I read ‘Learn or Die: Shi nu Ki de Manabe Purifādo Nettowākusu no Chōsen’ (Learn or Die: Learn with Deadly Determination - Preferred Networks’ Challenge), so I’ll share the insights I gained from the book.

Background: Wanting to Know About PFN

Since it’s a famous book about PFN, I read it 😊

The following are quotes from memorable sections and my notes.

Four Values for Taking on Challenges

Like tuna, engineers must constantly incorporate new technologies or they'll die. So engineers are like tuna. They must keep learning constantly.

💡 Engineer ≈ Tuna theory

The First Commercialized Large-Scale Full-Text Search Engine Didn't Sell Well

If we can provide technology to companies that offer services, we can continue developing technology. Instead of accepting work that makes us completely subcontractors, like simple jobs with fixed requirements, if we can conduct joint research with high degrees of freedom, engineers can continue creating new value for society.

💡 Escaping subcontracting. Joint ○○ as equal partnerships.

Entrepreneurship Should Be Started "When You Think of It"

I feel that the more you prepare for entrepreneurship, the less motivated you become. It's best to start when you think of it. When you prepare, you start thinking about risks. When you start thinking about risks, you conclude that "getting a regular job is better." That's natural. So it might have been important to start boldly in the midst of "this looks interesting" enthusiasm.

💡 I prepared extensively for entrepreneurship, so I think this depends on the person.

Communication Skills Becoming Important for Engineers Too

Not just learning from others, but discussing with people and connecting different fields is quite essential. Engineers who can't be independent as a team while also collaborating have no future.

💡 Collaboration skills now required of engineers

That's why I also emphasize business manners. Many people at startups don't wear suits, but I often wear suits. There's a backstory to this - during the PFI era, when I went to sales meetings at a large company wearing a hoodie, they pointed out my attire. At that time, I thought, "That's true, there's no need to give a sloppy impression through clothing, and there's no need to do things that would deliberately create negatives." Since then, I've made an effort to learn business manners that should be learned. If business manners cause people to close their hearts, you won't be able to obtain what you could have obtained.

💡 Unless you have strong preferences, it’s better not to do things that create negatives.

Motivation-Driven

There are degrees of autonomy. There's the level where goals are fixed and you just innovate methods, and there's giving freedom to the goals themselves. As a company, we want each team and member to work on tasks with autonomy, so we consider it important whether they can have motivation about "what to solve" itself. "What to solve" should be decided by the person or team themselves. As management, we could force it, but ideally, we want people to work on things they spontaneously think "I want to solve this."

💡 As a manager, this is both the most difficult and interesting aspect.

Proud, but Humble

However, it's not good when humility is lost and people become overconfident and don't listen to others. The "Learn or Die" decision to "have expertise in multiple fields" is good in that respect too. Even people who are extremely strong specialists in one field are just amateurs when they go to other fields. They end up doing nonsensical things or asking off-target questions. They really start from being beginners. Through such experiences, even if you're strong in one field, you can realize that you're a weak beginner in other fields and in a position to learn.

💡 The humility that’s important in Learn or Die.

In Hiring Interviews, We Emphasize "Whether They're Enjoying It"

It's difficult to determine whether someone can continue learning and growing. But one important signal is "whether they're enjoying it." In interviews, we emphasize whether they can speak passionately about their field of interest. We also ask quite probing questions about their specialty. We look at whether their own uniqueness emerges there. Ultimately, we can only look at passion and motivation. For collaboration too, it's not just about being good at communication, but even if communication isn't their strength, we look at whether they have something that shines.

💡 Points to look for in interviews: Ultimately passion and motivation.

Be Careful About How to Increase Product Development Members

There are basically no hierarchical relationships among employees. There are leaders, but leaders aren't "superior" - they're just people in charge of pulling projects forward. On the other hand, there are people creating breakthrough technologies. Which is more important? The correct answer is that there's no difference in importance.

💡 Leadership as a role is something I want to value in my organizational theory.

Don't Do Business That Only Takes Time

The meaning of "we don't do simple subcontracting" is that we don't do work commonly done in subcontracting, like "please make this according to these specifications." We don't do work where there's no room for our creativity and where we can't see any possibility of us expanding the developed results horizontally.

💡 I agree

Conclusion: Question What's Commonly Said and Look for Loopholes of Possibility

At PFN, we don't hire people who extremely value experience. We call people who can only see things through their own experience "experience addicts." Conditions have changed from before.

💡 In a world where we don’t know what will happen next, experience can sometimes become a hindrance. This is also in the context of unlearning.

Engineers like tuna who must keep learning constantly. That’s all from the Gemba.