Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth
01:01:28 · Andrew Ambrosino, S1
[01:01:28] S0: I failed for, I don't know, somewhere between 10 and 15 years before getting to this point. So I'm still surprised every day that things are going well. And I know it. [01:01:38] S1: I think this is really important for people to hear. That you can have a lot of things not work out and then things start to work out super well and it's just keep going and keep learning. I imagine is a lesson. Well, with that, we reached our very exciting lightning round. I've got five questions for you. Are you ready? [01:01:53] S0: Great. [01:01:54] S1: [inaudible 01:01:54]. What are two or three books that you find yourself recommending most to other people? [01:01:59] S0: See, man, I'm a parent now. I'm a parent of young kids. [01:02:02] S1: Nice. [01:02:04] S0: I don't know. There's one called The Gruffalo, I read to my kids. [01:02:07] S1: Oh, my God. Our kid just got obsessed with The Gruffalo. [01:02:10] S0: Yes. [01:02:11] S1: We have a bedtime chart and now it's like pajamas, brush teeth, books, Gruffalo, on blankie. [01:02:18] S0: Yeah. [01:02:18] S1: Yeah. It's so good. [01:02:19] S0: So other books I'm reading right now are that style. [01:02:23] S1: Okay, the soft stuff. [01:02:24] S0: Actually, The Gruffalo is not a terrible one. [01:02:25] S1: No. [01:02:25] S0: I feel like there's some lessons in it. [01:02:26] S1: It's so sweet. Yeah. Although every kid's book is about death. Someone's eating someone, someone's killing. There's always bad murder and destruction. [01:02:35] S0: Kids like violence. Even when it doesn't feel like violence to them, the words...
01:02:35 · Andrew Ambrosino, S1
[01:02:35] S0: Kids like violence. Even when it doesn't feel like violence to them, the words... [01:02:40] S1: It creates an arc and excitement. [01:02:42] S0: Yeah. [01:02:42] S1: Yeah. Okay. Great choice, Gruffalo. [01:02:44] S0: I currently have a book backlog. I need to read all of them. [01:02:49] S1: Any other children's books then that your kid likes? [01:02:52] S0: Okay. Yes, actually. I am well versed on children's space. My favorite children's book ever is a very old one and it's called The Big Orange Splots or something along those lines. Look it up. It's great. Go get it. If you hate HOAs, go get it. It's about this guy, Mr. Plumbean, who lives on a street where all the houses are the same. It's a very neat street. And then one day a bird drops a large can of orange paint on his house and he says, "Eff it. I'm going all in." So he goes to the store, he gets paint, hammocks, alligators, and he totally redoes his house. And the neighbors, they're up in arms, right? HOA, property value, whatever, whatever. It's not about HOAs, but I'm a very anti-HOA person. It's just really cool. And then one by one, the neighbors go talk to him, have what they refer to as lemonade, but it's a very convincing lemonade. Because one by one, they all start redoing their house. One guy does a boat. I think that's a good book. I think people need to read this when they're, especially NIMBYs. [01:03:54] S1: What I hear from this is agency. [01:03:56] S0: Agency, exactly. You can just do things.
01:03:56 · Andrew Ambrosino, S1
[01:03:56] S0: Agency, exactly. You can just do things. [01:03:59] S1: Just do things. Amazing. Okay. We'll keep going. Favorite recent movie or TV show you've really enjoyed if you've had any time? [01:04:05] S0: So The Magic School Bus is back on Netflix. It's a new animated. It's got Kate McKinnon because Ms. Frizzle is now Professor Frizzle and she's around, but she's not the main Frizzle now. Kate McKinnon plays the main Ms. Frizzle. Yeah. I always liked the Magic School bus. It's back and very- [01:04:22] S1: I've never seen or heard of it. Cool. [01:04:24] S0: Personally, I don't have time for movies. So what I do is watch hour-long Netflix things back to back. You know that thing that people do? [01:04:33] S1: Like binge watch? [01:04:34] S0: I couldn't sit down and watch a whole movie and then watch hour-long episodes and keep... Idea. There's something addicting about that way. [01:04:41] S1: Favorite product you've recently discovered that you really love? [01:04:44] S0: Well, this is a terrible answer. I feel like I'm discovering our product every day. [01:04:49] S1: Beautiful. [01:04:49] S0: That's terrible. [01:04:50] S1: That's so corny but- [01:04:50] S0: I think Linear does a great job. Until this, Linear was my favorite, at least software product. [01:04:59] S1: Is that what you guys use to plan and coordinate? [01:05:01] S0: Well, in theory. [01:05:04] S1: Do you have a favorite life motto that you find yourself coming back to in work or in life?
01:05:04 · S1, Andrew Ambrosino
[01:05:04] S1: Do you have a favorite life motto that you find yourself coming back to in work or in life? [01:05:07] S0: I want to ask everyone who works with me this because I feel like I'm not a motto person and then people tell me stuff I say all the time. [01:05:16] S1: Yeah. When we were chatting ahead of this, there's so many little nuggets that stood out to me that I've integrated into this chat. So I totally hear that. Okay. Last question. You've been a PM, you've been a designer, you've been an engineer. Which is the toughest role of the three, which is the hardest? [01:05:33] S0: Trying to start a war? [01:05:35] S1: Yes. [01:05:35] S0: I don't know. I think they're all very different. I think the things that make it tough for one person make it easy for others. There's a lot. There's so much, so many takes on this and this triad, what's going to happen with this triad? Designers are done or should designers code? Are PMs cooked? Do we not need engineers anymore because PMs are going to write all the code? Or are designers going to PM now? And everybody's cooked and everybody's so back. And I don't know. There's some convergence, there's some fluidity that is being introduced that I think is refreshing and great, especially for people with agency that want to be able to just do the thing that needs to get done. And at the same time, like we talked about, there are some things that shouldn't go away. But I think people should find the stuff that's worth working on and go figure out what to do on those things.
01:05:35 · Andrew Ambrosino, S1, S2
[01:05:35] S0: I don't know. I think they're all very different. I think the things that make it tough for one person make it easy for others. There's a lot. There's so much, so many takes on this and this triad, what's going to happen with this triad? Designers are done or should designers code? Are PMs cooked? Do we not need engineers anymore because PMs are going to write all the code? Or are designers going to PM now? And everybody's cooked and everybody's so back. And I don't know. There's some convergence, there's some fluidity that is being introduced that I think is refreshing and great, especially for people with agency that want to be able to just do the thing that needs to get done. And at the same time, like we talked about, there are some things that shouldn't go away. But I think people should find the stuff that's worth working on and go figure out what to do on those things. [01:06:32] S1: That is a beautiful way to end it. Andrew, thank you so much for being here. [01:06:35] S0: Thank you. [01:06:36] S1: Bye, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. If you found this valuable, you can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Also, please consider giving us a rating or leaving a review as that really helps other listeners find the podcast. You can find all past episodes or learn more about the show at lennyspodcast.com. See you in the next episode. [01:07:02] S2: I love that thing about Brent and the Premiere. [01:07:04] S0: Yeah. [01:07:04] S2: That's cool. I've actually used Codex to edit edits as well.
01:07:04 · S2, S1, Andrew Ambrosino
[01:07:04] S2: That's cool. I've actually used Codex to edit edits as well. [01:07:07] S1: There we go. [01:07:09] S2: It's basically simple stuff like, "Oh, could you just cut this into the three breaks?" If there's a pause in conversation, the second, and Codex understands it. [01:07:19] S0: Basically every job we feel like starts with a story like this, which is the product's not designed for it, but it's sort of a blank chatbot that can write code. So it can do everything, but what are the useful things for it to do? [01:07:34] S2: Right. I mean, people just have to have curiosity about the project. They have to have an intentional outcome and use Codex as the platform for that just to see what happens because there's no risk at all. [01:07:34] S0: Right. [01:07:34] S1: Just a few tokens. [01:07:49] S2: A few tokens. But of course, if you're working for OpenAI, there's less risks on that regard. [01:07:59] S0: You asked one of them, or a lot of them actually, what skills are important? And then you've also had conversations about the cracked new grad versus the... [01:08:06] S1: Right, yeah. [01:08:07] S0: I don't know if you're married to the exact process you have right now. I don't know what advice to ever give, but if there's one piece, it's like, "Do not get married to your exact process." Get married to the outcomes that you are uniquely able to deliver and then do things like change your process to try things. [01:08:28] S1: You just keep doing more nuggets. [01:08:29] S0: If you're like, "I'm the best at understanding Figma auto layout." What are you doing?