8
2. He is not actually unable to preach. He is just unable to hold church services because they broke the conditions given by the public health office in Alberta. He says he can’t in good conscience do that, so they are keeping him in jail (because he will break the law). 4/8
3. This is the 1st article of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: “guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.” 5/8
We’re not under some sort of major persecution. That’s not what this is. A thread. 1/8
BREAKING: Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church of Edmonton was just carried off to jail in hand and ankle cuffs. The condition of his release is that he cannot preach. His wife/kids are not allowed to see him.
— Jeremy (on Theology) (@TheologyJeremy) February 17, 2021
The 1st Canadian pastor to be jailed for holding a church service pic.twitter.com/AKMPVWgFXw
This church was fined for breaking health orders in Dec. They continued to break them. So the pastor was arrested and released on conditions of... you guessed it, not breaking health orders. And then they broke the health orders. 2/8
So then he was arrested and told he couldn’t hold church services in person if he was to be released. He refused. He’s still in custody.
Here is my frustration as a Christian in Canada:
1. They were able to gather, with some conditions. They didn’t like those. 3/8
2. He is not actually unable to preach. He is just unable to hold church services because they broke the conditions given by the public health office in Alberta. He says he can’t in good conscience do that, so they are keeping him in jail (because he will break the law). 4/8
3. This is the 1st article of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: “guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.” 5/8
