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How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

simonwillison.net

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Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#871

Post by dogleash »

tpmoney wrote: post #832
dogleash wrote: post #797

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I see it all the time in large organizations, where different teams forget what the goal of the company is and instead get hyperfocused on their teams KPI's to the detriment of the company as a whole. I thought it was well understood that this kind of misalignment is the cost of someone afraid to admit outloud what the goal is. Mr. Beast, like Hollywood production companies before him, can say "don't forget, your jo…

> Mr. Beast, like Hollywood production companies before him, can say "don't forget, your job is lowest common denominator slop." This feels to me like an intentionally hostile reading of the content. I think all of us have had the experience of working with a co-worker who is either brilliant but extremely prone to going down rabbit holes, or a co-worker who seems to have a completely different idea of what we’re doi…

> intentionally hostile reading of the content.

Why? I specifically mentioned Hollywood to try avoid the rose colored glasses and just skip to the matter of fact stage. If it's just churning out content then it's just churning out content.

> Liz Lemon (friendly, trying to gain favor): Whatcha guys working on?

> Ritchie (Deadpan): Piece for the Today Show about how next month is October.

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#873

Post by yeukhon »

arder wrote: post #656
renewiltord wrote: post #7

On one side, an army of HN commenters: “Repeat after me. Don’t build on someone else’s platform.” On the other side, Mr Beast: > Your goal here is to make the best YOUTUBE videos possible. That’s the number one goal of this production company. It’s not to make the best produced videos. Not to make the funniest videos. Not to make the best looking videos. Not the highest quality videos.. It’s to make the best YOUTUBE…

Mr Beast videos do single digit millions in revenue per video, and he operates on razor thin margins re-investing everything. Youtube does $8.5Bn a quarter in revenue. For startups the target is the Youtube exit, not the Mr Beast exit. In fact, whilst Mr Beast is obviously doing a great job and making tonnes of money it's not clear if he even ever could exit. What Mr Beast is doing is incredibly successful, but it's…

You actually believe he makes razor thin profit? And you believes he reinvests everything? Sorry but none of us have verified his company’s books. Just saying

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#874

Post by pjlegato »

doix wrote: post #689

There are lot of comments here disliking MrBeast and what not, but some of the advice can definitely apply to all organizations. > Your goal here is to make the best YOUTUBE videos possible. That’s the number one goal of this production company. It’s not to make the best produced videos. Not to make the funniest videos. Not to make the best looking videos. Not the highest quality videos.. It’s to make the best YOUTUB…

> teams forget what the goal of the company is and instead get hyperfocused on their teams KPI's

This is the intractable and unavoidable problem with the use of KPIs as a management tool: Goodhart's Law -- any metric used as a target ceases to be a good measure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law

You are -- literally -- telling the team, "go make this KPI number go up. Your entire job performance will be evaluated on that basis." It is unsurprising that the team therefore focuses on making that number go up.

If you want teams to consider the goals of the company, or anything at all besides their KPIs, don't use KPIs.

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#875

Post by nothercastle »

calmbonsai wrote: post #545
wrsh07 wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ignoring the ethics of Mr Beast, he is producing real videos at an incredibly high volume and they consistently do numbers. None of those videos is easy to make. Sure, it's maybe not great to be so impressed by logistics or supply chain of a tobacco company, but from a business and systems view some of it is interesting

You lost me at "ignoring the ethics". By de facto, you never ignore ethics. You may disregard them, but they're never ignored.

Ethics only exist to provide value. If you can’t point to a value that your ethics provide then it’s not needed and excessive. Most of the ethical standards do provide value or mitigate risk you just need to understand what that risk and value trades is.

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#876

Post by humanizersequel »

darby_nine wrote: post #855
xwowsersx wrote: post #845

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may not find it appealing, but the truth is that most major successes are driven by obsession. It’s not a balanced or psychologically sound way to live—no one claims it is. If you believe great achievements come from people working regular hours, taking it slow, and maintaining a comfortable pace, you are mistaken. Newton, Steve Jobs, Marie Curie...the list goes on. These people's success wasn't a product of bala…

> You may not find it appealing, but the truth is that most major successes are driven by obsession. Great, don't force it on your employees. I am not working for you for anything other than a paycheck and flexible working conditions and stimulating work.

Nobody is forcing you to work for Mr Beast

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#878

Post by nothercastle »

Ygg2 wrote: post #550
wrsh07 wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ignoring the ethics of Mr Beast, he is producing real videos at an incredibly high volume and they consistently do numbers. None of those videos is easy to make. Sure, it's maybe not great to be so impressed by logistics or supply chain of a tobacco company, but from a business and systems view some of it is interesting

Ignoring the ethics of Mexican drug cartels, they are producing some crucial and consistently demanded products. Like high-volume of drugs and violence that rivals the state. None of those are easy to achieve. Sure, it's maybe not great to be impressed by the logistics of a militarized drug cartel, but from a business and systems view it's quite interesting. /sarcasm This is literally cocaine logic, i.e. because I fe…

There are probably business ethics in the cartels as well. They have different core values and risk profiles than conventional businesses but there are likely business operating guidelines and operational ground rules that we can ethics.

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#879

Post by gmd63 »

the_gorilla wrote: post #473
gmd63 wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hating on "nitpicking" is the funniest thing to me. It's a bold admission that one has abandoned attention to detail. Huge red flag.

I wonder if this is meant to be ironic because this behavior is exactly what was being criticized. You just picked one specific detail to focus on and ignored everything else.

The anti nitpicking attitude is the core point of the parent commenter's post. I agree with sensible prioritization as exemplified in the linked article, as should everyone. But the author of the comment I'm responding to is expressing discomfort with a culture that identifies holes in their reasoning. They're so uncomfortable with having details of their arguments challenged that they aren't saying what they really want to say.

I know an "anti nitpicker" who is entirely opposite to that attitude when it comes to their social appearance and perception. One hair on their tie is catastrophic. One publicly searchable webpage that shows a decades old picture of them is an extreme problem that warrants hiring a company to clean up. It's interesting how, in matters that are important to some of these people, seemingly inconsequential and irrelevant details suddenly matter to an extraordinary degree.

The anti nitpicking stance is a byproduct of the extreme overvaluation of social perception. Often these people do not like to look like they have made a mistake. And thus they avoid conflict or paint it as irrelevant in belief that it will save their appearance.

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#880

Post by chucksmash »

darby_nine wrote: post #840
chucksmash wrote: post #830

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Obsession" predates the DSM and psychiatry as a profession.

You'll find that most undesirable human behavior and perception does. This is just "product obsession" marketing bullshit forced onto real-life relationships. If you want to engage in this type of culture because it helps you fit in with founders; fine, that's your own brain you're messing with. Don't force it on others.

> Don't force it on others.

Nobody is forcing anything on anybody here so there's no need to end your thought with a defiant coda.

> If you want to engage in this type of culture because it helps you fit in with founders; fine, that's your own brain you're messing with.

You misunderstand the objection I hinted at. Which is fine. I'm not pro-"marketing bullshit" because it's not an either/or choice. What I object to is taking a perfectly normal word someone uses and then choosing a narrow, fraught, medical interpretation of the word to ascribe to them a viewpoint of, essentially, "they want you to be mentally ill!"

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