All Kim Scott Articles – The Complete Collection

Rekommendation: Read the top three Kim Scott pieces first to establish a practical frame, then use the full set as a great, go-to resource for users during fundraising conversations.

I lens terms, the earliest insights focus on leadership, feedback, and authorization in teams, with great concrete steps that you can apply immediately in real contexts.

Run a practical exercise: map your current org chart and transpose roles to reflect decision rights, align with shipping cycles, and identify where failure might emerge; use maken small experiments to test assumptions without disrupting delivery, and keep an eye on flud in processes.

For founders in ycombinator cohorts, these pieces illuminate funding, partnerships, and metrics that help attract support; keep an eye on how shipping realities affect team momentum. If you work with kiko platforms or similar tools, tie recommendations to specific milestones.

Use the articles to craft a 4-week action plan: adopt lens on feedback loops, set manager expectations, and define specific coaching moments. Estimate impact on team morale, until you see measurable gains in engagement and delivery speed.

Keep a simple great checklist that logs roles, failure signals, and progress toward fundraising milestones; revisit quarterly to refresh priorities and ensure the machine of the organization runs smoothly, especially in early stage teams influenced by ycombinator learnings.

Apply Radical Candor in daily 1:1s: a step-by-step checklist

Checklist at a glance

Start each daily 1:1 with a direct question: “What is the one blocker that, if removed today, would move your work forward the most?” This sets focus and signals youll address real issues without blame.

Prepare the week’s notes by collecting 2 concrete, specific examples tied to current roles and projects. Save these in calendar reminders and in dropbox so you can reference them during the discussion. This prevents vagueness and anchors feedback in observable behavior.

Frame candor as care personally and challenge directly: acknowledge what the person does well, then explain the impact on the company and customers. Use language that invites improvement, not defensiveness.

Nurture trust so it feels like magma under the surface, keeping candor hot but controlled.

During the talk, use these three prompts to guide the conversation: (1) what went well and why it mattered, (2) what to improve with concrete steps, (3) what support you need and what blockers exist in the mailbox of work to move forward. Keep statements specific and brief.

End with a concrete action plan: assign owners, set a deadline in the calendar, and document the agreed steps in the project folder. For a co-founder or manager in a startup, align the next steps with business priorities and the rhythm of the team, circa the upcoming milestone.

Close with a quick check-in on cadence and morale: down the line youll see motionthink improve team trust and execution while avoiding flud bottlenecks in the process.

These habits scale across years and businesses, including startups and fintech teams, and translate well to co-founders and managers alike.

Templates you can reuse

Template 1: Observation, Impact, Next steps. Example: When you did X (specific behavior), the result was Y for the business. I would like you to try Z by date. These three parts keep feedback focused and actionable.

Template 2: Fintech context with clear ownership. Example: In the fintech project, your role as lead developer affected deployment speed. What I need from you is A, B, and C, with milestones in the calendar by date.

Template 3: Co-founder or roles alignment. Example: For the company growth, identify one skill to develop, one customer outcome to improve, and one collaboration change with the team. Owner: you; Support: me; Deadline: date.

Store the notes in mailbox after each session to track progress and refer back to these concrete steps in the next 1:1. More momentum comes from consistent follow-up and visible progress in calendar.

Give direct feedback that builds trust: 3 simple steps

Give direct feedback in three steps: name the behavior with data, explain the impact, and lock in a concrete action with follow-up. This approach creates trust in teams across startups, finance, and the company, delivering results that are easy to validate and repeat.

Step 1: Name the behavior with a concrete number. For example: in the last story, the pull request time grew from 4 hours to 14 hours, adding a 10-hour delay to the cycle. State the observation without labeling the person, and keep the belt of facts tight so others can see the logic. This magma of precise data is what lets colin and andrew raise the discussion from emotion to an evidence-based plan.

Step 2: Explain the impact and invite response. Connect the data to outcomes: customer value, release risk, and cost. Ask for input and keep the door open: “What blocked this, and how can we fix it?” Use neutral language to avoid gendered framing and validate the numbers with joão from finance and sindbaek from product, using the same lens and tools so the story stays consistent, through shared dashboards and templates.

Step 3: Agree on action and set follow-up. Propose a concrete action, assign an owner, and set a deadline. For instance: cut review time by half, update the checklist, and add an automated check in the CI. Record the decision in a single tool so the whole company sees it and follows up in one well-documented thread. If hamra suggests a template or checklist, try it; done well, this approach makes growth faster and more predictable for startups and more stable for finance teams.

Delegate with care: set clear expectations and ownership

Begin with a one-page ownership brief for each task: it names the owner, lists concrete deliverables, sets a deadline, and defines checkpoints. Keep this brief in the team deck so it is accessible during a customer discussion and during finance planning. This clarity reduces back-and-forth and keeps things moving when momentum dips.

Concrete template

Use a compact template recording: owner, specific outcome, milestones, blockers, dependencies, and progress signals. After a session with james, andrew, and colin, kumar captured blockers and added them to the deck. an episode showed how a simple lens on fundraising tasks improved alignment. lustig contributed a learning note that helps teams adjust quickly; heres a concise line we reuse: “owner: name; outcome: measurable; milestones: dates; next steps: list.” this approach makes things tangible and reduces ambiguity across the team. thats the standard we use to keep alignment.

During execution, maintain a radical conversation with the owner and peers. If a customer input reveals misalignment, update the brief within 24 hours, tag the right people, and schedule a quick check-in. If initial estimates miss the mark down the road, revisit the scope, find root cause, and make course corrections in the deck. Specificity matters: rewrite deliverables to be action-oriented (for example, ‘ship feature X by date Y,’ ‘validate with 5 customers’), and keep the focus on learning and growing for the squad, including members like kumar and colin as they grow in ownership.

Handle tough conversations: ready-to-use scripts

Use a three-step script formatically: State the fact, explain the impact, and ask for a concrete next step. Keep language precise, data-driven, and free of blame. Rehearse with a partner to maintain calm, pace your tone with motionthink, and tailor the script to the person you’re speaking with. Include a quick check-in at the end to confirm next steps and accountability. If you lead a team that includes co-founders like ömer, this approach helps align on funding horizons and speed, while staying respectful and clear.

Script 1: missed deadline with an individual contributor

“I noticed the Q3 report was delivered later than our agreed date, which pushes downstream milestones and increases the workload on the health team. The impact is slower decision-making and risk to the funding plan. What’s the earliest you can deliver the updated version, and what support do you need to hit that date?” Then: “If you can confirm by end of day, we can set a 15-minute check-in to review progress. youre responsible for this part, and youll share progress with the team by the next quick update.”

Script 2: behavior impacting team cadence

“During the last three team calls, the interruptions and tone slowed momentum. This affects trust and collaboration across employees, including Lustig’s group, and makes it harder to close the three fast milestones we laid out. What changes can you commit to this week to ensure constructive input and a calmer cadence?” Then: “I propose a 24-hour pause before replying in threads, and a recap email after meetings to document decisions.”

Script 3: receiving feedback from a report

“You provided feedback that the current process creates friction for reading and execution. The number of internal steps adds time to deliverables and affects funding readiness. If you share one concrete change you’d implement this week, I’ll mirror it in the plan and we’ll track impact for two weeks. What’s your first step?”

Script 4: delivering tough news about a project pause

“We’re pausing the project due to funding constraints and shifting priorities. This will affect timelines and resource allocation. The next steps: reallocate to the most critical outcomes, publish a revised timeline, and set a weekly status checkpoint. What would you need from me to finalize the new plan by Friday?”

Script 5: aligning workload and priorities with a team

“Your current workload is higher than the team average, which slows progress on health initiatives and other key goals. Let’s decide on three priorities for the next two weeks and assign owners. If you’re open, we’ll review progress in a brief check-in every two days.” Then: “Your role as co-founder or manager includes keeping clarity; youll confirm priorities and I’ll confirm next steps.”

Practical tips that reinforce these scripts: keep a precise number of data points, reference a known metric, and cite a specific date. Use the LinkedIn-network approach to gather external context only after internal alignment. Build a list of three ready-to-use phrases you can adapt for different personalities, then practice with colleagues like ömer or Lustig to simulate reactions. Track outcomes with a simple number-based log to improve over time, and flip back to a supportive tone if emotions rise.

Extra guidance: integrate short reading sessions into your routine to sharpen phrasing; your three fast experiences will inform better responses. If you’re investing in a healthier culture, keep conversations concise, focused on outcomes, and oriented toward collaboration, not containment. When in doubt, share a brief plan publicly on LinkedIn or with your team to anchor accountability and momentum.

Create feedback rituals: fast routines for team improvement

Launch a 15-minute daily feedback sprint that accelerates learning and aligns the team. Use a concise template: What happened, What I learned, What I’ll change, Who will help, By when. Keep logs in a shared document so progress stays visible and easy to review before the next planning session.

• Daily micro-feedback sprint: 5–7 minutes at day end. Each participant posts one concrete observation and one action item. Log entries go into a shared document and are referenced in the next stand-up to reinforce accountability.

• Weekly founders roundtable: 20–30 minutes with two to three rotating participants. Surface blockers, assign an owner, and publish the next-step for the week. Use a short triad format: Wins, Blockers, Next steps.

• User feedback loop: 60 minutes weekly to gather and synthesize user insights. Collect 5–7 data points, summarize into one actionable theme, and assign an owner. Post results in the team wiki and reflect during the next sprint.

• Failure-friendly postmortems: After a misstep, run a 45-minute review focusing on root cause, countermeasures, and owners. Record findings in a compact template and review progress in the following week’s log.

• Quarterly health check: Every quarter, review team capacity, workflow efficiency, and learning progress. Use a simple rubric: delivery pace, output quality, cross-team collaboration, and user impact. Update a visible dashboard so anyone can scan it at a glance.