Playbook

Integrity

Are you really living "your" life, or merely executing your learned behaviours (pre-dispositions)?

What is you (i.e. your truth) cannot be acquired, it is already within. What you need to get to it, is to drop the ego. All fears, insecurities, delusions, hope i.e. all expectations from the universe to behave at your whim. For perhaps, these are merely attributes of the identity of the person that you think you are in your head. In reality, you are limitless.

Integrity != Honesty

Integrity == Your truth in this moment

Your

You are not your fear, insecurities; neither are you your hopes and delusions. You are what remains sans them.

Choose your consciousness (self) and not the blindness of your predispositions.

Truth

To see reality as is, not as you want it to be.

With that perspective, everything external stops being good or bad; it just is. A mere data point. And that frees the mind to focus on appropriate action, instead of indulging in reaction.

In the moment

The past exists only within your memory, the future is confined to your dreams. The only place truth can exist in is in this moment.

Have the ability to be whatever you choose to be in this moment, irrespective of whatever the moment last was.

Integrity in action

Don't confuse what you wish were true with what is really true.Ray Dalio

To do (choose) what is appropriate for the moment, not what you "want" to be appropriate instead.

For that "want" is perhaps inaccurate until it is an awareness i.e. it is not a reaction but a response. An example of commonly accepted yet inaccurate "want" is when at the time of committing to deliver an outcome, the choice of doing your best is made.

Ask: Can you deliver X outcome by Y time?
Response: I will do my best

Now, they may appear the same at the moment; but that can't be farther from the truth. The former is about the outcome, and the latter all about the ego.

Instead, the true version of the moment may be spent finding the path to victory, not indulging in a path that is known to be not. The latter is only an attempt to satiate the desire to appear congruent.

Drop the ego and salvate with service.

What would be the truth of this moment?

In this moment:

My truth (as the voice), is to mellow this thought enough to be accessible to the largest size of market that TVP needs.

Your truth (as the listener) may be to be here with your binary mindspace. Conscious. For that is a precursor for any self-growth to occur.

Spend time living the words here, not merely reading them.

The playbook shall strive for affording its ease, by reducing content overload and focusing on just what you may need to perform.

Why is integrity the chosen motivator?

TLDR: For it's the reality, of why individuals do what they do.

Long form: For nothing else comes close to the kind of drive that it generates. It = your truth. There is no global truth, there is only subjective truth. Anything that an individual "desire"s and in due course "becomes", occurs. The only time it doesn't, is when the desire is not "true" enough. For you can't intellectualize your truth, you can't convince yourself of it, neither can you borrow it from externalities (i.e. morality). Your truth may only be discovered; within. And we are all, at best tending towards our (true) "self"s, albiet at different levels of efficiency.

Be here, only when we are your truth.

Applying to TVP

It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.Steve Jobs

We look for A-players. We see ourselves as a sports team, always playing to win. And scout and nurture for the next future Messi/Ronaldo/< insert a player that inspires you >.

• We understand that a job search/switch is a strenous process. We want to make it as swift and predictable as possible.
• The process is designed to reach a successful conclusion within 2 weeks. And ever candidate we talk to is given closure. That's the least we think we can do.
• We don't do JDs. Instead you will find us talking about the kind of problems you'd be working on here.

1. Scouting

Our scouts are always on the look out. When something catches their eye that demonstrates that we might be a relevant spot in the universe for you, they will reach out and have a conversation.

2. Establishing relevance

We like truth. The conversation will usually start with why we think you may be a good fit. And encourage you to apply for the role.

3. Evaluation

This is where we assess current strengths and weaknesses in your skill set and cuture fit. This is usually done asynchronousy over emails, to give you ample mindspace to respond (and not react).

4. First date

We don't like the word interview. Instead it is an oppurtunity to get to know each other, for the both of us. Please do come prepared with any questions that you may have for us.

This is also when we'll extend a contingent offer, including specifics of the role. This for us both to get on the same page in terms of expectations. And help you make the decision easier.

5. Meet the team

If you are actively considering us it would be wise to meet and work with the team for a day before you commit to a longer term engagement. This is that moment.

6. Design your next 45 days

We would strongly encourage you to spend time to visualize your next 45 days. If you can’t see it, you haven’t thought about your decision with consciousness. Do so now.

Include but not limit to:

• Your win: Map out your OKR for day 30. Deep dive
• 1:1-review schedule: Start with scheduling all 1:1s in advance on your team leader's calendar. Deep dive
• Self-training: Account for the time it would take to learn 'how to operate' protocol here. Deep dive

This is the moment of the final offer.

Welcome to Day 0

Welcome aboard!

Demystifying the Dotted Line

We seek to enable a culture of individual freedom, responsibility and growth. This approach is contrarian to labor law, that seeks to incentivize 'permanency' of jobs (over self-responsibility). Hence, we stay clear of it. Instead we (i.e. you and us) decide and commit to the terms of our engagement that 'we' choose and sign that into a contract. This applies for everyone in the team.

Here is the contract we use: Contract Template

Here is more on why we do so:

• We like to engage with each other as free self-responsible individuals, without a bureaucrat dictating what can and can not be done.
• You should only be here because you want to (be here), not because you 'have' to by some law.
• Similarily, it incentivizes us to create a culture that is enticing enough for everyone to stick together.
• The idea of permanancy is untrue. Impermanace is the true nature of the universe. And we respect that. We seek to attract individuals that reject this delusion.
• Do not expect a boss-employee relationship. We are all co-passengers on the same journey, albeit ephemeral (in the larger scheme of things).
• PS: This approach also translates into lower taxes for each individual.

Here is what we do instead:

• 11 month contracts with everyone that are set to auto-renew. Includes details of all benefits and perks.
• Playbook is a part of the contract. It is every evolving, hence, you are responsible for keeping in touch with it. Check for #playbook-changelog channel on slack.

Taxes:

• All payments are categorised as payment for professional services.
• The advantage with this approach is that you only end up paying taxes on half your income. So, if your income is under ₹10 lakhs, your income tax is 0. Read more
• The downside is that your TDS goes up. This process is done at our end. The law mandates a 10% TDS deduction on income greater than 30k in a financial year. Read more
• This is advance tax that's paid in Income tax depertment's account under your name, and the IT department adjusts it against your actual tax liability at the end of the year. That is, when you file your IT returns at the end of the year, the department adjusts your actual tax due against the already accrued TDS and returns the balance in your account.

Starting at TVP

Welcome aboard Sailor!

Take time and mindspace to understand the new environment. It's important that you ask questions if there is less than binary clarity on anything. It is likely that we have fallen short somewhere. Use #mastering-playbook channel on slack.

Strap on!

1. It’s likely going to be overwhelming, let it. Watch fear(/delusion) and acknowledge it’s existence; then focus all your energies on action. As you progress, let the fear loose interest in you and thus, afford you your liberation.
2. The ask from you is to be familiar with this Playbook before you join

Your first day

The intent is to get you upto base-level productivity in under 2 hours.

First day checklist

Probationary Period

The first 45 days.

A “probationary period” is a standard legal term required by labour law, but it’s really a space for us to ensure that we feel confident of our fit to you and are able to offer timely intervention.

We want you to succeed and to become a full member of the team, as much as you do.

Executing at TVP

The vantage you will need to successfully execute here.

Understanding the problem completely, is the solution itself.

Outcomes are occurrences, that occur as a result of a process.

Think of it as a production line that manufactures cars (for visual). The output is a completely built car with an assembly line assembling different parts.

Once the car is done, its characteristics and hence, scope isn’t in your control. The only place where you’d be able to impact change is in the process before it.

This POV is similar to systems thinking. The latter helps in analysis and helps arrive at "why", the former is forward looking and helps arrive at "how to".

Vantage: Whenever trying to understand how an outcome will be achieved, focus on seeing the process behind its current state (if it’s an optimization strategy) or seeing the process behind a similar or correlated outcome (if it’s an innovation strategy). In that vantage, you should be able to see the variables of the process and hence, its lever. You are now in control.

What you don’t measure, can’t get improved.

Use:

1. Macro level data for:
• Post-battle analysis
• Successive goal setting
2. Micro level data for finding oppurtunities for improvement.
   Think of it like your personal ultrasound lens.

(Micro level) Data tells. Listen to it and it will also tell you the path to your victory.

1. What kind of data to look for: Ratios.

Absolute numbers are a manager’s vanity, not a doers tool.

2. All processes occur in stages.

A car production assembly is usually not one single line. It is divided between multiple sections like paintshop, body works, engine assembly etc.

For simplification, assume this to be a straight line process where all sections work in series and none in parallel and hence, directly dependend on each other.

Vantage:Hence, identifying its stages can offer you control. What you can control, you can change.

How to know which events are user progress-ion and which are user motion?

Every event that lies on the path towards creating revenue from the user is progress-ion. For every other vector isn’t progress.

How to find opportunities for growth once the funnel is ready?

This is a skill that will build with time.

Critical path is the shortest path

In the car assembly line, the maximum rate of production is = the lowest common rate of the all components. ONLY the lowest common rate.

Hence, the input car part that is the slowest (most lagging) is what the final assembly out is going to be. All focus must always be to increase rate of production only that step.

In chemistry there exists a similar concept: Rate determining step.

Vantage: Always focus on improving the rate determining step. Only. Until it isn’t one anymore. Then move the one that is the new rate determining step.

Innovation isn’t a project, it is an experiment.

If you can’t see at least a path to the outcome, it is still an innovation problem. Projects don’t solve innovation problems. Experiments do. Experiments are designed to test the limits of failure, projects are designed to not fail.

Vantage: Convert each innovation “project” into an operational one by doing enough experiments to gain vantage on how to reach the outcome.

For that ensures once a project is underway in the company, its victory is certain.

Employment Policies

These are non-negotiable and a hard limit. You may not continue employment here without absolute adoption. Violation will result in termination.

Equal Opportunity Employment

We are a meritocratic culture. We only care about the value added and the benchmark is the same for everyone, irrespective of their past background or current identity.

This policy is not legally mandated, but we choose it regardless.

Code of conduct

• Consent

  Be empathetic of how you treat, speak and think about others. Consent needs to be explicit. And a No, means No.

• Honesty

  You must not lie, hide or conceal truth anytime. That includes honesty towards yourself and towards others. Irrespective of however hard the truth may be.

• Non-Violence

  You may not offload your agitations onto others. They are your responsibility. Instances of violence may include but not limited to physical aggression, verbal shouting and/or an intent to harm.

• Non-Disclosure

  You are expected to not disclose financial/strategic/confidential information to any outsider. When you aren't sure, ask your team leader.

Employee Privacy

The company maintains a file for each employee that includes personnel information, documents submitted, communication history, performance records, and other activity.

You will be assigned a company email account. You are to use that for creating all other work related accounts. No personal accounts to ever be used for work purposes. All such accounts and other work related properties created during employment are company property and not private.

Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy

No, means no. Explicit consent is the base layer on which all human interactions are built. Any violation is unacceptable and will dealt punitively.