Five Links #057
Discover more from Bennett’s Five Links
Five Links #057
Best Work; Best Sunrise; Best Parents; Hobo Dads
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Never going to see my best work again ..
There was a lot I took from this article by Brie Wolfson. Too much to list really.
But one thing I do want to highlight is the way she writes about how a culture of open communication and effective feedback improved her work significantly. And as her work improved through other people’s feedback, so too did her confidence and general wellbeing.
That has certainly been my experience. I appreciate anyone that is able to critique without ‘being critical’. It’s a fine line, sure, but it’s a skill worth getting right, and if you have someone like that in your team you should hold on to them as long as you can.
We were encouraged to write everything down and then share it to a Google Group that anyone at the company could subscribe to and read, whether it was a meaningful strategy document, personal musings on a topic, or a mundane email exchange.
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Sending meeting notes was a privilege, not a chore (documentation for the win). My colleagues chimed in on my work—because I asked them to, and because it made the work better, not because they didn’t trust me.
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Over my subsequent half-decade working at Stripe, the company 10x’ed in size and the impact of the relentless focus on doing great work together, and being stewards of company culture, revealed itself over and over again. My work kept getting better. My relationships with colleagues kept getting deeper. The benefits of becoming a better collaborator and communicator extended to my non-work life, too.
What I miss about working at Stripe
(via Sam Dickie)
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Sunrise ..
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The Three Parent Family ..
Parenting has been hard. Absolutely hard. It has kicked me about and put a strain on my relationship. The girls are amazing. I love them. I wish them every happiness and joy in life. But, at the same time, this has been a bruising four years. Can I say that? Can both those things be true at the same time?
As I read this article about the emerging three parent family structure, I couldn’t decide if I thought it was a great idea or a terrible idea. Sure, an extra pair of hands. Extra dollars. Extra supervision. But then I start to wonder, I can’t keep one partner happy how the fuck am I supposed to juggle a second?!
It was an interesting read all the same.
Today, Jay is part of a three-parent family in northern California. He lives with a married couple, Avary Kent and Zeke Hausfather, and is not part of their marriage, but is a father to their biological daughter, Octavia, or Tavi, whose full name includes all three of their last names.
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The idea that the default family unit consists of two straight parents and their children is outdated and doesn’t reflect the U.S. today.
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For Jay, the arrangement has been smoother than expected. Having a third pair of hands (and a third income) to raise a child is easier. The division of parenting work in his family—carefully discussed and allotted during weekly logistics meetings—feels more fair than arrangements for many straight parents who are couples, who can easily fall into gendered assumptions of whose job it is to take care of the baby and who is only “helping out.” In Jay’s family, each of the three parents is less exhausted from taking care of Tavi, and that’s good for Tavi too, who gets to read and snuggle with Kent and play with blocks with Hausfather and take long walks in nature with Jay.
The Rise of the 3-Parent-Family
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Be on your way already ..
I don’t know much about the hobo life. I think what I do know came mostly from The Simpsons and Mad Men. So I was surprised to know there was such a thing as a Hobo National Convention along with a regulated ‘hobo code’.
And it’s a nice code, too. It seems to mostly build on concepts of honesty and sustainability. Who knew all the way back in 1889 there were hobos getting out in front of this ESG trend.
2. When in town, always respect the local law and officials, and try to be a gentleman at all times.
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4. Always try to find work, even if temporary, and always seek out jobs nobody wants. By doing so you not only help a business along, but ensure employment should you return to that town again.
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11. When traveling, ride your train respectfully, take no personal chances, cause no problems with the operating crew or host railroad, act like an extra crew member.
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Isn’t that great ..
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Bennett