You are precisely as big as what you love and precisely as small as what you allow to annoy you. - Robert Anton Wilson
Absolutely dead on for measuring the size of a person, and well worth pausing to let this set in before reading on. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
…
…
Now, a small tweak would allow for us to apply this to product teams just as well:
[your team is] precisely as big as what you [plan for] and precisely as small as what you allow to [disrupt] you.
It’s really hard to hit home runs when you’re only planning to bunt.
While I’d never want to discount getting on base, if you’re playing to win then you need to take some swings—even at the risk of striking out. Work small, but dream big.
Next, you can’t outrun your own distractions. This reality compounds with teams. A team can be greater than the sum of its parts if ran well, but, if not, they end up being less than the sum of their parts. In other words: teams are always more or less than they appear to be on paper. It’s how you manage the dynamics between people and work that determines if you’re compounding positively or negatively.
TLDR: go make some grandiose plans and start cutting out the bullshit that so easily pulls people away from making those dreams a reality.
What’s This?
I’m a packrat when it comes to quotes. Every Tuesday I’ll send one out along with a quick blurb and related links to articles, podcasts, or videos.