Every week, we put together a list of our top 5 articles of the past week. Happy reading!
Why Figma Wins Kevin Kwok (reading time: 32 minutes)
I’ve always been curious about feedback loops and how they self-reinforce each other. This post by Kevin Kwok is a wonderful case study of Figma. Figma’s product helps designers collaborate on various projects. Having played around with the tool, it’s pretty slick. Kevin dissects the recipe behind the company’s success and how it engineered its feedback loop. The way network effects are incorporate into the product’s design is also quite revealing. These network effects also have a direct impact on sales, GTM efforts and its platform ambitions.
6 Reasons Your Strategy Isn’t Working Harvard Business Review (reading time: 6 minutes)
This a short and good post by Michael Beer in HBR. He outlines six reasons why a strategy isn’t working. These are “soft” reasons that are traditionally hard to measure but often end up making the difference. For instance, how do you measure ineffective leadership styles or poor coordination? Starting with an assessment, albeit subjective, might be the best way.
Strategy Sriram Krishnan (reading time: 15 minutes)
I make an attempt to not cover the same blog / author two weeks in a row but I couldn’t avoid it in this case. Srinam Krishnan put together a fantastic list of resources on the topic of strategy, and more specifically technology strategy. I need to warn you, this can be hours of reading if you like this topic!
TSMC at the head of history’s tide: two high walls and one sharp knife Dantong Ma and Jeffrey Ding (reading time: 30 minutes)
If you like business war stories, this is a doozy. It’s the story chip Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC and its epic battle with Samsung over the years. Translated a Chinese article in a google doc, this story has it all. Revenge, success, comebacks and near failure. It also sheds light on the global computer industry and the intense competitive dynamics at play.
A guide for communicating your business strategy PNR Blog (reading time: 5 minutes)
Our team put together some best practices to help a leadership team better communicate their strategy. I find this guide particularly useful given the challenges of remote work.
