Beliefs

Inspired by the "Some things I believe" section on Nat Friedman's website, these are some things that I also believe. The list is ordered alphabetically and is a work in progress.

• Do something for yourself everyday
• Don't ask someone to do something that you wouldn't do yourself
• Exactly one person should be responsible for a given task
• Go to music concerts in as many different genres as you can
• Habits and patterns are vastly more impactful than grand plans
• High performing teams have high alignment, high autonomy and high trust
• If your startup doesn't experience at least one "door slam"-level discussion per quarter, something's wrong¹
• Knowing and indicating that you do not know something is better than the ambiguity of whether or not you know it
• Leave things and places how you found them or better than how you found them
• Multitasking is the art of doing multiple things poorly, but that is not the same skill of opening, tracking and closing loops
• No one is immune to propaganda
• Occam's razor is incredibly reliable
• Surround yourself with nice and kind people
• The happiest days have the lowest screen time
• The house always wins
• There's a reason why the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror
• Try all different kinds of food
• You are who you surround yourself with

Quotes

Here are some quotes that I enjoy or believe to one degree or another.

• "Code reviews aren't going to save your ass from some apocalyptic subtle change, but high quality testing on every PR will" —Jessie Frazelle
• "Every person is an opportunity" —Bill Neri
• "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face" —Mike Tyson
• "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" —Carl Sagan
• "I'll do anything once" —Linus Torvalds
• "Stability is not achieved through advanced precision, but through the accretion of learning about the domain and refactoring" —Adam Jacob
• "Your body should not harbor pain" —Ryan Mulligan
• Your startup should become a company "that customers will love to buy from and employees will be proud to work for" —Bryan Cantrill