Above All Else: How To Ask Better Questions

What I've learned over 10 years on Stack Overflow

I'm approaching my ten year anniversary on Stack Overflow. Over the past decade, how I use the site and my understanding of it has evolved quite a bit, so I thought I'd share some of what I've learned along the way.

blog.mattbierner.com

The Art of Asking Great Questions

While listening is an important skill, the art of asking questions is equally, if not more, important when it comes to learning more about your work tasks, unlocking hidden opportunities, delivering better results, and mitigating unforeseen risks. Great questions have three main characteristics: Great questions demonstrate that you're thoroughly prepared for a conversation.

hbr.org

How to Ask Great Questions

In Brief The Problem Some professionals such as litigators, journalists and even doctors, are taught to ask questions as part of their training. But few executives think about questioning as a skill that can be honed. That's a missed opportunity.

hbr.org

Navigating Uncertainty

Staring into the abyss as a core life skill

thinking about scary things • examples from Wave • examples from elsewhere • finding a buddy • getting the timing right • a list of abyss questions

www.benkuhn.net

Organisational Design, Team Dynamics and the Future of Work

The Skill of Org Design

I built my first organisation when I was in high school. It was a debate club, and it died the instant I graduated and left for university. I remember looking back on the experience and thinking to myself: "Hmm, this is interesting. How do you build an org that outlasts you?"

commoncog.com

Sustainability, Social Innovation, Climate Change, and Systems Impact

(I am aware there’s a lot of stuff lumped in one category gimme a break I’ll organise at some point)

How Many Gigatons of CO2...? - Information is Beautiful

How much Co2 are we emitting? How much is left in the ground? And what will happen if we release it? Everything about global warming in one infographic.

informationisbeautiful.net

How Many Gigatons of CO2...? - Information is Beautiful

Social Cooling - big data's unintended side effect

This is how it works: There are stars behind the cloud: Databrokers compare your data to the data of people they know more about. By comparing the patterns they try to guess the likelihood of thousands of details that you may never have disclosed.

www.socialcooling.com

Social Cooling - big data's unintended side effect

TED Talk: The way we think about charity is dead wrong - 101 Fundraising

This post shares the amazing TED Talk from Dan Pallotta. If you haven't seen it yet, watch it... It's one of those must see videos! The TED website writes: " Activist and fundraiser Dan Pallotta calls out the double standard that drives our broken relationship to charities.

101fundraising.org

TED Talk: The way we think about charity is dead wrong - 101 Fundraising

Human-Centered, Systems-Minded Design (SSIR)

For some time, Jill Vialet felt there were deep problems with the substitute teaching system in the United States. Vialet had seen these problems during her years of work as founder and CEO of Playworks, an organization that helps schools and youth programs create recess and play environments for children.

ssir.org

Social Enterprise Explained "

Just getting interested in social enterprise? This guide is for anyone who might want to start, buy from, invest in, commission from, or support social enterprises. Sponsored by Unity Trust Bank. Published October 2012 Click here to download the report Just getting interested in social enterprise?

www.socialenterprise.org.uk

Social enterprises - the future of entrepreneurship

Social enterprises are increasingly being mentioned in articles discussing innovative business models. But what exactly are they? How do they work? And what is their purpose/usefulness for Singapore? There doesn't seem to be one unique definition out there, but basically they're a somewhat modern type of business: they straddle the fence between the conventional private and public sectors.

www.fivestarsandamoon.com

Social enterprises - the future of entrepreneurship

The Pioneer Gap: Where 70-90% of Social Enterprises Are Unable to Raise Capital

"Access to finance is a well-recognised constraint to social enterprise development... there is a missing middle where working capital can be tight, grants insufficient and commercial finance yet unviable" - British Council This quote from the British Council perfectly summarises a problem faced by most social enterprise

www.givfunds.org

The Pioneer Gap: Where 70-90% of Social Enterprises Are Unable to Raise Capital

TED Talk: The way we think about charity is dead wrong - 101 Fundraising

101fundraising.org

The climate crisis explained in 10 charts

The level of CO2 has been rising since the industrial revolution and is now at its highest for about 4 million years. The rate of the rise is even more striking - the fastest for 66m years - with scientists saying we are in "uncharted territory".

www.theguardian.com

The climate crisis explained in 10 charts

What is the Nutritional Paradox?

What was a holy grail a hundred years ago haunts us today! In the past few decades, our answer to glbal food security and world hunger has been to prioritise higher food production by expanding agricultural land and maximizing productivity. We have also been relentlessly striving for economies of scale in a bid to minimize cost of production.

medium.com

'Climate apartheid': UN expert says human rights may not survive

The world is increasingly at risk of "climate apartheid", where the rich pay to escape heat and hunger caused by the escalating climate crisis while the rest of the world suffers, a report from a UN human rights expert has said.

www.theguardian.com

'Climate apartheid': UN expert says human rights may not survive

Solutions | Project Drawdown

Project Drawdown conducts an ongoing review and analysis of climate solutions-the practices and technologies that can stem and begin to reduce the excess of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Our work shows the world can reach Drawdown by mid-century, if we make the best use of all existing climate solutions.

drawdown.org

Wicked Problems

A wicked problem is a social or cultural problem that is difficult or impossible to solve for as many as four reasons: incomplete or contradictory knowledge, the number of people and opinions involved, the large economic burden, and the interconnected nature of these problems with other problems. Poverty is linked with education, nutrition with poverty, the economy with nutrition, and so on.

www.wickedproblems.com

Tackling Heropreneurship (SSIR)

Step aside, Superman, there's a new kind of superhero in town. We've entered an era of heropreneurship, where reverence for the heroic social entrepreneur has led countless people to pursue a career path that promises opportunities to save the world, gain social status, and earn money, all at the same time.

ssir.org

Do as much as you can - not as little as you can get away with | Oliver Burkeman

ccording to new government guidelines, even a minute or two of physical exercise is better than nothing: just walking upstairs and down again, before resuming your otherwise entirely sofa-based afternoon of crisps and television, makes for a healthier life than if you hadn't bothered.

www.theguardian.com

Do as much as you can - not as little as you can get away with | Oliver Burkeman

What Does Game Theory Have to Say About Climate Change?

Let the game begin! I was very excited by my colleague Andrew McGill's work to bring game theory into the context of the election. Long story short, the weird three-sided game of chicken between GOP #NeverTrump leaders, voters, and candidates can be explained by game theory, which uses mathematical concepts to model and predict interactions between multiple decision-makers.

www.theatlantic.com

What Does Game Theory Have to Say About Climate Change?

What Is The Final Version In Open Circular Design? - Mifactori

Title: What is the final version in Open Circular Design? What: Article Ordered by:SELF . English & Deutsch ↓ The Mifactori Open Design Lamp Or When we started to develop an open circular lamp a couple of years back we always thought that we'd end up with one final nice version of a lamp.

mifactori.de

What Is The Final Version In Open Circular Design? - Mifactori

Energy and climate education still missing in Southeast Asian universities

This article was inspired by one of the interns working at the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE). I asked, "What is your expected takeaway from your internship?" "Many of my friends are aware of the zero-carbon future, but few understand its different dimensions and nuances.

www.eco-business.com

Energy and climate education still missing in Southeast Asian universities

https://deshpandetanmay.medium.com/climate-change-combat-guide-for-software-engineers-41ed5d745502

The article - Take the Green pill and I'll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes gives in-depth insights into climate change. I really like the introduction piece where it says -

deshpandetanmay.medium.com

Writing, Productivity, Discipline, Learning, and Metacognition

learning & innovating networks

Innovation comes from the edge, almost never from the centre, I wrote in moving to the edges (2014). But I noted that our inherent - human - need for a sense of belonging can keep us in the centre and detract us from thinking critically and questioning the assumptions of our existing structures.

jarche.com

Here are 24 cognitive biases that are warping your perception of reality

Everyone is entitled to their own point of view, but here's why yours is probably wrong.

www.weforum.org

Here are 24 cognitive biases that are warping your perception of reality

The mindset you need to succeed at every goal

Whenever you read about the secrets of success, you'll no doubt come across that well-known quote from Thomas Edison, that "genius is one percent inspiration, and ninety-nine percent perspiration". While inventing the lightbulb, we are told, he tried 3,000 attempts before finally finding a suitable filament that would glow without immediately burning out.

www.bbc.com

The mindset you need to succeed at every goal

The Four Tools of Discipline

Life is full of problems. We can moan about them, or we can solve them. Scott Peck argues in The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth that discipline is the toolbox for solving problems. Peck's argument is based on the notion that most of us want to avoid problems - they are painful and often lead us to confront our humanity.

fs.blog

Five Writing Tips

I get asked pretty frequently for writing tips, and usually I don't have anything useful to say except for the Pottery Teacher story (see tip #5). But not anymore: here's a set of five writing tips you can put to work right now. Everyone writes differently, but hopefully these are useful for you.

alexdanco.com

Frameworks matter: Why it's not enough to be an expert - without bullshit

Some people appear to know everything about a topic area. They're respected, but they rarely get to be leaders. Other knowledgeable people have enormous influence. What's the difference? Frameworks. Thinking frameworks. As you learn about a given area, you accumulate knowledge and fit it together in your mind.

withoutbullshit.com

Frameworks matter: Why it's not enough to be an expert - without bullshit

Intellectual humility: the importance of knowing you might be wrong

Julia Rohrer wants to create a radical new culture for social scientists. A personality psychologist at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Rohrer is trying to get her peers to publicly, willingly admit it when they are wrong. To do this, she, along with some colleagues, started up something called the Loss of Confidence Project.

www.vox.com

Intellectual humility: the importance of knowing you might be wrong

13 things mentally strong people don't do

Mental strength isn't often reflected in what you do. It's usually seen in what you don't do. In her bestseller " 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do," psychotherapist and social worker Amy Morin wrote that developing mental strength requires a "three-pronged approach." It's about controlling your thoughts, behaviors, and emotions.

www.businessinsider.com

13 things mentally strong people don't do

Negotiation, Conflict Management, Communicating, and Reasoning

Why getting a name right matters

Canadian radio host Nana aba Duncan decided a decade ago she no longer wanted to go by nicknames and instead reclaim her full Ghanaian name, pronounced Nuh-NAA-buh. She put a name pronouncer in her email signature, and patiently corrected people when they didn't get it quite right.

www.bbc.com

Facts Don't Change People's Minds. Here's What Does

If you had asked me this question-How do you change a mind?-two years ago, I would have given you a different answer. As a former scientist, I would have cautioned you to rely on objective facts and statistics. Develop a strong case for your side, back it up with hard, cold, irrefutable data, and voila!

nextbigideaclub.com

Facts Don't Change People's Minds. Here's What Does

In Negotiations, Givers Are Smarter Than Takers

Generosity is a sign of intelligence, and givers are the rising tide that lifts all boats. In 2010, a Costa Rican diplomat named Christiana Figueres set out to do something that many people saw as impossible. The United Nations had appointed her to build a global agreement to fight climate change.

www.nytimes.com

In Negotiations, Givers Are Smarter Than Takers

Become a Better Listener by Taking Notes

Team dynamics can make or break a meeting. Have you ever been in a meeting where people interrupt each other, introduce new ideas when they should be building on the conversation, and repeat someone else's point just to be heard?

hbr.org

Become a Better Listener by Taking Notes

Why Feedback Rarely Does What It's Meant To

Idea in Brief The Challenge Managers today are bombarded with calls to give feedback-constantly, directly, and critically. But it turns out that telling people what we think of their performance and how they can do better is not the best way to help them excel and, in fact, can hinder development.

hbr.org

Why Feedback Rarely Does What It's Meant To

8 great tricks for reading people's body language

Body language can be a lot more telling than what people say. That's why its important to know what to look out for.

www.weforum.org

8 great tricks for reading people's body language

The Evolution of Trust

an interactive guide to the game theory of why & how we trust each other

ncase.me

How to Avoid a Bad Bargain: Don't Threaten - PsyBlog

An award-winning social psychology experiment reveals why we often fail to bargain effectively with each other. Bargaining is one of those activities we often engage in without quite realising it. It doesn't just happen in the boardroom, or when we ask our boss for a raise or down at the market, it happens every time we want to reach an agreement with someone.

www.spring.org.uk

How to Avoid a Bad Bargain: Don't Threaten - PsyBlog

How to Criticize with Kindness: Philosopher Daniel Dennett on the Four Steps to Arguing Intelligently

"In disputes upon moral or scientific points," Arthur Martine counseled in his magnificent 1866 guide to the art of conversation, "let your aim be to come at truth, not to conquer your opponent. So you never shall be at a loss in losing the argument, and gaining a new discovery."

www.brainpickings.org

How to Criticize with Kindness: Philosopher Daniel Dennett on the Four Steps to Arguing Intelligently

How to Develop Empathy for Someone Who Annoys You

When someone you work with annoys you, it's tempting to avoid the person as much as possible. But this isn't always feasible and often only makes the situation worse. You're better off cultivating some empathy. How can you do that with a colleague who rubs you the wrong way?

hbr.org

How to Develop Empathy for Someone Who Annoys You

Exactly what to say when recruiters ask you to name the first number... and other negotiation word-for-words

There are a lot of resources out there that talk about salary negotiation but many tend to skew a bit theoretical. In my experience, one of the hardest things about negotiating your salary is knowing what to say in tough, ambiguous situations with a power balance that's not in your favor.

blog.interviewing.io

Why Smart People Do Stupid Things - University of Toronto Magazine

People buy high and sell low. They believe their horoscope. They figure it can't happen to them. They bet it all on black because black is due. They supersize their fries and order the diet Coke. They talk on a cellphone while driving. They throw good money after bad.

magazine.utoronto.ca

Why Smart People Do Stupid Things - University of Toronto Magazine

4-Part Nonviolent Communication (NVC) - PuddleDancer Press

Developed by Marshall B. Rosenberg, PhD. Download PDF of the 4-Part NVC Process now There are four components to the Nonviolent Communication (NVC) model, as developed by Marshall Rosenberg, PhD., and sho wn in the diagram below. The 4-Part NVC Process can guide you to express how you are, or they can be used to empathically receive how another is.

www.nonviolentcommunication.com

Do You Make This Mistake In Conversations?

Years ago I suffered an exercise-related injury. My doctor referred me to a physical therapist. On my first appointment, the physical therapist welcomed me and introduced himself as Michael. He patiently asked questions about my injury, listened intently, and explained what we would work on. For several weeks, Michael helped me recover from my injury.

medium.com

Do You Make This Mistake In Conversations?

Entrepreneurship, Craftsmanship, Ideation Inspiration, and Macro Trends

This Is What Unsexy but Real, Practical Innovation Looks Like

For all the talk about innovation in parliament and in the news, we know relatively little about what it looks like or how it actually happens. In this article, we explore one particular case of innovation and their struggles to diversify their business beyond bitumen.

www.ricemedia.co

This Is What Unsexy but Real, Practical Innovation Looks Like

The Metaphorical Startup - Bernard Leong

I never hide the fact that I will go back to the startup world as a founder and CEO someday. That someday can be tomorrow or a few years. Time is the only limiting factor for me. Because I insist on high standards, the path will be tough or I may not live to see the final stages of the startup.

www.bernardleong.com

The Metaphorical Startup - Bernard Leong

Founder Superpowers | Basis Set Ventures

What traits make a successful founder? Over the past year, Basis Set Ventures (BSV) has asked early stage investors representing north of $40 billion in AUM to rate 60+ founders on a number of dimensions, including demographical, behavioral and psychological traits, in an effort to understand what makes a successful or struggling founder.

www.basisset.ventures

Founder Superpowers | Basis Set Ventures

Ms Botu

A comical guide to 12 entrepreneur archetypes for mentors and angel investors. I was motivated to write this exaggerated composite of entrepreneurs as a way to capture some of my slap-my-forehead moments encountered as an angel investor and mentor. Note to Entrepreneurs: any resemblance to you is purely coincidental and a product of your overly vivid and likely caffeine-infused imagination.

www.msbotu.com

How to Design a Better Pitch Deck: Fundraising, Pitch Deck, YC Demo Day

The following is an adaption of a presentation I give to YC startups before we have them create their presentation slide decks for Demo Day. Here's how to make a solid Demo Day slide deck. The thing to remember is that you already have everything you need to create a great presentation.

blog.ycombinator.com

How to Design a Better Pitch Deck: Fundraising, Pitch Deck, YC Demo Day

Isaac Asimov Asks, "How Do People Get New Ideas?"

Note from Arthur Obermayer, friend of the author: In 1959, I worked as a scientist at Allied Research Associates in Boston. The company was an MIT spinoff that originally focused on the effects of nuclear weapons on aircraft structures. The company received a contract with the acronym GLIPAR (Guide Line Identification Program for Antimissile Research)...

www.technologyreview.com

Isaac Asimov Asks, "How Do People Get New Ideas?"

16 Startup Metrics - Andreessen Horowitz

We have the privilege of meeting with thousands of entrepreneurs every year, and in the course of those discussions are presented with all kinds of numbers, measures, and metrics that illustrate the promise and health of a particular company.

a16z.com

16 Startup Metrics - Andreessen Horowitz

4 ways to know when it's time to move on from an idea, project, or goal | e27

It can be hard to move on from a project, idea, or goal, here's a simple process to help you decide if it's time

e27.co

4 ways to know when it's time to move on from an idea, project, or goal | e27

"Build something people want" is not enough

Most people take "Build something people want" to mean "Pick a problem to solve and solve it well." This is not sufficient to build a world changing company. "Why now?" is the question entrepreneurs really need to answer. "Why now" encompasses two important and closely related concepts: Why have previous attempts at this idea failed?...

avichal.com

"Build something people want" is not enough

Why now?

One of the most important questions for an entrepreneur is "Why is now the right time for this idea? Didn't others try previously and fail?" There are rarely new ideas in startups. If you have an idea, someone probably already tried it and failed - maybe they mis-executed, there was something counter-intuitive about the customer...

avichal.com

Why software projects take longer than you think: a statistical model

Anyone who built software for a while knows that estimating how long something is going to take is hard. It's hard to come up with an unbiased estimate of how long something will take, when fundamentally the work in itself is about solving something.

erikbern.com

Why software projects take longer than you think: a statistical model

Steve Blank The Innovation Stack: How to make innovation programs deliver more than coffee cups

Is your organization full of Hackathons, Shark Tanks, Incubators and other innovation programs, but none have changed the trajectory of your company/agency? Over the last few years Pete Newell and I have helped build innovation programs inside large companies, across the U.S. federal science agencies and in the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community.

steveblank.com

Steve Blank The Innovation Stack: How to make innovation programs deliver more than coffee cups

Technology entrepreneurship and the disruption of ambition

There has been a great deal of analysis of how technology will disrupt life in the coming decades. Little of this, though, has looked at how technology is changing one of the most powerful forces in shaping society: ambition. What the most ambitious people choose to do with their lives has a profound impact on society, the economy and culture.

medium.com

Technology entrepreneurship and the disruption of ambition

Pathetic dot theory

The pathetic dot theory or the New Chicago School theory was introduced by Lawrence Lessig in a 1998 article and popularized in his 1999 book, Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace . It is a socioeconomic theory of regulation.

en.wikipedia.org

Real Founder Lessons - What's your earned secret?

Founder Lesson Talk with a dozen successful founders and you'll hear a few very common themes of general startup advice... Team. Nothing matters more than great people. The hugely successful Techstars accelerator values team so much that they say that the five things they care about (in order) are "team, team, team, idea & progress."

www.realfounderlessons.com

Real Founder Lessons - What's your earned secret?

Life

The Tail End - Wait But Why

In a post last year, we laid out the human lifespan visually. By years: By months: And by weeks: While working on that post, I also made a days chart, but it seemed a bit much, so I left it out. But fuck it. The days chart blows my mind as much as the weeks chart.

waitbutwhy.com

The 'Emotion Chart' My Therapist Gave Me That I Didn't Know I Needed

I've always described myself as an "after-reactor," meaning I don't typically react to things as they're happening. I intellectually process what's happening, whether it be bad news, an overwhelming task or a hard situation, but can often have a hard time feeling it. I can't lie, this has served me well.

themighty.com

The 'Emotion Chart' My Therapist Gave Me That I Didn't Know I Needed

A Brief, Dark History of 'Lepak One Corner'

In contemporary society, one no longer really hears Singaporeans disparaging each other based on their race. At least not in the open. By looking into the history of how 'lepak one corner' came to be, we can hopefully get a sense of how to move forward from this racial stereotype.

www.ricemedia.co

A Brief, Dark History of 'Lepak One Corner'

50 Questions to Ask Your Partner to Connect on a Deeper Level

Let me ask you a question: How well do you know your partner? I mean, really know them- the deep questions: their likes, dislikes, trauma, regrets, passions, dreams and greatest desires? I don't say that to undermine your relationship, simply to point out an area for improvement, something that needs to be strengthened if you hope to get through not just the good times, but also the bad ones.

www.goalcast.com

50 Questions to Ask Your Partner to Connect on a Deeper Level

REALLY Good Articles

Above All Else: How To Ask Better Questions

What I've learned over 10 years on Stack Overflow

The Art of Asking Great Questions

How to Ask Great Questions

Navigating Uncertainty

Staring into the abyss as a core life skill

Organisational Design, Team Dynamics and the Future of Work

The Skill of Org Design

Sustainability, Social Innovation, Climate Change, and Systems Impact

How Many Gigatons of CO2...? - Information is Beautiful

Social Cooling - big data's unintended side effect

TED Talk: The way we think about charity is dead wrong - 101 Fundraising

Human-Centered, Systems-Minded Design (SSIR)

Social Enterprise Explained "

Social enterprises - the future of entrepreneurship

The Pioneer Gap: Where 70-90% of Social Enterprises Are Unable to Raise Capital

TED Talk: The way we think about charity is dead wrong - 101 Fundraising

The climate crisis explained in 10 charts

What is the Nutritional Paradox?

'Climate apartheid': UN expert says human rights may not survive

Solutions | Project Drawdown

Wicked Problems

Tackling Heropreneurship (SSIR)

Do as much as you can - not as little as you can get away with | Oliver Burkeman

What Does Game Theory Have to Say About Climate Change?

What Is The Final Version In Open Circular Design? - Mifactori

Energy and climate education still missing in Southeast Asian universities

https://deshpandetanmay.medium.com/climate-change-combat-guide-for-software-engineers-41ed5d745502

Writing, Productivity, Discipline, Learning, and Metacognition

learning & innovating networks

Here are 24 cognitive biases that are warping your perception of reality

The mindset you need to succeed at every goal

The Four Tools of Discipline

Five Writing Tips

Frameworks matter: Why it's not enough to be an expert - without bullshit

Intellectual humility: the importance of knowing you might be wrong

13 things mentally strong people don't do

Negotiation, Conflict Management, Communicating, and Reasoning

Why getting a name right matters

Facts Don't Change People's Minds. Here's What Does

In Negotiations, Givers Are Smarter Than Takers

Become a Better Listener by Taking Notes

Why Feedback Rarely Does What It's Meant To

8 great tricks for reading people's body language

The Evolution of Trust

How to Avoid a Bad Bargain: Don't Threaten - PsyBlog

How to Criticize with Kindness: Philosopher Daniel Dennett on the Four Steps to Arguing Intelligently

How to Develop Empathy for Someone Who Annoys You

Exactly what to say when recruiters ask you to name the first number... and other negotiation word-for-words

Why Smart People Do Stupid Things - University of Toronto Magazine

4-Part Nonviolent Communication (NVC) - PuddleDancer Press

Do You Make This Mistake In Conversations?

Entrepreneurship, Craftsmanship, Ideation Inspiration, and Macro Trends

This Is What Unsexy but Real, Practical Innovation Looks Like

The Metaphorical Startup - Bernard Leong

Founder Superpowers | Basis Set Ventures

Ms Botu

How to Design a Better Pitch Deck: Fundraising, Pitch Deck, YC Demo Day

Isaac Asimov Asks, "How Do People Get New Ideas?"

16 Startup Metrics - Andreessen Horowitz

4 ways to know when it's time to move on from an idea, project, or goal | e27

"Build something people want" is not enough

Why now?

Why software projects take longer than you think: a statistical model

Steve Blank The Innovation Stack: How to make innovation programs deliver more than coffee cups

Technology entrepreneurship and the disruption of ambition

Pathetic dot theory

Real Founder Lessons - What's your earned secret?

Life

The Tail End - Wait But Why

The 'Emotion Chart' My Therapist Gave Me That I Didn't Know I Needed

A Brief, Dark History of 'Lepak One Corner'

50 Questions to Ask Your Partner to Connect on a Deeper Level