The hottest Operations Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Business Topics

How to break the cycle of firefighting and build engineering excellence

The Incrementalist • 2 implied HN points • 01 Jan 25
💼 Business Management Operations Leadership Systems Thinking Team development
  1. Focus on identifying patterns in recurring problems so you can address the underlying issues, not just the symptoms. This can save time and resources in the long run.
  2. Engage your team in analyzing and understanding events to develop better strategies. Involving everyone ensures a shared understanding and ownership of solutions.
  3. Create processes and structures that promote proactive thinking and continuous improvement. This helps teams work more effectively and reduces the chaos of constantly putting out fires.

Data Materialization is a Convergence Problem

Data People Etc. • 159 implied HN points • 10 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Data Workflow Operations
  1. Data materialization is not just a workflow orchestration problem but also a convergence problem.
  2. In a convergence-based approach to data materialization, a materialization controller could continuously compare the state of the warehouse with the desired state of models to automate the materialization process.
  3. Challenges in implementing a materialization controller include explainability, managing over-eagerness, and dealing with drift in the system.
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The Unbundling of Retail

Equal Ventures • 59 implied HN points • 23 Jan 23
💼 Business Retail E-commerce Startups Investment Operations
  1. Economic fundamentals in retail are shifting, highlighting the limitations of a direct-to-consumer-only strategy.
  2. Traditional principles like vertical integration may not always lead to better outcomes in the retail industry, as seen with several DTC brands.
  3. Outsourcing non-core functions and embracing the 'Great Unbundling' can help emerging brands achieve economies of scale and operational excellence in the retail sector.

Balancing Speed and Sustainability: The Operational Dilemma of Reusable Cups in Drive-Thrus

Gad’s Newsletter • 50 implied HN points • 15 Jan 24
💼 Business Sustainability Operations Efficiency Customer Service Environmental Impact
  1. Introducing reusable cups in drive-thrus can slow down the service, leading to longer wait times and potential inefficiencies.
  2. Starbucks' focus on operational efficiency conflicts with the introduction of reusable cups, impacting speed and customer satisfaction.
  3. Visible queues in drive-thrus make operational inefficiencies more apparent, potentially affecting customer decisions and perception.

Drivers of success

Tech and Thoughts • 2 HN points • 31 Jul 24
💼 Business Management Strategy Operations Leadership Efficiency
  1. Good communication is really important for success. It helps everyone understand each other and work better together.
  2. Having the right information and logistics is key. When things are organized and everyone has the info they need, success comes more easily.
  3. Competence matters, but it shouldn't overshadow other factors like communication and logistics. Balancing all these elements leads to better results.

Sales and Marketing and Dev Ops, Oh My!

Sarah's Newsletter • 99 implied HN points • 26 Apr 22
💼 Business Sales Marketing Operations Efficiency Automation
  1. Efficiency in operational teams is crucial for the overall effectiveness of an organization. They play a vital role in supporting other departments to work faster and better.
  2. Operational teams like SalesOps, MOps, and DevOps have unique functions but share a common goal of increasing efficiency and saving time for the organization.
  3. Current tools and practices in operational teams can still involve manual tasks, hindering efficiency. Providing education and support for scale is essential for driving true efficiency across all operational areas.

How to prioritize marketing activities & avoid random acts of marketing

MKT1 Newsletter • 4 implied HN points • 21 Oct 24
💼 Business Marketing Strategy Planning Operations Management
  1. Prioritize your marketing activities by balancing new ideas with proven strategies. This way, you can test new things while also focusing on what works.
  2. Use a structured process for organizing your marketing ideas, including categorizing them into big projects, core work, and operational tasks. This helps keep your efforts aligned with your goals.
  3. Spend time upfront on prioritization to prevent wasting time on unrelated tasks later. A clear roadmap will keep you focused and efficient throughout the year.

Starbucks’ Double Shot: Speed and Variety at the Expense of Quality

Gad’s Newsletter • 47 implied HN points • 16 Oct 23
💼 Business Operations Innovation Investment Market Share Technology
  1. Starbucks is focusing on speeding up their service and expanding variety due to advancements in technology.
  2. Online ordering at Starbucks emphasizes speed and customization, leading to more complex order customization.
  3. Starbucks is investing heavily in tech to offer faster service, more choices, and high personalization to customers.

Luckin's Revival

Tech Buzz China Insider • 39 implied HN points • 16 Dec 22
💼 Business Finance Technology Marketing Operations Management
  1. Luckin Coffee's comeback after a massive fraud scandal has been remarkable, with the brand's success being attributed to factors like effective self-operated stores and new product development.
  2. Luckin has seen notable growth in profitability with strategies like focusing on self-operated stores outside Tier 1 cities and implementing a successful franchising model.
  3. Luckin's rebound involved various adjustments including improving customer relationship management, expanding product offerings, and enhancing brand control to reach profitability.

📈 📊 How to Develop and Write KPIs: A Guide for Product Managers 📋

The Product Channel By Sid Saladi • 3 implied HN points • 27 Oct 24
💼 Business Management Strategy Finance Marketing Operations Leadership
  1. KPIs are important tools that help product managers measure how well their product is performing. They show how close you are to reaching your business goals.
  2. To create effective KPIs, start with your business objectives and define specific, measurable metrics that relate directly to those goals.
  3. Regularly monitor your KPIs and be prepared to adjust them as necessary. This helps you stay on track and make informed decisions about improvements.

From DVDs to Streaming: Netflix’s Less Enduring Moat

Gad’s Newsletter • 56 implied HN points • 01 May 23
💼 Business Streaming Content Operations Competition
  1. Netflix's transition from DVD-by-mail to streaming marked the end of an era of innovation and disruption in the entertainment industry.
  2. Operational efficiency and supply chain management were crucial for Netflix's success in the DVD era, but content quality is now the primary focus in the competitive streaming landscape.
  3. Lasting competitive moats are built on human interactions, behaviors, and long-term dependencies, rather than just technology alone.

Potential U.S. Space Force Changes

Ill-Defined Space • 19 implied HN points • 22 Feb 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Military Technology Training Operations Infrastructure
  1. The U.S. Space Force's missions, assets, and services are mostly about support to combat services like the Army and Navy.
  2. The Space Force relies on old systems which require specialized training, hindering transition to more modern, interoperable systems.
  3. The Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) will bring more capable and interconnected systems, requiring a shift in mindset and cooperation among space operators.

An algebra of orders

Infinitely More • 17 implied HN points • 04 Feb 24
🔬 Science Mathematics Algebra Operations
  1. There is a rich algebra of orders involving operations like addition and multiplication.
  2. The disjoint sum operation creates a combined order without interactions between the two parts.
  3. The ordered sum operation combines two orders by placing one above the other, creating new orders with distinct properties.

A Webhook Love Story

Sarah's Newsletter • 3 HN points • 17 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Automation APIs Workflow Integrations Operations
  1. Webhooks provide a plug-and-play interface for event-driven workflows, making automation in marketing efficient and scalable.
  2. Webhooks are useful when immediate automated responses are needed to events from the outside world, and relying on batch implementations would be inefficient.
  3. Effectively implementing webhooks requires observability through alerts, in-depth logs, centralized deployment, and proper scale to avoid operational challenges.

The history of inhouse legal

The Jolly Contrarian • 59 implied HN points • 23 Oct 21
💼 Business Legal Banking Management Consulting Operations
  1. In-house legal departments in banks have evolved over time from negligible involvement to becoming key players in managing legal relationships and adding value to the organization.
  2. The rise of magic circle law firms marked a period where law firms charged high rates for extensive legal work, benefiting from banks' willingness to pay for legal protection in their big financial deals.
  3. Management consultants stepped in to help banks reduce legal spend, resulting in the development of legal operations teams within organizations to optimize legal processes and costs.

I Invented Surge Pricing For Uber. Here’s Why it Wouldn’t Have Worked for Wendy’s.

Kevin’s Rackhouse Ramblings • 3 HN points • 07 Mar 24
💼 Business Operations Customer Behavior PR Restaurant Industry
  1. Dynamic pricing worked for Uber because it's a system where demand and supply can be influenced economically, leading to a surplus of trips and a big economic win.
  2. Fast food like Wendy's operates in a non-stochastic system, making the effectiveness of dynamic pricing more limited compared to a system like Uber's.
  3. Implementing dynamic pricing at Wendy's could help shape consumer behavior, improve operational efficiency, and line up customer demand with employee staffing, but may not have the same revolutionary impact as it did for Uber.

#23: Undeniable uncertainty

The Uncertainty Mindset (soon to become tbd) • 79 implied HN points • 08 Apr 20
💼 Business Management Strategy Finance Operations Marketing
  1. Uncertainty is always present in business, and it can catch you off guard when you least expect it. It’s important to prepare in advance, even if it seems like a waste during stable times.
  2. When facing uncertain situations, businesses should take small, immediate actions instead of waiting for a perfect plan. This helps them learn and adapt quickly to changing circumstances.
  3. Having a clear understanding of goals and trade-offs is essential during times of uncertainty. This allows employees to make effective decisions and take necessary actions without getting stuck.

On organizational structures — the QRF team model to crush interruptions

Joseph Gefroh • 19 implied HN points • 15 Feb 22
💼 Business Management Operations Agility
  1. Implementing a QRF team model can help prevent interruptions in engineering teams, allowing them to focus on high-priority tasks.
  2. The QRF model works effectively by splitting an engineering unit into two teams - one focused on the roadmap and the other on handling interruptions.
  3. QRF solves problems found in other agile approaches by prioritizing interruptions and preventing operational issues from being undervalued.

Experiments in Speed Dating & Matchmaking

Dan's Stack • 2 HN points • 12 Feb 24
💼 Business Data Analysis Marketing Operations
  1. Speed dating events are optimal with around 20 attendees (10 men, 10 women), maintaining a balanced gender ratio is important for a successful event.
  2. Ticket prices for speed dating events vary based on demand and gender ratio, with average prices around $25.
  3. Marketing strategies for speed dating events focus on gender-specific ad campaigns to ensure equal attendance of men and women, with Instagram and Facebook ads being the most effective channels.

Death Trap on the Volga: Stalingrad

Big Serge Thought • 4 implied HN points • 09 May 23
💾 History Warfare Operations Strategy Tactics
  1. Stalingrad marked a pivotal shift in the momentum of World War II, leading to the irreversible loss of strategic initiative for the Germans.
  2. The German operations in 1942 faced strategic challenges due to the emerging global conflict with Anglo-American powers and a continental land war with the Soviet Union.
  3. The German failure during Case Blue was driven by inadequate forces, lack of fuel, and a flawed operational plan, culminating in the decision to assault Stalingrad.

Tiered Availability Review

software + caffeine = blog • 1 HN point • 17 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Operations Metrics Meetings Engineers Executives
  1. Having regular forums within your engineering organization is crucial for driving accountability for availability.
  2. Different levels of availability reviews cater to specific audiences and purposes, from individual engineering teams to executives.
  3. Building momentum for these forums requires buy-in from engineering teams, executives, and directors, and it's essential for sustaining the process.

A Checklist for Building with GraphQL

William Blankenship • 2 HN points • 21 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Development Engineering Tooling Maintenance Operations
  1. You need at least two engineers for GraphQL service: for mentoring, supporting, and preventing bottlenecks.
  2. Invest in tooling like query complexity guards, introspection, and alerts for runtime safety and service performance.
  3. The skillset needed for GraphQL service is similar to that of a database engineer, focusing on schema design and tool implementation.

On hiring - A rapid hiring process for busy startup engineering leaders

Joseph Gefroh • 0 implied HN points • 10 Feb 24
💼 Business Management Operations Hiring Leadership Entrepreneurship
  1. Efficient hiring involves building a pipeline and moving candidates through it with minimal effort. Creating a streamlined process like a Kanban-style project can help manage the hiring stages effectively.
  2. From a candidate's perspective, simplifying the hiring process by highlighting only 3 key stages can make the process feel lightweight and easy to follow. A clear and concise hiring workflow can be a competitive advantage.
  3. Utilizing different sourcing channels, such as LinkedIn, can be a valuable way to find candidate leads with low effort but high value. Building and leveraging a strong professional network can significantly impact the hiring process.

On hiring - A-players and the folly of the ideal candidate

Joseph Gefroh • 0 implied HN points • 26 Feb 24
💼 Business Management Operations Hiring Strategy Leadership
  1. Startup leaders often seek perfect, 'A-player' candidates but end up damaging their companies by delaying hiring unnecessarily.
  2. A-players aren't flawless - they have weaknesses and can't excel at everything. It's better to hire adaptable 'B-players' with potential.
  3. Fix your hiring strategy by focusing on teamwork, being realistic about needs, and considering a mix of generalists and specialists.

Startup Chief of Staff Program @ Equal Ventures

Equal Ventures • 0 implied HN points • 05 Oct 20
💼 Business Startup Venture Capital Career development Operations Applications
  1. Equal Ventures launched a program to connect early-career generalists with early-stage companies, offering Chief of Staff opportunities.
  2. Participants will get matched with startups, receive training to accelerate career growth, and possibly prepare for senior roles or founding their own company.
  3. The application is open to U.S. and Canada operators with tech startup, consulting, or finance experience, who are self-directed and data-driven.

Taming the Annual Budget

Build To Scale • 0 implied HN points • 24 Oct 23
💼 Business Finance Management Strategy Operations Budgeting
  1. When setting an annual budget, use a top-down approach for better efficiency and success in funding key initiatives.
  2. Departments need to create their own annual plans that align with overall company goals to ensure success and mitigate risks.
  3. As the business evolves, flexibility is key in budget management, with regular check-ins to adjust spending and headcount based on actual performance.

Some Thoughts on Operations

The Elbow • 0 implied HN points • 11 Feb 24
💼 Business Operations Management Productivity Creativity
  1. All work involves some degree of operations; it's about the 'how' in achieving tasks rather than the 'what'.
  2. A good operations mindset combines persistence like a golden retriever and boldness like Larry David.
  3. Operations work requires creativity, detail-oriented thinking, and an iterative approach to problem-solving.

Xometry (XMTR)

Nihar’s Thoughts on Stocks • 0 implied HN points • 07 Sep 23
💼 Business Marketplace Revenue Competition Growth Operations
  1. Xometry is a marketplace business with core services for buyers to order parts and supplier services with different revenue percentages and margins.
  2. The business recently faced deceleration and challenges in Q3 '22, impacting growth and profitability forecasts.
  3. Marketplace businesses like Xometry face struggles with product customization, order size, and consistent ordering patterns, impacting scalability and business efficiency.