SEED Conference: Jason Fried's Presentation

The SEED Conference was a few weeks ago. I've already posted it was a delight.

Jason Fried's presentation was titled: 10 Things. (Pretty simple title. That's the core of his message, I think. ) Here's my notes.

1). The Great Unknown. (Future)

Financial projections? Don't. They're pie-in-the sky. [Frankly, I agree. I don't project financials. I set goals, create incentives, work towards that goal. But...projections? They're like betting, really. I project the little ball will land on ...8. I project our revenues will be...x.]

5 Year Plans. They serve as blinders. [ Agreed. I can guarantee no one could plan today from 5 years ago.]

Product Roadmaps? Don't. They serve as product lock-ins. [It's like deciding if you need a rag-top or hard-top model on a spring day in the midwest. You don't know. Make a good guess. Start and be ready to be flexible.]

You don't know what you're doing until you're doing it. Just Wing It. [ If you do know, then you're a moment away from stagnation, hardening of the attitude and being wrong. ]

2) RED FLAGS. [ These are 4-letter words that serve as show-stoppers. ]

Need. This only serves to shut down conversations, close off possibilities. An alternative would be to ask "What do you think about that?".

Can't. Another version of "no".

Easy. It's everyone else's job that's easy. You use easy to describe everyone else's job, eg, It'll be easy for you to add this feature...

Just/Only. Very rarely is it either.

Fast. You can' do this real fast.  You can do this real fast; it's just one thing; You can do this real fast; it's only one thing; it'll be easy.

3) WORRY ABOUT THINGS THAT DON'T MATTER.

Pixels, partnerships, customizations, fonts...and

4) WHEN IS IT READY TO LAUNCH.

[Guilty! I'm a worrier by nature. I've learned to just let go...keep doing what I'm doing, winging it in a lot of cases...and I'm more productive and those around me are happier and productive!)

5) TOO MANY COOKS.

Work expands to fill the time.

Work expands to fill the personnel. Scale back to match the head-count.

[ Jason commented on their motivational tactic to give everyone Friday's off in the summer. He noticed that the same amount of work got done. Caveat was this wouldn't be sustainable over long periods. But it was a great motivator! And it served to keep his group at the edge where they're most creative. ]

6) NOT ENOUGH CHEFS.

The creatives, the visionaries. You have two choices: you can outspend or out-teach your competition.

7) INTERRUPTION IS THE ENEMY OF PRODUCTIVITY.

A fragmented day is not a productive day. [ I loved this point. ]

9) MEETINGS ARE TOXIC.

Communication usually fails except by accident.- Osmo Wiio

A meeting of 2 people turns into a meeting with 6:

Who you are.

Who they are.

Who you think they are.

Who they think you are.

Who you think the other person thinks you are.

Who the other person thinks you think they are.

[Sad, but true. ]

Meetings are symptoms of problems. People are lazy. Or they lack decision-making skills or resources.

[I'd agree. Our meetings dropped as fast as I could give the tools and confidence to everyone to make decisions they were more than capable of making. And our productivity only grew, along with our happiness and harmony in the company. ]

Meetings are costly. [ Bingo. When you consider the time-expense, the payroll expense...he's absolutely on target. Then when you consider the source for most meetings, the lack of authority and autonomy to make decisions, and how that indicates poor management of your number one asset, your people, meetings are VERY costly.]

10). Make Tiny Decisions.

Chop the problems into smaller bits: smaller decision, steady progress, no need to make big decisions.

When you make tiny decisions, you can't make big mistakes.

Decisions are progress. Progress is great for morale.

What are the easy problems. What's the easiest to do that has the most impact?

Make small launches, launch often, create little thrills.

Do something every week.

There you have it.

It was a great presentation. The content was excellent. The PowerPoint slides are minimal. That made their impact greater.  Jason spoke as expert who owned his topic.  I appreciate good speakers with great content and who incorporate PowerPoint as a supportive resource not as the content of their presentation.

I'll post my thoughts and notes from the presentations of Jim Coudal and Carlos Segura.