This week, Growth Engineer at Automattic Luca Sartoni took over the ManageWP AMA. Sartoni began as a developer and soon fell in love with the connection between software and marketing.
He’s been working at Automattic for two years and helped organize WordCamp Europe. Community members stopped by to ask about public speaking, marketing, and as always, the future of WordPress.
Here are five takeaways.
Beware the illusion of knowledge.
Though there are several pitfalls to growing the engineering process, the worst is the “illusion of knowledge.” Being overly certain about something can leave room for error.
“We should not fear what we don’t know, but what we think we know and we don’t. Always make sure that you are not too sure about things,” Sartoni said.
This can be applied to any kind of business. There is always more to learn about something.
Experience doesn’t remove the fear of public speaking.
Sartoni is no stranger to public speaking and even hosted a workshop on the subject in Belgrade. That doesn’t, however, make it easier.
“Don’t worry, it’s scary for everyone. Experience will not remove the fear, it will just help manage it,” he said.
Preparation and practice will also make the experience much less painful. Make sure you’ve done a lot of research so you really know your topic. Then rehearse again and again. You’ll feel much less nervous if you know exactly what you have to do.
We need to open up the web.
Sartoni believes the biggest problem facing WordPress is a closed down web,.
“We need to work for an open web where ideas can flow freely across platforms and not be confined to the shiny new app, website, or service,” he said.
Distributed work requires trust.
According to Sartoni, distributed work is a type of work that doesn’t require a certain time or place. This allows people to work anytime and from anywhere. There are a few things you have to do to make it work.
Because you can’t count success by the hours worked, you have to look at the work your employees are completing. With that, you need to completely trust your staff.
“You need to trust blindly your complete workforce because micro-management cannot be performed,” Sartoni said.
It’s also crucial to have stellar communication.
“You cannot synchronize asynchronous work if you don’t have a crystal clear communication process,” Sartoni said.
F1 has amazing napping powers.
When asked what his favorite sport is, Sartoni revealed he has practiced Aikido for many years and also has an interest in cricket.
However, there is one sport that will always put him to sleep.
“I’m intrigued by the napping power of F1. It must be the soothing sound of the engines, or something like that. I remember the Monaco GP as the best way to sleep thought my summer Sunday afternoon when I was younger,” Sartoni said.
The new season of ManageWP AMA’s is set to go through the end of the year.
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