2024 with new operating mode
Experiencing change, navigating new terrain, and honing my context awareness for a fruitful 2024.
Context aware
Transition phase, thats how I summed up 2022. It was suppose to compound in 2023. At least that was the hope.
Over the year, I have found myself in different domain and function as part of work. Different demographic of customers and their problems being served. Different work cultures among peers. Even the default social network I participated, changed.
It didn’t come to me immediately why I was navigating this much change without ranting much over here(If you disagree with this assertion, hit me a reply).
Last week, I came to Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh without much plan. Having spent the last 4 days in backpackers hostel at a place called Kareri. I ended up doing 2 smalls unguided hikes before culminating 2023 with a moderate level guided trek.
At each step I learnt more about how the locals traverse this terrain. Trails can be uprooted but follow footprints and sheep pellets. If there are too many leaves on the trail, wait and check since it has not been used for a while. Small steps but continuous movement. While climbing downhill, don’t stomp. None of this is new to an experienced hiker or a local “pahadi”(how they refer themselves). But, it’s always refreshing to bask in the environment and putting such learnings to practice.
For the new year celebrations, trekked through the hills to travel from one town to other. Topped it off with a scrumptious English breakfast after walking for 3.5 hours.
On the journey back today, I used ropeway (staffed by women), took a bus(filled with school returning girls scrolling Instagram feed) and hitched a ride on cab that takes women teachers to their school. That’s when I realised, all the men in these towns are either trek guides, shop keepers or taxi drivers. Each and everyone I interacted offered me their contact and told me call them directly next time I want go on a trek. Women are clearly taking the mantel of keeping the households fed while the men run enterprises for tourists.
I did complete the Kareri trek successfully because I hiked the previous two days. It helped me navigate the trek at a faster clip. All the possible mistakes like falling down, twisting my ankle and loosing trail happened the previous 2 days before the trek. On the day of trek, I kept abreast with the guide. In the end, he congratulated me with “you are a walker like us”.
Which brings me back to how I navigate situations. I operate better when I update my awareness of the context I inhabit(both at work and life) without much foresight or planning. Instead of trying to change my operating mode. I have decided to hone it. And, thats how I plan to enjoy learning and work in 2024.
Re-read pieces worthy of your attention
Since investing in the personal knowledge system last year. I read at least 1 article on 190 days. This resulted in many gems that I haven’t shared with you.
In the last 2 days, I went across all the 190 notes and re-read some of the posts. I created a collection from this exercise. The posts are interesting perspectives across a wide variety of topics.
-
- World view of marriage shapes up from watching parents predominantly. This post by Shapely Gal talks about different heirarchy’s of marriage. Makes for an introspective read. 1. Highest Order Bit
- A relevant example for my vocation is quoted subsequently.
-
If a company runs out of money, it doesn’t matter if there are no office politics. If its product doesn’t solve a customer problem, it doesn’t matter if the website is elegantly designed. Cashflow and product-market fit are higher-order bits to company culture and product polish.
- I send this to everyone who is thinking about “How they can improve”. The answer is not solving 100 things but focusing on the few that are of highest order.
-
-
-
As I got older it became clearer to me that not many people are really serious about anything. Some people go their whole lives without ever having met anyone else who I might describe as actually serious, so they find it hard to believe that anybody could really mean what they say, since everything everyone says is bullshit. I remember feeling like that myself at some of my low points in life, when I was at my most depressed
- This essay by Visa talks about being serious. Most people (including yours truly) are not serious by default. They act seriously to be part of society, work-place and relationships. To be serious involves being earnest and putting in the reps without any social recognition or acknowledgement. People will call you a lunatic but being serious pays off in the long term.
-
-
- The biggest losers due to urbanisation are rural municipalities. So, Japan designed a system that works for the active tax payers to pay a portion of their income tax to any of the rural towns.
-
The worst outcome is a mediocre success
- Startups should generate learnings as the default output. If you as a founder are struggling to learn something new throughout the journey. You end up becoming a mediocre success. This post details out the futility of reaching such a state.
-
That’s the danger of the mediocre success. The point of startup experimentation isn't the success itself; it’s the learning that comes with clear-cut success or failure. You don't really care about the sales revenue generated by your first two reps; you care about whether this is a strategy you can scale to dozens and then hundreds of reps, or whether you need to use a completely different strategy. It’s all about the learning. And mediocre successes don’t give you any learning.
-
Travel Logs of Japan by Winnie Lim
- I have enjoyed the deeply personal writing of Winnie Lim for a couple of years. Her recent travelogue was a joy to follow. It has some great street photography to accompany the prose as well.
-
Why is marketplace revenue so funky
- The context surrounding marketplace GMV(Gross Merchandise Value) is penetration into the overall market. This post distills the math behind components of marketplace economics to determine the net revenue.
-
The most important thing to understand is that GMV largely represents the platform’s market penetration and doesn’t dictate how much net revenue the business generates. The net revenue is largely driven by the take rate, which is a function of the platform’s product and offering and the industry standards.
-
-
Writing as an operator, I have a constant source of new topics. More than just any topics, these topics are the most challenging topics that engineering organizations and companies encounter.
- Will Larson is a C-Suite Technology executive who writes one of the best blog on engineering management. He wrote an elegant post why he does what he does (operating) even after writing 3 books.
-
Renewed belief
2024 is a day longer than the previous one. I am figuring out ways to spend it differently. How cliched will it be if I mention the word “trek” again?
Wishing you all a prosperous new year!
Signing off till the next time,
Vivek , nursing my knees for the time being