Hello, I'm Kyle. You might know me as KQD.

Briefly:

• Ohio born & raised.
• Programmer, writer, runner, footballer.
• Studied computer science and (because I liked a girl) English writing.
• Dad x3 (because same girl liked me).
• Building Patriot Software since 2014.

Some things I believe (always evolving):

• My faith.
• There is no substitute for hard work.
• Discipline > motivation.
• Learn from others, but compete against yourself.
• Playtime with kids is the closest thing to real magic we have.
• Always tell your teachers and coaches thank you.
• Routinely save time for you to be alone.
• Take 100% ownership over why you're at where you're at.
• Don't complain. Less than 100 years ago, 24-year-olds stormed Normandy.
• Developing natural skills > following your "passion".
• Attitude and effort matter more than you think.
• People vastly underweight the value of simply being kind.
• Often you'll need to imitate before you can innovate.
• Actively seek out your weaknesses by inviting critique.
• Writing helps you think. Write a lot.
• All first drafts are terrible.
• Simple and concise storytelling is an S-tier skill.
• If you have a problem you can't solve, go run three miles.
• If you want to be viewed as a leader, help raise up more leaders.

Specifically on tech/business:

• Moving fast is the most important thing in business.
  • You never have enough information, learn to make good bets anyways.
  • Keep things as simple as possible.
  • Moving fast requires smaller teams, and small teams are more fun.
  • Speed increases learning velocity, which is your company's most important metric.
  • You do not have to compromise quality.
• A majority of tech companies are >1-5x overstaffed.
  • Wait as long as humanly possible to hire—most aren't ready for the pain this brings.
  • A company's culture is who they hire, fire, and promote.
  • Performance reviews should be one yes/no question: "Would you enthusiastically hire this person again, right now?"
• Most tech companies get deadlines wrong.
  • Have deadlines.
  • Almost all "here's how to measure engineering" metrics are dumb.
  • Deadlines help contain scope and force decision making.
  • Work fills the time allotted, so allot less and bet on iterations.
  • Readjust if the team can hit the deadline but the quality isn't there.

General advice: Work incredibly hard, spend as much time with those you love as possible, be kind, and give everyone a square deal.