lead - CTO #

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29571126 #

“This is great insight. I’d like to offer a slight alternative for “You just kind of have to minimize the wrongness”.

I think a CTO should have several mental models for making decisions. Minimizing wrongness is just one.

Some examples:

• Is this decision reversible?

• Does this choice allow my team to grow technically?

• Will this matter a year from now?

• Is this something I can buy instead of build?

• Is this a core competency that we should invest heavily in?

• Does this decision go against the company or your personal values?

• Is quick and dirty good enough for this?”

https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/management-style.html #

It helps to realize that the key difference between a big decision and a small one is whether you can fix your decision afterwards. Any decision can be made small by just always making sure that if you were wrong (and you will be wrong), you can always undo the damage later by backtracking. Suddenly, you get to be doubly managerial for making two inconsequential decisions - the wrong one and the right one.

First and foremost, I am successful if the folks I work with understand how business decisions tie into their day-to-day work.