Finding Clarity in an Ambiguous World
-
Iatrogenics: When Systems Thinking Fails Us
One of my friends told me a story to explain the personality differences between himself and his wife, as they were opposite personality types. She once asked him how to send a particular email and he responded by saying, “Here are the things when you want to consider when sending an email: first….”. She interrupted…
-
Resorting To The Cheat Solution
Imagine designing a thermostat with ants. Seriously, try to get your brain to focus on how to solve when to turn the furnace on using ants. If you’re like me, our brain just sits there and says, “with ants!? WITH ANTS!?”. Then responds, “let’s solve the problem without ants.” Read: one where we already know…
-
Accomplish Great Things Without Knowing How
When we first start playing chess, we calculate out all the possible moves we can make and consider each one. We decide on some immediate aim (taking a piece) for which we can see all the moves we need to take to get there. We quickly find there are limits to this approach as our…
-
Validate Me!
Recently on a trip to New York, we were going to the Staten Island ferry on the subway. About three stops away, the conductor made an announcement: “If you want to get off for the Staten Island Ferry, you must move to the first five cars of this train!” Have you ever tried to figure…
-
Momentum vs. Hack ‘n Slash Engineers
When I was first learning BASIC with a friend in high school, the world of programming was brand new to us and we both taught each other new things we had learned. As time went on I noticed that we had two different styles of learning. I would learn something new, write one program using…
-
Flash of Panic
We enjoy watching a cooking show where participants are presented with a basket of random items and have an hour to cook an entrée that incorporates and exemplifies all the items in their basket. Many of the participants shared about the panic that beset them upon opening up their basket followed by solutions starting to…
-
Throwing Away A Lottery Ticket
“We’re either on the verge of hitting it big or going under.” That’s how I updated my family several years in a row while working for a start-up. They reminded me that I said the same thing last year. Without a doubt, it was a roller coaster and I learned a lot — more what not…
-
There Is No Normal
You have to know your preferences well, because no matter what you do, someone will tell you you’re wrong. – Derek Sivers Some Will Always Say You’re Wrong Back when I was in Junior High School, my friends and I would play with an invisible ball at lunch. We decided it wasn’t worth being “normal” and so…
-
The Stories We Tell Ourselves About Ourselves
So this guy walks toward a bar and he steps over a curb that was 6-inches high, or maybe it was 7-inches, 6 and a half?, anyway, there was an empty can of Coke next to his foot, no wait it was Sprite, er 7-up… This is not a story we want to hear. Good…
-
The Long Shortcut
On the way back to the hotel, I thought I should move our car from the designated parking lot to a spot closer to our room. Just a few minutes before, I had seen many spots open. So I walk to the car, start driving around and after a couple of U-turns, end up parking…
Got any book recommendations?