Lost in the Woods

Show notes

What we cover:

  • Settle in place (freeze): When doing less is smarter—especially if the team lacks context/authority and needs to raise the alarm instead of improvising fixes.
  • Chase shortcuts: Shortcuts can be smart… or overconfidence. The key move is testing whether the “road” is actually where you think it is (with examples like Spotify’s bet on podcasts).
  • Follow the first visible path: The obvious option isn’t always the best one—so the real job is making multiple paths visible before choosing.
  • Use your own navigation (intuition/taste): Judgment matters, but not as a replacement for evidence—especially when your “compass” and what you observe conflict.
  • Retrace your steps: When you’re drifting, go back to what used to work—principles, quality practices, and discovery habits as built-in feedback loops.

Team prompt to try:
 If your team is “lost” right now, which pattern are you defaulting to—and what’s the smallest move you can make this week to get oriented (escalate, test a shortcut, map options, validate intuition with evidence, or retrace to a principle)?

Resources & Links:

Mentioned in the episode:

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