Shishir Mehrotra

Guest: Shishir Mehrotra - Co-founder and CEO of Coda. Shishir previously led YouTube's product engineering and design teams at Google and spent six years at Microsoft. He is also on Spotify's board and is known for his deep, first-principles thinking. Key Takeaways: Reference Checks: Shishir values reference checks over interview signals, as they provide insights from people who have worked with the candidate for years. Black Loops and Blue Loops: These frameworks describe how Coda spreads: Black Loops through team sharing and Blue Loops through public publishing, akin to YouTube's content model. Rituals of Great Teams: Shishir is writing a book on team rituals, emphasizing that rituals are a mirror of culture and can significantly impact team dynamics. Eigenquestions: These are pivotal questions that, when answered, resolve many subsequent questions. They help in making strategic decisions more efficiently. Evaluating Talent: Shishir uses a framework called PSHE (Problem, Solution, How, Execution) to evaluate talent, focusing on the ability to identify and solve the right problems. Topics Covered: Reference checks, Black Loops and Blue Loops, team rituals, eigenquestions, evaluating talent, product management frameworks, decision-making processes, company culture.