Mark Porter

I'm proud that I have pivoted from problems I faced were under my fingers writing code to the problems I faced were figuring out what a product direction was. Now the problems I face are human problems, are problems with how orgs work together, or problems with how industries see our company. And so I'm really proud of that.

I'm proud that I have pivoted from problems I faced were under my fingers writing code to the problems I faced were figuring out what a product direction was. Now the problems I face are human problems, are problems with how orgs work together, or problems with how industries see our company. And so I'm really proud of that.

I'm proud that I have pivoted from problems I faced were under my fingers writing code to the problems I faced were figuring out what a product direction was. Now the problems I face are human problems, are problems with how orgs work together, or problems with how industries see our company. And so I'm really proud of that.

These problems, frankly, are more challenging than the technical problems because they're very amorphous and ambiguous. And as a tech person, gosh, I would just love it if everything was, you know, reducible to an algorithm. But I cannot reduce people to algorithms. I cannot reduce behavior to algorithms.

These problems, frankly, are more challenging than the technical problems because they're very amorphous and ambiguous. And as a tech person, gosh, I would just love it if everything was, you know, reducible to an algorithm. But I cannot reduce people to algorithms. I cannot reduce behavior to algorithms.

These problems, frankly, are more challenging than the technical problems because they're very amorphous and ambiguous. And as a tech person, gosh, I would just love it if everything was, you know, reducible to an algorithm. But I cannot reduce people to algorithms. I cannot reduce behavior to algorithms.

But I do have a couple specific things I've learned over the years about how organizations function. One of them is this thing called Conway's Law. And Conway's Law stated very simply and not scientifically is that the structure of a product and how well a product works and how the pieces of it interoperate will reflect the organizational structure that built it.

But I do have a couple specific things I've learned over the years about how organizations function. One of them is this thing called Conway's Law. And Conway's Law stated very simply and not scientifically is that the structure of a product and how well a product works and how the pieces of it interoperate will reflect the organizational structure that built it.

But I do have a couple specific things I've learned over the years about how organizations function. One of them is this thing called Conway's Law. And Conway's Law stated very simply and not scientifically is that the structure of a product and how well a product works and how the pieces of it interoperate will reflect the organizational structure that built it.

And put rather snarkily, if two managers hate each other and they're working on a product together, those two parts of the product are not going to work well together. And so one of the things I really work on is I work with Conway's Law to make sure that the organization we build is built to serve the product, not the other way around.

And put rather snarkily, if two managers hate each other and they're working on a product together, those two parts of the product are not going to work well together. And so one of the things I really work on is I work with Conway's Law to make sure that the organization we build is built to serve the product, not the other way around.

And put rather snarkily, if two managers hate each other and they're working on a product together, those two parts of the product are not going to work well together. And so one of the things I really work on is I work with Conway's Law to make sure that the organization we build is built to serve the product, not the other way around.

We don't look at people's careers and say, oh, we're going to build a team around you having 30 people next to you rather than 12. We try to figure out the product and we fit people into that org structure. So that's number one. And that pays off. And number two, there's this thing called Dunbar's number.

We don't look at people's careers and say, oh, we're going to build a team around you having 30 people next to you rather than 12. We try to figure out the product and we fit people into that org structure. So that's number one. And that pays off. And number two, there's this thing called Dunbar's number.

We don't look at people's careers and say, oh, we're going to build a team around you having 30 people next to you rather than 12. We try to figure out the product and we fit people into that org structure. So that's number one. And that pays off. And number two, there's this thing called Dunbar's number.

And Dunbar was a researcher at Cambridge who's done research for the last 30 years about how humans interact. And what he found in his initial research was that tribes, and he really did do research into tribes, over human history, groups of about 100 to 150 have been the unit of social cohesion.

And Dunbar was a researcher at Cambridge who's done research for the last 30 years about how humans interact. And what he found in his initial research was that tribes, and he really did do research into tribes, over human history, groups of about 100 to 150 have been the unit of social cohesion.

And Dunbar was a researcher at Cambridge who's done research for the last 30 years about how humans interact. And what he found in his initial research was that tribes, and he really did do research into tribes, over human history, groups of about 100 to 150 have been the unit of social cohesion.

Tribes in the Amazon jungle, Roman legions, divisions within companies, and his research is fascinating. And then what he found out and he published this just a couple of years ago, is that there's Dunbar layers. So there's 10 people who I will trust with my life. There's 30 people who I will go out to dinner with on a regular basis and trust and I'll share secrets with them.

Tribes in the Amazon jungle, Roman legions, divisions within companies, and his research is fascinating. And then what he found out and he published this just a couple of years ago, is that there's Dunbar layers. So there's 10 people who I will trust with my life. There's 30 people who I will go out to dinner with on a regular basis and trust and I'll share secrets with them.