Working and building in public

For the last year or so, I’ve been working (or “building”) in public. Each week, I share what I’m working on with the world via my newsletter and podcast. Here are a few of my observations so far.

Working in public is the process of repurposing, repackaging, and sharing your exhaust

When a car engine runs, it generates waste in the form of toxic emissions. The car’s exhaust system collects this waste and releases it toward the back of the vehicle. Like cars, we produce our own exhaust as we work.

Instead of letting your exhaust go to waste, what if you recycled it and shared it? Repurposing, repackaging, and sharing your exhaust is at the core of working in public. And the examples are endless.

I’ve read and taken notes on nonfiction material since I graduated college. This past year, I began repurposing those notes and publishing them on my website. So far, I’ve published more than 40 sets and 2,000-plus readers review them each month.

Mark Suster published an excellent series on how to lose weight called How I Lost 65 Pounds In 18 Months Without Any Fad Diets or Gimmicks. Mark took his learnings from an 18-month weight-loss journey and repackaged them into an informative guide. It’s one of the best weight-loss how-tos I’ve ever read.

The team at ConvertKit uses many metrics to operate the business. Instead of keeping these metrics private, they share them in real-time via a public dashboard. This transparency increases customer loyalty and trust. It also motivates and educates aspiring entrepreneurs.

Working in public is about turning your trash into another person’s treasure.

There are many benefits to working in public

There are many advantages to working in public. Here are my top five.

First, working in public is a powerful forcing function. Working in public increases your reputational risk, which increases your accountability. This can help you maximize productivity and minimize procrastination.

Second, working in public increases your trustworthiness. Working in public requires you to be vulnerable and transparent. This can make you more predictable, which tends to cause people to trust you more.

Third, working in public creates new relationship opportunities. You become easier for people to discover and approach.

Fourth, when you work in public, you get more help. When your relationships have more context about what you’re working on and the challenges you face, it’s easier for them to help you. Feedback is one example.

Fifth, working in public feels good. When something you’ve learned and shared helps someone avoid a similar mistake, it feels damn good. And when you make exclusive information accessible, you contribute to the reduction of information asymmetry. Information asymmetry refers to interactions in which one party has less information than other parties. For example, this article I wrote last year helps level the playing field for non-Mormons in Utah.

There are also negatives to working in public

There are also downsides to working in public. Here are a few of them.

First, working in public opens you up to unlimited judgment. This can create performance anxiety. It can also bring criticism. Both have the potential to affect your mental health and reduce your productivity.

Second, working in public generates distractions. This can reduce your focus on what matters most to you.

Third, working in public encourages copycatting. This can lead to unwanted competition.

Fourth, when you work in public, you risk oversharing. This can make people uncomfortable and reduce your trustworthiness.

The more you work in public, the easier it gets

At first, working in public is unnatural. But the more you do it, the easier it gets. If you’re thinking about giving it a try, start small. The key is to find a balance that lets you get the benefits while avoiding the downsides.