ideas

Ideas are never abandoned. They’re always in the compost heap, and they always turn up. To use a gardening metaphor, I’m always in there with a pitchfork turning things over to see whether the time is right for something to become fertilizer—”Oh, that idea. I can finally use that now.”

The classic “ideas are worthless, execution is everything” adage is flawed.

Six+ months into an intense software build, I can attest that the little execution details make all the difference. But the constraint on executing well is not operational. It’s more often about having good ideas about how to resolve challenges.

In other words, good execution... See more

I have noticed that when all the lights are on, people tend to talk about what they are doing – their outer lives. Sitting round in candlelight or firelight, people start to talk about how they are feeling – their inner lives. They speak subjectively, they argue less, there are longer pauses.

To sit alone without any electric light is curiously crea... See more