Charbel

Entrepreneur and technologist...Director of Eng @ Founder @

[Charbel @cabdulmassih]

I watched an ‘86 Celtics game the other night. And I wish I hadn’t. Watching tonight Celtics Thunder game doesn’t feel like basketball at all. Everything either thinks they’re Michael Jordan’s or Steph Curry. Nothing in between. Not that much fun to watch honestly

[Charbel @cabdulmassih]

Anxiety is tricky. It makes you prepare for things that will never happen

[Jason Fried @jasonfried]

The problem with software estimates is that they're both entirely right and entirely wrong.

Yes there's a 3 week version of something. And a 6 week version. And a 4 month version. And a 12 month version. That's correct.

Yet, you'll almost always be wrong whichever you pick. Because estimates aren't walls — they're windows. Too easy to open and climb through to the next one.

The 3 week version will turn into the 6 week version will turn into the 12 week version. You can see right through.

Software that encourages you to estimate how long something will take makes it even worse. That software is part of there problem. You know which products I'm talking about.

So what to do instead?

Set an appetite.

A appetite is like a budget. Not "we think it'll take 4 weeks" but "we're only giving it 4 weeks." That's all we've got side aside for it. Then the team tasked with the work has to get creative and figure out the 4 week version of that feature. There is no 6, 8, 10, or 12 week version when the appetite is 4 weeks. Just like there's no $7,000 vacation when you only can afford a $2500 one. And you know how that ends up if you overspend.

Are there times when you need to give something another week? Maybe even two? Yes. There's some margin for that because it can only happen once per project, and it's commensurate with the time spent. You don't double the time, maybe you give it 10% more time if you need to. A little margin for error and reality is built in there. This isn't absolutist, this isn't fundamentalism.

And yes, there are times when things aren't completed within the time allotted, and there's no obvious, honest path to finishing it with a touch more time. In those cases the project dies, we internalize, and hope that doesn't happen again. It rarely does here at 37signals, but it has. It's part of the cost of doing things this way. The payoff is huge, the downside is limited — that's a tradeoff we can live with.

[Cameron Moll @cameronmoll]

Universal truth of problem solving: The definition-solving process is circular not linear.

You can't fully define a problem without starting to solve the problem. Nor can you predict when the problem is fully defined (or solved for that matter).

Clarity will eventually emerge.

[Marty Smith @MartySmithESPN]

Take 7 minutes and watch Nick Saban's ESPY Icon Award speech. It's a tremendous message.
Few command a room like the GOAT commands a room.

[Taylor Snow @taylorcsnow]

What an honest, thoughtful Father's Day reflection.

This is a perfect glimpse into what makes Jayson Tatum such a great dad and a special person.

[Nassim Nicholas Taleb @nntaleb]

If you don't have an opinion, resist the pressure to have one.

[Jason Fried @jasonfried]

The 37signals Guide to Internal Communication

The how, where, why, and when we communicate. Long form asynchronous? Real-time chat? In-person? Video? Verbal? Written? Via email? In Basecamp? How do we keep everyone in the loop without everyone getting tangled in everyone else’s business? It’s all in here.

Rules of thumb, and general philosophy

Below you’ll find a collection of general principles we try to keep in mind at 37signals when communicating with teammates, within departments, across the company, and with the public. They aren’t requirements, but they serve to create boundaries and shared practices to draw upon when we do the one thing that affects everything else we do: communicate.

1. You can not not communicate. Not discussing the elephant in the room is communicating. Few things are as important to study, practice, and perfect as clear communication.

2. Real-time sometimes, asynchronous most of the time.

3. Internal communication based on long-form writing, rather than a verbal tradition of meetings, speaking, and chatting, leads to a welcomed reduction in meetings, video conferences, calls, or other real-time opportunities to interrupt and be interrupted.

4. Give meaningful discussions a meaningful amount of time to develop and unfold. Rushing to judgement, or demanding immediate responses, only serves to increase the odds of poor decision making.

5. Meetings are the last resort, not the first option.

6. Writing solidifies, chat dissolves. Substantial decisions start and end with an exchange of complete thoughts, not one-line-at-a-time jousts. If it’s important, critical, or fundamental, write it up, don’t chat it down.

7. Speaking only helps who’s in the room, writing helps everyone. This includes people who couldn’t make it, or future employees who join years from now.

8. If your words can be perceived in different ways, they’ll be understood in the way which does the most harm.

9. Never expect or require someone to get back to you immediately unless it’s a true emergency. The expectation of immediate response is toxic.

10. If you have to repeat yourself, you weren’t clear enough the first time. However, if you’re talking about something brand new, you may have to repeat yourself for years before you’re heard. Pick your repeats wisely.

11. Poor communication creates more work.

12. Companies don’t have communication problems, they have miscommunication problems. The smaller the company, group, or team, the fewer opportunities for miscommunication.

13. Five people in a room for an hour isn’t a one hour meeting, it’s a five hour meeting. Be mindful of the tradeoffs.

14. Be proactive about “wait, what?” questions by providing factual context and spatial context. Factual are the things people also need to know. Spatial is where the communication happens (for example, if it’s about a specific to-do, discuss it right under the to-do, not somewhere else).

15. Communication shouldn’t require schedule synchronization. Calendars have nothing to do with communication. Writing, rather than speaking or meeting, is independent of schedule and far more direct.

16. “Now” is often the wrong time to say what just popped into your head. It’s better to let it filter it through the sieve of time. What’s left is the part worth saying.

17. Ask yourself if others will feel compelled to rush their response if you rush your approach.

18. The end of the day has a way of convincing you what you’ve done is good, but the next morning has a way of telling you the truth. If you aren’t sure, sleep on it before saying it.

19. If you want an answer, you have to ask a question. People typically have a lot to say, but they’ll volunteer little. Automatic questions on a regular schedule help people practice sharing, writing, and communicating.

20. Occasionally pick random words, sentences, or paragraphs and hit delete. Did it matter?

21. Urgency is overrated, ASAP is poison.

22. If something’s going to be difficult to hear or share, invite questions at the end. Ending without the invitation will lead to public silence but private conjecture. This is where rumors breed.

23. Where you put something, and what you call it, matters. When titling something, lead with the most important information. Keep in mind that many technical systems truncate long text or titles.

24. Write at the right time. Sharing something at 5pm may keep someone at work longer. You may have some spare time on a Sunday afternoon to write something, but putting it out there on Sunday may pull people back into work on the weekends. Early Monday morning communication may be buried by other things. There may not be a perfect time, but there’s certainly a wrong time. Keep that in mind when you hit send.

25. Great news delivered on the heels of bad news makes both bits worse. The bad news feels like it’s being buried, the good news feels like it’s being injected to change the mood. Be honest with each by giving them adequate space.

26. Time is on your side, rushing makes conversations worse.

27. Communication is lossy, especially verbal communication. Every hearsay hop adds static and chips at fidelity. Whenever possible, communicate directly with those you’re addressing rather than passing the message through intermediaries.

28. Ask if things are clear. Ask what you left out. Ask if there was anything someone was expecting that you didn’t cover. Address the gaps before they widen with time.

29. Consider where you put things. The right communication in the wrong place might as well not exist at all. When someone relies on search to find something it’s often because it wasn’t where they expected something to be.

30. Communication often interrupts, so good communication is often about saying the right thing at the right time in the right way with the fewest side effects.

[Dorian Develops @DorianDevelops]

JetBrains IDEs > VSCode

[DHH @dhh]

"You can't have it both ways. You can't scorn the use of 'we're a family' and then also expect that colleagues who can't keep up are spared the cut. It's either or, if you're going to have a high-performing team." https://t.co/Te96TozanP

[Jason Fried @jasonfried]

I can fake enough. I can fake a lot.

But I’ve noticed there’s one thing in particular I can’t fake: Motivation.

And in the end, at least for me, it all comes down to motivation. I may have the talent, I may know the tricks, I may be able to go through the motions.

But if I deeply don’t want to do it, it won’t be good. Simple as that. It might get done, or more likely it may not, but it’ll be hollow. Something will be missing.

And that’s the spiral — doing empty work dissolves my motivation even more.

I’m more likely to do something I’m terrible at if I really want it, than something I’m great at that I don’t.

Motivation is my essential element. And you can’t mine it. It mines you.

[Jason Fried @jasonfried]

Over the past few years I've been practicing the subtle art of Staying Out of It.

On any given day, there are dozens of discussions I could be part of. A deluge of decisions I could weigh in on. An overmuch of opinion on which I could opine.

But I'm choosing to Stay Out of It.

Not because I don't care, but because I don't need to be there. And the owner's word weighs a ton.

I'd much rather see most things take care of themselves. Or have people settle their own balances, rather than me having to deposit my own two cents.

This means getting used to being OK with decisions I wouldn't have made. Or designs I wouldn't have drawn up. Or provisions I wouldn't necessarily have put in place.

But that's an ego stroke. As if my decision, or design, or provision would have been an automatic improvement. I'm sure plenty of things are better around here because I chose to Stay Out of It.

Further, when Staying Out of It now, I'll often come back later to discover something went exactly as I'd hoped it would. They handled it. There truly was no need for me to be involved. In fact, my involvement would have prevented someone else from being the one to gain the experience making the call.

Being everywhere with a word for everything doesn't help anyone. I may think I'm helping steer everything that's going on, but is it helping the organization get along?

Now I pick and choose. Too many words, too much to lose. If I can be useful, if I can break a tie, if I can point to the sky, then I'm here for that. Otherwise, I'll just Stay Out of It.

[Jon Erlichman @JonErlichman]

Jensen Huang on how to structure a company.

[Jason Fried @jasonfried]

I'm not a long-term planner. I like to make it up as I go.

Hearing this always sets some people off.

But let me ask you this.

If you think you can't make a good decision about what to work on now, why do you think you can make 100 good decisions about what to work on later?

[Chris Hayes @chrislhayes]

Two of the most untold stories of the Biden administration (both of which we've told! before you yell at me) are

1) Under Biden, US oil production is higher than any country ever in history

2) Under Trump, violent crime spiked and under Biden, violent crime is falling.

[WCVB-TV Boston @WCVB]

Storm Update: Why the big change in the snowfall forecast. https://t.co/IbmR5p07uB

[@jason @Jason]

Write-first culture is a game changer. I highly recommend learning about @JeffBezos’ management strategy around six pagers/memos — it really works for important decisions https://t.co/fZ9azNodC2

[jordan ☘️ @whataa_jem]

I still don’t understand why the Bucks got rid of Jrue Holiday but I’m so glad they did 💚🍀

[Charbel @cabdulmassih]

@BOSSportsGordo Can’t really see the players nor the ball well with these colors popping in the background