The truth is out there…

They found him! - Peter Wolf. The Facebook Guy. 

The Dalai Lama, a designer and a Facebooker walk into a bar…

So, this designer at a dive bar tells me a story:

The Dalai Lama is waiting for a much anticipated letter from a head of state. Day after day, week after week, he asks his assistant if the letter has arrived. Finally, it arrives and the assistant rushes it in. The Dalai Lama tells him to set it on the corner table. Three days later, the assistant is in the office and notices the letter remains unopened on the table. He inquires, “Why haven’t you opened this letter that you waited so anxiously for?” The Dalai Lama replies, “I will open it when I no longer have the desire to open it.”

The story came up because a coworker was talking about how he wanted to buy an expensive bike. He biked a lot in high school and then after three years of not having a bike in college he wanted to jump on a new one. Right before making the purchase he decided against the top-of-the-line choice in favor of a beat-to-shit used bike. If he found himself riding that enough, he’d upgrade.

Through all this chat about resisting temptation and desire I started to think about the opposite - acting on impulse, and how much that’s been a force in my life. I crave and lust all the time. And I move on impulses pretty regularly. There was a list of design principals that the Facebook team came up with earlier this year and the one I loved the most was “when you have a great idea, act on it immediately.” There’s this crazy fuel that comes in the brief hours immediately after you have a good idea. It’s not only an advantage for you, but that enthusiasm spreads to those you’re working with. There’s another mantra at Facebook: Move Fast and Break Things. It’s basically a theory of iteration. Build awesome stuff and get it out there. Constantly fix and improve it based on feedback. Don’t wait. Don’t ask for permission. And if you have good intentions from the start, and you fail, it’s not a big deal.

In trying to reconcile these two beliefs - structured restraint vs impulse - I thought about where Facebook is as a company. In the past month I’ve seen several discussions crop up where two coworkers have fundamentally different strategies on how to approach the same project - one distinctly ‘old school Facebook’ and one ‘new school Facebook’. Old school Facebook hacks. They do things cheap, fast and as good as they can be under those two restraints. They tinker continually once it’s out there. New school Facebook wants to take a step back. How can we do this really well from the start. What are the resources we have, and what can we do to make this incredible at launch?

It’s not as cut and dry as a risky versus conservative approach. It’s not as easy as saying, “well Facebook got to where it is because of its hacker culture, that’s obviously the best strategy.” There are more resources for larger projects now, and the allocation of those resources takes a longer time to navigate correctly. It takes a period of reflection before execution to make sure all the parts are in place. Taking one’s time pre-launch is not simply a risk adverse strategy - the projects may be as bold as they were before, if not bolder.

On a similar token, it’s even harder to dismiss the merits of moving fast and breaking things. It’s unique and exciting and it keeps an organization flat. Anyone from any department can work on a project that might ship to millions of people with relatively little oversight, so long as the intentions are good. Lose that core structure and who knows what else we lose with it.

These battles between restraint and impulse, plan and hack, are going to crop up more and more. It’s part of the transition of turning into a large company. In general, I think success is going to mean maintaing our ability to accept failure and rebuild. If we can keep a culture where it’s okay to make mistakes on a massive scale, employees will feel empowered to ship as fast as they can. It’s fear that slows down the biggest companies. Fear of shareholders, fear of wasted resources, fear of public perception, fear of internal brain drain. There are endless things to be afraid of. Perhaps, more than anything, it’s the fear of being wrong and having to admit it, that ruins the best companies. If we can simply not fear being wrong every now and then, and equally have the humility to admit it when we are, we’ll win.

Assume Positive Intent

I haven’t shared written thoughts publicly in some time. Today, I hope to kick things off again. I’ll be brief. 

The most valuable corporate lesson I’ve learned over the years is to approach every conversation with the utmost empathy for the other parties involved. This is hard to do, especially for someone who is as opinionated as me. It’s also broad. “Practice empathy”… thanks for the advice dude… what the hell does that mean? Well, about a week ago, I heard a laconic colleague define it perfectly: assume positive intent. 

Before you jump all over a co-worker or team, or even a whole department, take a moment and go under the assumption they were acting with the best of intentions. This approach helps frame the questions you ask, and the answers you’ll receive. It keeps them from going on the defensive, and most importantly, it allows them to be the ones to admit they made a mistake, rather than you being the one point it out for them, or rubbing their noses in it. Where did the phrase ‘rub their noses in it’ come from anyway? I just looked it up and apparently it’s how you housebreak a pet. That’s a horrible image.  

Anyway, back to assuming positive intent. I’m not good at this at all yet. But I’m going to work on it. I’m pretty sure this is the secret to everything: Success, money, women, stickers, rubix cubes. You name it. 

Good Ol’ Notes from the iPhone (mostly while drinking)

Today was a good day. 

Isn’t it always when things couldn’t be going better that everything f a l l s ? 

Yesterday I had a breakfast burrito at Nick’s Tacos. It’s about the best breakfast burrito you can buy for your money. While waiting in line, the father ahead of me concluded his order. I was zoning in and out but just as he finished up with, “and salsa” his three year old daughter ran up to him. 

“Daddy, Daddy! Not just salsa! Chips and salsa.” 

Last weekend I had a particularly lazy day wandering around Polk street. I tried on new running shoes, but didn’t want to commit to buying anything. I watched a Zumba class that was on going in Lombardi Sports. There were four good looking girls in pink and yellow spandex and one dude, about 38, in cargo shorts, hiking boots and a grey tee. He was not zumba-ing with the group at all. Just sort of dancing in the middle of everyone else to his own beat. Sweating his ass off. 

I honestly don’t think you could pay me enough to do Zumba. Maybe if that guy was there. 

I got home and took a nap. It was going to be 20 minutes, but no one ever takes a 20 minute nap. Show me one person who only takes 20 minute nap. Just one. I kept waking up and checking my phone. Oh, I’ve only slept for 30 minutes? I can give it 15 more. One hour? How about 30 more minutes. Soon it was 5pm. I always feel guilty at about five on Sunday. It’s not until then I realize I let another weekend melt. 

This girl keeps tugging on her long sleeve shirt at the wrist. What is she doing? Is that a magic trick? 

This guy hugged a girl forcefully. He won’t stop apologizing to the girl’s brother once she walks away. “Dude, I am so sorry I hugged your sister so hard.” 

“Dude. I am so sorry.”

Shot

Sometimes when I think about penalty kicks in soccer I wonder how the goalie ever has a chance of saving the ball. And sometimes, before the very same shot, I wonder how the player could ever have a chance at scoring. 

Before Work

I went to the gym before work Thursday. Alarm at 6am, snoozed until 6:30, stumbled around the room. Pants, socks, shirt, t shirt, shoes, in search of a plastic bag for it all. Laptop, headphones, hard drive, ID card, keys, phones, wallet, extra cash for ski tickets, notebook, reading book.  It’s more than I’ll remember. I need to clear my room. Or clean it. Or at least stop moving all my clothes from the bed to the floor everyday. I could buy a dresser. I should buy a dresser.

I got to the gym. I didn’t eat beforehand. It’s an hour long trainer session. It’s with a dude named Rusty. Another trainer nearby called his trainee “a little bitch” when he started to have trouble with a weight. Rusty doesn’t do that shit. I should have eaten before. I got a little dizzy. 

I had 15 minutes after the session to catch the shuttle down to work. I planned on showering, but there were some guys in the locker rom and at 23 I still don’t feel comfortable getting naked in front other guys. Back in high school we used to come to the locker room in the morning to stash our soccer gear before class. There would be 40 year old men showering naked. Shampooing. Soaping. Sometimes singing. Luffas. The whole deal. They had just finished a morning swim. I never knew how it was okay for a bunch of old guys to get naked in front of 13 year olds. What was going on there? 

I showered at work. I forgot boxers. I didn’t have Shampoo, soap or a luffa. I used a bottle of pump hand soap that I found on the bathroom sink. It seemed to do the trick, although my hair was left with that ‘wet dog’ smell all day. After a while I got used to it, but I’m sure everyone else could smell it. 

I forgot a belt too. This was a problem for about 60% of the day until I realized if I rolled my corduroys in at the waist they became tighter. That was the winning ticket right there. 

I had a headache for most of the day. Took some aspire, which worked for about 30 minutes, then it came raging back. I still have it. Sometimes when a headache lasts this long I begin to wonder if it will ever go away. I forgot what it feels like to not have a headache. 

I won’t go to the gym before work anymore.