How to Bake a Change • Daniel Terhorst-North • GOTO 2023

Key Takeaways

• Progress is not about just changing the recipe, but also the way the organization works
• Focus on knowledge instead of data; knowledge is what drives innovation and progress
• Abundance mindset: assume there is always enough, and that abundance is a natural state
• Experimentation: try new things, learn from them, and adjust accordingly
• Quality consultants: often overcomplicate things, focus on automation and simplicity instead
• Formal economics: often get it wrong, focus on the underlying cause of frustration instead
• DevOps: is not just about speeding things up, but also about making things reliable and efficient
• Automation: make work easier, not just faster
• Small wins: start small, celebrate small wins, and build momentum
• Collaboration: work together, eliminate, simplify, and automate
• Purpose alignment: understand what people are doing, what they’re good at, and how to make it better
• Visualization: visualize, eliminate, and simplify to make things easier to understand and manage
• Agility: focus on adapting to change, not just being fast
• Experimentation: try new things, learn from them, and adjust accordingly
• Active listening: listen to what people are saying, not just what they’re doing
• Incremental goodness: focus on making small, incremental improvements