Fish Food for Thought

Fish Food for Thought explores various themes centered on personal development, organizational culture, technology, management, and leadership strategies. It emphasizes the importance of quality, continuous learning, psychological safety, teamwork, data-driven decision-making, and embracing change while offering insights into effective leadership and the impacts of technology on society and organizations.

Personal Development Organizational Culture Technology and Innovation Management and Leadership Teamwork and Collaboration Data-Driven Decision Making Change Management Psychological Safety Customer Service Marketplace Dynamics

The hottest Substack posts of Fish Food for Thought

And their main takeaways

Principles Over Process

6 implied HN points • 25 Nov 22
  1. Agile started as a set of principles, not just a process.
  2. Applying Agile ceremonies to Waterfall projects can lead to frustration.
  3. Product development teams should focus on principles, like customer outcomes and learning efficiently.

Leadership

2 implied HN points • 16 Aug 23
💼 Business Leadership Management Emotions Resistance Skills
  1. Leadership involves traits like intelligence, determination, and sociability.
  2. Leadership is about achieving a goal through the direction of human assistants.
  3. People resist visions due to logic, obstinacy, visceral reactions, or emotions.

Scaling Organizations I

4 implied HN points • 21 Nov 22
  1. Scaling an organization is important for engineering leaders.
  2. Universal Scalability Law helps explain factors that impact scaling.
  3. To scale effectively, focus on minimizing contention, reducing decision-making stakeholders, and increasing parallelism.

Untrue Origin Stories

2 implied HN points • 09 Dec 22
  1. It's common for people to have preferred views of themselves, even if they are more favorable than reality.
  2. When individuals or companies present unrealistic origin stories, they may face scrutiny and consequences.
  3. Being truthful about one's achievements and origins is important for personal growth and maintaining credibility.
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Scaling Organizations III

2 implied HN points • 21 Nov 22
  1. Complexity in organizations must be managed by either people or process.
  2. Organizations are similar to hierarchical and repeating structures with distinct components.
  3. Strategies for managing complexity in organizations include designing loosely coupled systems and learning from past incidents.

Think Again

1 implied HN point • 21 Nov 22
  1. Be open to being wrong to make progress
  2. Regularly question your cognitive tools and accumulated knowledge
  3. Effort to change your mind leads to improved outcomes

Software Brittleness

1 implied HN point • 21 Nov 22
  1. Software systems can fail when pushed beyond their design boundaries.
  2. Successful systems often face complexity penalties that require adaptation.
  3. Humans play a crucial role in adapting and improving software systems to reduce brittleness.

Scaling Organizations II

1 implied HN point • 21 Nov 22
  1. Cities tend to grow while companies tend to decline over time.
  2. Cities scale super-linearly, while companies tend to scale sub-linearly.
  3. Factors like specialization and idea generation contribute to cities' productivity growth.

Giving vs Receiving

0 implied HN points • 02 Dec 22
  1. In competitive environments, givers tend to succeed more often.
  2. Giving of your time is positive, but being able to receive help also boosts productivity.
  3. It's important to be willing to ask for help and admit knowledge gaps.