Another year, another state of the year
A year of personal and career changes, from more free time to a shift in job roles, all while embracing the power of writing and the importance of thinking as an operator.
I touched grass this year
One significant change that took place this year. Work of full time job doesn’t take most of my time anymore. It cascaded into multiple other changes as well. I didn’t have to commute 3 hours daily. I need not work 6 days of a week. WhatsApp is messaging app, not work app where my boss messaged me. In short, I get extra time each day and an entire day to touch grass.
Instead of travelling across different states of India and meet people on the field. I now have to move between continents in my head and connect with people on video calls. I have gone global by becoming more local, sticking to a screen with a makeshift standing desk.
I turned 30 this year. Luckily, things have settled on the career front. Turning 30 made me realise that I am now an experienced hack who knows a thing or two about life and work.
This year, I was either the oldest(senior) person or the youngest(junior) in a meeting room. Basing on the meeting, I was either approving projects or seeking permission to pursue projects. This is a special sandwich role called middle manager. You are bestowed with enough power to impact a couple of lives while you are fighting for their importance in front of senior leadership looking down at you.
This role is the pinnacle of most 90’s kids parent’s aspiration. Especially, when it happens in a tech/startup company. Now, your maturity is measured by the salary you make not the work you do. While salary is the lagging metric and the leading being the work. Staying true to my core, work I do still is the primary motivation for doing the job and everything on the work front.
Made the change from working in a startup building 0-1 products into an established product in its growth phase(100-♾️). The shift happened because I had all my eggs in the role as a startup operator. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to the bill. So, I was looking for a shift.
An opportunity came my way through a F.A.N (friendly ambitious nerd). I seized it and couple of months later working in the same division that this F.A.N heads in a Tech conglomerate. In this process, I have clawed a step backwards in the organisation leverage standpoint. From manager to an Individual contributor. Now, I am left with no other tool than influencing peers, seniors and leadership. Thus, upping my ante on rigour and thoroughness at work.
My personal knowledge system came through and manifested into a digital garden. It paid dividends as it helped me revisit all the articles I read on a daily basis and put them to use at work and also on the side projects. Let’s recap each one of them.
Write 100 things
I shifted the newsletter format mid-way in 2023. Though there are 51 issues published before it. Most were blog posts that were shared as newsletter. So, I faired very poorly on this one.
I went and checked the number of “published” posts in the digital garden. There are only 29 published essays on it. This year I am looking to reach to 80 of the 100 posts. Lofty, yet doable.
I have just explored a single node properly in this mind map. So, I just need to stick to writing more frequently to achieve this goal.
Being more data literate
Except adding few blog posts to my feed and reading them frequently. There has been no progress made on this. I also realised that I learn things better when there is a situation(project or task) that requires me to learn. For 2024, this will be the most important skill that needs work and it applicability will come first at my full time job.
Operator - Skilled Up
Writing is a form of thinking. I am not the one to saying this publicly. There are plethora of great operators who resonate with this sentiment.
In the past, I have come across many operators who feel insecure to think. They are certain thinking is for the people who can’t execute. Execution for them involves some form of “doing”. They loudly and proudly proclaim themselves as “Doers”. I am certain that even Nike doesn’t call their sports athletes as “doers”. I never understood what do they mean when they try to throw shade at people who write.
In my current job, most of the operators who execute are thinkers first. They are deliberate about their work and take pride in their craft. Surprisingly, all of them communicate their thought through writing.
I fit much better with latter group than the former. The first group of operators were always busy and inundated with last minute requests. They associate work with crisis resolution and abhor any form of root cause solutions. They are often busy. But, their busy schedules don’t come from passion for work or deep belief in the problem they are solving. It comes from doing busy and urgent work with no leverage. It's like leverage is something they were never privy to or chose to ignore.
I joined membership forum of Commoncog by Cedric Chin. I luckily found a bunch of folks who are thinking on similar lines when it comes to operating. I am learning much more about leverage from each one of them.
This year I also put most the writing by other operators to practice in both my job and other projects. Like PR/FAQs which are pre-cursor to doing a level-1 bet(significant bet). Working backwards and North Star Framework for defining product goals and metrics respectively.
Essays I would recommend
I am dipping into further indulgence by recommending a couple of essays that you could read if you are one of the 2 who recently subscribed.
- Tags as Frames was a post about the changing frames that I use to navigate different roles.
- If I ran an agri business is a recent thought experiment that dived into all my learning in the sector.
- Don’t feel sorry for farmers is the post about the benevolence that is seasonally showed towards the plight of an Indian farmer.
If nothing else, these are some of my most original(remixed) essays I had written in 2023.
Other Recaps worth reading
The last two weeks of any year are usually when folks with a blog or a newsletter do recaps of their year. They collectively indulge in this act of thinking through the year and sharing a recap of their entire work published in that year.
You read my version. Now, on to the better ones which will be worthy of your time.
- 2023 Powers to a close by Niall. He is agri-fintech operator who consults with startups or businesses in setting up innovative financial products.
- Measuring Backwards by Janette Barnard. She shared her 10 learnings from writing her newsletter in 2023.
- The 2023 Stratechery year in review by Ben Thompson. Ben was my mainstay source of understanding strategy as an analyst. This year I didn’t follow much of his writing since I was busy being an operator. This recap provides his best representation of an entire years work.
- The 2023 Agribusiness Matters year by Venky. This features all the posts written by Venky. He does a great job of segmenting them accordingly and makes for a great time to buy his subscription and dive deep into them.
I will write again in 2024
I still didn’t cover multiple things that I did in 2023. Like coaching, advising and building “on the side” projects like agripreneurs. In the spirit of being respectful of your time and reduce the self indulgence in this single issue. I left them out.
The one thing that hasn’t changed in the last 2 years is my main work device, Ipad Pro 12’ 1st generation. It has been the device that allows me the mobility to work from anywhere without the need to search for Wifi. I have taken meetings from backseat of my car while parked on the side of the highway to working out of coffee shops across multiple cities. Knowledge economy allows me the privilege to be truly remote. I am just grateful that I travel now and don’t commute. All of which became a possibility because of my public writing, regularly.
I will be back next year to spew some more ramblings that flow through this dim-witted operator brain of yours truly.
Singing off till the next year,
Vivek , toasting you a happy new year from the hill station vehicle jams of Himalayas.