- Talking creates mode collapse in ideas. New ideas are sacred. Sharing creates homogeneity of ideas, especially when you just start at a new place. You can only be a blank slate once.
- Idea and implementation sit on two orthogonal axes. You can and should try ideas, even if others have tried it before.
- Iterate at the speed of light. Waiting a day to get your results back will cause you to forget a lot of the context of what you were trying. Good infra is the biggest lever for this.
- Do things with substance and earnestness. Don’t commit to something you will leave half-baked. Spend the time to polish your work.
- Write thoughtfully. There are too many low-conviction ideas when using Claude. Writing forces you to stand behind your past work.
- Make the org as flat as possible. Hierarchy and teams create infighting for limited resources (GPUs), and thus politics.
- Align incentives. In big AI, bonuses and promotions often optimize for steady and solid incremental work, while moonshots that move the needle are riskier.
- Make both the short-term vision and north star clear. Big things get done by people focused and pushing in the same direction for a long time.
But most of all, a great research org requires great people. Work for teams with the highest of bars. Jump through hoops for them.