Willem's Avenue

Rocket Failures

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket program faced organizational failures, including solution-first thinking that prioritized existing contracts over clearly defined goals, and sunk-cost fallacy that perpetuated reliance on legacy hardware despite technical challenges, leading to delays and cost overruns after spending over $17 billion.

2023-09-23
Debugging Motivation

Unpacking motivation through frameworks like Daniel Pink's autonomy, mastery, and purpose equation combined with the "Five Whys" technique can provide valuable insights into understanding and improving behavior without getting lost in impossible root causes.

2023-03-17
It takes time

Celebrating the brilliance of humanity's innovative spirit that transforms good ideas ahead of their time into groundbreaking products and experiences through perseverance, technological advancements, and changing habits.

2022-10-20
Good process, bad process

In software development, effective process should facilitate outcomes, create feedback loops, embrace non-linearity, manage variability judiciously, evolve iteratively through team input, and balance additions with removals to maintain leanness.

2021-10-08
When to MVP?

The blog post discusses frameworks and mental models for determining the right product scope, prioritizing features, and deciding when to ship products based on balancing risk and value.

2021-10-04
Sci-Fi Book Notes

A concise and engaging one-sentence description of the provided blog post content is: This comprehensive list showcases the author's love for sprawling sci-fi space operas, encompassing seminal works by revered authors like Asimov, Hamilton, and Herbert, as well as modern masterpieces that delve into cosmic journeys, artificial intelligence, and mind-bending concepts.

2020-03-14
Firetrucks and product ownership

Reflecting on the passion and diligence of firemen caring for their life-saving equipment, the author ponders how product teams could adopt a similar approach to constantly use and polish the tools they build for customers.

2019-07-08
Commodity and Utility in the AppStore

The blog post discusses how innovative features in apps often start as third-party offerings, then get adopted by platform makers like Apple, becoming commoditized and integrated into the core OS over time, following an s-curve pattern of innovation and adoption; this drives developers to keep innovating with new app features to stay ahead.

2019-06-29
Redwoods and Re-orgs

A thought-provoking parallel is drawn between the role of fire in facilitating the growth of Redwood "fairy-rings" and the necessity of organizational restructuring to catalyze innovation within large technology companies.

2019-06-14
Why I pay for articles

The blog post discusses the importance of reading content from independent writers who are not influenced by external forces like advertising, and encourages supporting creators directly through paid subscriptions.

2019-02-05
Servant Leadership, Invert the hierarchy

A thought-provoking exploration of servant leadership as an alternative to hierarchical micromanagement, empowering employees to dream and achieve organizational goals through guidance and ownership.

2019-02-04
1:1 questions for work

Keeping 1:1 meetings engaging by changing locations, asking thought-provoking questions covering general, productivity, emotional well-being, and digging deeper to uncover insights.

2019-01-19
"I Wonder"

"I wonder" sparks curiosity, challenges assumptions, and encourages exploring diverse perspectives, fostering groundbreaking discoveries and innovations.

2018-09-29
Motivation for individuals

Motivation can be achieved by fulfilling four key principles: fostering relationships through activities that promote understanding and respect, providing growth opportunities for career advancement and mastery, allowing autonomy with accountability and the right tools, and aligning work with a meaningful mission and impact.

2018-09-20
Training Sets are TDD in the world of AI

Software 2.0 appears to have similarities with test-driven development practices, where selecting the training set is akin to defining requirements, tweaking algorithms resembles red/green coding, and issues like biases parallel incomplete test coverage.

2018-08-05
5 years: My story with cancer

A candid and inspiring account of a five-year journey battling Stage IIIa testicular cancer, highlighting the unwavering support of loved ones, the grueling realities of chemotherapy, and the resilience of the human spirit.

2018-07-31
Amazon, wrist-bands and AI

Amazon aims to collect worker motion data from wristbands to train AI models and robots for optimizing warehouse operations, surpassing mere human efficiency gains.

2018-02-04
TedX SF

Here is a one sentence description of the blog post content focused on the main topic and key points: The blog post covers insights and ideas from various speakers at a 2017 TEDx event on topics ranging from precision medicine, synthetic biology, and data visualization to empathy, language, addiction, death, and the future of intelligence.

2017-10-10
Foray Into Amps

Documenting the assembly and upgrade process of a DIY Bottlehead Crack OTL headphone amplifier kit, including painting the metal plate, soldering components, installing the Speedball upgrade, and enjoying the final high-fidelity audio experience.

2015-07-14