mawhidby

https://status.azure.com/en-us/status

In 2019, Ryan Singer published "Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters", which details how Basecamp approaches their work. Among some of the topics are six week development cycles, shaping work before it's given to a development team to work on, and a betting table where projects for the next cycle are decided upon. This all sounds very compelling, and I've seen some of the same issues they detail as common struggles throughout my career: feeling like projects go on and on, with no end in sight; product managers can't find time to thing strategically about the product; leadership asking why features are getting out like they used to in the early days. There have been some blog posts from other companies adopting this in 2017 when Basecamp was writing about six-week cycles, among them Intercom (https://www.intercom.com/blog/6-week-cycle-for-product-teams/) and Buffer (https://buffer.com/resources/6-week-cycles/). There have been other blog posts about the book since it was released, but I'm curious to hear from the HN community:

Have you implemented Shape Up at your company? How has that been going? What have been some of the benefits/downfalls?

In 2019, Ryan Singer published "Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters", which details how Basecamp approaches their work. Among some of the topics are six week development cycles, shaping work before it's given to a development team to work on, and a betting table where projects for the next cycle are decided upon. This all sounds very compelling, and I've seen some of the same issues they detail as common struggles throughout my career: feeling like projects go on and on, with no end in sight; product managers can't find time to thing strategically about the product; leadership asking why features are getting out like they used to in the early days.

There have been some blog posts from other companies adopting this in 2017 when Basecamp was writing about six-week cycles, among them Intercom (https://www.intercom.com/blog/6-week-cycle-for-product-teams/) and Buffer (https://buffer.com/resources/6-week-cycles/). There have been other blog posts about the book since it was released, but I'm curious to hear from the HN community:

Have you implemented Shape Up at your company? How has that been going? What have been some of the benefits/downfalls?

Last week's episode of This American Life was a rebroadcast of one from 2001, titled "Superpowers". A link to that episode can be found here: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/178/superpowers

Act One (starts around 06:18) poses the question of which is better: the power of flight or the power of invisibility? The question has been stuck in my head for the whole week, and I've been debating the answer with myself constantly. It's a fun thought experiment, and I think it would be interesting to see the reactions and reasonings of fellow HNers.

--------------------------------------------------

Here is the scenario, as presented in the podcast by John Hodgman: "Flight versus invisibility. This question is only for you. Whichever you pick, you'll be the only person in the world to have that particular superpower. You can't have both. Which do you choose?"

When choosing your superpower, assume the following: (1) Invisibility means the power to become transparent at will, including your clothing, but anything you may pick up is visible. (2) Flight means the power to fly at any altitude within the earth's atmosphere at speeds up to 1000 MPH.

Why did you choose your superpower? What would you do with it? Would you use it for good or evil, or both?

Hey HN,

I am 23 and about to start graduate school this Fall (Master's program). Since graduating last December with my B.S., I have been working full-time at a software company. It's allowed me to save a little extra money; money that I do not plan on spending during grad school that I can use to invest (~$5,000).

The problem is, I don't know the first thing about investing. I'm pretty open to all options, but I don't know if I should buy stocks, a CD, mutual funds, or if I should go ahead and start a retirement account, based on my age and the amount of money I currently have to invest.

I've noticed a few Ask HN threads about financial advice, and was wondering if anyone had any opinions on the matter based on previous experience, expertise, etc.

Thanks in advance!