Celebrating Scrappiness

When I joined Google, there wasn't much higher praise you could receive than being called “scrappy.” I started in 2010, during the startup era of Google Enterprise (now Google Cloud), and in my early days we wore scrappiness like a badge of honor. We were at the bleeding edge of extending Google’s consumer products to the world of business and there was nothing but blank space to fill, introducing companies across the world to the benefits of cloud technology. We were a "nimble" organization (code word for small) and had to be creative about doing everything “at scale” and in a repeatable manner. We didn’t have the people or systems in place to make it work any other way.

At some point there was a shift where being “scrappy” stopped being a clear-cut compliment. In the pockets where it was necessary, scrappiness often proved to be troublesome. Sometimes it became a liability.

Being scrappy means embracing courage and bold actions. It involves trial and error and changing course on a dime. It’s a key ingredient for innovation, but in a big organization or team, scrappiness tends to create messiness and confusion. It's raw and unrefined - fancy words for disorganized and incomplete.

After we hit that inflection point, we’d often joke about how "Scrappy is just crappy with an S!"​

But the truth is, I missed the open invitation to be scrappy, where the only real constraint was my imagination.

What got me thinking about this? I attended the Signal Awards party last week with my producer Pablo to celebrate our recent win. As we chatted with the other folks in the room, we quickly realized we were the rag tag, underdog team who basically threw together a pair of rickety chairs so we could sit at the big, fancy podcast table.

We’re scrappy - in a good way. Because scrappiness is the seed of creating something new and meaningful.

We spent much of the evening reflecting on how incredible it was to be there. Now, to be fair, Pablo has been in rooms like it before; he's a seasoned producer whose music has been in globally syndicated commercials and films, and he produces several other notable podcasts besides mine. But I only started working on this podcast in earnest a year ago. The venue was packed with production teams from "real deal" companies - CNN, NPR, PBS, HBO, you get the gist.

​Hasan Minhaj even graced the stage to accept a special award. It was refreshing to hear a celebrity shower so much gratitude on the team that supports him, although seeing his army of 7 on stage with him also drove an important point home. It takes a lot of work to create and promote a project exploring new territory.

I’ve been breathing a bit easier since that moment.

While I know awards aren’t everything, earning a seat at the table, and being able to legitimately compare my podcast to heavy hitting shows has been incredibly validating. One of the challenges about being in the “early days” of any new project is it’s hard to know if what you’re working on is any good, or of value to anyone else. There’s a famous Ira Glass quote I’ve included at the end of this note ("the gap") that I've recently found comfort in. Doubt - and disappointment - are natural parts of the creative process. Especially when you're starting something new.​

The podcast is scrappy, because that's what it's supposed to be at this stage. I'm experimenting to see what works, playing around with formats and topics and all the directions I might choose to go.

And yet... we also belonged in that room - because the show is real and raw. Because it's scrappy.

As for what’s next, I’ll be sharing a few new episodes soon that needed reflection and rework before they were ready for your ears. I’m also working on a new batch. I'll be exploring some broader topics, and I'm excited for this next wave of discovery.

Before I sign off on this note, I did want to share one thing. I set a new goal with Pablo this week.

I want to get back to the Signal Awards ceremony next year. I've got a new goal in my sights.

It's time to get to work.

💥 Break Out!

👉 Ira Glass: The Gap

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through that.” - Ira Glass