Shreyas Doshi Profile picture
Dec 24, 2020 23 tweets 6 min read Read on X
A recap of tweets & threads on organizational psychology, organizational behavior, and company culture:

(strap in, this will be a wild ride)

1/20
👇🏾
1/
The fundamental framework to make sense of organizational conduct:
2/
Wondering why your company has suddenly become less fun for you as a builder? This framework might help explain it:
3/
Why Intent should matter most:
4/
Why most Execution problems aren’t *actually* Execution problems:
5/
The strategy void, a 1-tweet story:
6/
You can learn a lot about a company’s culture from its dopamine-inducing and cortisol-inducing triggers:
7/
Does your culture force UPOD behavior (Under-Promising & Over-Delivering)? Does it forgive occasional OPUD outcomes (Over-Promising & Under-Delivering)?
8/
Anyone can be demanding about “hitting committed dates”. It doesn’t require much skill or courage at all. By contrast, few leaders are discerning about whether the right thing is being built in the first place. And THAT requires tremendous skill.
9/
The root of a lot of corporate stupidity & busywork:
10/
Problem solving, and the role of management:
12/
Common afflictions of companies & teams:
13/
10 observations to consider as a modern leader:
14/
What skills & mindsets does your company or team value, and in what priority order?
15/
Don’t fall prey to the X for Y Proxy Delusion:
16/
Why companies like to solve problems more than prevent problems:
17/
Does your company culture bias more towards the messenger than towards the message? Observe carefully and think again.
19/
What is the hardest problem in computer science?

My answer😄
20/
The incompetent leader’s playbook & what to do about it:
An important one on unrigorous interactions:

Apple Pie Positions—statements that sway group decisions about what, how, and why to do something.

These statements can at times be misguided, but are also too risky for a single group member to argue against.

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More from @shreyas

Jun 27
Since time immemorial, when a CEO asks a PM at Product Review, “what do you need to 10X users/revenue?”, “what will make you go faster?”, etc

The PM steadfastly responds “We need [N] more engineers”. The Eng Mgr nods approvingly

A story thread, with some hard truths to swallow:


Image
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“More engineers” will usually *not* solve your problems.

Because the real problem is often a strategy problem, culture problem, interpersonal problem, trust problem, creativity problem, or market problem.

More engineers *will* solve your “I don’t have enough engineers” problem. Image
When you finally manage to get more eng headcount, things will usually get worse before they get better.

Management will now expect your team’s immediate output to be in proportion with this new headcount, not with your current staffing.

Not fair, but such is life in product 🤷🏽‍♂️Image
Read 23 tweets
Mar 30, 2023
Product life in midsized & large companies starts making a lot more sense when you understand that a large % of middle & upper management thinks their main job is to (i) try & decipher what the CEO wants done (ii) align their org with it (iii) propose a plan that the CEO approves
This is instead of *often* telling the CEO what actually needs to be done, in a way that is grounded in (a) deep insight into customers & market (b) creative product & GTM solutions

Many in middle & upper management will of course blame incentives set by the company for this.
And they are not wrong. But it is worth evaluating how much of one’s career (and life) one wants to spend in aligning perfectly with incentives set by another party.

20% or 50% or 70% or 90% or 99% or 100%?

What is your answer?
Read 6 tweets
Mar 7, 2023
Those who don’t understand the great value of instinct call it luck.
Read 4 tweets
Mar 3, 2023
Everything we create, everything we do, it all starts with our thinking

Clear thinking drastically improves odds of success in all departments of career & life

While clear thinking is quite rare, it can be developed with practice

Advanced principles for clear thinking:

(1/12)
1) Essence first. Not story. Not analogy

Most people get seduced by great analogies & exciting stories.

Clear thinkers don’t *form* their thinking via analogies. They identify the essence of the issue, in their specific context. Then, they use analogies as one of their inputs.
2) WAYRTTD

“What Are You _Really_ Trying To Do” is a simple but powerful tool to make you pause & identify your real goal

Most people move too quickly to How & When to do a given task. But the task isn’t the goal

Clear thinkers have built a habit of asking themselves WAYRTTD.
Read 19 tweets
Feb 23, 2023
Apple Pie Position:
A statement that instantly elevates the person who is saying it and is simultaneously hard for anyone else to push back on, and so everyone avoids the personal risk and just nods “yes”, even though its actual value in this specific situation might be… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Okay, so now that you understand Apple Pie, here’s your crash course on dealing with Apple Pie:

1) The greatest thing about Apple Pie Positions is that you now have a name to assign to a complex behavior (and it is a cute name, which helps a lot). Once you share this idea with… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
One other important thing:

Note that Apple Pie Positions are, by definition, specific to the context. This means that the same sentence can be either the right thing to focus on, or it can be an Apple Pie Position. The way you determine which is which is through good judgment.
Read 5 tweets
Feb 17, 2023
Which book would sell more copies?

Business (auto)biography 1:
Failure 1, Failure 2, Hit rock bottom, Success 1, Failure 3, Wild success

Business (auto)biography 2:
Mild success, Major success, Mild failure, Mild challenges, Wild success

(Wild success being the same in both)
Now, imagine you must choose to live one of these lives.

Which one would you choose?

(note: you *must* choose one of these, you have no other option)

(think & be honest to yourself)

(this is a thought experiment for you only, so pick one, don’t reply with “it depends”)
After you’ve answered both questions (and seen the both poll results), share what if anything one might conclude from this.

You can make it finely granular (e.g. what you conclude about yourself) or coarsely granular (e.g. what you conclude about society/media/critical thinking)
Read 4 tweets

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