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Bike Shedding and the Law of Triviality: Lessons from the Linux Kernel Conflict

In product teams, especially in open-source communities and startups, bike shedding —focusing on trivial, superficial details at the expense of more significant issues—can derail progress. Recent disputes in the Linux kernel community between developers over introducing Rust highlight how the law of triviality can cause friction and stagnation. This post explores the concept of bike shedding, using this real-world example to illustrate its effects, and provides practical advice on how leaders can prevent it.

I've often grappled with how to give feedback without coming across as too harsh or too soft. Navigating this fine line has always baffled the engineer in me - I've seen the same approach work in some cases and backfire in others. It becomes even more challenging when I need to mentor others to practice the same. How am I to teach someone Radical Candor when I myself haven't always done it right.

Startup CTO : Impatient , Lazy and how I learned the habit of plan-sprint-ship-document

I have an admission to make. I, as a person, am impatient and lazy. Impatient because I can’t stop myself from jumping from one problem to the other with absolutely no time. And lazy, well, lazy in the oddest of ways. Let me explain what I mean by walking you through some of my learnings in the last few years. This article would resonate with hands-on tech engineers who are graduating into more rounded/demanding/business/founder roles.