from Hacker News

Not mixing list of todos with strategy

by dhruvagga on 8/28/24, 1:03 PM with 3 comments

• by ned_at_codomain on 8/28/24, 1:13 PM

  I think this is one of the pernicious things about OKR-type organizational planning. Companies get so fixated on generating results -- quick wins -- that they kind of flail around doing stuff that gets measured on a dashboard.

  For what it's worth, I think this is often what we mean when we complain about "MBAs" controlling companies.

  I feel that people spend insufficient time deciding why they're choosing a course of action. Companies need to allocate more resources (i.e. time) deciding what they're not going to do.

  The best executives I've known have invariably shared one trait: they've been decisive in killing decent/good ideas to focus on important problems. This often makes them unpopular.

  By contrast, I've found that middling executives agonize over KPIs.

• by jayantbhawal on 8/29/24, 6:18 PM

  Analysis paralysis is so real and frustrating with the leadership. The shame is the intellectualisation of that crap and inactivity.

  As a builder, I’d love to sip my coffee and build impactful stuff.