@shreyas @tfadell Thanks, Shreyas!

Here's the episode for folks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJjl1TwyfWM

#9 storytelling is intuitively very clear in entertainment - no movie or book becomes popular without great story. But it is very true in s/w also - products tell stories, otherwise it does not "click" - I worked for design companies (Adobe and Autodesk) and they had a remarkable success when product were speaking to customers in their language - Photoshop or AutoCAD case in point.

Interesting point, especially about not being data driven for everything.

I was trying to find a very old blog post by a designer who left Google, frustrated because he was trying to do something simple and an engineer demanded to know the data behind the shade of blue the designer picked.

But when I googled it so I could quote it here, the exact opposite article popped out, lol, $200M for testing dozens of shades of blue: https://bharathbalasubramanian.medium.com/data-driven-decisions-googles-50-shades-of-blue-experiment-996f01819a97

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell “Cognitive surrender” is something we don’t talk about enough. Being intentional about where/how to use AI to sharpen our thinking vs cloud our thoughts is a muscle that takes daily reps to build.

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell Yes. #8 is the one. You are not building a product, you are building a system.

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell you hear it, nod, totally get it, then make the exact same mistake on the next thing lol

@lennysan @shreyas @tfadell How did I miss that? I will listen asap

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell these 4 are always in the room but nobody wants to actually commit to doing them well

the hard part isnt knowing, its executing with conviction

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell In trading bots, the edge is tiny habits compounding: position size, stop-loss discipline, entry clarity.

Winners obsess. Everyone else learns the theory and moves on.

That's the differentiation gap you're talking about.

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell Thank you

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell the underestimation is the whole thing. people file taste and judgment under "soft skills" and then optimize for the measurable stuff because that's what gets you promoted. the differentiation hides exactly where the org can't put a number on it

Point 10 is the one most people will misread.

“Don’t cognitively surrender to AI” doesn’t mean defend everything you currently do. It means being ruthlessly clear about which 70% of your job is already AI-doable (artefact production, summaries, status updates, refinement notes) versus the 30% that’s actually judgement, taste, and architecture.

The operators who win aren’t the ones holding the line. They’re the ones reallocating their attention toward the 30% before their employer works it out.

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell The AI-era version is simple agents can draft the surface but taste and judgment decide what is worth shipping.

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell The customer journey matters more than the product in isolation. That verse alone draws my interest. I can handle that aspect for you excellently, if you need one, or know someone who needs. I'm adaptable collaborative, Problem-solving and Conversational.

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell The gap between knowing and doing runs deep in product. Most builders know what great looks like but can't hold the standard when shipping pressure hits. Execution under constraint is the actual skill.

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell #10 is the one most builders get wrong. Offloading taste and judgment to AI feels productive but it's how you end up with a technically correct product nobody wants. AI should execute. You should decide what's worth executing.

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell what's the episode about? always trying to fit Lenny into the schedule

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell I'm available for quick chat. Thank you

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell Thank you for thisss

@shreyas @lennysan @tfadell 'don't cognitively surrender to AI' — real advice, but the harder version: most people don't know what their own opinions are until they're forced to defend one.

AI makes it easy to skip that discovery. that's the actual problem.