7 ms·

Mochary Method Curriculum

270 points by jger15 4y ago

warpech 4y ago
This seems to be a rawer form of Mochary's book "The Great CEO Within"
- allenleee 4y ago
  Pretty much! the google doc link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZJZbv4J6FZ8Dnb0JuMhJxTnwl-dwqx5xl0s65DE3wO8/preview https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZJZbv4J6FZ8Dnb0JuMhJxTnw...
sedeki 4y ago
Who is Matt Mochary?
- hef19898 4y ago
  The t submissions calls him a CEO coach. So I assume one of those life coach, success consulting people that regularly advertise on Youtube? Or on LinkedIn, in case he has a high enough profile?
- culanuchachamim 4y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Mochary https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Mochary Mochary is CEO Coach to companies including Coinbase, Opendoor, Bolt, and Clearbit.[1] Mochary was a co-founder and Chairman of Totality Corporation, founded in 1999 and acquired by MCI Inc. in 2005.
- frisco 4y ago
  The new Bill Campbell.
  - packetslave 4y ago
    That's a pretty huge claim to make without any sort of evidence. Bill Campbell had an enormous impact on the Valley and a stellar reputation as a coach.
  - brindlejim 4y ago
    The difference between Mochary and Campbell is stark. Campbell did not receive compensation for his coaching. He used to say "I don't take money, options, or bullshit." There was a reason for that. Campbell knew that if he took CEOs' money, he enter the circle jerk of people telling each other what they wanted to hear. Mochary is part of that circle jerk, unfortunately. He is passing on received and second-hand wisdom, supposed lessons that he didn't learn the hard way, and may not be true at all. He is well known in Sequoia circles, and you might say he's their in-house coach. But Sequoia, well, they also backed FTX ...
vsareto 4y ago
>Engineering: How to increase speed and quality >https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yL_m10CT6bIVsvSfjsCcm_Q4phMP63DDmItepDONQg0/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yL_m10CT6bIVsvSfjsCcm_Q4... >You are now likely thinking: "Matt, there just aren't enough senior engineers in the world. We'd love to hire only senior folks, but we can't find them. We need to bring on junior engineers so that we can eventually train them to be senior." >That is absolutely true. But then recognize that you are training. Create an actual training program. Do not sap the energy and time of your senior developers with this process. Have it happen off to the side, where the teachers are only those who actually derive energy from the process of teaching and mentoring. I'm stoked to see someone preaching this to CEOs. I don't know how common this advice is given to other CEOs, but it's the first time I've seen it.
- dclusin 4y ago
  I agree. If management wants software development to be more like the trades they need to recognize that training is a line item cost that needs to be paid as part of the employment arrangement with both time and money allocated for it.
- nradov 4y ago
  There is the ideal, and then there is the reality. Only the very largest enterprises have the scale necessary to develop comprehensive engineering training programs. Doing it right is tremendously expensive, so it can generally only be justified in organizations that onboard hundreds of new engineers every year. And even then, some level of program specific training will always be needed after completing the initial standard training. Another perspective is to consider training junior engineers to be a core job responsibility of senior engineers. There are always going to be tasks that need to get done even if we don't "derive energy" from them. That's just part of being a professional. Most engineers who complain about teaching and mentoring shouldn't be promoted to senior level in the first place; in the long run they would probably be happier and more successful as independent consultants.
  - rqtwteye 4y ago
    "Another perspective is to consider training junior engineers to be a core job responsibility of senior engineers. There are always going to be tasks that need to get done even if we don't "derive energy" from them. That's just part of being a professional. Most engineers who complain about teaching and mentoring shouldn't be promoted to senior level in the first place; in the long run they would probably be happier and more successful as independent consultants." All fine and good but you need to actually get the time and be recognized for the time you put into mentoring. In the companies I have seen senior devs are still measured by their output and setting time aside for mentoring younger devs doesn't really help their ratings. A lot do it anyways but the incentives are against doing so. .
boringg 4y ago
Whats the verdict -- is this good content or is this just a great way to get your brand into the market? Are there differentiators here?
- thenerdhead 4y ago
  I've read a bit of his book. He definitely combines the good parts from various other frameworks and leadership books. Overall a solid foundation of everything you might want to know as a person in a influential position. You'd probably have to read a few different books to get what's already combined here in my opinion.
- rahimnathwani 4y ago
  This is amazing content. Short yet detailed. I've read his book multiple times, and implemented some of its advice, but I'm still finding new nuggets in the curriculum.
  - boringg 4y ago
    Thanks took a quick skim seemed rather interesting. Always good to get others opinions before putting time in, even if they are anonymous internet people (no offense intended).
    - rahimnathwani 4y ago
      Haha I'm not anonymous! I use my real name here. You can read my past comments, blog, LinkedIn etc.
kryz 4y ago
These are all the frameworks you need to run and scale a company. This is the tactical stuff that never gets shared, yet actually forms a company’s habits and operations
version_five 4y ago
Is there a way to look at a google doc without using my google account? Clicking the link asks me to choose one of my Google accounts, and I don't want to give that information out to random posts. It would be nice if there was a service that could pdf it or something and let you download that. (Not a critique of this particular post, just a meta problem that comes up frequently here)
- lalopalota 4y ago
  I was able to view it in firefox focus on an android with no google account. i presume a private window and / or a browser that you haven't signed in to google should work just fine.
- mcoliver 4y ago
  Incognito window will do it.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
dhouston 4y ago
This strikes me as a good place to start, both for founders who are running something for the first time and also for more experienced execs as a good review of the fundamentals. In other words, I wish I had seen something like this when I was starting Dropbox in that a lot of our scaling problems would have been prevented by doing these basic things properly and consistently. (I don't know Matt, and haven't been coached by him, but I do know a lot of the founders he's coached, and have read his book https://www.amazon.com/Great-CEO-Within-Tactical-Building-ebook/dp/B07ZLGQZYC https://www.amazon.com/Great-CEO-Within-Tactical-Building-eb... which covers much of the same material.)
- JamesBarney 4y ago
  Mind sharing some of the lessons that you thought would have been the most valuable to know from the beginning, instead of having to learn the hard way?
BrianOnHN 4y ago
> To make our meetings more effective and efficient, we have created Mochary Method software. If you find the software effective, feel free to use it with your reports as well. [1] Does anyone have any references for this software? > Typical reactions to the software are: > Meeting 1: “Why are we using this software? Let’s just use a Google Doc, it’s easier.” > Meeting 2: “Oh, I see why this software is better than a Google Doc. Let’s keep using it.” > Meeting 3: “This software is awesome. Can I please use this throughout my entire company.” Seems interesting. Edit: I think it's "CompanyOS" [2]. The homepage is nearly a replica of the Mochary Method website. But, I haven't seen anything about how the software works. Does anyone have any information about it's features? From the hiring page [3]: > Each is paying $150,000/yr for access to our product. [1] "Mochary Coaching Methodology (CEO 1-1)" page https://docs.google.com/document/d/17AfqFdrx0lb6aYb786lY3a-17jUEoxDCRAT-BpDmh2k/edit# https://docs.google.com/document/d/17AfqFdrx0lb6aYb786lY3a-1... [2] CompanyOS https://companyos.app/ https://companyos.app/ [3] https://mocharymethod.notion.site/Work-at-CompanyOS-419da8974bc54ad0896f91b612ed6e63 https://mocharymethod.notion.site/Work-at-CompanyOS-419da897...
- casesandberg 4y ago
  We are working on a variety of different software solutions, CompanyOS being one of them! Right now our software is only available to our clients.
tnolet 4y ago
The Great CEO within is a great book. Honestly, also for non-CEOs. One of the better (and short) Startup/B2B/SaaS self-help books. But one grain of salt: If you are at a smaller startup like me (~35 people) implementing all the lessons and tips would required doubling head count just for all the reporting, training, engineering, sales and marketing support staff you would need. So pick and choose what you need I guess.
PaulMest 4y ago
I saw this in a Twitter thread a couple of days ago: https://twitter.com/lennysan/status/1591470516178948096 https://twitter.com/lennysan/status/1591470516178948096. In that thread there are also links to related podcasts and more endorsements.
firstSpeaker 4y ago
Anyone turned this entire resource into an offline access? :D
- yanokwa 4y ago
  See https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZJZbv4J6FZ8Dnb0JuMhJxTnwl-dwqx5xl0s65DE3wO8/preview https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZJZbv4J6FZ8Dnb0JuMhJxTnw...
- isubkhankulov 4y ago
  I wrote several scripts to rip all the docs, loom videos, slide decks and sheets linked from all of the docs. DM me and I’m happy to share it.
  - bhattisatish 4y ago
    Well your profile has no way to contact you! How do we DM you :-)
    - isubkhankulov 4y ago
      Twitter (DM's open) and Linkedin added!
nateforster 4y ago
Wow, I work with Matt and I'm honored to see our work on the front page of HN. :) We'll be adding more curriculum documents over the next few months — follow @mattmochary or @nateforster_ on Twitter for updates!
gloryjulio 4y ago
Does anyone know how to save this doc? What happens if we suddenly lose the access?
- trevin 4y ago
  It's been up for years. If you are super worried, I suggest buying his book which is ~90% of this in printed form. Called The Great CEO Within.
  - gloryjulio 4y ago
    Even with the book format, I found the doc with hyperlink format is much more pleasant to read with. I would pay for it as an ebook.
tayloramurphy 4y ago
I'm guessing this was posted because he was on Lenny's Podcast[0] very recently. I do recommend this episode as I found it quite informative. [0] https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-fire-people-with-grace-work-through-fear-and-nurture-innovation-matt-mochary-ceo-coach/ https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-fire-people-with-grace-...
puravida1234 4y ago
Interesting, I did some digging and it looks like Matt has hired a group of CEO coaches to implement the curriculum. https://coach.mocharymethod.com/ https://coach.mocharymethod.com/
- celineteoh 4y ago
  Wow, good detective work! I'm one of the coaches Matt's hired... if you're interested in learning more please reach out
adamecourt 4y ago
0669912498 4y ago
الهكر سفيان
rodolphoarruda 4y ago
A landing page with 1 link to a Google Docs document with links to other documents. This is the ultimate no-code deployment.
brindlejim 4y ago
I've worked for and with some of the companies that Mochary mentions in his podcast interview with Lenny. https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-fire-people-with-grace-work-through-fear-and-nurture-innovation-matt-mochary-ceo-coach/ https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-fire-people-with-grace-... They work nothing like he says. It makes me doubt all his other advice. I used to like to read Mochary. Now I think he is selling a line of bull that tech people like to read. Mostly because he's too high-level and he doesn't have enough windows into the company. "Amazon is good at innovation"... Really? People don't need equity to get motivated? Really? Amazon employs more than one million people and I guarantee you that many of its teams suck at innovation. Many are full of bozos led by the blind. That's why they buy so many little startups. They failed to build it themselves. People don't need equity to be motivated? Well, cheap hiring managers want to believe that. Good luck hiring that crucial engineer... Mochary's experience as an operator is out of date, and his updated opinions depend on news reports and self-reporting. He fails the Cedric Chin test: https://commoncog.com/verifying-believability/ https://commoncog.com/verifying-believability/ Definite guru vibes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GgHaFvmY3s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GgHaFvmY3s
jdross 4y ago
I'm glad to see Matt starting to gain recognition. He's a good man as well as excellent coach.
quinntinruiz 4y ago
As a coach at Mochary Method (which I know is coming from a biased perspective, so please take it with a grain of salt), I think the important thing to emphasize here is having the conversation with your senior engineer first. In some situations, the senior engineer may love training and can allocate some of his/her time to up-leveling junior engineers. In other situations, the senior engineer may like to do 1:1s, but hates building the system/curriculum to train others. Find the win-win that meets both of your needs. As a general rule of thumb, it's best to keep every member of the team in their zone of genius (i.e. high competency AND enjoyment) as much as possible. Have the conversation so you can optimize for that.
Ava4312 4y ago

270 points by jger15 4y ago

warpech 4y ago

This seems to be a rawer form of Mochary's book "The Great CEO Within"

allenleee 4y ago
Pretty much! the google doc link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZJZbv4J6FZ8Dnb0JuMhJxTnwl-dwqx5xl0s65DE3wO8/preview https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZJZbv4J6FZ8Dnb0JuMhJxTnw...

sedeki 4y ago

Who is Matt Mochary?

hef19898 4y ago
The t submissions calls him a CEO coach. So I assume one of those life coach, success consulting people that regularly advertise on Youtube? Or on LinkedIn, in case he has a high enough profile?
culanuchachamim 4y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Mochary https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Mochary Mochary is CEO Coach to companies including Coinbase, Opendoor, Bolt, and Clearbit.[1] Mochary was a co-founder and Chairman of Totality Corporation, founded in 1999 and acquired by MCI Inc. in 2005.
frisco 4y ago
The new Bill Campbell.
- packetslave 4y ago
  That's a pretty huge claim to make without any sort of evidence. Bill Campbell had an enormous impact on the Valley and a stellar reputation as a coach.
- brindlejim 4y ago
  The difference between Mochary and Campbell is stark. Campbell did not receive compensation for his coaching. He used to say "I don't take money, options, or bullshit." There was a reason for that. Campbell knew that if he took CEOs' money, he enter the circle jerk of people telling each other what they wanted to hear. Mochary is part of that circle jerk, unfortunately. He is passing on received and second-hand wisdom, supposed lessons that he didn't learn the hard way, and may not be true at all. He is well known in Sequoia circles, and you might say he's their in-house coach. But Sequoia, well, they also backed FTX ...

vsareto 4y ago

>Engineering: How to increase speed and quality >https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yL_m10CT6bIVsvSfjsCcm_Q4phMP63DDmItepDONQg0/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yL_m10CT6bIVsvSfjsCcm_Q4... >You are now likely thinking: "Matt, there just aren't enough senior engineers in the world. We'd love to hire only senior folks, but we can't find them. We need to bring on junior engineers so that we can eventually train them to be senior." >That is absolutely true. But then recognize that you are training. Create an actual training program. Do not sap the energy and time of your senior developers with this process. Have it happen off to the side, where the teachers are only those who actually derive energy from the process of teaching and mentoring. I'm stoked to see someone preaching this to CEOs. I don't know how common this advice is given to other CEOs, but it's the first time I've seen it.

dclusin 4y ago
I agree. If management wants software development to be more like the trades they need to recognize that training is a line item cost that needs to be paid as part of the employment arrangement with both time and money allocated for it.
nradov 4y ago
There is the ideal, and then there is the reality. Only the very largest enterprises have the scale necessary to develop comprehensive engineering training programs. Doing it right is tremendously expensive, so it can generally only be justified in organizations that onboard hundreds of new engineers every year. And even then, some level of program specific training will always be needed after completing the initial standard training. Another perspective is to consider training junior engineers to be a core job responsibility of senior engineers. There are always going to be tasks that need to get done even if we don't "derive energy" from them. That's just part of being a professional. Most engineers who complain about teaching and mentoring shouldn't be promoted to senior level in the first place; in the long run they would probably be happier and more successful as independent consultants.
- rqtwteye 4y ago
  "Another perspective is to consider training junior engineers to be a core job responsibility of senior engineers. There are always going to be tasks that need to get done even if we don't "derive energy" from them. That's just part of being a professional. Most engineers who complain about teaching and mentoring shouldn't be promoted to senior level in the first place; in the long run they would probably be happier and more successful as independent consultants." All fine and good but you need to actually get the time and be recognized for the time you put into mentoring. In the companies I have seen senior devs are still measured by their output and setting time aside for mentoring younger devs doesn't really help their ratings. A lot do it anyways but the incentives are against doing so. .

boringg 4y ago

Whats the verdict -- is this good content or is this just a great way to get your brand into the market? Are there differentiators here?

thenerdhead 4y ago
I've read a bit of his book. He definitely combines the good parts from various other frameworks and leadership books. Overall a solid foundation of everything you might want to know as a person in a influential position. You'd probably have to read a few different books to get what's already combined here in my opinion.
rahimnathwani 4y ago
This is amazing content. Short yet detailed. I've read his book multiple times, and implemented some of its advice, but I'm still finding new nuggets in the curriculum.
- boringg 4y ago
  Thanks took a quick skim seemed rather interesting. Always good to get others opinions before putting time in, even if they are anonymous internet people (no offense intended).
  - rahimnathwani 4y ago
    Haha I'm not anonymous! I use my real name here. You can read my past comments, blog, LinkedIn etc.

kryz 4y ago

These are all the frameworks you need to run and scale a company. This is the tactical stuff that never gets shared, yet actually forms a company’s habits and operations

version_five 4y ago

Is there a way to look at a google doc without using my google account? Clicking the link asks me to choose one of my Google accounts, and I don't want to give that information out to random posts. It would be nice if there was a service that could pdf it or something and let you download that. (Not a critique of this particular post, just a meta problem that comes up frequently here)

lalopalota 4y ago
I was able to view it in firefox focus on an android with no google account. i presume a private window and / or a browser that you haven't signed in to google should work just fine.
mcoliver 4y ago
Incognito window will do it.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

dhouston 4y ago

This strikes me as a good place to start, both for founders who are running something for the first time and also for more experienced execs as a good review of the fundamentals. In other words, I wish I had seen something like this when I was starting Dropbox in that a lot of our scaling problems would have been prevented by doing these basic things properly and consistently. (I don't know Matt, and haven't been coached by him, but I do know a lot of the founders he's coached, and have read his book https://www.amazon.com/Great-CEO-Within-Tactical-Building-ebook/dp/B07ZLGQZYC https://www.amazon.com/Great-CEO-Within-Tactical-Building-eb... which covers much of the same material.)

JamesBarney 4y ago
Mind sharing some of the lessons that you thought would have been the most valuable to know from the beginning, instead of having to learn the hard way?

BrianOnHN 4y ago

> To make our meetings more effective and efficient, we have created Mochary Method software. If you find the software effective, feel free to use it with your reports as well. [1] Does anyone have any references for this software? > Typical reactions to the software are: > Meeting 1: “Why are we using this software? Let’s just use a Google Doc, it’s easier.” > Meeting 2: “Oh, I see why this software is better than a Google Doc. Let’s keep using it.” > Meeting 3: “This software is awesome. Can I please use this throughout my entire company.” Seems interesting. Edit: I think it's "CompanyOS" [2]. The homepage is nearly a replica of the Mochary Method website. But, I haven't seen anything about how the software works. Does anyone have any information about it's features? From the hiring page [3]: > Each is paying $150,000/yr for access to our product. [1] "Mochary Coaching Methodology (CEO 1-1)" page https://docs.google.com/document/d/17AfqFdrx0lb6aYb786lY3a-17jUEoxDCRAT-BpDmh2k/edit# https://docs.google.com/document/d/17AfqFdrx0lb6aYb786lY3a-1... [2] CompanyOS https://companyos.app/ https://companyos.app/ [3] https://mocharymethod.notion.site/Work-at-CompanyOS-419da8974bc54ad0896f91b612ed6e63 https://mocharymethod.notion.site/Work-at-CompanyOS-419da897...

casesandberg 4y ago
We are working on a variety of different software solutions, CompanyOS being one of them! Right now our software is only available to our clients.

tnolet 4y ago

The Great CEO within is a great book. Honestly, also for non-CEOs. One of the better (and short) Startup/B2B/SaaS self-help books. But one grain of salt: If you are at a smaller startup like me (~35 people) implementing all the lessons and tips would required doubling head count just for all the reporting, training, engineering, sales and marketing support staff you would need. So pick and choose what you need I guess.

PaulMest 4y ago

I saw this in a Twitter thread a couple of days ago: https://twitter.com/lennysan/status/1591470516178948096 https://twitter.com/lennysan/status/1591470516178948096. In that thread there are also links to related podcasts and more endorsements.

firstSpeaker 4y ago

Anyone turned this entire resource into an offline access? :D

yanokwa 4y ago
See https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZJZbv4J6FZ8Dnb0JuMhJxTnwl-dwqx5xl0s65DE3wO8/preview https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZJZbv4J6FZ8Dnb0JuMhJxTnw...
isubkhankulov 4y ago
I wrote several scripts to rip all the docs, loom videos, slide decks and sheets linked from all of the docs. DM me and I’m happy to share it.
- bhattisatish 4y ago
  Well your profile has no way to contact you! How do we DM you :-)
  - isubkhankulov 4y ago
    Twitter (DM's open) and Linkedin added!

nateforster 4y ago

Wow, I work with Matt and I'm honored to see our work on the front page of HN. :) We'll be adding more curriculum documents over the next few months — follow @mattmochary or @nateforster_ on Twitter for updates!

gloryjulio 4y ago

Does anyone know how to save this doc? What happens if we suddenly lose the access?

trevin 4y ago
It's been up for years. If you are super worried, I suggest buying his book which is ~90% of this in printed form. Called The Great CEO Within.
- gloryjulio 4y ago
  Even with the book format, I found the doc with hyperlink format is much more pleasant to read with. I would pay for it as an ebook.

tayloramurphy 4y ago

I'm guessing this was posted because he was on Lenny's Podcast[0] very recently. I do recommend this episode as I found it quite informative. [0] https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-fire-people-with-grace-work-through-fear-and-nurture-innovation-matt-mochary-ceo-coach/ https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-fire-people-with-grace-...

puravida1234 4y ago

Interesting, I did some digging and it looks like Matt has hired a group of CEO coaches to implement the curriculum. https://coach.mocharymethod.com/ https://coach.mocharymethod.com/

celineteoh 4y ago
Wow, good detective work! I'm one of the coaches Matt's hired... if you're interested in learning more please reach out

adamecourt 4y ago

0669912498 4y ago

الهكر سفيان

rodolphoarruda 4y ago

A landing page with 1 link to a Google Docs document with links to other documents. This is the ultimate no-code deployment.

brindlejim 4y ago

I've worked for and with some of the companies that Mochary mentions in his podcast interview with Lenny. https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-fire-people-with-grace-work-through-fear-and-nurture-innovation-matt-mochary-ceo-coach/ https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-fire-people-with-grace-... They work nothing like he says. It makes me doubt all his other advice. I used to like to read Mochary. Now I think he is selling a line of bull that tech people like to read. Mostly because he's too high-level and he doesn't have enough windows into the company. "Amazon is good at innovation"... Really? People don't need equity to get motivated? Really? Amazon employs more than one million people and I guarantee you that many of its teams suck at innovation. Many are full of bozos led by the blind. That's why they buy so many little startups. They failed to build it themselves. People don't need equity to be motivated? Well, cheap hiring managers want to believe that. Good luck hiring that crucial engineer... Mochary's experience as an operator is out of date, and his updated opinions depend on news reports and self-reporting. He fails the Cedric Chin test: https://commoncog.com/verifying-believability/ https://commoncog.com/verifying-believability/ Definite guru vibes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GgHaFvmY3s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GgHaFvmY3s

jdross 4y ago

I'm glad to see Matt starting to gain recognition. He's a good man as well as excellent coach.

quinntinruiz 4y ago

As a coach at Mochary Method (which I know is coming from a biased perspective, so please take it with a grain of salt), I think the important thing to emphasize here is having the conversation with your senior engineer first. In some situations, the senior engineer may love training and can allocate some of his/her time to up-leveling junior engineers. In other situations, the senior engineer may like to do 1:1s, but hates building the system/curriculum to train others. Find the win-win that meets both of your needs. As a general rule of thumb, it's best to keep every member of the team in their zone of genius (i.e. high competency AND enjoyment) as much as possible. Have the conversation so you can optimize for that.

Ava4312 4y ago