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scalzee.readme
scalzee.readme

This document accelerates the process of getting to know me. I am interested in debating these principles with like minded builders to further my thinking on what it takes to build great teams, products and companies.

This document accelerates the process of getting to know me.  I am interested in debating these principles with like minded builders to further my thinking on what it takes to build great teams, products and companies.

Nicole Scalamandre

My opinions below were formed through a combination of lessons learned the hard way and insights gleaned from the giants whose shoulders I stand on. Like everything in the world we live in, these opinions are just opinions and are subject to change as I experience new perspectives and learn.

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⁠
Misson

A technologist passionate about reimagining and rebuilding the legacy processes of the world. Strong bias towards action and love for platform oriented problems where technology and the physical world intersect.

[zero to one > one to n]

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Passions

Live to work, not work to live.

Focused obsession on my work comforts me. Everyone that knows me knows this is who I am and this way of life makes me happy. Everyone that knows my family understands this trait is genetic.

I come from a family of hard working builders; small business owners inspire me. It’s a lot harder than it looks and is all-consuming.

Passion driven, high performing teams.

Lifelong competitive, team-sport athlete. I learned at a young age the importance of team chemistry, honing focus, committing oneself completely, celebrating victories and picking oneself up after loss.

Team sports continue to serve as a grounding force in my life; they are my physical, mental and social escape and continue to play an essential role in recharging my batteries.

Individuals play the game, but teams beat the odds. (

Navy Seals⁠

)

I ♥️ NYC.

I gravitate to the fast paced always-on culture of the city that never sleeps. The diversity of industry fuels an infinite set of problems to solve.

Feel the fear and do it anyway.

I am an adrenaline junkie. My latest adventure is ditching the scuba tanks and learning to free-dive. (

Susan Jeffers on Fear⁠

)

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Beliefs

People learn by doing.

When you own do, you maximize learn and whoever learns the fastest wins. (

Steve Jobs on Consulting⁠

)

Those who do, will fail more than those who do nothing; if you are a doer, then you too are vulnerable. (

Teddy Rosevelt on Daring Greatly⁠

)

Curiosity doesn’t kill the cat. People should question; people should be free to discover better ways for doing something.

Transparency trumps all.

I am completely incapable of lying or misleading anyone. I value honesty above all things even, especially, if it goes against my own self interest.

The only way to uncover optimal solutions is for all parties to show their cards. People should optimize to the system, not the self.

Don’t be an asshole.

I am embarrassed to say, this was not always obvious to me. As a lifelong New Yorker and competitive athlete, I assumed having a thick skin and being “tough” was a requirement for participating at the highest level. I was wrong and am indebted to my teammates that have pushed me to evolve this element of my thinking.

Solving hard problems is a creative process and promoting a space where people feel the freedom to share ideas is paramount.

How matters.

Idea fairies are the worst and owning execution warrants respect.

The genius is in the journey, not the destination. (

Boz on The Path⁠

)

The software development process is evolving.

⁠

Software is Eating the World⁠

is still true.

No Code will change everything. (

Howie Liu on Software Builders⁠

)

Recombinant innovation will be fundamental; driven by the elevation of cloud computing and the proliferation of SAS services.

Technology serves the product.

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How I lead

Lead with why.

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. Antoine de Saint.

Leaders should serve.

Different people have different operating modes and it’s important to play to your team’s strengths, protect the team and set each individual up for success.

Radical candor rules.

Knowledge is power and constructive, direct feedback accelerates growth. Skills are malleable and people can learn anything; but growth requires internalizing and applying feedback.

Roles matter.

Things break down when ownership is diffused and the role one plays in the larger system optimization is unclear. (

Belichick on Do Your Job⁠

)

Important caveat... "Do your job” is not “that’s not my job”

Decision owners should be obvious, free to be challenged, but also respected for the decisions they made within the scope they own. (Boz on

Disagree and Commit⁠

)

I disagree with the conventional wisdom that states you should find a

rocketship and take any seat⁠

. This is not an ego thing; the seat you end up in influences what you learn, what you learn is your biggest asset and determines who you become.

Maslow’s pyramid is a great people strategy.

I am on a journey to self-actualization, not only because it sounds like an amazing way to live life, but because bringing out my best self will enable me to solve the world’s hardest problems.

Everyone makes mistakes, especially in complex systems. What matters is for the system’s ability to learn from those mistakes. Be selective on the those brought into an org. Once in the organization there should be a strong operating assumption the person is not the problem.

Attributes I look for while building a team:

High self awareness & insatiable desire to grow: people that take time to reflect, admit mistakes and constantly work to build a better version of themselves. (Boz on

Worst to First⁠

)

Owners. Understand and crave for responsibility. They want the ball when the game is on the line.

Pirates: Fearless willingness to take on any challenge in unchartered waters.

Team players. A deep desire to be part of something that’s bigger than yourself.

Canaries: People who can effectively identify issues, escalate and ask for help.

T Shaped Resources. People that have a superpower, but are capable and willing to do more than one type of work depending on the needs of the team.

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Strengths I leverage

I am a technologist at heart.

A lot of problems look like potential apps to me.

I am committed to living at the intersection of engineering and business value creation. I have Fortune 100, client-facing experience and I have spent weeks alone coding software in a basement.

Insatiable desire to optimize.

I want the freedom to adjust, rethink, experiment and optimize processes and approaches within my purview. As we learn and the context surrounding the problem evolves, I am going to want to find the better solution. I will need the freedom to rethink conventional wisdom and perceived constraints.

Rip-off bandaids: Make the decision you believe you need to make. Don’t delay for fear of short term pain.

Time spent on decisions should correlate to the cost of making the wrong decision.

Insatiable desire to optimize myself. Can listen to feedback in any form that is given. (Boz on

Severability⁠

)

Swiss-army knife.

I am a generalist willing to step into any challenge the business needs me to take on.

I am a fast learner and enjoy the process of learning something new.

Collaborative by nature.

I often find my most meaningful contribution to an organization is my ability to facilitate a collective understanding across different types of teams.

Build a lot, with a little.

I like to optimize technology development cycles for speed, cost, and agility. Functional prototypes drive usage based feedback, which fuels requirements for more scalable, expensive, applications.

My hacker mindset should not be interpreted as a lack for respect for resilient systems. I believe an organization needs both and love working with engineering teams to make that happen.

I am interested in exploring no-code’s place in the product development cycle.

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Weaknesses I navigate

My biases.

Surrounding myself with smart people I trust to call me out on flawed patterns of thinking is critical.

Managing my emotions.

I care about my work and feel deeply when problems emerge. I learned a few things on how to listen to and manage these feelings.

How you handle these feelings is more important than if you are right or wrong.

Some people need to learn by doing, I have made mistakes and others should have the chance to learn lessons for themselves.

Behind every feeling is an interesting thread worth exploring; assuming you keep your ego in check and are able to articulate the trigger.

People need time to internalize feelings, cut through the noise of human emotion to properly articulate and solve the business pain point/conflict. This can sometimes take days.

Capturing and protecting value.

The ability to identify and solve pain points is orthogonal to the ability to capture value. I am good at the problem solving, but not as good at value capture and protecting that value once it’s created.

I am dyslexic.

I have a very high propensity for typos and grammatical errors. I can read something 100 times and easily miss errors. Please do not mistake these errors for carelessness. I care very deeply for the things I do. Don’t be shy in correcting me; I am grateful for the help!