NOAH
JACOBS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
2025.02.09-On-Overengineering
2025.02.02-On-Autocomplete
2025.01.26-On-The-Automated-Turkey-Problem
2025.01.19-On-Success-Metrics
2025.01.12-On-Being-the-Best
2025.01.05-On-2024
2024.12.29-On-Dragons-and-Lizards
2024.12.22-On-Being-a-Contrarian
2024.12.15-On-Sticky-Rules
2024.12.08-On-Scarcity-&-Abundance
2024.12.01-On-BirdDog
2024.11.24-On-Focus
2024.11.17-On-The-Curse-of-Dimensionality
2024.11.10-On-Skill-as-Efficiency
2024.11.03-On-Efficiency
2024.10.27-On-Binary-Goals
2024.10.20-On-Commitment
2024.10.13-On-Rules-Vs-Intuition
2024.10.06-On-Binding-Constraints
2024.09.29-On-Restrictive-Rules
2024.09.22-On-Conflicting-Ideas
2024.09.15-On-Vectors
2024.09.08-On-Perfection
2024.09.01-On-Signal-Density
2024.08.25-On-Yapping
2024.08.18-On-Wax-and-Feather-Assumptions
2024.08.11-On-Going-All-In
2024.08.04-On-Abstraction
2024.07.28-On-Naming-a-Company
2024.07.21-On-Coding-in-Tongues
2024.07.14-On-Sufficient-Precision
2024.07.07-On-Rewriting
2024.06.30-On-Hacker-Houses
2024.06.23-On-Knowledge-Graphs
2024.06.16-On-Authority-and-Responsibility
2024.06.09-On-Personal-Websites
2024.06.02-On-Reducing-Complexity
2024.05.26-On-Design-as-Information
2024.05.19-On-UI-UX
2024.05.12-On-Exponential-Learning
2024.05.05-On-School
2024.04.28-On-Product-Development
2024.04.21-On-Communication
2024.04.14-On-Money-Tree-Farming
2024.04.07-On-Capital-Allocation
2024.03.31-On-Optimization
2024.03.24-On-Habit-Trackers
2024.03.17-On-Push-Notifications
2024.03.10-On-Being-Yourself
2024.03.03-On-Biking
2024.02.25-On-Descoping-Uncertainty
2024.02.18-On-Surfing
2024.02.11-On-Risk-Takers
2024.02.04-On-San-Francisco
2024.01.28-On-Big-Numbers
2024.01.21-On-Envy
2024.01.14-On-Value-vs-Price
2024.01.07-On-Running
2023.12.31-On-Thriving-&-Proactivity
2023.12.24-On-Surviving-&-Reactivity
2023.12.17-On-Sacrifices
2023.12.10-On-Suffering
2023.12.03-On-Constraints
2023.11.26-On-Fear-Hope-&-Patience
2023.11.19-On-Being-Light
2023.11.12-On-Hard-work-vs-Entitlement
2023.11.05-On-Cognitive-Dissonance
2023.10.29-On-Poetry
2023.10.22-On-Gut-Instinct
2023.10.15-On-Optionality
2023.10.08-On-Walking
2023.10.01-On-Exceeding-Expectations
2023.09.24-On-Iterative-Hypothesis-Testing
2023.09.17-On-Knowledge-&-Understanding
2023.09.10-On-Selfishness
2023.09.03-On-Friendship
2023.08.27-On-Craftsmanship
2023.08.20-On-Discipline-&-Deep-Work
2023.08.13-On-Community-Building
2023.08.05-On-Decentralized-Bottom-Up-Leadership
2023.07.29-On-Frame-Breaks
2023.07.22-On-Shared-Struggle
2023.07.16-On-Self-Similarity
2023.07.05-On-Experts
2023.07.02-The-Beginning

WRITING

"if you have to wait for it to roar out of you, then wait patiently."

- Charles Bukowski

Writing is one of my oldest skills; I started when I was very young, and have not stopped since. 

Age 13-16 - My first recorded journal entry was at 13 | Continued journaling, on and off.

Ages 17-18 - Started writing a bit more poetry, influenced heavily by Charles Bukwoski | Shockingly, some of my rather lewd poetry was featured at a county wide youth arts type event | Self published my first poetry book .

Age 19 - Self published another poetry book | Self published a short story collection with a narrative woven through it | Wrote a novel in one month; after considerable edits, it was long listed for the DCI Novel Prize, although that’s not that big of a deal, I think that contest was discontinued.

Age 20 - Published the GameStop book I mention on the investing page | Self published an original poetry collection that was dynamically generated based on reader preferences | Also created a collection of public domain poems with some friend’s and I’s mixed in, was also going to publish it with the dynamic generation, but never did.

Age 21 - Started writing letters to our hedge fund investors, see investing.

Age 22 - Started a weekly personal blog | Letters to company Investors, unpublished. 

Age 23 - Coming up on one year anniversary of consecutive weekly blog publications  | Letters to investors, unpublished.

You can use the table of contents to the left or click here to check out my blog posts.

Last Updated 2024.06.10

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On Decentralized, Bottom Up Leadership

2023.8.6

Question of the day: how do you get 25 people to spend a month making a movie, sometimes staying up working til 2am, 5, or even 6… without paying anyone a dime?

I don’t know the exact answer, but I saw my friend, Ed, pull it off. And, it was a hell of a time — such of a hell of a time that I can definitively say being part of the making of On Gallows Hill was one of the best experiences of my life.

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Different Departments, Clear Contributions

On the set of the film, everyone knew what the mission is, and they knew how their role contributed to it.

The mission: make a movie. In the case of this movie, On Gallows Hill, the roles roughly followed the below org chart:



Caption: I don’t know if this is a conventional org chart, or if it’s even what was on paper for the production I just experienced; it’s simply what I extrapolated from observations.

In addition to what you see in the chart, camera had two Directors of Photography (DPs) and a couple of people below them, including lighting. Art included props, costumes, set design, makeup/sfx, and stunts. Art felt relatively flat org structure wise, but was very interdependent: makeup couldn’t do makeup if costume didn’t have the actors in costumes. (This particular scenario was never a problem, though — both makeup and costume were absolutely phenomenal on this set).

Additionally, there was an incredible amount of behind the scenes work that the production would not be possible without, none of which is represented on the above chart.

In general, functions were fairly obvious: If I needed a mic, I’d go to the sound team; if I needed makeup, I’d go to makeup. Moreover, if I needed makeup and I didn’t have it on yet, makeup would find me to make sure I was ready. Everyone knew what their responsibilities were and executed on them. Things were clear.

Again, though, not only did everyone know their role, they knew how it would contribute to the movie at large. They understood which way the bus was going.

Working Up to the Top… Or Not…

While unsolved problems would work their way up to Ed, the Director, there were plenty of places to catch and solve the issues before that, places that I don’t believe would have existed if the organization was aimless. For instance, if some people thought we were shooting for a commercial or a music video, nothing would have gotten done.

If the crew was spending a lot of time making micro adjustments before a take, but an actor who knew his own schedule understood a time constraint, he would ask the Director to call the shot. If one of the lighting guys missed didn’t see a problem with a shadow, one of the DP’s would jump in to help him. If an actor (*cough cough* me) forgot to put a mic on right before a shot, sound would jump in to make sure the audio was actually recorded (thanks, Nick!). And, if after an actor did a fight scene (*cough cough* me), his mic pack was now visible, costume might jump in to hide it (thanks, Nia!).



Caption: Sydney (makeup/sfx) situating a rod attached to a chest prosthetic made by J (stunts) while I’m in a bloodied outfit selected by Nia (costume) and Ed (director) climbs on some plywood out of frame to get a shot. Talk about complexity and team work…

Everyone knew that we were making a movie, and they understood their roles and constraints, so they knew how to solve problems. And, if there was an issue someone was responsible for that was not being taken care of, someone else would jump in, which was maybe the most outstanding and impactful part of the whole process.

Everyone wanted the movie to succeed.

Sure, if there was a problem that wasn’t solved, the Director would jump in and make the final call. But, if the Director would have seen every single little issue that arose, he would never get anything done. The set was optimized to solve as many problems as possible before they made it to the top.

Electric Culture

I believe the over arching mission and clear individual responsibilities were what fueled the culture on set, which was perhaps the most important element. Everyone’s energy and excitement made the shoot one of the most fun and fulfilling experiences I have ever had.

If you know me, I am now early to bed and a 6 am riser; I rarely compromise on that. I did for this movie, though. On one night, I actually stayed up til near my wake up time — I wasn’t in bed til 5:30am.

And you know what? I had fun doing it. The experience was electric. Everyone fully bought in. My sleep scheduled mattered so much less than the success of the movie. I only had 3 days on set, and I was willing to do anything to make it work.



Caption: Night time shot on a bridge. I was here until about 5 am; maybe 10 people stayed til 6.

The dedication was actually unbelievable. It was the kind of energy in which you forget to eat and don’t even care; it was the kind of focus and flow state that only comes from having a clear, singular goal.

We knew we were going to make a movie.

Application

Everyone had an individual purpose connected to the success of the endeavor. I won’t say this was the only reason the shoot was such a high level experience, but it was certainly a critical factor.

“Great leaders do not create followers, they create more leaders.”

 Tom Peters

Yes, there were problems, but they were solved. Ed learned a lot, and I did, too, even being there for only a few days. For a movie being produced by people with an average age of maybe 21, the experience was outstanding.

So, the takeaway and application: if every one has a clear purpose connected to the larger goal of the organization, all else will fall into place.

Cheers,

Noah Jacobs

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