Ben Darfler

So all of the sudden everyone is basically doing this now

www.ronforbes.com/blog/build-y...

Shift From “Product First” to “Product Last” “Product first” was supposed to deliver what best serves customers. It’s now mostly feature factories & order taking. Let’s fix it.

"Don’t start with product, features, ideas, or hypotheses. Start with a good understanding of target audiences’ tasks, experiences, and pain points. Be solution-agnostic early in your process. Avoid the feature factory and order taking." rbefored.com/shift-from-p...

GM: Charisma check.

Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]

GM: that’s a d6 how did you

Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊

the honeycomb connector is basically the only connector we have enabled company-wide on our claude team account! it’s very good!

Supportive and Demanding = Wise Leadership – Discovery in Action This relatively simple yet powerful concept has been popularised through Angela Duckworth in her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.  It was originally presented as a parenting model…

Ever since coming across "Demanding and Supportive" a few months ago, I find myself thinking about it and referring back to it regularly. discoveryinaction.com.au/supportive-a...

honestly, this.

Output vs Outcome vs Impact - Crisp's Blog Here is an attempt to establish a definition of Output, Outcome and Impacts! It is based on my interpretation of the work of Jeff Patton, Marty Cagan and Clayton Christensen, with some good input…

Regular refresher on the distinction between product output, customer outcomes, and business impacts.

Above the Line Leadership: The Shift from Control to Freedom - Prodigy Edge Leadership isn’t about having the right answers. It’s about how you see—yourself, your team, and the moment you’re in. Are you showing up in a way that reacts, or one that creates? This is the…

I love when Buddhist content crosses over into leadership content. This maps nearly 1:1 with RAIN - Recognize, Accept, Investigate, Nurture
prodigyedge.com/leadership-i...

Engineering management's foundational skills. Draft Navigating ambiguity Impact Across Timeframes Ensure your areas of responsibility make progress across both the short and long term: Work on multiple clocks. Deliver today’s commitments while…

Well, that's an inspiring/intimidating list.

lethain.com/categories-e...

Honeycomb Canvas AI Copilot adoption since BETA launch 277 teams (with colourful people in the graphic) doing 4,500 AI-assisted investigations (graphic: user: "latency's spiking again" robot: let's trace it back. analyze (trace_id=247...)

I was pretty skeptical about AI in observability. but 277 teams have run nearly 4,500 investigations with @honeycomb.io's Canvas since our beta, and it's actually... good?

What convinced me: I've been at Honeycomb almost 7 years and Canvas has taught me things about our own systems I didn't know.

The OARB framework: Why you should appeal to self-interest when giving feedback You must give your recipient a reason to change. Go straight for what will hit them in the gut: appeal to why they'll personally benefit.

"OARB framework (Observation, Assertion, Repercussion, Benefit)"

Another great framework from Wes Kao, similar to the SBI framework (Situation, Behavior, Impact)

Unusual tips to keep Slack from becoming a nightmare 2021-05-11communicationremote-workscaling

I love this hack - "A useful pattern to apply everywhere is: I’ll document the answer to this question, in exchange for you providing the answer to this question."

www.rubick.com/unusual-tips...

Sales, then logistics That note you’re writing? It's probably a sales note in some capacity. Don’t jump straight into the logistics if your recipient isn’t sold yet.

"There’s an order of operations: Folks must be sold, and only then, will they find the logistics relevant and valuable … This framework of “sales, not logistics” applies to any situation where you want to get a person or group of people to take action."

newsletter.weskao.com/p/sales-not-...

How to get an enthusiastic yes Most people suck at asking for things. Here's an easy framework for how to ask (and get a yes).

"To increase the chances of getting a "yes," try this exercise. Once you’ve drafted your note, ask yourself: What part of this mentions things that mostly benefit me? What parts benefits the other person? Why would they eagerly say yes to this?"

newsletter.weskao.com/p/how-to-get...

Work requests are not “favors” Framing a work request as a favor uses social capital and makes you look incompetent. If your request is reasonable, ask respectfully and confidently.

This one hit hard. "framing requests as a favor is … intellectually lazy. When you can’t fall back on framing as a favor, you’re forced to actually think about why your request is important for the business."

newsletter.weskao.com/p/work-reque...

Issue 80: The Goldilocks Principle of Operational Scaling How Chiefs of Staff can find the ‘just right’ balance between structure and speed

I'm always looking to find structure without bureaucracy. "Favor principles over rules: Guidelines anchored in principles travel further than rigid instructions. Instead of prescribing every step, set clear expectations and empower teams to adapt."

askachiefofstaff.substack.com/p/issue-80-t...

Every time I open a new sponge: why didn't I do this sooner?

Strategy as a Series of Beliefs I’m always looking for better ways to distill strategy. My favorite strategy author is Richard Rumelt, who wrote Good Strategy, Bad Strategy and the more recent but less acclaimed follow-on, The…

A great take on going one level deeper with strategy - "Add beliefs to [Rumelt's strategy] framework. More precisely, separate the diagnosis into present truths and future beliefs." kellblog.com/2024/05/12/s...

Execs care about revenue. How do we get them to care about outcomes? This post was originally published to my newsletter subscribers (12k of them now). If you’d like to get these in your inbox sign up here. If there’s one metric that matters to all executives, it’s…

Don't love dunking on execs, but this process of building out KPI trees is super powerful.
Execs care about revenue. How do we get them to care about outcomes? jeffgothelf.com/blog/execs-c...

Jimmy Kimmel is Back! YouTube video by Jimmy Kimmel Live

As I was saying…

OKRs without objectives are only half the story Lots would prefer to skip objectives and head straight or the key results. This is only half the story. Here's how to get the objective into the story.

There is so much focus put on good KRs that I've absolutely fallen into the trap of over indexing on the KRs and ignoring the Os. This is a great reminder to ask "what 'story' the numbers will tell when we achieve them?" jeffgothelf.com/blog/okrs-wi...

How-to: At what level should I write my OKRs? Here's how to set the proper level for your Objectives & Key Results so you can set goals your team can achieve.

I've been thinking a lot about how OKRs scale with a company. At some point, the style of OKRs starts to differentiate at different levels. There can no longer be a one size fits all approach. jeffgothelf.com/blog/how-to-...

Joining my fellow Americans. #firstamendment

Goebbels Ends Careers of Five 'Aryan' Actors Who Made Witticisms About the Nazi Regime (Published 1939)

These are precedented times and the precedent is a loud ass warning

www.nytimes.com/1939/02/04/a...

Get started on your KPI Tree When it comes to focus, goals and alignment, it can be pretty tough to ensure that everyone is on the same page. But don't worry, that's where a KPI Tree 🌳 comes in!

Another great take on KPI trees. I particularly liked the practical visualization ideas for showing relationships, both direct and indirect.

Get started on your KPI Tree www.axel.pm/p/get-starte...

I wonder if you could ask it to write the code to make it happen instead of asking it to do the task directly. Not sure if it could execute the code for you (since you are on mobile) but it's usually better at writing code for deterministic work than doing it directly.

#AIWeek continues with launch two—Anomaly Detection (now in alpha), Honeycomb’s new way to stay ahead of issues. Honeycomb learns your service patterns and gives early warnings before customers are impacted. Smarter, proactive observability starts now.

👉Read more: buff.ly/hakY4jJ

#honeycomb #AI

Three Things You Need On Every KPI Graph Do you have these 3 essential things on your KPI graphs in your dashboard? If not, you're misinterpreting your performance measure signals.

Being data-driven isn't simply looking at numbers and hoping for insights. You need approaches to help interpret the data and then respond when trends shift.

Three Things You Need On Every KPI Graph www.staceybarr.com/measure-up/t...