⫹⫺ Simple Sabotage
CMMN WLTH 107 - Cheat Codes for Creators, Makers & Doers
Hello my friends,
When investor Keith Rabois meets with a new CEO he asks to see their:
Calendar
Priorities
They rarely align.
Such a simple practice with immediate results.
— Andy
In this week’s email:
Product - Design is overrated, manufacturing is underrated.
People - How to sabotage your organization.
Process - Creativity comes from the art, not the science.
Out of Office - Next level tutoring.
*Product
The Apple Watch Strap Relies On Swiss Precision
“Rolex used to be its largest buyer. But that title now belongs to Apple, which owns 100s of them. Why? For the Apple Watch: the tool is used specifically to make slots for swappable wrist straps. That’s it.”
— via Trung Phan on Twitter
Apple has pioneered the use of CNC machines to manufacture increasingly thin and intricate bodies for their phones and computers.
The accuracy needed to ensure the strap connects to the watch is within +/- 5 microns. For comparison the average human hair is 70 microns in diameter.
Apple’s annual Capex is approx. $10bn with most of that going towards manufacturing. They operate a hybrid sourcing model; owning the machines, with the supplier owning the factory and employing the workers.
*People
The Simple Sabotage Field Manual
In 1944 the CIA produced a document titled “The Simple Sabotage Field Manual.” Now declassified, it provided Allies and sympathetic citizens instructions on how to weaken a company within.
The principles focus on draining productivity from an organization. Curiously, many of them are recommended practice in today’s corporations.
Referring back to matters already decided upon, talk as frequently as possible and at great length and bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible are three common problems with modern day meeting culture.
Keep a copy of them at your desk or add them to your company handbook to avoid sabotaging your own enterprise.
*Process
If You Want to Be Creative, Don’t Be Data Driven
There is no inherent value in any piece of data because all information is meaningless in itself. Why? Because information doesn’t tell you what to do.
— Beau Lotto
There is a common misconception that more data equals better insights. It is not how much data you have but what you do with it that counts.
Too much data and the way it is presented can reduce your ability to visualize creative solutions.
See data as the ingredients, not the cook. Allow data to inform the facts, ask questions and experiment to explore the “adjacent possible”.
*Out of Office
“Every child will have an AI tutor that is infinitely patient, infinitely compassionate, infinitely knowledgeable, infinitely helpful. The AI tutor will be by each child’s side every step of their development, helping them maximize their potential with the machine version of infinite love.”
— Marc Andreesen
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