Time pressure creates agency
Right, it's extreme time pressure. I just realized that time pressure creates the dynamic that I want in my team. It leaves no one doodling because they have this acute awareness of things need to move fast otherwise, something really bad can happen.
Managing people is apparently a skill. I vaguely remember I learned about different leadership styles somewhere. I truthfully don't care what those theories are because they all felt like they are for slow moving old world where the leader was far from the product and customers.
With the expansion of AI capabilities, that is no longer the case. One person can manage everything themselves in a given scope as long as they are given unlimited Claude credits.
What this means is that we only need people who can constantly set goals and priorities, execute rapidly, and understand everythig happening across the company.
This is probably why I was attracted to emergency medicine when I first visited the Naval hospital in Okinawa. Everyone know their roles and they autonomously execute. Yes, there are trainees who need supervision. Yes, RNs need orders from doctors. But no, they don't need to be told what to do. They do everything they can do in their capacity to move ER as fast as possible, and proactively question, clarify, and challenge people in other roles if they face blockage to make that happen.
Clearly communicating where we are as the company leaves no room for anyone to slack. If you cannot excell in such an environment, there are better places for you to be than with us.