Emergent: September 2018
This month: Why do our minds trick us, and can saying “no” get us to the right outcome faster? Also, Jeff Bezos’ two-pizza rule for teams.
Emergent is a monthly newsletter that features Noah’s ideas, writing, podcasts, and other things that are capturing his attention. Subscribe here.
1. This month’s favorite book
I’ve been reading “Moneyball” author Michael Lewis’ new book, “The Undoing Project,” and it’s been fascinating. Lewis tells the story of two Israeli cognitive psychologists whose research is the foundational work for explaining how our minds make decisions.
The book explains the shortcuts that our brain uses to make decisions and judgements, and how those shortcuts can often lead us astray. The book is fun and engaging, making the science easy to understand and relatable. Read it now.
2. This month’s most interesting podcast
Can saying “no” get you to the right outcome faster?
“Saying no to an idea is better than saying nothing at all. We may fear rejecting another person’s idea in order to avoid conflict, but this fear is often counterproductive. Communicating your reasons for saying no can build and strengthen relationships with both your customers and your employees.”
This bit of counterintuitive advice comes from a conversation on Stanford Professor Bob Sutton’s podcast, “Friction.” It’s worth a listen if you’re struggling to get to the right answers to tough business questions. Tip of the hat to Eric Ries for surfacing this in his newsletter. Listen now.
3. This month’s thoughts on productivity
Adding people to a project isn’t always a good idea
It’s tempting to think that if we just add more people to projects, they’ll go faster. After all, more brains and more people power should mean that more work gets done, right? This isn’t always the case, though. We’ve certainly seen this effect here at Palo Alto Software. Engineering and marketing teams that get too big tend to slow down, mostly because the decision-making process takes longer.
It turns out that smaller, autonomous teams can make faster decisions and effect change quicker. Jeff Bezos has an interesting take on this and recommends the two-pizza rule for teams. Read about the science of this idea here.
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