For the curious, “luck surface area” was coined/popularized by Jason Roberts from the Techzing and Tropical MBA podcasts.
Our own patio11 (Patrick McKenzie) also helped propagate the concept.
The basic equation is L = D * T — that is, luck surface area equals doing times telling.
I think the author strays from the original concept a bit. She’s not necessarily wrong, but I get a sense of focusing on style over substance in most of her examples as compared to the original concept.
3. I imagine that Jason would be happy to talk to you if you contact him and tell him what you’re doing. He goes by jayro here on HN, but I am not sure how active he is on HN these days.
3. I think there were at least two main issues that LSA tried to address. One was capable tech people who were not finding work opportunities that were commensurate with their skill. Another was about the benefits of building in public. Which leads to…
4. Patrick McKenzie (patio11 on HN) built and sold two businesses publicly (Bingo Card Creator and Appointment Reminder). He was a big proponent of building publicly as a way to increase luck surface area, and I think that the strategy worked well for him. He also wrote a truckload on various sites including but not limited to HN. I imagine he would also be open to talking to you if you reach out
5. To provide some more constructive commentary about your excerpt, I get the sense that each of the headings are mostly byproducts of increasing LSA — namely, be passionate about something and talk to people about it. If you do that, then it’s easy to operate from a place of genuine curiosity, you will naturally (without trying) be auditioning for a bigger role, you will be giving before you take, and you will be airing your weirdness (although it’s probably not weird). Hosting events (overly specific) and a period of lostness (talking to the wrong audience?) just seem extremely peripheral to me in the discussion of LSA.
Anyway, thank you again for posting your excerpt. Best of luck!
Our own patio11 (Patrick McKenzie) also helped propagate the concept.
The basic equation is L = D * T — that is, luck surface area equals doing times telling.
I think the author strays from the original concept a bit. She’s not necessarily wrong, but I get a sense of focusing on style over substance in most of her examples as compared to the original concept.