Archive for October, 2009
The Pursuit of Flow
Oct 29th
Click for a bigger version.
In the last few weeks, I’ve come across this idea in several different forms and thought it was worth capturing and sharing. Along the X axis, is your ability or skill level. Along the Y axis, is the degree of challenge or difficulty of the task you are trying to accomplish. When we don’t have the skills and the task is too hard, we become frustrated. When the task is too easy and we have more skills than we are using, we become bored. Where the two are in alignment, we experience flow. This is where we pay rapt attention to the things around us because our skills are matched by the challenges that the task provides. Classically, this shows up in video games where the beginning is simple and matches the skills that you have gained up to that point, but as you continue things get harder.
The application of this goes far beyond video games however, and is useful in considering the tasks and challenges that we undertake in life. We are most engrossed when our jobs or hobbies match up well with the skills that we have and the challenges they provide. It also means that to stay engrossed, we need to continue to seek out greater challenges as we improve our skills.
The Original Ambient Intimacy – Meeting Face To Face
Oct 26th
Over the last week, I spent some time meeting with both our clients and colleagues in person. I’ve long thought that meeting in person is the only way to have a truly good working relationship with people . However, I have long had a hard time enumerating the benefits to people – something that budget crunches tend to shut down as being an “extra” expense. During this last week, I codified a better explanation for why these meetings are important and it relates to a term now bantered about in the social media context – Ambient Intimacy – which I consider to really be more about understanding the context that our colleagues live in.
First, consider what happens when you meet someone in person: Yes, you have meetings to talk about issues, concerns, exchange information, etc. These are all things you could do if you were on the phone. What happens when the meeting ends? You collect your gear, they collect theirs. You see what kind of gear they are collecting. You see how they carry themselves as they go back to their offices, who they talk to, how they talk to them, and how they work. All of these things provide context to the person that is not obtainable in really any other way. This context is what you use to interpret their actions and motives when you are working with them.
Second, we’ve all heard about the importance of hallway conversations (those conversations that take place before and after a meeting). We always envision the profound comments that people are making about the topic that was just brought up in the meeting (there is no doubt this happens and is valuable), but most of the hall way conversations are NOT deep work changing conversations. They are about the latest hack to the Kindle, or who won that big game last night, or what someone thinks of their new netbook. These don’t add any direct value toward some new company initiative, but they do provide a depth of context about who the people are that you are working with.
Finally, consider the alternative to face-to-face: phone calls and email. When was the last time you sent an email or called a colleague whom you have never met in person to ask them something that was totally unrelated to the purpose of your call. Okay, so maybe you asked them how their spouse was, but did you really have much context to ask more? Phone and email are far too directed as a medium of communication – we do them to serve some purpose. Once we’ve established a friendship with someone, then those medium can be used to extend the context we already have, but rarely if ever is it used in a professional setting to establish a relationship. However, this very same type of conversation by the coffee machine at the office is not only acceptable, but expected. This is where relationships are built.
Making matters worse, if you are spending time with someone and trying to work toward some mutual goal, you are going to have friction and disagreements and often you will strive to resolve these over the phone or email. This is where having context paints a much richer portrait of the person you are interacting with and allows you to interpret their comments in what you know about them; however, during times of distress, people respond differently and if all you know is what it looks like when you disagree with a person, you will build your own context of the person, and it won’t be pretty. This creates an anti-working relationship and can frustrate the mutual goal that you both have.
We live in a world with increasing globalization, where seeing people and gathering together can be a challenge. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that the ambient intimacy afforded by Twitter or Facebook can be invaluable to building the context around people that let us have more meaningful interactions with them when we are working together on some problem. This provides a virtual equivalent to many of the kinds of things one can observe by meeting someone in person, but in my opinion, they still fall short of the original ambient intimacy – being together.
Poor Assumptions and Over Engineering
Oct 23rd
After arriving in Bogotá, we were flying back to Quito and I had a boarding pass with my seat number handwritten on the ticket. It appeared to say 8K and I thought, K?! — there is no such seat on a plane with only 6 seats across. But as an engineer, I have the ability to solve problems that might not even be there and so I thought, ah ha, it must be 8A. Then patting myself on the back for reading such clearly poor handwriting, I thought I don’t even need to check this with anyone and if they ask at the front of the plane, I’ll just tell them it’s seat 8A.
It felt really good until the stewardess asked to see my boarding pass and then said, “Oh, you’re in 8K!”. I looked across the seat and saw the sign with the seats on my side lettered 8ABC and on the other: 8DE K! So you would think that after considering the previous story, that I might be more apt to confirm my conclusions when venturing into something new, instead, I just ponied up some more pride and solved problems that weren’t even there.
Even reconsidering this story, it makes me think about how often still, I find myself getting excited about figuring something out and then not seeking to clarify whether the solution is correct (or even if there was a problem to begin with). I mean, how hard would it have been to at least glance at the seat numbering on the plane? How hard would it have been to just ask the stewardess. Is reading bad handwriting really such a skill that I can puff myself up about it?
Engineers often are able to make sense of things that others are confounded by and they extrapolate that ability outside of their own sphere of know how. When this happens, they are in for a lot of learning – whether it’s engineers assuming the know exactly what the customer needs or that they know better than that sales guy how to pitch this product. Again, the key is failing sooner rather than waiting for the judgment of reality.
Confirmation Bias Fail
Oct 21st
This summer, my wife and I traveled to Columbia. On our way from Medellin to Bogota, we showed up at the Medellin airport with plenty of time. The airport was closed down (no flights it seemed) due to massive amounts of fog and I made several assumptions:
- The plane hasn’t arrived yet from Bogita yet so it will be late, and so will we.
- There are not flights on the board, therefore there are no planes flying.
- The time on the TV indicates that it’s still 20 minutes till our flight so we don’t need to go through security yet.
These were all revealed as incorrect:
- The plane was already here and would take off as soon as the fog cleared
- The flight board was broken so no flights were shown
- The TV was playing something that was on a time-delay and so the clock was wrong
I was pacified by these expectations and as a result was sipping coffee and taking time getting through security since I knew we were going to have to wait. My wife was desiring to get through security and so we finally did, only to find that they had closed our gate and our plane was backing away from the gate – the fog had cleared.
This resulted, of course, in my wife having to help renegotiate getting on the next flight (which, thanks to God, we were fortunately able to), but the arrogance of my conclusions lead to costing some consumables that were not worth the experiment (my wife’s patience and trust being one – we both had to get up very early to catch the flight), all for not wanting to try to fail sooner (and be found out wrong when I asked an official for their response).
This example also reveals a well known human bias. We look for things that confirm our conclusions (called the confirmation bias). When we create a theory of understanding about the world around us, we seek to justify that theory with data that supports it rather than looking for data that proves it to be wrong. This natural tendency can lead us into some very incorrect conclusions that can lead to mistakes that should have been avoided.
A classic example of this is the request for people to describe a sequence of numbers. A sample sequence is given below, and then they are able to provide additional sequences to come to an understanding of the rules that make up the pattern. The sample sequence is:
1 3 5 7 9 11
Most will guess at additional ending 11, 13, 15 etc and be found correct. They might say this describes the series of odd numbers, until they were told that 2, 4, 6, 8 is also a valid series by the rules as is: 1, 2, 13086342, 2000000000. The rule is that the numbers have to be in increasing order. It’s very rare for people to try to find a case where the rule is not met, they ask questions that confirm their conclusion.
When we make decisions about the world around us, we need to remember that we have a confirmation bias and recognize that this can effect our conclusions. If we seek to prove ourselves wrong (particularly in areas where there is something at stake – missing a flight for example), we can avoid costly mistakes.
Fail Quickly
Oct 20th
Yesterday, I talked about the importance of embracing failure. The second aspect of this is the speed of failure. There are many projects for which feedback is very slow and this can cause two problems. First, not being able to see the entire system and how decisions that were made earlier create a failure much later. Second, you have a very limited number of experiments that you can run and find the way to succeed.
No one has an infinite number of experiments – it is limited by time, by money, or by some other consumable. The key is to find environments where you can fail and recover quickly.
Consider the plane pilot, we don’t want him failing while flying in a plane. Moreover, one failure and he has extinguished the consumable most important to his learning (his life). We do want him failing in a flight simulator though over and over and over again. Learning what to do when it’s raining, your gauges aren’t working right and the left engine is broken.
Many companies don’t spend enough time figuring out how to fail quickly and safely. They make the entire enterprise a grand experiment which allows only one shot. They hire 15 engineers and 5 sales people and consume their capital like they were in a hyperinflationary market. They get one chance to get it right, the problem is that if they get it wrong (they probably will), they can’t use the learning to get better. It’s done.
People can do the same things in their careers and in their life. They can easily become so convinced in the direction of their actions that they cease to consider whether they are investing in the right things. The goal always out of reach.
It is important for every company and every leader to find ways to fail quickly and to learn how to change quickly. This is what leads to learning and perfecting the very actions that we are doing. You can only learn as fast as you can fail and recover
Embracing Failure
Oct 19th
When my parents were living in Sweden, my mom was studying Swedish and finally got up enough courage to try out some of her new learnings on the bus with a fellow passenger. She made a comment to the passenger in Swedish and the elderly woman turned to her and said (in English, very slowly and clearly): “What …. language … are …. you … speaking?”. Not exactly the response you’re looking for when you’re taking your new language out for a stroll.
I am presently in the process of learning Spanish and am also finally getting up enough courage to try speaking with strangers. The facial expression of most people I speak Spanish to bears a remarkable similarity to the facial expression one might have when someone is trying to explain particle physics to them — crunched nose, furrowed brow, intense concentration – and typically resolves itself with a look of enlightenment and a repeating of what sounds like the exact same thing I just said.
What I have found however, is that it’s fun and enjoyable to try and fail. I learn far more by failing than I do by succeeding. It creates an event that I can remember and learn from and, as long as the other person is willing to put up with my mistakes, it generates a good deal of smiling.
Overall though, it has made me recognize further the importance of failure in a more general sense. Anyone who is trying to learn will fail. If they aren’t, then they aren’t pushing hard enough. Have you ever watched someone learn how to do tricks on a skateboard? That is a lot of painful failure prior to finally landing a trick. Moreover, when you you succeed, you can’t say why (though it feels good), but when you fail, you can learn from it. I’ve often heard about the importance of failing (i.e. “I’ve succeeded in finding 1000 ways NOT to make a light bulb”) and that you have to be willing to fail to succeed, but I hadn’t put together the fact that success creates little or no learning. Failure is where you get feedback.
Everyone who is trying to improve needs to embrace failure rather than shirk back to avoid the possibility. When it happens, don’t respond with anger, respond by learning. This is crucial to the success of any enterprise and any leader.
What Motivates Us
Oct 15th
Recently, I read this study regarding whether rewarding altruism causes it to disappear, and it reminded me of the two other examples that illustrate that our motives tend to be far more complicated then things first appear.
For example, Freakonomics discusses a day care center which decided to start charging parents extra if they picked their children up late. The result, the number of children who were left late actually went up. The motivation shifted from a moral decision to a monetary one, and for many the monetary fee was worth the extra time. This was not what the day care wanted so they went back to not charging, but it was to late, people were now evaluating this in a different context.
Another example in the book Influence regards our feeling of obligation. If a Hare Krisha gives you a flower, many feel obliged to give something back even if they then throw the flower in the next garbage they come across. The book pointed out that one of the Hare Krishna members was assigned the task of getting the still very usable flowers from the trash in order to give them to the next unsuspecting person.
Consider, that in the above study on rewarding altruism, it seems that when the toddler was expected to help they did. When they started receiving praise, it opened up the possibility that this action was “extra”, and when there was a reward, kicked in a scenario of monetary trade-offs (is it worth continuing playing with this toy or should I go get a reward, hmmm, I think I like this toy more). What motivates us is varied, can unfortunately be manipulated by others, and is complicated.
Finding a Job in a Recession
Oct 13th
Right now the job market is tough. Like most businesses trying to get attention (and subsequently money) from an increasingly attention and cash poor consumer, job seekers are trying to seek the attention (and subsequent employment) from an increasingly conservative group of businesses.
Sometime ago, I came across this presentation: “Recession Proof Graduate” which I think has lessons both for job seekers and businesses that are looking to find greater acceptance. Getting people’s attention is the first step to further business. Once you have it, you’ve got to maintain it and cultivate the relationship.
Resonance and Distortion
Oct 12th
Ever listen to a song that you really like, I mean, REALLY like. The kind of song you just automatically reach for the volume to turn it up when you hear it. It resonates with you and evokes powerful emotions.
But what happens when you turn it up past the point your speakers can handle: distortion. It doesn’t sound good and ruins the mood. Of course, if your speakers don’t reach this point, eventually your ears will (and then it’s more than simply not sounding good).
I like the idea of resonance as it relates to some idea — one that resonates with those who hear it. You’re excited, the idea gets them excited. New ideas emerge. This is a powerful concept and when you find one, it’s a fun ride.
One temptation though when you are faced with a resonate idea, is to try to accelerate it and push it, turn up the volume as it were. But at some point, forcing the idea starts to create distortion (or pain) and that can ruin the entire wave. It’s good to turn up the volume, but don’t create distortion.
Recall back when you were a child and getting the swing to go higher and higher. It could only happen at a natural pace and required shaking your legs at the right time. Shaking them wildly in hopes of getting yourself higher simply gets you laughed at.
Whether you are growing a company or growing yourself, there are natural limits to your ability to adapt and change, to grow. If you start seeing the fruit of getting things better, you create resonance. Push to hard and you can lose all you’ve gained.
What Do You Dwell On?
Oct 10th
On a recent business trip, our CEO connected with a friend and shared some of the challenges that he has recently gone through. The friend shared that when he was going through a very difficult time in his life, he read an article that “changed his life”. As he recounted the content of the article, I recalled the exact same concept covered in the book “Rapt” recently discussed. It is indeed good advice.
When we have bad things happen to us in life, a loss, an offense, a mistake, we replay it in our minds over and over again. Each time hoping for insight that we didn’t have on the last go around, the result is that it negatively effects our emotions, and as a result, we spend even more time thinking about it – a vicious cycle. The suggestion of the article was to stop dwelling on those things – to genuinely let them go. Focusing on them only creates bad patterns of thought and leads to more negative emotions. Not only that but it affects the things we focus on in the rest of our life. Our scope is more narrowed rather than seeing the bigger picture.
We can’t always control how we feel, but we can control what we dwell on.