Move Fast Without Breaking Things
Inspired by Kevin Weil episode
Kevin Weil says OpenAI ships quickly but carefully. Parents can be flexible without abandoning core boundaries.
OpenAI ships fast on things that don't break critical systems. They slow down on things that could cause real damage. The key is knowing which is which.
You need this same triage for boundaries. Can your kid wear pajamas to preschool? Ship it. Will they remember you said no chocolate after dinner yesterday? They have a forensic memory for broken promises. That's a critical system.
The problem is you won't know which boundary is which until you've already broken the wrong one. You let them have a cookie before breakfast ONE TIME during a pandemic lockdown in March 2020, and now it's January and they're citing precedent like they're arguing before the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the thing you thought mattered—matching socks, sitting still at restaurants, literally anything about vegetables—turns out you could've shipped that change six months ago and nobody would've cared.
