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At most places I've worked, if my assigned work contributed $x to the bottom line, the side problems I chose to work on contributed $10x-$20x. There are so many
by SatvikBeri 14y ago
At most places I've worked, if my assigned work contributed $x to the bottom line, the side problems I chose to work on contributed $10x-$20x. There are so many high-leverage problems out there that it's frankly ridiculous.
- tmorton 14y agoIt sounds like your real contribution isn't solving high-leverage problems, it's identifying high-leverage problems. This is a rare skill, no matter how obvious they seem to you.
- michaelochurch 14y agoImplement open allocation and it becomes not-so-rare.
- theorique 14y agoIsn't that how Valve does it? I seem to recall some articles here about that...
- SatvikBeri 14y agoValve, Github, and Gore & Associates all use open allocation or something very similar. Gore & Associates is particularly interesting because they are a large company and have basically proven that this model can work at scale (~9000 employees).
- SatvikBeri 14y agoIt is definitely a rare skill; I had to work to develop it. Even harder is the skill of getting other people and resources for your project. These two skills seem to be pretty orthogonal-the people who are best at identifying high-leverage problems are not necessarily the best at convincing others to work with them. My point is really that there is a huge mismatch between the value of problems and how people's time is allocated, and right now many people can benefit from learning how to identify the best problems.
- theorique 14y agoGood point. I think that's what GOOG's looking for with their 20% time. Basically being a VC fund and supporting 99% go-nowhere for the odd Gmail or Google Maps outcome.