My answer to a question about adoption on Quora: Q: Why is having biological children usually a couple's first choice, rather than adopting a newborn? My Answer: Because the adoption process is: Potentially very long & uncertain. You might not get matched to a child for years, or maybe you'll »
I answered the following question on international adoption on Quora: Q: I'm a single female in my 40s, and would like to adopt a child internationally. Which countries should I be considering? I'm based in UK, but for various reasons I'd like to considering international options. Russia has recently blocked »
Summarized from a discussion I had in the comments on Quora. Original Question: How could Y Combinator be more female-friendly? This isn't so much about how YC treats women once they get in, but about ways to balance the gender ratio. The Discussion One answerer suggested setting up processes that »
Originally posted to Quora. The original question was "Do parents love biological children more than adopted children?" Someone who was a biological father without adopted children, who was therefore speculating, posted: ...I think that we derive a certain fulfillment and gratification from natural children that we don't get from adopted »
Orignally posted to Quora. Q: How should paternity leave be arranged for a gay man with an adopted child? Should he get paternity leave, which is usually shorter, or maternity leave? If he gets maternity leave, doesn't this suggest he is the 'mother' in the relationship, which is offensive to »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: What do MIT admissions interviewers look for? My Answer I used to interview applicants to MIT, and the biggest things I looked for were: Deep intellectual curiosity and a passion for learning that goes far beyond the norm. This was best demonstrated by »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: If you are an adoptive parent, do you celebrate your child's 'gotcha day'or 'homecoming day'? If yes, how do you do it? My Answer: We don't. The main reason is that, for both of my kids, this day would either be really close »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: What illnesses may disqualify someone from adopting a child internationally? If one of parents has a history of cancer and doctors said < 1% of its coming back, may the family apply to adopt a child? My Answer: This varies according to the »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: Is a product manager responsible for product documentation? My Answer: Product managers are typically responsible for the "whole product" -- which means the product itself, documentation, packaging, pricing, positioning and sometimes also the promotion of those products. But being responsible for documentation does »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: Why would anyone want to be an employee and not an entrepreneur? One of the most difficult issues I've faced as an entrepreneur is looking smart people in the face and telling them to work for my company when I honestly have a »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: Why should I remove features that are not popular? I've read many articles that suggest that product managers should be removing features that are not used by users. If the team has already invested resources into building a feature that is not that »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: How does the work-life balance of product managers compare to that of software engineers? I am trying to decide between a software engineering and a product manager position at Microsoft, and to me, work life balance is an important factor. How about Amazon? »
My answer to a question originally published on Quora. Q: Why does the American government stimulate the adoption of foreign children with disabilities? What's the use of these children for the country's welfare and future? My Answer: I'll start off by saying many (most?) Americans would regard your question on »
My answer, originally posted to Quora. Q: If there was one (or more) piece of advice you could give to prospective adoptive parents what would it be? We are thinking of adopting one or more children internationally (currently have zero). What are some key/crucial pieces of advice you could »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: From a purely financial standpoint is it more expensive to have twins? Or two single pregnancies 1-2 years apart? Keeping in mind maternity leave, nursery costs, furniture / equipment to buy and economies of scale? (I'm having twins so just curious about this.) My »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: What level of coding experience should a good product manager have? My Answer Caveat: I'm assuming we are talking about software products. In THEORY, actual coding experience should be irrelevant to the hiring decision of a product manager. As Steve said, a product »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: Infertility: Do you think that using IVF, IUI, or other artificial forms of reproduction is selfish? Some people feel that infertile couples who turn to artificial methods of reproduction are selfish because there are numerous children without parents who could be adopted. Not »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: What are your feelings towards your adopted child? My Answer Words fail to describe how deeply I love my two adopted children. While I have no biological children to compare them too, I honestly cannot imagine loving or caring for them any more »
*Question was originally posted to Quora on 2 Mar 2014. As a startup, if no ownership shares have been issued and no documents have been signed by any founder yet, but a lawyer has incorporated the business and drafted the legal documents for review, can the majority push founders out »
My answer, originally published on Quora. My Answer The most obvious answer: Fewer and fewer girls are studying math and computer science in college, and Of those women who do graduate in those fields, and who even become programmers, they are likely to leave the field after a few years. »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: How does it feel to adopt a child of a different race from you? What should you be aware of? I am young, gay and though not close to the decision whether to have kids, would like to have a family of my »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: Why do so few African-American children get adopted? My sister has been looking to adopt for a while now so we've been talking about adoption in general for some time. Over several conversations and research it became clear just how disproportionate the numbers »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: Why is it so difficult (time, money, etc.) to adopt a child? It seems like there are plenty of people in the world that would like to adopt a child and plenty of children that need to be adopted. Why isn't the process »
My answer, originally posted on Quora. My Answer Yes, but there is some debate about how many are adopted each year. It is probably in the 100s, and the leading foreign adopter of American children is Canada. Source: Overseas adoptions rise -- for black American children. »
My comments on an answer to a Quora question. Original Question: Motherhood: Are stay at home moms/dads who have a full-time nanny lazy? One person who answered this question basically said YES for the following reasons. "This trend of stay-at-home moms getting full time nannies is bull and needs »
My answer to this Quora question was originally published on 10/16/2013. My Answer: Yes, you should tell your child. Because he or she WILL definitely one day find out. Read the other answers for insight into how devastating this can be. But let's say you want to go »
My answer, originally published on Quora Q: What are the disadvantages of being a female in a male-dominated CS/engineering university? My Answer The other answers to this question are all spot-on and great. I will just add one more. When a technical woman gets older, say around age 35, »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q:Why do parents adopt children from foreign countries rather than from their own country? Foreign adoptions are more expensive, the process is more time consuming, and switching to a new language and culture is hard on the child. What is the motivation for »
My answer, originally posted to Quora My Answer I don't know about other countries, but yes, an adult can be legally adopted in many states in the USA, including California. The criteria for allowing adult adoption varies state to state. Adult adoption creates a legal parent-child relationship between two adults, »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: What is the best way to visually present a product roadmap to executive stakeholders? What are some effectively ways to communicate a product roadmap to executives clearly and concisely? My Answer My facetious answer is to use powerpoint with lots of superfluous animation »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: Should I finish a degree in CS if I don't really want to be a software engineer? Some context: I started a degree in engineering, did well in it academically (marks wise, I was typically in the top 10% of the class; not »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: Is there a market for fractional or part-time product management? Thesis: Early stage startups could use dedicated product managers, but often can't afford one or don't have the resources to support a full-time PM. From all the conversations I've had with early stage »
My answer, originally published on Quora. My Answer The Must-Read Books for Product Managers For product managers working on business-to-business high tech products and early technologies, the following are absolute must-reads: Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers, by Geoffrey Moore. This book was pivotal in »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: Does Apple get too much credit for its UI design? Why does everyone treat Apple UI like god? My Answer Apple deserves the credit. First they discovered UI metaphors that are so intuitive that they seem to be hard-wired into our brains. And »
My answer, originally published on Quora. My Answer I've worked with dozens of software / online service companies and helped them recruit product management candidates. None of them care about the PMI certification, and in fact it might be seen as a sign that an applicant does not understand that the »
My answer, originally published on Quora. My Answer They do it the way ANY adoptive parent -- male or female, gay or straight - does it: usually -bottle-feeding with formula. Entire generations of kids grew up healthy on just formula, and today formula more closely resembles breast milk than at »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: What Kellogg MBA classes have students found to be the most useful and why? My Answer From the vantage point of someone who has been out of Kellogg for over a decade, here are the classes that have proven the most useful in »