Published in The Startup·Jan 30, 2021How to Set the Right Performance Targets for Your TeamThe art and science of motivating, aligning, and focusing people — Performance targets can make or break your team. Done right, they will motivate, align toward common goals, and drive focused work. Make a mistake and you will get a demotivated team focused on gaming the system for their personal benefit. Wells Fargo bank was long considered the most successful cross-seller…Management8 min read
Published in The Startup·Jan 19, 2021Why Most Conversion Rates Are Wrong and How You Can Do BetterIt is sad to watch competent people making ill-informed decisions because they think conversion rates are simple and straightforward. Conversion rates are some of the most important metrics. They help predict future productivity, identify bottlenecks, and calculate ROI. You have to get them right. “What is our conversion rate this…Analytics7 min read
Dec 9, 2020Don’t Let Software Vendors Dictate Your Business ProcessesEvery company is unique, at least every company worth building. All companies increasingly rely on software to operate. It is impossible for enterprise software companies to make their products infinitely customizable to fit every company’s unique workflows. They don’t want to become like Microsoft Word at its worst.Operations5 min read
May 22, 2018The Basic Rule of Getting Things DoneIf you are the CEO of a fast-growing startup, you have a lot on your plate. About a year ago, I built a simple semi-automated system we call GSD (Getting Shit Done). It allows our CEO to delegate tasks and not worry about their timely completion. …Productivity4 min read
Apr 24, 2018How I Find Time For Everything ImportantThree and a half years ago my perception of time changed due to two factors: meeting my wife whom I love spending time with and finding a job I enjoy doing so much I would do it for free. …Productivity4 min read
Apr 10, 2018How To Divide and Schedule Work When Building Something NewPeople suck at predicting the future unless it closely resembles their past experience. Even worse, people systematically overestimate their predictive ability. “I know that and take it into account,” you may say. Science shows that even if you are aware of the bias, you are still over-confident of your ability…Agile4 min read
Mar 2, 2018Set Goals or Build Systems?Do you need ambitious goals to achieve great results? Some smart people argue that setting goals is counter-productive. Many of them take inspiration from a book “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.” Its author is Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comics. His blog post…Goals3 min read
Feb 15, 2018DataRobot Machines: How We Scale The Company With Automation and DataNo matter what work you do, at a high level you are simply setting goals and building machines to help you achieve them. — Ray Dalio, Principles When I was 6 a programmer friend of my dad’s did something that made a lifetime impression on me. He spent five minutes…Business8 min read
Dec 5, 2017Finding Root Causes of Problems: The Practical GuideAbout a year ago I switched from software engineering to business operations. A large part of my job is identifying and removing bottlenecks preventing the company from growing faster. A startup is a fairly complex system with multiple cause-effect relationships. It is physically impossible to keep all the moving parts…Problem Solving6 min read
Sep 2, 2016How I Used Metrics to Change Behavior in OrganizationDid you ever want to make a change in your organization but didn’t have authority to do it? Or didn’t want to use your power because you want people to make own decisions? Then this text is for you. This is a story of how I discovered a way to…Software Development6 min read
