68: The Inevitable
Discussing ideas from "The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future".
Oct 11, 2016•45 min•Ep. 68
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Radek and Michael talk about technology, productivity tips, business, publishing, and whatever else comes to mind.
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Episodes
67: David and Goliath
We're continuing last week's discussion, and sharing ideas about how to thrive when your competition is bigger and stronger. As a small company, a tiny team, or an indie, you're a David, and to win with your Goliath, you ought to do things they don't, won't, or can't do. Instead of emulating a giant, play the game by your own rules. This, and a 86-second review of iPhone 7.
Oct 04, 2016•49 min•Ep. 67
66: Guerrilla Development
One does not win a war against a vastly stronger enemy by going head to head against it. No, to have a chance of winning, you need to play a different game altogether, and turn your opponent's strengths into weaknesses. Warfare metaphors aside, it's also true for any company or project. To thrive in spite of strong competition, you need to play asymmetrically and instead of emulating them, do things they cannot do. This week, we share some thoughts and examples of how we try to do this at Nozbe....
Sep 27, 2016•42 min•Ep. 66
65: Request for comments
At every company, communication overhead becomes a real sink for time and energy. And the larger you get, the greater the overhead. It's prudent to optimize how you communicate and collaborate, so you can get the biggest bang for your buck. Communicate only as much as you need to, not more, and get back to doing the work. That takes nuance, different tools for different jobs, and an appreciation of asynchronous work.
Sep 22, 2016•45 min•Ep. 65
64: Garbage collection
There's no speed limit to how fast you can learn. But you can't just upload information into your brain either. To learn faster, it's important to understand the nature of how we remember things. This week we discuss the spaced repetition learning technique, how to take good book notes, and a vision for a book of the future.
Sep 13, 2016•38 min•Ep. 64
63: Show me
Discussing insights from How to Fly a Horse. Everybody can be creative, but creative thinking doesn't exist. Creation is not inspiration, but iteration. It takes time, and lots of work. And you have to become comfortable with this. Brainstorming doesn't work, but feedback loops do. Confidence gives you power, but certainty makes you stuck. Question everything, but not too early. Instead, "Show me". Ahh, all the nuances! Lots of good stuff in this one, so please forgive us for Michael's poor audi...
Sep 06, 2016•46 min•Ep. 63
62: Path to the end
Continuing our conversation about ideas and insights from Smarter Faster Better: discussing how team norms shape the way we work together, empathy, changing your mind quickly and often, copying, and remixing ideas.
Aug 30, 2016•32 min•Ep. 62
61: Take the blame
Book corner! This week, we discuss ideas we learned from Charles Duhigg's newest book, Smarter Faster Better. Among others, we discuss why employers should get out the way of your employees, give them trust and responsibility; how you should make plans so you can achieve ambitious goals without getting stuck; a reminder about cognitive biases; and why you should always take the blame.
Aug 23, 2016•47 min•Ep. 61
60: TGIF
Michael wants his employees to work less and still pay them the same. He might be crazy. We're implementing a new, experimental policy at Nozbe, where everyone works at full thrust from Monday through Thursday, and then on Friday, after a few meetings, and a mandatory Weekly Review, you can do whatever you want. We discuMichael wants his employees to work less and still pay them the same. He might be crazy. We're implementing a new, experimental policy at Nozbe, where everyone works at full thru...
Aug 17, 2016•35 min•Ep. 60
59: Abolishing hierarchies
Thoughts on software design. What we do with user feedback, how we prioritize new features, teach users good habits through interface design, and try to strike a balance between "simple" and "powerful". Also a brief discussion about iOS 10.
Aug 10, 2016•39 min•Ep. 59
58: Peer Mentoring
Michael explains what it means to him to mentor and be mentored. It's not what you might expect — not a master-student relationship, rather, it's about peers exchanging ideas and points of view. Teaching and being taught at the same time.
Aug 03, 2016•37 min•Ep. 58
57: Discomfort routine
Radek started waking up so early, no one can believe this is even possible. (Isn't this weird that when we hit the snooze button, procrastination is literally the first thing we do in a day? How could that be a good thing?) Also a discussion about discomfort, stretching your limits, and sharing some brain hacks.
Jul 27, 2016•42 min•Ep. 57
56: Thought leadering
Michael rethinks his strategy for blogging and spreading the word about #NoOffice. The plan: one solid blog post a week to blog his way to writing the NoOffice book.
Jul 20, 2016•38 min•Ep. 56
55: Ten years from now
Answering common questions and criticisms about high book consumption. Why it doesn't matter how many books you read will you remember 10 years from now. Why having a lot of (often contradictory) mental models is crucial. Why it's important to have time to process and some tips on achieving it. Also a discussion about privacy and security, including the math behind differential privacy.
Jul 14, 2016•42 min•Ep. 55
54: Forget the fireplace
There is no such thing as reading too many books. (Or if there is, it's certainly way above the 30 books per year rate both Michael and Radek find easy to achieve.) Each new book compliments the previous one, adding to your trove of knowledge, ideas, and insights. Each adds nuance, or shows contradictions, or a different point of view. And so we must reject this romantic but ultimately destructive notion that reading a book is a sacred ritual, that it must be done with a physical book, and studi...
Jul 07, 2016•49 min•Ep. 54
53: Originals
What does it take for individuals and organizations to be original and creative? Michael and Radek share their favorite bits from Originals — Adam Grant's newest book that tries to answer these very questions. We talk about why quantity vs quality is a false dichotomy, why procrastination is sometimes good, why we should share our ideas more often than we think is appropriate, how to avoid groupthink, and why being a defensive pessimist helps avoid mistakes.
Jun 30, 2016•47 min•Ep. 53
52: 6 degrees of Elon Musk
Radek shares more of his experiences from the WWDC/San Francisco trip. More tips for attending conferences. About almost knowing Elon Musk, and why it's not worth being a jerk. And on connecting the dots.
Jun 22, 2016•46 min•Ep. 52
51: WWDC 2016
Live from (surprisingly cold) California, Radek joins Michael to talk about the news from Apple on the Worldwide Developers Conference and how they affect us and Nozbe, our product.
Jun 16, 2016•34 min•Ep. 51
50: Four Disciplines
Today, we discuss ideas from The 4 Disciplines of Execution — a book describing a system for achieving goals among the whirlwind of everyday life. Also: celebrating our 50th episode, Radek is going to WWDC, and basketball and rocket corners!
Jun 08, 2016•55 min•Ep. 50
49: Zero sum game
This is such an important idea. We all know this, but few of us actually internalize this truth: The competition for our time and attention is a zero sum game. No matter how hard you try, a day is 24 hours long. We have to be brutal in refusing to do useful things so we can do the most important things. No matter how hard this is, there's no other way to be successful.
Jun 01, 2016•42 min•Ep. 49
48: Three-point-three wave
Michael reviews The Third Wave (two homonymous books by Alvin Toffler and Steve Case). And Radek is going to San Francisco for Apple's WWDC conference. Nozbe: Works on Mars™ (or money back guaranteed). Your move, Elon Musk.
May 25, 2016•41 min•Ep. 48
47: Quit social media
Your day is 24 hours long, and there's nothing you can do to change that. Which means, competition for your time and attention is a zero sum game. Doing one thing means you're not doing another. And some things are more valuable than others. It's not enough to be merely valuable. To achieve the most, you must cut down on things that are merely nice, and reinvest time in things that are essential. And so, quite honestly… why don't we just quit social media?
May 18, 2016•45 min•Ep. 47
46: Deep Work
We live very distracted lives and most of our working days are filled with shallow tasks and interruptions. In this age when more and more jobs are being automated, we can get a competitive edge if we get good at performing deep work — important work at high levels of attention.
May 11, 2016•48 min•Ep. 46
45: Tree of knowledge
More discussion about books! Remember: books are not a source of raw information, they are education and persuasion devices. The most compact forms of books are rarely those that make the most impact.
May 04, 2016•41 min•Ep. 45
44: Productivity fudges
Michael and Radek have been to Warsaw on two awesome conferences last week. This episode, we're sharing some stories from that and celebrating the human touch in everyday interactions.
Apr 27, 2016•46 min•Ep. 44
43: Not that smart
A story about our relationship with books. Truly, reading a lot has been a great investment and made us smarter, but it wasn't always easy for us. We had to change our approach to be able to read 20-30 books a year.
Apr 20, 2016•52 min•Ep. 43
42: Bottom line
The value of focus is hard to measure. But why spend your time doing something on your own just because you can, when you can get it off the shelf and focus on what makes your company unique? Perhaps this is obvious, but we continue to catch ourselves thinking the overly frugal way.
Apr 13, 2016•50 min•Ep. 42
41: Never grow up
You don't need an office, or presence in Silicon Valley, or big VC money to start and sustain a company. To create something interesting, to make a dent in your customers' lives. And when did "lifestyle business" become an insult, anyway? This week, we gossip a bit about our competition ;)
Apr 07, 2016•38 min•Ep. 41
40: Overcollaboration is dangerous
Being a small company is great. Everyone knows everyone, there's just one team, no secrets, and it all makes for a pleasant environment to work in. But to be a small company and still achieve great things, you have to be efficient and brutally selective about what you say "yes" to.
Mar 30, 2016•49 min•Ep. 40
39: Make Nozbe Great Again
This one is special. We're recording live from a hotel room on the semi-annual Nozbe Reunion. With live audience, the marketing team Periscoping us, and Michael finally got a proper mic! This week, we're talking about improving ourselves and our company, about feedback loops, about honest feedback, and about re-learning constraints so we can focus our work on things that actually matter.
Mar 23, 2016•40 min•Ep. 39
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