Cara Marin’s Post

Tool fatigue is real. But consolidating down to one tool can mean that you have to choose which workflows to optimize for and which to compromise on. For example, Notion works well as a wiki, but less well for engineering project management. If you're okay compromising on project management, that works. If not, maybe try out something like Linear or Shortcut. There's a fine line between too many tools and a minimal set of the right tools.

When tools create friction to collaborating, the cost is higher than you might think. I love how Dazza Greenwood puts this: "It's important to reduce or eliminate every bit of attention and distraction and effort and time on irrelevant things [because...] every such derailment has a compounding probability of lowering the quality of the collaboration, the probability of success, and the opportunities for actual failure" That's why Stashpad Docs now load even faster than before. Nothing should get in the way of writing and collaborating.

When I interview someone, communication is one of the most important things I'm looking for. Do you ask questions to understand the problem or do you jump to conclusions? A lot of people have the hard skills needed to do projects on their own, but when you're trying to work as a team, communication is just as important as that hard skillset. How do you evaluate candidates' communication skills?

Really excited for Tiny Earth Toys' launch. They're a local company that brings so much thoughtfulness to their work and is now reinventing the dollhouse. Different space from Stashpad but we've had a lot of similar learnings on the startup journey.

Google Doc comments are great for quick feedback but if you start having a full conversation in comment threads, things get out of hand quickly. For me, if I'm responding to a Google Docs thread with more than 4 comments, I try to move to Slack (or schedule a meeting to review synchronously). Where do you draw the line? How do you keep comments manageable?

Steve Yegge's talk on how to get promoted is a great resource for any dev looking to understand how promotions work at larger companies and how to set yourself up for success. The section on what should go into your "Promo Packet" is especially helpful. There are three main categories: 1. Docs: Links to docs you wrote (design docs, launch checklists, how-tos, and documentation) 2. Significant code check-ins: Include docs on why this solution was complex (sometimes small code changes are actually really hard to make, so just the number of lines of code don’t necessarily show impact) 3. Impact: Numbers. (How many requests, revenue, etc. Show that this was an impactful launch for the company) Keeping a brag sheet is an easy way to make sure you have all the pieces of your promo packet ready to go when it's performance review time. Do you keep a brag sheet? How do you keep track of resources that are relevant for your Promo Packet? Steve's Talk: https://lnkd.in/dwyrBpwh Brag sheets: https://lnkd.in/eq-cgWER

Script Kit is kind of magical once you get the hang of it. 🪄 And I've only just started to scratch the surface. It makes it super easy to write, run, and share scripts (which means anything you already do you can do faster). We just released scripts for Stashpad so you can more quickly create docs and search your docs. My favorite part is probably shortcuts. I matched "Create doc" to OPT - N and now can create a doc from my keyboard no matter what I have up on my screen. https://lnkd.in/gDYk5eF5

Back-to-back meetings can actually be productive. It has a lot to do with how you prepare and making sure you  set boundaries. My colleague Jess Cooper has some of the most productive meetings of anyone I've ever met. She wrote this post with 8 tactics for making sure meetings are productive (and energizing 🤯 ) . Pre-meeting: - Use agendas to set a clear purpose for the meeting. - Use pre-reads to help you get to the good stuff faster. - Show up on time. During-meeting: - Time bucket items to help you stay on track. - Use a parking lot to park good ideas to come back to later. - Gently set boundaries to end the meeting on time. Post-meeting: - Leave a buffer to take notes at the end of the meeting. - Reserve a few minutes at the end of each day to review action items from your meetings. For all the details, read her deep dive:

Loom is one of my favorite apps and their link-sharing feature has inspired us at Stashpad. Each link is very hard to guess (including for a computer) thanks to Nano IDs. This makes ultra-low-friction sharing possible, even in a business environment. In case you're curious to learn more about NanoIDs, we did this little write-up: https://lnkd.in/e7ZyjE4A

I was recently reading Derek Siver's post "Relax for the Same Result" and found it pretty thought-provoking. Derek talks about how he does the same cycling loop regularly. When he goes as fast as he can, the loop takes 43 minutes. When he goes at a relaxed pace, it takes 45 minutes. There is only a 2-minute difference between going all out and going at a relaxed, sustainable pace. It made me reflect on how sometimes the effort to cut off 2 minutes is worth it. But sometimes it's better to go at a sustainable pace that makes you want to keep up with things over time. Read the article: https://sive.rs/relax