Shreyas Doshi Profile picture
Jun 29, 2021 11 tweets 3 min read Read on X
When in a high leverage role:

Stop doing work that simply provides a positive return on investment.

Start focusing on work that minimizes opportunity cost.
In a high leverage role:

100s of things will provide a positive ROI (i.e. the value created is greater than the cost of your time)

You should not be doing most of those things

When your goal is to minimize opportunity cost, you are forced to focus on the highest leverage work.
ROI = (Value created — Cost of your time) ÷ Cost of your time

So if your goal is to get high ROI in your work, you can do two things:

Increase Value i.e. work on higher value things

Decrease Cost i.e. work on things that take less time
When people have an ROI mindset, they naturally gravitate towards decreasing cost.

A task that has a tiny cost will have a very high ROI even if it creates low value.

With an ROI mindset, we occupy our time with quick, incremental wins, and we feel good about our “productivity”
In a high leverage role, it’s easy to find 100s of low cost tasks, but it’s hard to discern things that create massive value, and equally hard to overcome the inertia to take those things on.

Thinking in terms of Opportunity Cost forces us to exercise more judgment & discipline.
Because

Opportunity Cost = Value of optimal option – Value of chosen option

When we reprogram ourselves to think in terms of Opportunity Cost, we begin to instinctively explore the very high value alternatives that we would not have otherwise considered with an ROI mindset.
Ever come across a hardworking, well-meaning individual (or a team) who is always busy, is getting many things done, but those efforts are not adding up to a major singular impact over the long term?

That’s a manifestation of the ROI mindset, and it’s everywhere around us.
With an ROI mindset, we aim to move by inches with each distinct task. That isn’t bad by itself. But the problem is that this motion lacks cohesion. It’s like Brownian motion.

With an Opportunity Cost mindset, we aim to move by miles, with more intent behind each inch of motion.
Lastly, I will leave you with a couple of frameworks that are useful for people in high leverage roles. For me, these frameworks have been entirely life-changing.

The LNO Effectiveness Framework:
The Radical Delegation Framework:
The perspective I've shared in this thread is among the highest value perspectives I have to offer. It has certainly transformed the scale of my impact, while enabling much greater balance. I hope you consider whether the Opportunity Cost mindset is worth adopting in your work.

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More from @shreyas

Sep 3
Founder Mode, done right (thread): Image
Some ppl are surprised by the exuberance with which PG’s Founder Mode blog post has been received. There are many reasons for its strong resonance.

But the main one is that it introduces a catchy term for something that many founders & leaders have seen & experienced first-hand.
Here’s my prediction: a majority of founders & leaders who said to themselves this weekend “henceforth I am going to be in Founder Mode” are likely to mess it up.

That is not bad per se. They might still end up being in a better place than if they continued with Manager Mode.
Read 45 tweets
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
Image
Image
Image
“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

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