Working principles · 01—32
Mantras.
Hard-won mantras shaped through experience: building Newicon, working with teams and pursuing personal projects.
Some are original, some are borrowed or adapted from people and companies I admire. They are not commandments. They are prompts: useful ways to challenge an assumption, unlock a conversation or find a better next step.
01—08
Transparency and trust
09—16
Empowerment and growth
- 09.Be the change you seek
- 10.Be a coach
- 11.Give and receive fearless feedback
- 12.Continuous learning
- 13.Fail fast. Be experimental
- 14.Change is good
Make fast decisions
Close mantra ↑This is borrowed from Jeff Bezos: make decisions quickly.
There are two kinds of decision. Some are reversible, like walking through a door and stepping back if you do not like what you find. Others are irreversible and need more care.
Most business decisions are reversible. Trying something is not wasted effort because you learn what is on the other side. Save slow decision-making for the choices that genuinely cannot be undone.
This also connects to failing fast. If the risk is low and easy to contain, favour speed.
- 16.The what, not the who
17—30
Innovation and engineering
- 17.The simple, not the complex
- 18.All requirements are wrong
- 19.Challenge constraints
- 20.Don’t #!@$ the customer
- 21.Pragmatic, not dogmatic
- 22.Use first-principles thinking
- 23.Aim to be less wrong over time
- 24.I don’t know is a superpower
- 25.Build rather than buy core skills
- 26.Ask why, why, why, why, why
- 27.Automate
- 28.Organise around the value stream
- 29.Be bold and break things
- 30.Make it visual
31—32