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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: "I discourage 1-on-1s"

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Re: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: "I discourage 1-on-1s"

#11

Post by viraptor »

lupire wrote: post #7
NotGMan wrote: post #3

>> if the CEO’s direct staff is 60 people, the number of layers you’ve removed in a company is probably something like seven.” This is a great insight since so much gets lost in the management layer which causes frustration for devs while the CEO doesn't have a clue what's actually going on in the trenches.

But doesn't also much get lost when the manager can't keep up with 60 reports? Mathematics teaches us that the distance in a tree, from root to leaf, where each node is a linked list, is minimized when the branching factor is e, the base of the natural logarithm. For example, e is the most efficient base for writing integers. Management isn't quite the same, but branch size is are relevant. Management isn't

Have you got a source for e as the optimal branching factor? (On average it feels plausible, but haven't seen a confirmation) But I don't get the idea about writing numbers in base e - by definition integers in base e are the least efficient, because they'd be infinite.

Re: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: "I discourage 1-on-1s"

#12

Post by gravescale »

viraptor wrote: post #11
lupire wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But doesn't also much get lost when the manager can't keep up with 60 reports? Mathematics teaches us that the distance in a tree, from root to leaf, where each node is a linked list, is minimized when the branching factor is e, the base of the natural logarithm. For example, e is the most efficient base for writing integers. Management isn't quite the same, but branch size is are relevant. Management isn't

Have you got a source for e as the optimal branching factor? (On average it feels plausible, but haven't seen a confirmation) But I don't get the idea about writing numbers in base e - by definition integers in base e are the least efficient, because they'd be infinite.

It's called radix economy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radix_economy

A non-integral number like e is obviously of limited utility in physical systems because having e adders in your ALU doesn't make much sense.

3 is closer then 2 to e, which also why ternary arithmetic was attempted for a while, but the massive advantage of binary in terms of implementation (it is much easier and far lower power to use transistors to slam a voltage high or low than keep it somewhere in the middle, and easier to arrange gates to have only on and off as inputs) won in the end.

Re: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: "I discourage 1-on-1s"

#13

Post by bigyikes »

I dread 1:1s with my manager. I simply do not have that much to say that I do not already say in group meetings or other channels. I find myself racking my brain to come up with agenda items to fill the time and save face.

Sometimes private conversations are necessary, but as a once in a while sort of thing, not on a biweekly cadence.

Re: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: "I discourage 1-on-1s"

#14

Post by bjt1997 »

I will place more value on Huang's leadership insights if he is managing people in a "normal" business (i.e. competition, not driven by a single hi-tech monopoly product, etc). It is easy to provide leadership insights when the whole world is dumping cash on your company for a product only you make.

Re: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: "I discourage 1-on-1s"

#15

Post by ToucanLoucan »

bigyikes wrote: post #13

I dread 1:1s with my manager. I simply do not have that much to say that I do not already say in group meetings or other channels. I find myself racking my brain to come up with agenda items to fill the time and save face. Sometimes private conversations are necessary, but as a once in a while sort of thing, not on a biweekly cadence.

> I dread 1:1s with my manager. I simply do not have that much to say that I do not already say in group meetings or other channels. I find myself racking my brain to come up with agenda items to fill the time and save face.

.... why? My 1-on-1's very rarely go beyond 10 minutes or so specifically because there usually isn't much to discuss, and even then we mostly just jump over some answers to simple questions, then end up bullshitting about whatever else is going on with life at the moment.

Re: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: "I discourage 1-on-1s"

#16

Post by rrr_oh_man »

bigyikes wrote: post #13

I dread 1:1s with my manager. I simply do not have that much to say that I do not already say in group meetings or other channels. I find myself racking my brain to come up with agenda items to fill the time and save face. Sometimes private conversations are necessary, but as a once in a while sort of thing, not on a biweekly cadence.

This is a perspective I have honestly never heard before.

Would you care to elaborate? I‘d really love to understand your POV better. Maybe I have a blind spot somewhere.

Background: I’ve always done them weekly (as biweekly seems to be worse than monthly — which in turn is arguably much worse than weekly). And they seemed to work quite well.. Basically 10-30min of chit-chat and catchup for relationship building.

Re: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: "I discourage 1-on-1s"

#17

Post by cjk »

For me, one-on-ones are a super mixed bag. Personally, I get very little out of them. If I have feedback for my manager or vice-versa, I see zero reason to wait until a scheduled meeting to bring that up.

That said, I’ve managed people that absolutely needed regularly-scheduled one-on-ones, because they needed the dedicated time and space to bring things up that they otherwise wouldn’t in the normal course of business.

It really depends on the employee in question. I don’t think a one-size-fits-all approach works here.

Re: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: "I discourage 1-on-1s"

#18

Post by anthony_d »

bigyikes wrote: post #13

I dread 1:1s with my manager. I simply do not have that much to say that I do not already say in group meetings or other channels. I find myself racking my brain to come up with agenda items to fill the time and save face. Sometimes private conversations are necessary, but as a once in a while sort of thing, not on a biweekly cadence.

I can definitely relate to that but I also appreciate having a set time on the calendar where I know my manager is available. Where I work a manager’s calendar is always full, literally meetings back to back from 8a to 5p.

I’ve always scheduled 1 on 1’s with my team and I know it’s appreciated by some and I suspect dreaded by others. Are you not comfortable messaging your manager in advance to say you don’t have anything?

I’m being selfish here… how do I make people comfortable saying they don’t need to meet?

Re: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: "I discourage 1-on-1s"

#19

Post by docandrew »

bjt1997 wrote: post #14

I will place more value on Huang's leadership insights if he is managing people in a "normal" business (i.e. competition, not driven by a single hi-tech monopoly product, etc). It is easy to provide leadership insights when the whole world is dumping cash on your company for a product only you make.

Nvidia didn’t start there - they took down a lot of established competitors in the GPU space, and a lot of other big companies are gunning for their position. I’d say their business operations and leadership are definitely worth studying.

Re: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: "I discourage 1-on-1s"

#20

Post by bigyikes »

anthony_d wrote: post #18
bigyikes wrote: post #13

I dread 1:1s with my manager. I simply do not have that much to say that I do not already say in group meetings or other channels. I find myself racking my brain to come up with agenda items to fill the time and save face. Sometimes private conversations are necessary, but as a once in a while sort of thing, not on a biweekly cadence.

I can definitely relate to that but I also appreciate having a set time on the calendar where I know my manager is available. Where I work a manager’s calendar is always full, literally meetings back to back from 8a to 5p. I’ve always scheduled 1 on 1’s with my team and I know it’s appreciated by some and I suspect dreaded by others. Are you not comfortable messaging your manager in advance to say you don’t have anyt…

Yeah maybe I should just say I don’t need to meet. Doing so feels like a faux pa or a failing of my duties somehow. Maybe it’s just in my head.
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