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Will Larson

CTO at Carta

Carta

🎯 Product Strategy (1)⚡ Execution (1)👥 Team & Culture (1)

Key Takeaways

  • 1.Stop treating engineers like children; give them direct accountability and expose them to real business problems to foster growth.
  • 2.Good strategy is often 'boring'—imposing constraints (like a standard tool kit) allows teams to focus innovation on product features rather than infrastructure.
  • 3.To solve EM/PM friction, implement 'Shared Fate': Engineering Managers and Product Managers should receive the same performance rating to align incentives.
  • 4.Don't measure everything; use DORA metrics for diagnosis, but report on business alignment and a list of meaningful shipped value to the board.
  • 5.Consistent writing advances your career, but only if you focus on topics that energize you rather than chasing trends.
  • 6.When debugging organizational issues, use Systems Thinking (Stocks and Flows) to identify where your mental model conflicts with reality.

Methodologies(3)

🎯 Product Strategy

Based on Richard Rumelt's definition, strategy must contain a diagnosis, a guiding policy, and actions. Larson adds that effective engineering strategy often involves imposing 'boring' constraints to focus energy on what truly matters to the customer.

Core Principles

  • 1.Diagnosis: Accurately define the current reality and status quo.
  • 2.Guiding Policy: Determine the approach to address the diagnosis (often involving constraints).
  • 3.Action Plan: Define concrete steps to implement the policy; avoid 'inert' strategy.
  • +1 more...

"The goal of good strategy is to dictate how we invest the limited capacities we have into the problems we care about."

#rumelt#constraints#strategy
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⚡ Execution

Instead of viewing problems in isolation, model them as 'Stocks' (accumulations) and 'Flows' (movement between stocks). Identify where reality deviates from your model to find the root cause.

Core Principles

  • 1.Model the System: Map out the inputs, outputs, stocks (e.g., candidates), and flows (conversion rates).
  • 2.Reality Check: Compare your model's prediction against actual historical data.
  • 3.Reality is Right: If the model conflicts with reality, the model is wrong. Update the model to learn.
  • +1 more...

"Reality is always right. Your model is always wrong if it's in conflict with reality."

#systems#thinking#(stocks
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The HAR Value Test

by Will Larson

👥 Team & Culture

Effective values must pass three tests: they must be Honest (actually true), Applicable (useful for trade-offs), and Reversible (a defined group/company would imply the opposite).

Core Principles

  • 1.Honesty: Is this actually how we behave, or just how we want to be perceived?
  • 2.Applicability: Can I use this value to settle a dispute between two good options?
  • 3.Reversibility: Is the opposite of this value a valid strategy for another successful company? (If not, it's a platitude).
  • +1 more...

"If it doesn't apply to anyone, why bother having it at all? It doesn't mean anything."

#value#team#culture
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