Sarah Moir

Looks like the job market may be on the upswing (based on anecdotal info I'm getting from my product leader network). 🤞 Yesterday, one of the VP product leaders in my network shared with me that he had 2 competing job offers and accepted the offer with a PE-backed company that had better business fundamentals (stronger margins, customer retention, unit economics) but less sexy on the surface than the unicorn VC-backed company with an all-star team (based on unicorn logos) that raised a bunch during peak-ZIRP but had to go through rounds of layoffs with eroding morale. Would you have made the same decision that my friend did choosing the less sexy business with stronger business fundamentals? (Why or why not? Discuss!) I also shared with him the blog post that I had written about Unit Economics when I was in venture capital and he encouraged me to share this more broadly. The link to the post which is now on Substack is in the comments. 👇 ----------------------------------------- Also, this is a good time to share that I've moved all my past writing (previously on Medium, etc) to my new "Beyond Leadership" Substack. I'll be sharing more long-form blog posts here from time to time. I'll be writing about leadership and what's beyond leadership, culture-building, startup life, fractional life, building a dream career, networking & community building and more. Please do subscribe if interested: https://lnkd.in/geApUfD2

174

21 Comments

What my pets have taught me about UXR lately: data trends In the past few weeks, there has been an upward trend in number of hairballs I find per day. We have now hit about 1-2 per day, fairly consistently. All that wonderful fur is going in during grooming and coming right back out, usually around 2-3am. What is the data telling me? It's summer. 😎 --- I write all about the craft of user research and how to navigate your career as a user researcher. Subscribe to The User Research Academy at https://lnkd.in/eQWYCwJm for deep dives on these topics. #userresearch #research #ux #uxr #uxresearcher #uxresearch #designresearch #userresearcher #careers

21

In my experience-grounded opinion, I submit that when publishing companies stop using long-trusted job role titles like "Acquisitions Editor" (or AE for short), they've taken a painfully unfortunate turn in direction. "Let's get modern! Let's get 'devoPs'!" Uh...no thanks. Why? Because as a working author you need to find contacts at publishing companies. When you dilute the job market with fuzzy role titles and, even worse, blurry job descriptions, EVERYBODY loses, at least in my lived professional experience. Potential workaround: GPT prompt that asks something like, "Please study job market research something something list all variants of the traditional "Acquisitions Editor" role in technical media publishing something something optimize my job search..." 😊

1

Here's a classic. Has happened at nearly all organizations I've consulted with about accessibility: 1 - Company wants something implemented accessibly. 2 - Company gets work audited. 3 - Company starts working on remediation. 4 - Company decides to deprioritize accessibility work in favor of the next new shiny feature. 5 - Company's client requires an accessible product, or company gets sued for lack of accessibility 6 - Company asks "why is this not accessible, we wanted it accessible last year?". They never considered that prioritizing other feature development without adding resources so accessibility work could be completed would mean the product would not be accessible. This is why the organization, as a whole, needs to have accessibility embedded at the deepest of core values. Gratuitous photo of my service dog. alt text embedded.

142

19 Comments

A plea for better hiring practices in small businesses 🤝 I don’t do LinkedIn rants. It’s not my style. But this really got my 🐐 Had a conversation with a good friend tonight who’s been in the hiring process with 2 small businesses recently. 2 long applications. 2 successful tester projects. 2 interviews (1 in person 😱). Both with zero follow up. Completely left hanging at the end of all that. Small businesses, I beg, let’s not ghost candidates who’ve committed time, enthusiasm (and often free work) to the hiring process. Coming from a business with a multiple-stage hiring process, I know we can do better. Here's why it matters👇 For candidates: ⏰Their time and effort deserve respect ❤️Job searching is emotionally taxing 😮‍💨Radio silence can impact other opportunities For businesses: 🚩Your reputation travels fast 👉Today's candidate could be tomorrow's client 🗣️Good talent talks to good talent Simple solutions that take minimal time: ✅Bare minimum: Create email templates for successful/unsucessful candidates. One step better, create a follow up email for each stage of the process. ✅ Set up email rules/folders to track applications. ✅ If you get a lot of good applicants, create a simple google spreadsheet to track candidate status. ✅ Schedule specific times weekly for candidate updates. ✅ Have draft calendar invites ready for next steps. Casper or not, is there something you could do to improve the hiring experience in your business? #business #hiring #career #employees #employer

12

6 Comments

One drawback of working remotely that no one talks about: The loss of opportunity to sit side-by-side with your colleagues. (Yes, physical position matters.) Dating as an analogy: If you're going on a first date, it's actually better to walk together, or sit side-by-side (e.g. sitting on a park bench), instead of activities where you face each other (e.g. sitting across a table in a cafe). I learned this from Logan's Ury's How to Not Die Alone, which is a fantastic book on dating. There're a few reasons for this. By looking *at something together* (e.g. a park), instead of looking *at each other*, it repositions the activity as a shared experience. The reduction in direct eye contact - and consequently pressure - also allows for a more natural conversation. I suspect that something similar is missing in the normalization of working remotely: During a Zoom call, two parties have no choice but to maintain eye contact for however long the meeting takes. It's an unnatural and inherently confrontational position. And no matter how friendly both parties may be, our evolutionary instincts means that we become hyper-vigilant whenever someone's eyes are on us. It's why Zoom calls that last 60 minutes or longer are so cognitively exhausting. I started working in 2015, and only transitioned into working remotely most of the time from 2020 onwards. During those first few years, I was lucky to be able to spend quite a bit of time white-boarding and pair programming with more senior people. I got to observe them solve problems in real-time while looking at a screen / white board together. It's also much easier to ask questions when you can literally point at something with your finger. These white-boarding / pair-programming sessions were critical to my own technical development. Maybe I'm just a Luddie, but I've tried doing the same over shared screens, and still found it a pale substitute to doing it in shared physical spaces. And I'm wary that younger folks leaping directly into a 100% WFH setup will miss out on these formative experiences.

45

2 Comments

A former employee accused me of being a ‘Toxic Manager’ because I suggested they join a workshop to improve their writing skills. Their writing was average. But I believed it could be great. So I chose to push options for skill development. I’m not arguing whether they were right or wrong - people are entitled to their own opinion. But this does call into question what the definition of ‘toxic’ really is. In 2024 - my belief is that ‘toxic’ is one of the most over-used and abused words in our English language. According to recent survey data; 31% of active US workers believe their current boss is ‘toxic’. Roughly 1 out of every 3 managers. So here’s my friendly reminder: Be careful not to assume someone’s attempt to help you grow, improve, or develop is an attack. It may be an act of kindness. Trying to help employees grow is one of your managers most important jobs. Sure, no one is perfect at it. But it’s worth talking about before we apply labels. What do you think?

1,097

194 Comments

Still using a typewriter in a Zoom call?🫢 Oh, you are managing knowledge without automation… …and it’s like you’re out here trying to dial-up the internet in a fiber-optic world. You’re working hard, but you’re way behind the curve. Let’s be real: manual knowledge management is like herding cats - frustrating, chaotic and someone’s bound to get scratched. But automation? That’s your calm in the storm. Here’s how automation can save your sanity (and maybe your job): 1️⃣ 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: AI auto-tags and organizes content. You focus on strategy, not sorting files. Tools like 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘗𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘚𝘺𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹 and 𝘔-𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴? Lifesavers. 2️⃣ 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀: Forget irrelevant search results. NLP-powered tools like 𝘊𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘰 make finding knowledge as easy as Googling “best coffee in Berlin.” 3️⃣ 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: Automated workflows keep teams in the loop - relevant updates, zero spam. Integrate with 𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 or 𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 for max impact. 4️⃣ 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗶𝘂𝘀: Tools like 𝘎𝘰𝘯𝘨 and 𝘖𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳.ai turn meetings into searchable gold mines. 5️⃣ 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗙𝗧𝗪: Measure what’s working. Fix what’s not. Rinse. Repeat. 𝗣𝗿𝗼 𝗧𝗶𝗽𝘀: Start small, automate repetitive tasks first and ALWAYS refine with user feedback. Remember: automation doesn’t replace us, humans - it amplifies our brilliance! 😉 How do you use automation in KM? Share your tips, wins or horror stories - I’m all ears! 💚 #TechChillZone #KnowledgeManagement #Automation #Leadership #Productivity

1

One of the biggest lessons for my team this year - Heat maps are criminally underrated. They're simple, but so powerful bc they're intuitive. The point of data is to understand what's going on, and take action. Sometimes the absolute signals are hard to notice. Relative signals pop things into focus. ...at least enough for you take action, and then measure, and then iterate. Work with the data you have. Heatmap it. We wanted to understand which parts of our platform resonated most with the personas important to our deals. So we heatmapped talk track usage against these VPs. We can take action from these results.

20

4 Comments

Recruiter: OK Gabi, so the market is saying roughly 60% of candidates are missing when you use filters for searches. You then did a search and hit 75.44%. But why is this happening? Surely filters should capture everyone? Me: Great question, let me show you why ⬇️ _____________________________ Hey I’m Gabi, your go-to expert in candidate discovery search process. I transform companies into data centric hunting power houses, where they always win the war of candidate hide & seek. Ways to work with me: 🎓 Online or Private Sourcing Training Academy 🔍 Boolean Generator Technology 📊 Consulting on company wider candidate discovery process change 🎤 Speaker at events DM me with the word ‘BOOLEAN’ to find out more Lets go hunting!

72

5 Comments

I’m working on some 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 tough briefs. Highly complex content, tons of research. There are many little things that make this easier 👇 🔇 Noise-canceling headphones (or earplugs.) I work in a busy office with many brilliant beautiful people. But, since these briefs take so much brain power if I allow myself to get distracted for a minute, I lose my groove, train of thought, and motivation to keep doing such a tough task. Side note: You would think that I would write briefs on my work-from-home days since it’s more quiet, but, I enjoy the office energy! Everyone buzzing around sparks my creativity! 🎵 Binaural beats My sister introduced me to this and my life has never been the same since. If you haven’t heard of binaural music it’s ambient tones that play on sound frequencies to promote a feeling: relaxation, stress relief, concentration, etc. I use the focus playlist on Spotify, turn that shit UP, and zero in on content creation. Total game changer. 🛑 Strict window for creation I need the pressure to produce. I’ve always been this way, it’s when I do my best work. If I have a 2-hour window followed by a day of meetings, I know that pressure will push me to get it done and do it well. Too much creation time leads me to overthink it. 🧊 Water bottle with ice-cold water So American of me, I know. I will honestly forget to drink water until I get a headache. Having a full 1.5L water bottle of ice cold water helps me remember and makes sure I don’t feel groggy & sick later. 🖥️ 2 screens, if not more. My dream is a 3-screen setup where I don’t have to click through a million tabs, but 2 works great for now. Having one screen open for my tools (Semrush, SEOwind, etc) and one for my brief, keeps the flow going. 🧘‍♀️ Pilates (or any physical activity) I need to feel like my best self while working on such a tiring task. If I can squeeze in a Pilates class before heading to the office, I start my day with energy. If it’s after the office, then I feel like I can wind down and get my brain to think about something else besides content. 💙 Team support I truly have the BEST support system at DJUST. Whenever I’m stuck and don’t know how to approach a specific brief, I have a safe place and about 30+ people who are willing to help me out. It’s end game, having that support lets me know that I can ask for help when and if I need it. What are your little hacks to make you more productive while working on tough content?

111

79 Comments

If there's one job where LLMs will surpass top humans, it’s going to be translators. I remember when I worked at Netflix, translation was a whole process. We had to build tools to push requests to vendors, who would then translate the text. The translations went through multiple rounds of QA, followed by a final QA on our side before getting uploaded. AI translations are orders of magnitude cheaper, faster, and more accurate than human translations. In fact, I'm certain that several subtitling mistakes on Netflix could have been avoided with AI. If I was a translation vendor, I'd be most concerned about AI taking over my job. What other jobs do you think AI is most likely to replace? — 📌 Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly deep-dives on enterprise AI use-cases: https://bit.ly/3Znv426

7

2 Comments

Your childhood dream was probably not to achieve the title of “Senior Data Entry Specialist” or “Director of Production.” Your dream was more likely about the work–making sense of numbers and helping others see the stories they could tell, or thinking creatively about solving problems while helping to bring cool new stuff into the world. The core of who you are are your passions, skills, goals, and experiences. No one job or title can capture all that. Think about the purpose behind the work you want to do and what it takes in this inconstant landscape for you to continue on that path (skills training? pursue a promotion? career pivot?). Let that motivate you.

19

Do you know the difference? Over the years, I've encountered many people who are hesitant to adopt structured content authoring because in their minds, they are already working “in structure.” They’re not wrong. Alas, they’re not right, either. Here's why it can be confusing and why understanding the function of both matters: https://lnkd.in/gevEPwNG #contentstrategy #contentmanagement #contentorganization

25

1 Comment

I have been seeing this come up a lot recently so I thought I'd try it myself. I was a little surprised to see an AI make the comments it did about me. Very interesting. Here's what ChatGPT told me about myself: One thing that stands out is your remarkable ability to balance both creative and technical worlds. You’re equally comfortable writing intricate stories and TV show concepts, while also diving into complex problem-solving with tools like Power Automate and SQL. This blend of creativity and analytical thinking is relatively rare, and it shows that you’re someone who can bridge both logic and imagination, which may contribute to how deeply you can develop characters and narratives or come up with efficient solutions in your technical work. Additionally, you seem to strive for meaning in both your creative and personal endeavors. Whether it's exploring the psychological depth of a character in your writing, focusing on moral lessons in TV episodes for your YouTube channel, or managing the real-world challenge of balancing family responsibilities, there’s a sense that you're seeking to connect things to a deeper purpose. You may not realize how much of an impact this drive for meaning could have on those around you, or how much this combination of creativity, logic, and emotional depth defines you as a person.

2

Random Thursday thought: I think a lot of the backlash, hesitation, and concern around AI comes from a belief that human intelligence is somehow unique—that we are fundamentally special in a way no other species is. But what if we're not? This isn't meant to be a bleak view of humanity. Yes, we are stardust, floating through space on a tiny blue orb—"a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam," as Carl Sagan said. We are also the result of millions of years of evolution, shaped by the planet we inhabit, until we grew so influential that we now shape it in return. Our intelligence is not as singular as we like to think. Whenever we define what makes us "the most intelligent" species—tool use, foresight, emotional depth—we find examples across the animal kingdom that challenge us. Apes, crows, and bees use tools. Ants build bridges and dragonflies plan intricate hunts, demonstrating foresight. Elephants, whales, baboons, crows, and dolphins all exhibit grief. Intelligence is abundant in nature. And every time we set a new boundary to define our specialness, we find that the boundary doesn't really hold. What form AI intelligence will ultimately take is uncertain. Will it be conscious? Will it have desires, needs, or aspirations beyond what we've programmed? Will it be a partner to our growth or a new kind of risk? These questions are open. But clinging to the idea that our intelligence is entirely unique and irreplaceable may hinder us more than it helps—and may even create the very risks we fear. You, as an individual, are special. Your experiences are yours alone, and your life is a universe in itself. But humanity as a whole isn't as exceptional as we often think. And that belief—while comforting—can be dangerous, potentially more harmful to ourselves, our planet, and the broader web of life than AI has ever been. #AI #showerthought #AIforGood #AIPhilosophy #FutureofAI

2

A lot of people who bash SaFE have *never* worked in a company that: 1. Was 20+ years old 2. Doesn't sell a digital product 3. Is experiencing negative growth and/or <5-10% growth rates 4. Has 10,000+ employees 5. Made a huge investment over the years in centralized IT 6. Has architecture that necessitated coordinating 1000s of people 7. Has *tried* and failed at a number of other options 8. Is perpetually mired in regulatory and compliance problems 9. Had trouble shipping *anything* in any reasonable timeframe 10. Is global, multi-national, with 100s of "products" When you are in that situation, your options in that context are actually pretty limited. It is not like you have a big long list of paths to take. Consider all the sexy tech companies struggling with layoffs and "org flattening"....these companies have all the options in the world, and they are STILL struggling. Sure, they don't have funny diagrams you can make fun of, but I bet if they DID, they would look way funnier that SaFE :) Waaaaaay funnier. IYKYK I remember the great (but lost too soon) Martin Burns who told me once: "I'll tell you John. I used to go into these companies with all the lean/agile techniques, and desire to have them roll their own approach, and it was so hard. I started to see SaFE has at least something packaged enough to get them going, and hopefully let go of...." I still hold on to the idea that there are perhaps more graceful options than SaFE. I don't see many companies that use SaFE that are able to let go of it. It is not my favorite for various reasons. But it helps to start with the assumption that people aren't idiots, and the reason they arrived at doing something are not completely crazy.

698

199 Comments

It drives me nuts that there isn’t more education on how to run customer interviews. Most resources are just generic interview question lists. Talking to customers isn't as simple as asking a bunch of questions and calling it a day. It’s so much more complex than everyone makes it out to be. You need to know how to: -Manage your bias -Avoid their bias -Navigate the conversation -Redirect tangents -Pick up on subtle cues like body language or tone of voice -Build rapport -Probe deeper  -Know when to back off -Incentivize people to open up and be honest Before my psychotherapy training I thought these skills were common sense. But in Month 1 of my program I learned I was doing a lot of it wrong. In fact, in the 14+ years I’ve been doing customer interviews, I still refer back to what I learned in my training. It’s not rocket science but it's not intuitive either. That's why I made a course about how I run customer interviews, so I could teach other marketers what I know. If you don’t know how to get customers to open up on a 30-minute call, you won’t get to the truth about why they buy. And without that, your marketing and sales (even your product) will fall flat. ___ I’ve trained dozens of teams on how to get the gold from customer interviews. If your team is doing interviews and you’re wondering if they’re playing it safe and missing valuable insights (which is very common), DM me “CUSTOMER.” I can train them on your next offsite.

19

1 Comment

Ever heard of "boundary guilt"? Yeah, it's like a front-row seat to the internal circus of honor-yourself versus avoid-disappointing-others. So, setting boundaries and saying no... Isn't it just delightful how it can feel like walking through an emotional minefield, all while doing interpretive dance on eggshells? But wait, there's more. We're wired to seek approval like it's the last piece of chocolate in a box. So, who needs boundaries anyway, right? Except, oh yeah, you do! They're like the superhero capes of self-respect. But hey, why not indulge in a little self-sacrifice and skip those boundaries, right? Said no one ever. Next time that guilt train rolls into your station, remember: boundaries aren't just for fun; they're for survival. And guess what? You can implement them anytime, anywhere. If communicating them doesn't quite do the trick, well, sometimes you just gotta swallow the bitter pill of disappointing others and let it marinate. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither were your boundaries. Let's try to set sail on the good ship "I-got-this"? #saynomoreoften #lettheguiltmarinate #yougotyou

27

10 Comments