This is the 3rd issue! This time I cover:
How to build trust - a simple concept 🤲
How Microsoft is becoming desirable ✨
How Fast.com went too fast(.com) 😬
To complete my probe into the theory of a high-functioning team, I have one more concept that structures my opinion on this topic.
Trust, and lack thereof, is so ubiquitous in today’s society that we seldom think about its dynamics. Civilization, fragile as it is, is built on trust.
The concept is summarized by yet another triangle from “Begin with Trust”, by Frances Frei and Anne Morriss.
I like simplicity. I read somewhere that simplicity is both an illusion and an outcome of mastery.
The Trust Triangle is so simple that it seems masterful, at least when scrutinized against my own experiences.
The authors argue that trust has three drivers:
authenticity;
logic;
and empathy.
“People tend to trust you when they believe they are interacting with the real you (authenticity), when they have faith in your judgment and competence (logic), and when they feel that you care about them (empathy). When trust is lost, it can almost always be traced back to a breakdown in one of these three drivers.”
From “Begin with Trust” on HBR.
Further, to build trust and in our case move on to address the other dysfunctions of a team, you must first figure out your “trust wobble”.
The authors argue that each of us has a weak spot in one of those three drivers. Whether it is empathy, logic or authenticity, you first must identify your wobble, then work on addressing it.
My own trust wobble is logic. I realized back in the day that I must control my openness and creativity to be able to deliver impact in a team setting.
That’s why I love working with developers and PMs that are critical and engaged in product discussions. I’ve grown so much having my ideas scrutinized by the ruthless logic of some of my past colleagues.
The skeptics taught me to play a bit more within myself, and be more diligent with communicating and building a stronger case for my ideas.
Now, this was a long way to travel and I made many mistakes.
You don’t have to.
Check out Begin with Trust. (e-mail me for the pdf if you get locked out)
Microsoft is becoming desirable
Check out this campaign video for Microsoft Loop.
Steve Jobs said on multiple occasions that there is no real problem with Microsoft other than taste. They’ve got no taste. The business is sound. There is no taste in the product.
I love that perspective. It’s so true, so vague and precise at the same time.
This week, I’ve been using Windows 10 after a few years off. They’ve gone such a long way with UX at Microsoft. I’m sure the consumer version is even further ahead. But even the version I use is such an improvement over the Windows I remember.
The clear push for beauty and taste at Microsoft in the past few years is palpable. The results are in.
After 40 years in business, a solid dominant business that is a pinnacle of tech dominance, someone came in with a challenge.
How might we make Microsoft experiences desirable?
And what a great job they’ve done on that challenge.
I can imagine what it entails to execute change at a company of Microsoft scale. I’m definitely wrong. But they’ve been executing and the work shows. It seems like such a transformation that it must’ve come from the top.
Satya Nadella has been the CEO since 2014 and made Microsoft desirable. Sure it's a massive org-wide effort but the results are in whether on the public markets or in the product experience.
Well done. 👏
The Unnatural Scrolling Problem on MacOS
I’ve got a fix for a few of you.
So I’ve got a Lenovo company computer. As I said, it’s quite good. No problems there.
However, jumping from my personal computer, I want to cut the cognitive load of the few interaction patterns in which Mac and Win differ. There is the Windows button and the Command button. I can get used to that but I haven’t found a good lightweight solution for that.
For the scrolling direction issue, I’ve found a cute utility. It lets you change the scrolling direction of your mouse independently from the trackpad. This is the default setting on my Lenovo T14 Win laptop.
So I know have consistent scrolling behavior on both Macbook and Windows laptop! Download UnnaturalScrollWheels here.
Too Fast.com
There is a lot of talk about the remarkable Fast.com failure. Gergely has an interesting perspective about how he was approached by Fast and didn’t get on board because of the founder’s background.
It seemed like an “of course they did”!
Then I read the account of Ryan Breslow, CEO of Bolt which was the main competitor for Fast and challenger of the big dog Stripe. He recently started uncovering some behind the scenes Silicon Valley stuff and it’s been interesting to follow. He takes on the big brands of SV and usually makes a strong case about some of the lesser-known big VC tactics.
Then he addresses the actual story of Fast, and it’s also an interesting perspective.
Wherever the truth lies, it seems that they did try to go too fast.
And I guess there are two sides to every story. ✽
Update: Gergely (who writes the top notch tech newsletter from the engineer POV) did a deepdown on the Fast.com demise and I think it’s 💯. It deserves a read and it speaks about industry wide symptoms happening now in VC.
How about this issue?
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