Hale: Companies over-optimize for serendipitous chance encounters instead of focused execution
Kevin Hale · Mike Knoop on Product and Design Processes for Remote Teams with Kevin Hale · Y Combinator · Mar 6, 2019 · at 56:31
YC Visiting Partner Kevin Hale argues against workplace design strategies centered on serendipitous water-cooler encounters during a discussion on remote work with Zapier co-founder Mike Knoop.
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“I actually think a lot of companies or organizations, the group over optimize for serendipity. Like they're like, what about that chance moment? But to me, like serendipity, like we were like some random thing happened, all of a sudden we have a great idea. Like that's like hitting the lotto. And to me, optimizing for the lotto is very weird. 99% of the company is like, we have a whole list of shit that we have to get done. And so to me, it's like optimizing for that should always be the first priority, not for the off chance of These other chance encounters.”
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