Ben Mann Monthly April 2023
Vision docs, wireless headphones, bayesian thinking, talking cats
Purpose
An index for my memory
A menu of topics for my next conversation with you
A faster way to share what I’m excited about without the barrier of writing a complete blog entry on it
A skimmable way to spread content I found valuable
Experiments and experiences
Writing vision docs
One challenge in my org is setting a vision on top of a rapidly changing technology, but as (maybe?) Eisenhower said, "Plans are useless; planning is essential". Good plans create clarity at every zoom level, and vision sits at the top. We define the hierarchy as
Vision > Mission > Strategy > Tactics > Plans > Implementation. With all that in mind, I wrote up a doc with the following sections:Intro - what problem are we solving; how does our org tie into the broader company vision?
Prior art - whose work am I building on; where can you go to find context on the ideas presented in this document?
Forecasting - where is the broader world going; how will our technology change in the next few years?
Audience - who is this document for; who are the users or target demographics that our vision targets?
Goals - if we're successful with our vision, what will the effect be on the world and on our org; what impact are we looking to have?
Vision statement and timeline - where are we trying to go in the next N years; what are some key milestones, even if they're purely illustrative?
Risks - any good strategy identifies key risks up front and attempts to de-risk them as quickly and effectively as possible.
Alternatives considered - how'd we arrive at the vision above; why did we reject possible alternatives?
Wireless headphone evaluations
I have tiny ear canals and small outside ear parts, which means I could never wear Apple's stock earbuds at all. I evaluated the following headphones, mainly for running and biking but also as daily drivers, roughly stack ranked in order of preference from best to worst:
SHOKZ OpenRun Pro - Bad sound quality EXCEPT having nothing in my ear canal or on my ear is awesome. Can wear them for hours and not even think about it. Easier to hear with medium wind than many headphones. Strong wind is bad. Sound quality totally sufficient for podcasts and audiobooks. New daily driver for bike commute or on a run. Don't have to take them off to talk to people in person!
Powerbeats Pro - Great fit, good sound; battery life tanked after the first year, possibly because I wore them in the rain once and they got a little wet. No ANC.
Apple Airpods Pro - Incredible sound comparable to many over-ear headphones; excellent ANC; great passthrough mode; sometimes fall out of my ears, especially when sweaty.
Beats Flex - Good sound, no ANC, bad speaking experience (no audio passthrough during phonecalls). Nice that there's no case to keep around. Good pair for listening-only, throw in backpack. Fit better than Beats Fit Pro; earbuds themselves are very light because the battery and wireless stuff are in the strap instead of in the earpiece.
Beats Fit Pro - Good sound, but never fit well in my ears, frequently fell out. Good ANC.
JLab Go Air Sport - Dirt cheap, but quite low quality. Crappy sound. Nice for throwing in my backpack in case of emergency, but otherwise not worth using. Controls are pretty confusing; can only pair with one device at a time. Reasonably good fit, doesn't fall out.
Dad life month 6
Euda continues to get more interesting to interact with. She's close to being able to crawl, but is not there yet. She also can't push herself up into a sitting position, but she can now transition out of sitting on her own. Her motor control continues to improve; rather than smearing food summarily over her face, she can choose to grab objects and put them directly in her mouth.
Life updates
📜 Published our NIST recommendation
🚀 Released Claude 1.3
🛂 Passport for Euda, expedited so we can go to Canada for most of May
❓ Tons of interviews; such is the life of an eng director?
📣 Gave another hackathon talk on the importance of AI safety, this time virtual in NYC
Content
5 point Likert ratings for “I would recommend this content to a friend”, sorted
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya 4/5
Watched for the second time, cried for the second time. Beautiful animation even if the characters are fairly flat and the story is fairly standard.
Felt different now that I’m a father, with more dramatic irony.
Thinking in Bets 4/5
Standard advice to be a better Bayesian for anyone who's read behavioral economics books like Thinking Fast and Slow, but with a more practical, concise bent.
My favorite takeaway: "resulting" is when you put too much emphasis on the outcome of a decision, rather than judging yourself for whether the decision itself was made with the right information in mind. For example, did you know you were betting on something with a 20% chance of success, and then it failed? Or was it a 10% thing you thought was 20%, had evidence you'd overlooked, and then had a bad time?
10-10-10 process: Before a decision, ask yourself "What are the consequences of each of my options in ten minutes? Ten months? Ten years?"
Backcasting: Working backward from a positive future
Pre-mortem: backcasting for a negative future
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish 4/5
A movie ostensibly for kids that has non-flat characters?? And incredible animation style, world building, and moving character arcs?? Sign me up.
Ted Lasso S3 4/5
Continues to deliver in masterclass of being a good human
Amp it Up 3/5
Pretty standard business advice, but will list a few nice images/takeaways
Hire drivers, not passengers
The best people aren't looking for a job, so focus on outbound recruiting, and do it in house. Be willing to play the long game for these candidates.
Focus on problems over solutions when setting goals; leave the solutions to the teams on the front lines.
Customer success shouldn't be a department; every team is responsible for customer success
Don't throw new people into the deep end without support
Always own your distribution channels
Stay focused and scrappy as you scale up
"If you could do just one thing for the remainder of the year, what would that be and why?"
Interview question: "what're you good at?"
A good CEO will lead a board. Take ownership.
Broker 3/5
Very similar to Shoplifters, same director
Succession S1E1 1/5
Ugh, I hated every character. I'm sure they grow during the series, but I couldn't handle it for one episode, nor the camera work, nor the entitlement. I committed "series suicide" by reading the Wikipedia summary of the rest of the season and don't think I missed out at all.
