Surajkumar Harikumar

Expert designer of Castles in the Air, Technology Writer, Droid Enthusiast, Thinker, Coder, Undergrad

[Surajkumar Harikumar @SurajHarikumar]

@CheQ_One @CheQ_One your voucher redemption appears to be broken

For the 5pm sale i clocked in at 4:59, and by then it showed "oops vouchers flew too fast"

Were there even any items available to redeem? This seems misleading, and poorly coordinated, please confirm what issue?

[Surajkumar Harikumar @SurajHarikumar]

Been trying to book with @kiwicom247 for 5 days. Payment issue, repeatedly. Tried multiple cards (Indian VISA/diners). Stuck at below page.

MAN -> IST.

Unfort Kiwi website support is broken, only works for existing bookings

Want to book this flight. Pls help? @kiwicom247

[Surajkumar Harikumar @SurajHarikumar]

RIP to the real sentinel of investing, the legend

@shaneparrish thank you and FS, for bringing so much of his wisdom into our lives

[Shane Parrish @shaneparrish]

“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.”

— Charlie Munger

[Shane Parrish @shaneparrish]

“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.”

— Charlie Munger

[Shreyas Doshi @shreyas]

“You are great at execution, the team loves you, but you need to be more strategic”

Hearing this feedback from your direct manager or your skip manager can be very confusing.

And for highly capable product people who consistently get things done, this theme of “you need to be more strategic” is extremely common. It is perhaps the most common feedback given to otherwise-competent PMs at some point in their career.

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It starts showing up after you’ve rapidly ascended your company’s career ladder up to Sr. PM or Group PM. And once it starts showing up, it just will not go away. That is, until you fix it.

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But here’s the trouble: it is incredibly confusing to know how to act on this feedback. As a further complication, while many managers / skip levels are happy to deliver this feedback, most of them either do not have the expertise or the time to create more clarity on how the employee should act on this feedback.

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So let’s solve that.

First, if you receive the “you need to be more strategic” feedback, it doesn’t automatically mean that you should be looking to take a product strategy course or read a product strategy book.

Product strategy and being strategic are not always the same thing.

In practice, not all “you need to be more strategic” feedback is the same.

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There are 3 distinct categories of this feedback:

1) More Product Thinking: You need to do more Product Thinking and less Project Thinking (see the image below if you’re curious about the differences between Product Thinking and Project Thinking)

2) New Opportunity Creation: You need to spend more time on creating new opportunities and the next big new business for your org & company (instead of being mainly focused on executing on and optimizing the current cash cow)

3) Actual Product Strategy: You need to clarify the vision and product strategy for your product (and make sure that the right people at the right levels in the right functions understand this vision & strategy, and are aligned to execute on it across the company)

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#1 is usually the case for Sr. PMs / GPMs when they want to get to Director level.

#2 is usually the case for Director level folks who need to demonstrate impact above and beyond what would organically happen anyway.

#3 is usually the case for GPM / Director / VP level folks who are very good Operators, but haven’t yet found the time or built the skills to clarify a real product vision and strategy and get the broader org aligned towards it.

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So if in the next perf review season you get the “you need to be more strategic” feedback, I suggest you use this framework to get more clarity from your manager on what you actually need to do to respond to their feedback.

[Surajkumar Harikumar @SurajHarikumar]

@airindia Fyi @airindia , I haven't heard back from your team, despite reminders.

[Surajkumar Harikumar @SurajHarikumar]

1/2
@airindia we flew to Europe in June/July
2x10 hrs flight. NONE of which had in-flight entertainment. Hostess said system being "rebooted" whole time. Full flight, 95% seats- not working. I've been mailing #airindia team for 6 weeks now, little 2 NO response
#verypoorservice

[Tim Ferriss @tferriss]

Ninety-nine percent of people in the world are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for the mediocre. The level of competition is thus fiercest for “realistic” goals, paradoxically making them the most time- and energy-consuming.

If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too.

Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.

Unreasonable and unrealistic goals are easier to achieve for yet another reason.

Having an unusually large goal is an adrenaline infusion that provides the endurance to overcome the inevitable trials and tribulations that go along with any goal. Realistic goals, goals restricted to the average ambition level, are uninspiring and will only fuel you through the first or second problem, at which point you throw in the towel.

If the potential payoff is mediocre or average, so is your effort.

The fishing is best where the fewest go, and the collective insecurity of the world makes it easy for people to hit home runs while everyone else is aiming for base hits. There is just less competition for bigger goals.

[Adi Verma @adityatheverma]

He sold over 20,000,000 pairs of sunglasses with a 240 word story.

And is considered to be one of the greatest copywriters, ever.

Here’re 5 of Joe Sugarman’s most powerful writing secrets:

(Starting with the two he called “THE most powerful”)

[Surajkumar Harikumar @SurajHarikumar]

@estherherranzh Interested, still available? For how much? DM me and we can discuss more

[Paul Graham @paulg]

Worth reading for anyone interested in big historic trends. Best case we end up with China plus its raw materials suppliers vs the rest of the world. In which case I'd definitely bet on the rest of the world.
https://t.co/emoTcW22aq

[Ramnandan Krishnamurthy @ramkris]

Woah IF true! Is this the first instance of web3 x commerce from India..

[Surajkumar Harikumar @SurajHarikumar]

@shiftyjelly Huge pocket casts fan, and Material too :) Feature request - popular podcasts in my country ? iOS feature i would love here.

[TIME @TIME]

Watch 'Star Wars' villain Kylo Ren go 'Undercover Boss' on SNL https://t.co/j4RxG8HCdD

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Falcon lands on droneship, but the lockout collet doesn't latch on one the four legs, causing it… https://t.co/DpXsRQWal9

[Surajkumar Harikumar @SurajHarikumar]

Great initiative by @vikatan. #ChennaiFloods short documentary in VR. Best experenced with Google cardboard https://t.co/j204GfWDKC

[விகடன் @vikatan]

சென்னை வெள்ளத்தின் முதல் 360 டிகிரி வீடியோ! https://t.co/GM22RalkVx

[Mashable @mashable]

Watch Apple's new $99 stylus in action with the iPad Pro: http://t.co/qsmYZ7UFYj #AppleEvent

[Gizmodo @Gizmodo]

This is Apple's new iPhone 6S http://t.co/aE4sYLCrdE