Wisereads Vol. 42 — Fedor Shkliarau's Product Design Portfolio Final Final, Will Larson on engineering leadership, and more
Last week, we shared a preview of Robin Sloan's upcoming novel, Moonbound, a far-future adventure coming out this Tuesday. This week, we're sharing a sample of Fedor Shkliarau's guide to creating a standout portfolio, Product Design Portfolio Final Final.
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Most highlighted Articles of the week
Unexpected Anti-Patterns for Engineering Leaders — Lessons From Stripe, Uber & Carta
In conversation with First Round Review, Carta CTO Will Larson discusses the pitfalls of traditional advice for engineering leaders. "'Anytime you apply a rule too universally, it turns into an anti-pattern,' Larson says... The key to effective engineering leadership, Larson argues, lies in figuring out which scenarios are worth deliberately defying conventional logic, and when to simply follow the rules."
How Actors Remember Their Lines
Emeritus Professor John Seamon explores the techniques actors use to recall their lines without relying on rote memorization. "Repeating items over and over, called maintenance rehearsal, is not the most effective strategy for remembering. Instead, actors engage in elaborative rehearsal, focusing their attention on the meaning of the material and associating it with information they already know."
Systems: The Purpose of a System is What It Does
Most highlighted YouTube Video of the week
What Makes People Engage With Math | Grant Sanderson
Grant Sanderson of 3Blue1Brown reveals how he amassed over 2 million YouTube subscribers by presenting math as both beautiful and relevant. "It elevates math to the status of going to the gym: it's still gonna take work. We're not going to sugarcoat things, but you know what you're getting for that work and instead of being something that's kind of nerdy, exclusively for the realm of school, it's something that you can feel proud of doing."
Most highlighted Twitter Thread of the week
Let me fix your 1:1 meetings in 90 seconds
Emphasizing the power of an effective 1:1, Dave Kline coaches managers on building great teams. His tips: "Delegate the meeting like any other work: Define what excellent looks like. Hold them accountable," and "Ask them directly, 'What else do you need to win?'"
Most highlighted PDF of the week
A Very Long Hill
In keeping their annualized turnover below 5%, Lindsell Train Limited leverages the most reliable growth factor: time. "The longer you wait, the more the compounding of earnings dominates over the linear derating. As Buffett once said, 'The nature of compound interest is it behaves like a snowball of sticky snow.. The trick is to have a very long hill.'"
Hand-picked book of the week
Product Design Portfolio Final Final
After a decade of winning work with innovative startups and major companies like Adidas, IKEA, and Mercedes-Benz, product designer Fedor Shkliarau offers top tips and strategies for crafting standout portfolios and impactful case studies.
"Imagine walking on a busy street in the center of a big city: hundreds of faces you’ve never seen and will not see again, different clothes and walking patterns. Suddenly, you see someone familiar. It’s a friend from school who you haven’t seen in a year. They smile at you and wave.
That sense of mutual recognition is what you’re aiming for when showing your portfolio. A hiring manager will feel this way when opening a portfolio that’s relevant: familiarity speaks to them."
We're huge fans of Fedor's work and are thrilled he's sharing a preview of Product Design Portfolio Final Final with Wisereads readers. If you enjoy the preview, we invite you to support Fedor by purchasing a full copy, out now. Up until June 11th, you can use code "FINALLY" for 15% off any book bundle to get access to extras like templates and video interviews.
Handpicked RSS feed of the week
Robin Sloan
In case you missed it, Robin's new book, Moonbound, comes out Tuesday! He also writes a regular newsletter on books, media, and modern life. From You could extinguish a star: "This is all to say: the experience of a total solar eclipse is unsayable, impossible to capture. It blazes across every sensory channel. There’s sight and hearing, sure, but also time and temperature. Is boredom a sense? Anticipation? There’s cosmic proprioception: the powerful awareness of your position in space."