9 ms·

Key practices for achieving large professional goals

239 points by tacon 7y ago

omarhaneef 7y ago
If the benefit of writing was primarily to focus your thoughts, I think everyone would be enjoying this benefit. After all, we constantly send email informing people of things we are about to do or have done. Perhaps the benefit is closer to advertising. As Buffet is supposed to have said, if you don’t write it’s like winking in the dark.
- swyx 7y ago
  a quick google shows this quote is about advertising, not writing https://www.google.com/search?q=if+you+don%E2%80%99t+write+it%E2%80%99s+like+winking+in+the+dark&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari https://www.google.com/search?q=if+you+don%E2%80%99t+write+i... (you got me excited so i went to look up source)
- zarkov99 7y ago
  Only rarely do you write emails were the message is complex enough that writing will force you to think it through carefully, which is the (very real) benefit the author is referring to. Someone said writing shows you how sloppy your thinking is, and math (and code to a lesser extent) shows you how sloppy your writing is.
  - nsomaru 7y ago
    “Sorry this is so long, I didn’t have time to make it shorter”
  - BeetleB 7y ago
    > Only rarely do you write emails were the message is complex enough that writing will force you to think it through carefully, which is the (very real) benefit the author is referring to. Actually, I used to, and occasionally still do. The problem is that no one reads them. People's attention span is quite short, and they get too many emails. When they see an email with 3+ paragraphs, and they also see they have 20 more emails in the inbox to go through, they just mark the email to read for later, and later never happens.
Havoc 7y ago
>professional goals This is missing one major ingredient: Office politics, image and associated soft skills Finding more and more that actual technical skill has less and less impact on my professional career. As uncomfortable as it makes me the conclusion is inescapable: playing the game well is now front and center
- mdorazio 7y ago
  This is a really hard lesson for a lot of people to learn. Networking, self-promotion, and playing politics at large companies will generally get you a lot closer to executive roles than just doing good work.
  - pbourke 7y ago
    Follow up: where can you do best based purely on technical/design/product skills? Freelance/consulting?
    - philipov 7y ago
      Nowhere. With Freelancing/consulting, you're just playing -their- office politics rather than your own. There is no place in society that allows you to avoid developing interpersonal skills.
      - GhettoMaestro 7y ago
        Cut throat truth. Thanks for posting.
      - nine_k 7y ago
        This us true. But different occupations need a different amount of interpersonal skills: a CEO or TV host need more, while a surgeon or a fighter jet pilot need somehow less. It all depends on where you want to end up.
        internet_user 7y ago
BeetleB 7y ago
> And after nearly 20 years, I have finally refashioned my continuous email checking (distraction) habit into a daily schedule of: > a quick check for urgent issues in the morning > up to a 15 minute session before lunch > a quick check for urgent issues ten minutes before finishing work I've said it often enough on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13362603 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13362603 This is why in my interview I specified something like "Morning, after lunch, and before I head home". Elsewhere: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21278969 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21278969 I've told two of my bosses while being interviewed: Assume I'll check email only 3 times a day. Is that workable? The response to that comment is amusing: Sorry, but your inability to interact with your co-workers makes you a difficult person to employ. A ton of folks don't need this kind of special treatment. (Likely he was responding to the other content in my comment, but in the spirit of this submission, I'd bet the author agrees more with my sentiment).
- travisjungroth 7y ago
  I’ve been thinking about workplace communication like this a lot lately. I think the “best” structure (most productive for most people) is a 3-tier system on separate tools. Alert system (pagerduty): 5 minutes (NOT normally used) “Instant” message (slack): 2 hours Email: 36 hours Maybe that’s too much for you. But knowing I can get both get a response from anyone within 2 hours, but don’t have to respond in less than 2 hours would make me very happy.
  - BeetleB 7y ago
    It depends on whether people are colocated. For me, if the team is all on the same floor, I just don't do IM.[1] If they need an immediate response or one within 2 hours, they can just come to my cube. I don't mind being interrupted for these, because I've noticed people are more likely to think their problem through before getting up and walking - whereas with IM (and to some extent email) they're happy sending off a query without much thought. So I'm interrupted significantly less in personal than via email/IM. If there are remote members, I usually respond to them on IM and try to ignore everyone else. This is to prevent colocated team members from having an advantage as I allow them to walk to my cube. I've toyed with having a requirement from them that if remote team members IM me, then they have to pick up a headset and talk live (similar to being interrupted in person). I haven't tried it yet. Email in 36 hours is excessive for me - I think by the end of day is good for me. Clearly different people have different preferences. My focus is to relieve the burden of always checking/being available. It prevents deep focus. I think this aligns with the author of the submission. [1] Note that this is for IM in general. I've never used Slack - I've heard Slack is more than just IM so perhaps I would find a good use for it.
codeisawesome 7y ago
Dear author, This entire post over all is the perfect example of “things I wish I knew to do in my 20s (or 30s)” and I love it. Thank you for sharing your hard earned wisdom and happy new year!!
- skuenzli 7y ago
  You're welcome! Thank you for sharing that; it means a lot because that's precisely the kind of help I'm trying to provide. I wish you success in the New Year and your career.
jay-anderson 7y ago
I worked with the author at a past company. He was an ideal coworker. He's an excellent communicator and was great at cutting through whatever else was going on to help us get the important things done. I'm happy to see his writing pop up here.
- skuenzli 7y ago
  Thanks Jay, that means a lot coming from you. I hope we get to build great things together again some day.

239 points by tacon 7y ago

If the benefit of writing was primarily to focus your thoughts, I think everyone would be enjoying this benefit. After all, we constantly send email informing people of things we are about to do or have done. Perhaps the benefit is closer to advertising. As Buffet is supposed to have said, if you don’t write it’s like winking in the dark.

swyx 7y ago
a quick google shows this quote is about advertising, not writing https://www.google.com/search?q=if+you+don%E2%80%99t+write+it%E2%80%99s+like+winking+in+the+dark&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari https://www.google.com/search?q=if+you+don%E2%80%99t+write+i... (you got me excited so i went to look up source)
zarkov99 7y ago
Only rarely do you write emails were the message is complex enough that writing will force you to think it through carefully, which is the (very real) benefit the author is referring to. Someone said writing shows you how sloppy your thinking is, and math (and code to a lesser extent) shows you how sloppy your writing is.
- nsomaru 7y ago
  “Sorry this is so long, I didn’t have time to make it shorter”
- BeetleB 7y ago
  > Only rarely do you write emails were the message is complex enough that writing will force you to think it through carefully, which is the (very real) benefit the author is referring to. Actually, I used to, and occasionally still do. The problem is that no one reads them. People's attention span is quite short, and they get too many emails. When they see an email with 3+ paragraphs, and they also see they have 20 more emails in the inbox to go through, they just mark the email to read for later, and later never happens.

Havoc 7y ago

>professional goals This is missing one major ingredient: Office politics, image and associated soft skills Finding more and more that actual technical skill has less and less impact on my professional career. As uncomfortable as it makes me the conclusion is inescapable: playing the game well is now front and center

mdorazio 7y ago
This is a really hard lesson for a lot of people to learn. Networking, self-promotion, and playing politics at large companies will generally get you a lot closer to executive roles than just doing good work.
- pbourke 7y ago
  Follow up: where can you do best based purely on technical/design/product skills? Freelance/consulting?
  - philipov 7y ago
    Nowhere. With Freelancing/consulting, you're just playing -their- office politics rather than your own. There is no place in society that allows you to avoid developing interpersonal skills.
    - GhettoMaestro 7y ago
      Cut throat truth. Thanks for posting.
    - nine_k 7y ago
      This us true. But different occupations need a different amount of interpersonal skills: a CEO or TV host need more, while a surgeon or a fighter jet pilot need somehow less. It all depends on where you want to end up.
      - internet_user 7y ago

BeetleB 7y ago

> And after nearly 20 years, I have finally refashioned my continuous email checking (distraction) habit into a daily schedule of: > a quick check for urgent issues in the morning > up to a 15 minute session before lunch > a quick check for urgent issues ten minutes before finishing work I've said it often enough on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13362603 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13362603 This is why in my interview I specified something like "Morning, after lunch, and before I head home". Elsewhere: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21278969 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21278969 I've told two of my bosses while being interviewed: Assume I'll check email only 3 times a day. Is that workable? The response to that comment is amusing: Sorry, but your inability to interact with your co-workers makes you a difficult person to employ. A ton of folks don't need this kind of special treatment. (Likely he was responding to the other content in my comment, but in the spirit of this submission, I'd bet the author agrees more with my sentiment).

travisjungroth 7y ago
I’ve been thinking about workplace communication like this a lot lately. I think the “best” structure (most productive for most people) is a 3-tier system on separate tools. Alert system (pagerduty): 5 minutes (NOT normally used) “Instant” message (slack): 2 hours Email: 36 hours Maybe that’s too much for you. But knowing I can get both get a response from anyone within 2 hours, but don’t have to respond in less than 2 hours would make me very happy.
- BeetleB 7y ago
  It depends on whether people are colocated. For me, if the team is all on the same floor, I just don't do IM.[1] If they need an immediate response or one within 2 hours, they can just come to my cube. I don't mind being interrupted for these, because I've noticed people are more likely to think their problem through before getting up and walking - whereas with IM (and to some extent email) they're happy sending off a query without much thought. So I'm interrupted significantly less in personal than via email/IM. If there are remote members, I usually respond to them on IM and try to ignore everyone else. This is to prevent colocated team members from having an advantage as I allow them to walk to my cube. I've toyed with having a requirement from them that if remote team members IM me, then they have to pick up a headset and talk live (similar to being interrupted in person). I haven't tried it yet. Email in 36 hours is excessive for me - I think by the end of day is good for me. Clearly different people have different preferences. My focus is to relieve the burden of always checking/being available. It prevents deep focus. I think this aligns with the author of the submission. [1] Note that this is for IM in general. I've never used Slack - I've heard Slack is more than just IM so perhaps I would find a good use for it.

codeisawesome 7y ago

Dear author, This entire post over all is the perfect example of “things I wish I knew to do in my 20s (or 30s)” and I love it. Thank you for sharing your hard earned wisdom and happy new year!!

skuenzli 7y ago
You're welcome! Thank you for sharing that; it means a lot because that's precisely the kind of help I'm trying to provide. I wish you success in the New Year and your career.

jay-anderson 7y ago

I worked with the author at a past company. He was an ideal coworker. He's an excellent communicator and was great at cutting through whatever else was going on to help us get the important things done. I'm happy to see his writing pop up here.

skuenzli 7y ago
Thanks Jay, that means a lot coming from you. I hope we get to build great things together again some day.