jose@public:~$ learn
Learn
What building companies, software and teams taught me.
The most valuable lessons are the ones you don’t learn twice.
============================================================ 2006
In 2006 I bought a Moleskine notebook.
On its first page I wrote ten rules.
They weren’t meant to inspire anyone.
They weren’t management theory.
They were simply reminders.
Rules I wanted to follow every day while learning to become a consultant, a manager and, eventually, a founder.
That notebook travelled with me through customer projects, airports, meetings and countless hotel rooms.
Twenty years later, I still recognise myself in most of those rules.
Some survived unchanged.
Some evolved.
A few only made sense after living through them.
============================================================
- Don’t expect the customer to be rational. ============================================================
2006
Don’t expect the customer to be rational.
2026
Today I’d probably write it differently.
Customers are rational.
Just not according to your model.
Every decision makes sense once you understand their incentives, constraints and fears.
My job was never to convince customers to think like me.
It was to understand why they thought differently.
============================================================ 2. ABS — Always Be Solving.
2006
ALWAYS BE SOLVING.
2026
Twenty years later, this is probably still the rule that defines me best.
Whether building companies, improving radio stations, implementing ERP systems, or creating a foundation…
I’ve never been motivated by technology itself.
I’ve always been motivated by solving problems worth solving.
============================================================ 3. If you don’t know how to solve a problem, learn or hire.
2006
Learn or hire.
2026
This became one of the foundations of every company I built.
The objective was never to be the smartest person in the room.
It was to build rooms full of people smarter than me.
If I couldn’t learn something fast enough, I found someone who already knew.
Curiosity scales.
Ego doesn’t.
============================================================ 4. Deflect glory to your manager.
2006
Deflect glory to your manager.
2026
Back then I wasn’t the manager.
Later I became one.
Leadership changed the meaning of this rule.
Today I’d write:
Share success.
Own failure.
People remember how you behave when things go wrong.
Not when they go well.
============================================================ 5. NEVER COMPLAIN.
2006
NEVER COMPLAIN.
2026
This was never about accepting everything.
It was about spending energy where it creates value.
Complaining rarely improves a situation.
Understanding it often does.
If something can be fixed, fix it.
If it can’t, move on.
============================================================ 6. Be a yes man in meetings, and then do what’s right behind the scenes.
2006
Be a yes man…
2026
This is probably the rule I disagree with the most.
Experience taught me that difficult conversations are part of leadership.
Today I’d say:
Challenge ideas honestly. Once a decision has been made, commit completely.
============================================================ 7. Find a way to sneak in success.
2006
Find a way to sneak in success.
2026
I still love this one.
It never meant cutting corners.
It meant leaving every project better than you found it.
Improve something even if nobody asked.
Automate one more task. Simplify one more process. Document one more decision. Small improvements accumulate.
Eventually, they become culture.
============================================================ 8. Integrity is your main asset.
2006
Integrity is your main asset.
2026
Nothing to add.
Every company can recover from a difficult year.
Trust is much harder to rebuild.
============================================================ 9. No one is ever served by job-protectionism thinking.
2006
No one is ever served by job-protectionism thinking.
2026
This idea became one of Globe Testing’s foundations.
Everybody is necessary. Nobody is indispensable.
Knowledge should be shared. Processes should survive people.
This belief drove many decisions. ISO processes. Documentation. Automation. Odoo.
Not because technology is interesting. Because organisations become stronger when they depend on systems, not heroes.
============================================================ 10. You can’t win ’em all.
2006
You can’t win ’em all.
2026
Some projects fail.
Some customers leave.
Some people move on.
Some ideas simply don’t work.
The important thing is to keep moving.
============================================================ Lessons that came later
Some lessons weren’t written in that notebook.
Life added them afterwards.
Everybody is necessary. Nobody is indispensable.
The best organisations don’t depend on exceptional individuals.
They make ordinary people capable of doing extraordinary work.
A great sailor is not made in calm waters.
This became part of Globe’s culture.
It appeared on the cover of our employee notebooks.
It was painted on the wall of our Galicia office.
It was said frequently half jokinly by managers and staff.
The most meaningful projects, the hardest decisions and the greatest personal growth never happened when everything was easy.
============================================================ 2026
Looking back, I don’t think experience gave me better answers.
It gave me better questions.
Some rules changed.
Some became stronger.
A few disappeared.
Only one idea has survived every project, every company and every stage of my career.
Always be solving.