Dru's Notes

Each day I ask one question: what's the one thing I can do that makes everything else easier or unnecessary? Putting a time estimate beside the answer forces a mental simulation before you lift a finger.

Show Notes

Each day I ask one question: what's the one thing I can do that makes everything else easier or unnecessary? Putting a time estimate beside the answer forces a mental simulation before you lift a finger.

Featuring: Sun Tzu

Read the full post

Brought to you by:

Trends.vc: Discover new markets and opportunities. https://trends.vc/

HeadsUp: Know when your competitors move. Before your customers do. https://headsup.bot

Multi: Turn any content into a YouTube video. https://makemulti.com

Chapters:

(00:00) Sun Tzu on calculations before battle
(00:08) Daily question and the time estimate
(00:19) Estimating as mental simulation
(00:32) The 90-minute cardiac deadline
(00:52) Activating the lab before arrival
(01:11) Walking the path before the clock

Where to find Dru:

Essays: https://druriley.com/
X: https://x.com/DruRly
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dru-notes
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/drus-notes/id1888795427
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3lFHqgKxuvEHmdiEUfYShG

Subscribe to Dru's Notes for a new episode every day.

Creators and Guests

ST
Guest
Sun Tzu
Featured in Dru's Notes: The Estimation Trick I Use to Start Moving.

What is Dru's Notes?

One mental model each day in a few minutes. Habits, business, building products and thinking clearly. From Dru Riley, founder of Trends.vc.

"Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought."
Sun Tzu

Each day I ask one question. What's the one thing I can do that makes everything else easier or unnecessary?

Lately I've started putting a time estimate next to the answer.

Estimating the work forces a simulation.

To set the number, you picture the steps. You see where to begin, what you need on hand and what finished looks like.

That mental walkthrough is priming.

Hospitals treating a blocked artery run against a deadline of 90 minutes.

Door to balloon, they call it. The clock runs from the front entrance to the moment a catheter opens the artery. In 2005 fewer than half of American patients beat it.

A 90-minute deadline leaves no time to coordinate after arrival.

Hospitals started the sequence before the patient reached the door. A paramedic sent the heart tracing ahead from the ambulance. One call activated the lab.

By 2010 the national median fell from 96 minutes to 64. The share of patients inside the window went from 44% to 91%.

An estimate is a rehearsal. You walk the path before you start the clock.

Which project would you estimate to start moving?