Working with Achievers

1. When working with them, I need to be diligent; they dislike lazy individuals in the workplace.
2. Only invite them to meetings when I truly need their participation so they can be fully engaged. Otherwise, let them focus on their tasks.
3. They often sleep little and wake up early; they actually enjoy the attention when you ask them, "How late did you stay up to finish the task?" and "What time did you come to work this morning?"

Working with Activators

1. Let them know I believe in their reliability and that I may need their help at critical moments; this will greatly motivate them.
2. Learn from their complaints, present them with innovative new projects, and get started immediately. Don't impose restrictions, and they will act quickly.
3. Ask them what new goals our team needs to achieve or what improvements are necessary, then help them move towards those goals.

Working with Adapters

1. Their flexibility makes them valuable members of any team.
2. Their willingness to "go with the flow" makes collaboration easy.
3. They will excel in short-term and immediately actionable tasks, but prolonged tasks may bore them.

Working with Analyzers

1. Spend some time thinking with them when they are making important decisions. They like to know all the key factors involved.
2. Defend my viewpoint with data. They trust numbers.
3. They prioritize accuracy over speed. Therefore, ensure they have enough time to do things correctly before deadlines approach.

Working with Arrangers

1. They thrive on complex tasks and excel when there are many things to do simultaneously.
2. They are good at positioning team members in project teams because they understand the strengths and characteristics of different members.
3. They are resourceful and confident; when they find something isn't working, they will come up with alternative solutions.

How do you maximize your chances of building an enduring $1B+ non-transactional customer company?

By building enduring engagement, in three levels:

1. Growing engaged users: focus on growing users completing the ==core action==.

2. Retaining users: product should get better the more it’s used. Users have more to lose by leaving the product.

3. Self-perpetuating: As users engage, they create ==virtuous loops== in the product.

   • Pinterest did well with
     • network effect
     • new UGC re-engages users
     • viral referral
   • Evernote and Tinder fall short on this.

Learning from who manages chaos for a living​

Why should we learn time management from a system administrator? Thomas Limoncelli says “I’m a system administrator! I manage chaos for a living!”

==Your customers value your ability to follow through more than they appreciate any other skill you have. Nothing ruins your reputation like agreeing to do something and forgetting to do it.==

What is the key to perfect follow-through?​

The Cycle system. It is called cycle because it repeats every day and the output of one day is the input to the next. It uses these three tools -

1. A day-by-day to-do list and an hour-to-hour schedule
2. A calendar
3. A list of long-term goals

Keep them in one single place and sync across all devices. And don’t trust your brain for remembering and prioritizing and scheduling tasks.

Why other systems fail?​

1. The scattered notes system
   1. No gotta catch 'em all
   2. No prioritizing
   3. No contexts for you to resume previous work
   4. Easy to lose
2. The ever-growing to-do list of doom
   1. No prioritizing
   2. No contexts for you to resume previous work
   3. Easy to ignore old tasks
   4. ==Self-esteem killer: the god damn list never gets completed!==

What is a system that succeeds?​

• Portable & Reliable. The tool should be portable with you everywhere, and reliable to keep all tasks.
• Manageable: It can break up or union tasks, so they become manageable.
• Providing Contexts: A task record can contain contexts that you can easily recover to the working status.
• Prioritizeable & Schedulable. It should be easy to scope to today's work items and schedule, though still keep the ability to arrange tasks more than one day.

Why is routine a good thing? It gives us a way to think once and do many.

Routines, for example, can be

1. Gas up on Sunday
2. Always bring my organizer
3. Regularly meet with my boss
4. The check-in-with-staff walk-around
5. The check-in-with-customers walk-around
6. During outages, communicate to management
7. Use automatic checks while performing specific tasks
8. Always back up a file before you edit
9. Record “To Take” items for trips, (especially when you travel a lot),

Mantras, for example, can be

1. ==If it has to be done every day, do it early in the day. So it won’t let you stay up late.==
2. Sooner is better than later.
3. Trust the process.
4. When in doubt, throw it out. If I ever do need it, I can ask the source for a copy.
5. Write down every request.
6. If you are not sure if an email list is useful, it isn’t.

How to develop routines? Try to find …

1. Repeated events that aren’t scheduled.

2. Maintenance tasks.

3. Relationships and career networking. Relationships require maintenance and are also similar to gardening (they grow if you work diligently, starve if they are ignored, and die if they get too much attention). There are four types of people to maintain relationships

   1. Customers (or SPOC single point of contact for each customer group)
   2. Staff
   3. Peers
   4. Boss(es)

4. When procrastinating takes longer than action.

5. Things you forget often.

6. Inconsequential or low-priority tasks that can be skipped occasionally but shouldn’t be.

7. Developing new skills.

8. Keeping up-to-date by reading.

Why are routines a good thing? Routines allow you to think once and use it repeatedly.

Routines can include the following:

1. Refueling your car on Sundays
2. Always carrying a notebook
3. Meeting with your boss regularly
4. Communicating with employees regularly
5. Engaging with clients regularly
6. Informing management promptly when servers go down
7. Using automated checks for specific tasks
8. Always backing up files before editing
9. Writing down a "must-have items list" (especially useful for frequent travelers)

The principles for handling tasks are as follows:

1. ==If something needs to be done every day, it should be completed as early as possible so you don’t have to stay up late==
2. The earlier you do things, the better
3. Trust the process
4. If you're unsure whether to throw something away, just toss it. If you need it after discarding, you can always copy it from the data source again
5. Record every task
6. If you’re uncertain whether an email list is useful, then it’s useless

How can you develop your own routines? Try to identify the following situations:

1. Tasks that recur without being scheduled

2. Maintenance tasks

3. Relationships and professional networks. Just like a garden, your network needs to be tended (if cared for, it will grow; if neglected, it will wither; if overly focused on, it may die). Here are four types of people you need to maintain relationships with:

   1. Clients (or SPOCs, which are single points of contact for each client group)
   2. Employees
   3. Colleagues
   4. Your boss

4. When the time spent procrastinating exceeds the time spent taking action

5. Things that are frequently forgotten

6. Trivial tasks that are occasionally overlooked but shouldn't be

7. Developing new skills

8. Keeping up with trends through continuous reading

One hundred years ago, before December 1911, no one had ever been to the South Pole. Therefore, explorers around the world would dream of claiming the glory of being the first one been there.

We all know that the South Pole is located at the south-most of the earth, namely the 90°S in latitude. A typical exploratory plan was that expeditions started from 82°S, went to the South Pole, and then came back alive.

Two teams were competing against each other for the first place - the Amundsen team with 5 members and the Scott team with 17 members. Which one do you guess will win this competition? Of course, more people do not necessarily mean more chances of success.

They set off almost at the same time. ==As the same with all the competitions ever happening in the world, it is quite intensive. When there are great opportunities, there are no reasons that only you can see it; unquestionably, there are a lot of people can see it==. Both teams prepared well around October 1911 at the periphery of the Antarctic Circle, and they were racing and rushing for the last distance.

The result was like this -- the Amundsen team planted the Norwegian flag at the South Pole first in the following two months, namely December 15th, 1911. However, the Scott team was late for more than one month, though they started almost at the same time and had more team members... What does this mean?

It means the difference between success and failure. Amundsen team was remembered as the first one reaching the South Pole in human history, and the winner takes all the honors. Unfortunately, the Scott team suffered the same challenges but was just late. No one would remember the second place, but we all remember the first one.

This story was not as simple as the above. There were even more - you should not just go to the South Pole; you should come back alive as well. The Amundsen team went there first and came back to the base smoothly.

On the other hand, the Scott team was late and failed to win the glory. Even worse, because of being late, the weather became awful during the way back. People left behind in increasing numbers. Finally, none of them survived. This team, these 17 people, failed to achieve the victory and perished as a whole. It is the difference between death and life.

Today, we can say that they are risking more than us the entrepreneurs. The bet was bigger and thriller than we could imagine. Why was this difference more than just between success and failure, but actually between death and life? Researching the causing facts gives us the insights.

First, exploring the South Pole is not just about people; it is also about the supplies. Researchers analyzed afterward and found the vast difference in the preparation. The Amundsen team prepared three tons of supplies though they had fewer team members. The Scott team made only one ton of supplies, though they had more team members.

Is one ton of supplies adequate? If you make no mistakes, completely no mistakes, then that is just enough. It is horrible that things are perfect in theory and you plan with a tight schedule of resources. People come across unexpected scenarios all the time in reality. People get lost in the wilderness all the time when exploring. People make inevitable mistakes all the time under stress. The fact is that a plan without any slack leads to grave danger.

On the contrary, the Amundsen team did a great job on this. They had only 5 people but prepared three tons of supplies. The surplus in resources made them more fault-tolerant and well-prepared for the unexpected challenges.

It is a considerable difference whether the resource is abundant enough and whether the team leaves room for making mistakes.

In fact, both teams were competing in the same environment, but they delivered two fundamentally different results, which is well worth reaching.

==In one word, the success of the Amundsen team is due to making progress 30 kilometers per day no matter what the weather is. In extreme environments, you do the best. More importantly, you do the best in a sustainable way.==

Unfortunately, the Scott team was less-disciplined according to their logs. They could advance 40 to 60 kilometers in one day if the weather were pleasant. However, when the weather was terrible, they were bad-tempered, they cursed the bad luck, and they stayed in the tent for the entire day.

In retrospective, this might be the most significant difference. The difference is that no matter how bad the weather is, keep moving 30 kilometers a day and then you can reach the South Pole and then come back alive.

Why am I telling this story? It precisely resembles the intense competition today we are facing in the Internet era. People may say it is the winter of the market and things are getting worse. It is the same with the awful weather 100 years ago in the South Pole. What we can do to survive is like the Amundsen team - making plans with slackness to prepare for the unexpected; leaving room for making mistakes; and most importantly, making progress 30 kilometers per day, and no matter how bad the weather is.

I may say that this is the greatest factor—the way in which the expedition is equipped—the way in which every difficulty is foreseen, and precautions taken for meeting or avoiding it. Victory awaits him who has everything in order—luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck.

 - from The South Pole, by Roald Amundsen

This is an outline of slides for the seed-round fundraising.

• Title and slogan
• Problem
  • Challenge
  • Pain points
  • Market demand-supply analysis / market size, trend / Market geography / market segment / target audience
• Solution
• Why does it work?
• Why us? / Insights / competitive landscape
• Business model
• Future Growth
  • Go-to-market Strategy
  • Traction to Date
  • Roadmap
• Team
• What we need / Ask

There are two inner selves in one person - Adam I and Adam II. Adam I pursues resume virtues, while Adam II pursues eulogy virtues.

The shift from a culture of humility to the culture of “big me” encourages people to nurture Adam I.

In the times of humility, elder George Bush, he resisted speaking about himself and crossed out the word “I” instinctively in the speech text. And the speechwriter would beg him: You’re running for president. You’ve got to talk about yourself. Finally, they did cow him into doing so. However, the next day he’d get a call from his mother. “George, you’re talking about yourself again.”

This shift may be caused by the increasingly tremendous benefits brought by fame. (Thanks for the mass media and then the Internet.) Since the culture prefers people who self-promote, people become more narcissistic than ever.

==Pride is the desire to see yourself as superior to everybody else. Humility is the self-confrontation of weakness==. Thus it is painful and takes efforts to build the character with humility. You are not alone. Kant says we are all made from ==crooked timber==.

How to improve my humility? Reflect on errors by asking questions and develop strategies to act differently next time. Did I make mistakes today? Am I putting my loves in disorder? Am I not fully present for people who are asking my advice or revealing some vulnerability? Am I more interested in making a good impression than in listening to other people in depth?

==The author David Brooks believes - only Adam II can experience deep satisfaction in life==. I think that regarding SWOT analysis, in addition to strength-opportunity strategy, this book advises another direction for actions: weaknesses-threats strategy.

To work with Consistentor,

1. Be supportive when they are facing great changes because they are comfortable with predictable patterns only.
2. They prefer getting things done over doing more abstract work like brainstorming or long-range planning.
3. Ask them to help recognize others after the completion of a project. They make sure that each person gets the accolades they deserve.

To work with Context Provider,

1. Turn to this person for reviewing what has been done and known during meetings, and they will let people know the context.
2. They reflect past histories and think in terms of case studies. We can expect them to help others learn - “what happened? What did we learn?”
3. When introducing them to new friends, ask them to talk about their backgrounds before getting down to business.

To work with Deliberative,

1. Ask them to join teams that are impulsive so they can temporize those teams with thoughtfulness.
2. They tend to be rigorous thinkers so ask their inputs to identify land mines before making a decision.
3. Respect that they may be private. Do not become too familiar with them too quickly unless invited. Don’t take it personally if they need some personal spaces and keep us at arm’s distance.

To work with Believer,

1. Discover their passion and help them connect it to the work they have to do.
2. Understand their rock-solid commitments to their families and communities. We can express our appreciation, and they will respect us for it.
3. If we do not share their belief system, we have to understand and respect it; otherwise, there will be conflicts.

To work with Commander,

1. Always ask them for what is happening in the organization and then will often give straight answers. They are not head-nodders so they may raise different ideas from your own.
2. Look to them to take charge when people need to be persuaded, and things need to be unblocked.
3. Never threaten them unless we are 100% ready.

To work with Communicator,

1. They are good at carrying conversations. Ask them to come to social gatherings, and they entertain prospects or customers well.
2. Take time to listen to them. They will enjoy talking, and we will enjoy hearing. Also, our relationship will be closer because of it.
3. Discuss plans of social events with them. They often have good ideas for both the entertainment and what to be communicated at that event.

To work with Competitor,

1. Use competitive language with them. They think it is a win-or-lose world.
2. Help them find places where they can win; otherwise, if they lose all the time, they will not play it. They compete to win, not to have fun.
3. They feel bad after losing. Let them mourn for a while. Then help them to find another opportunity to win.

To work with Connector,

1. They feel strong connections and will defend their social issues strongly. Listen carefully to what inspires their passion.
2. Encourage them to build bridges across different organizations. They know how things are connected and they excel at showing people how they rely on each other.
3. If we also have the dominant “connector” talents, share articles, writings, and experiences with them, which can reinforce each other’s focus.