As we say goodbye to an amazing 2022 and say hello to 2023, here are top 10 timeless quotes that have inspired me over the years as a software engineer and engineering manager.
- “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman
- “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin
- Industries change, Companies change as they grow, Teams change, circumstances change, cultures change. “Scaling” oneself is essentially constantly adapting to change, esp. when times look bleak
- “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Ben Franklin
- “When everybody’s celebrating you is when you should be most scared.” – Satya Nadella
- Every company, every job has its cycles, its ups and downs, and when things are going well is that time to prepare for the hard times, because they will come!
- “Leap, and the net will appear.” – John Burroughs
- “Fake it till you make it”
- “If you can’t beat fear, do it scared”
- Several times I have been unsure about ‘how’ to proceed, or I see the lack of confidence in one of my team members because they haven’t ‘done it before’, ‘what will happen if we fail’, ‘what will others think’ etc. and time and again just doing it ‘scared’ has helped.
- “Between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out.” – Iris Murdoch
- “Idealism increases in direct proportion to one’s distance from the problem.”
- “In a large org, due to hesitations, a single person can hold up a project” – Ben Horowitz
- As we start expanding our responsibilities in a job, it is natural to lose touch with the details. Delegating the next level of details is important, and even more important is to be mindful of the inadvertent meddling and micro management that can occur. Esp. if this was an area that you used to have the details at one point, your ‘baby’ project 🙂
- “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” – Samuel Goldwyn
- Thomas Edison spent 2000 tries before finding the bulb filament
- RIght when I have felt like giving up, I have used an inner voice in me to say ‘let’s try one more time’, maybe now or maybe sleep over it and come back tomorrow. Not giving up and trying ‘just one more time’ has saved me countless times!
- “Failing does not make you a failure”
- “Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the face” – Mike Tyson
- “Head in the sky, feet on the ground”
- “Live in the future, then build what’s missing.” – Paul Graham
- Dreaming and creating a vision of ‘what could be’ has also helped me in
- “Trust is the foundation.” – Management 101
- A culture of trust, mutual respect and transparency fosters growth and joy. This is something that everyone needs to play a part in building esp. as we grow in our careers to senior positions.
- “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
- “Good judgment is the result of experience … Experience is the result of bad judgment.” – Fred Brooks
- Plans are useless but planning is essential
- There is a fine line between moving fast and chaos
- Invest more in the product than marketing
Namaste
Abhi Khune
Abhiram Ganesh Khune
Musings by Abhi Khune 