Written by Tony Fadell, whose career spans being part of the General Magic team, leading the iPod development, and later founding Nest and selling it to Google.
The book is 50% story of his personal experience and 50% advice for anyone building tech products.
I found a lot of helpful concepts across career advice (engineer vs management role), product decisions, and being part of a growing company. I couldn't make sense of every single point and didn't agree with everything, but that was fine.
The main thought I wish he had explored is the "why" behind it all. Clearly, a career such as Fadell's requires giving 120%. At one stage, he walked away from working and took 1-2 years off to travel and have time with family. But what about a healthy balance? Does this exist? And is it all worth it for his personal happiness, for finding his "enough" point? I understand (and feel) the ambition and drive to "put something out there". At the same time, it would be nice to hear some reflections from someone who has done it all.
In particular, I liked that this isn't one of those business books that has one core idea and re-iterates it across 10+ chapters. Instead, it's a super dense guide to building teams and building products. I liked it.
Written by Tony Fadell, whose career spans being part of the General Magic team, leading the iPod development, and later founding Nest and selling it to Google.
The book is 50% story of his personal experience and 50% advice for anyone building tech products.
I found a lot of helpful concepts across career advice (engineer vs management role), product decisions, and being part of a growing company. I couldn't make sense of every single point and didn't agree with everything, but that was fine.
The main thought I wish he had explored is the "why" behind it all. Clearly, a career such as Fadell's requires giving 120%. At one stage, he walked away from working and took 1-2 years off to travel and have time with family. But what about a healthy balance? Does this exist? And is it all worth it for his personal happiness, for finding his "enough" point? I understand (and feel) the ambition and drive to "put something out there". At the same time, it would be nice to hear some reflections from someone who has done it all.
In particular, I liked that this isn't one of those business books that has one core idea and re-iterates it across 10+ chapters. Instead, it's a super dense guide to building teams and building products. I liked it.