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Productivity

blog.samaltman.com

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Re: Productivity

#421

Post by themarlzy »

segmondy wrote: post #291
bastijn wrote: post #210

I once read a HN comment that I cannot find anymore but said: “my default loop is "First, cycle through all my developers and make sure that I have equipped them to be happy and productive in their jobs. Second, find something to do. If possible, delegate it; if not, do it. Repeat."” My biggest productivity gain was when I realized I should measure my productivity through the productivity of my developers. By the sam…

From one manager to another, if you haven't read it. Get a copy of "High Output Management"

Thanks for the suggestion, just picked it up

Re: Productivity

#422

Post by themarlzy »

bastijn wrote: post #346
rootusrootus wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I so need to figure this out. I just became a manager a couple months back and it's a constant struggle to avoid defining my success by what I do myself.

It is not easy to change your habits. I can only share what helped me most to transition to what I do today. I was lucky that I got my role about 2-3 months before the yearly review at which time I got the (anonymous) feedback that developers felt I was not available enough to support them. I remember at the time I responded with the natural reaction of somebody who newly obtained a lead position, I balanced the feed…

So much wisdom, thanks for sharing

Re: Productivity

#423

Post by themarlzy »

ndh2 wrote: post #391
ybalkind wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you got experience or thoughts about the remote working equivalent of "cycling through" your team? Cycling through implies (to my mind) casually being around your team, checking in, and helping where needed. Working remotely its a bit trickier? My team and I dont use slack or other chat platform, so for me to check in would require calls, meetings, emails etc, which is a bit more formal and disruptive then "cycl…

A better way would be to schedule regular 1-on-1 meetings. You're not going to find out if somebody is happy by "casually being around".

Definitely recommend both. Casual ring around (for remote staff) and being present, coupled with feedback and understanding needs in 1:1

Re: Productivity

#424

Post by themarlzy »

Schwolop wrote: post #258
philwelch wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's really only two things you need to do in order to be really good at basically anything: 1. Care a lot. 2. Work on continuously improving your skills. That's pretty much it. Yes, there is such a thing as natural ability, but outside of the true outliers, natural ability is a pretty small factor compared to caring a lot and continuous improvement. And, even if you're an outlier in terms of natural ability, cari…

Much as I dislike Scott Adams' views on many things, he has some smart advice in a lot of areas too. His take on success is to find a few areas where you can be in the top 25% and combine them. It's too hard to be in the top 1% of a specialty without natural talent, but if your specialty is the combination of four areas and you're in the top 25% of each of those areas, you're very likely to be amongst the top of the…

I feel this way too - having to distance myself from the messenger, but there is so much to learn in How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big[0]

[0) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17859574-how-to-fail-at-...

Re: Productivity

#425

Post by _Tev »

eric24234 wrote: post #326
fao_ wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a deep misunderstanding of IQ. As the product of two MENSA-ns, I can say with good faith: While high-IQ people do seem to have more varied interests than average people, IQ doesn't so much as govern interest as govern processing speed. One of the original purposes of IQ was selecting for fighter pilots -- fighter pilots with higher IQs means that you have fewer deaths, because they are able to process and rea…

Also could you please tell if it is possible to maintain friendship with high IQ people by a normal IQ people (say 120). Do the high IQ people find boring to maintain the thought process and conversation with low IQ people and hence can not enjoy company? What's your observation from your high IQ parents friendship circle ? Please provide honest feedback.

Not OP, but I think I have enough of appropriate experience / friends that match your question.

> if it is possible to maintain friendship with high IQ people by a normal IQ people

Yes.

> Do the high IQ people find boring to maintain the thought process and conversation with low IQ people ...

Yes, but not always. High IQ !== does know everything. And usually high IQ people love to learn new things, from anyone who can teach them.

> ... and hence can not enjoy company?

No, it can be enjoyed regardless. Even when you ignore activities not based on conversation (e.g. Sports, games), sometimes you want boring conversation.

Re: Productivity

#426

Post by nvarsj »

nosefrog wrote: post #123

Hey Sam! Regarding sleeping, I've had really bad sleep problems since I was a kid, to the point where I pulled all nighters a couple times a month just because I knew I wasn't going to get to sleep that night. I fixed all of my sleep problems over time by taking a low dose of melatonin (1g, low doses are more effective than high doses) and wearing orange glasses at night to block out blue light. It took a while for m…

Have you tried magnesium? It completely knocks me out. I’ve also had life long sleep difficulty.

Re: Productivity

#427

Post by mlvljr »

dotBen wrote: post #20

What do people think of the admission by Sam that he uses cannabis to help sleep, and thus uses cannabis in general? I have no problem with it, but it's interesting to see high profile people in business become more open and on the record about their usage.

"high profile people"

is that a pun? :)

Re: Productivity

#428

Post by Tcepsa »

eric24234 wrote: post #326
fao_ wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a deep misunderstanding of IQ. As the product of two MENSA-ns, I can say with good faith: While high-IQ people do seem to have more varied interests than average people, IQ doesn't so much as govern interest as govern processing speed. One of the original purposes of IQ was selecting for fighter pilots -- fighter pilots with higher IQs means that you have fewer deaths, because they are able to process and rea…

Also could you please tell if it is possible to maintain friendship with high IQ people by a normal IQ people (say 120). Do the high IQ people find boring to maintain the thought process and conversation with low IQ people and hence can not enjoy company? What's your observation from your high IQ parents friendship circle ? Please provide honest feedback.

Pedant that I am, I would like to point out that 120 is not a "normal" IQ. The test is scored such that 100 represents the median IQ, with 85-115 being within one standard deviation of that median. This means that less than about 1/3 of people will have a score outside of that range.

That having been said, I apologize for not being able to answer your actual question since I don't know the IQs of the folks I maintain friendships with. Most of them seem like they probably are higher than that range, but that might just be confirmation bias.

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