In engineering, we’re taught that we can simulate certain physical processes using equations—but only within limited conditions. This limitation exists because there are simply too many variables to model every possible situation. Stephen Wolfram refers to this concept as “pockets of reducibility”—specific areas where we can model our world with some success. Outside of these…
Category: Miscellaneous
Not All Bureaucracy is Bad
Bureaucracy is often blamed for restricting individuals from completing their tasks at work in whatever way they choose, while overlooking its impact on the rest of the organization. Not all bureaucracy is bad. It is a method of connecting everyone in the organization and ensuring that everyone is working for the company’s goals. The bigger…
Ignoring Emails Can Cause More Meetings
Sometimes I need a simple answer to a question, and I send several emails but receive no response. As a result, I have to schedule a meeting to get the answer. I wonder how many people ignore these requests in email and then complain that there are too many meetings. This is another instance where…
Teamwork Over Convenience
We must remember that we are a team working toward a common goal. It’s easy to get frustrated when we can’t work the way we want, make the changes we prefer, or simply wing it. In a company, being part of a team means prioritizing what benefits the group as a whole. Sometimes, we have…
Is Your Phone Keeping You Behind at Work?
I’ve been hesitant to address phone distractions at work, assuming most people could manage them. However, as the “older guy,” I’ve noticed that not everyone can. I often see engineers splitting their attention by watching videos while working, which obviously reduces productivity. Even the slightest notification—even if you don’t check your phone—can break your focus…
Stop Expecting to Crank Widgets in Knowledge Work
It would be nice if we could do our job without having to deal with all of these annoying tasks that get in the way of our job. The problem is that all of the annoying tasks, fixing problems, figuring things out, that is our job. These are the variables we have to deal with…
The “Wing It” Hypothesis
We’ve been trained in problem-solving tools—whether it’s Lean methodologies or something as simple as making a plan—but we rarely use them. I believe this is because we prefer to wing it. Sitting down to think through a problem is difficult. A simple example is creating a project plan and forecasting dates. There are several reasons…
Faster Processes Are Not Always Better
Each business uses standard processes to accomplish its many projects. Typically, alternative steps can be used to complete the project faster. Sometimes, the alternative steps are more efficient, and this alternative should be made the standard. Sometimes, a project can be completed faster by moving activities up in queues or applying more labor hours. However,…
Chat Best Practices
When communicating over a messenger app and there are significant gaps in the conversation remember that it is not a continuous conversation even though the app thread makes it seem that way. When any amount of time has passed the topic of the conversation is no longer top of mind of the other person and…
Front Line Knowledge Workers Have to Be Leaders Too
Seth Godin : Management and leadership, Ray Kroc and Henry Ford were pioneers of management. Frederick Taylor had a stopwatch and we got the phrase “human resources” from the idea of treating people like a machine. And if you’ve ever heard the phrase, “Being jerked around,” or calling someone a jerk, it comes from the…
Are We Working Hard Enough?
Those who do intense mental work like writers and professors typically have 2-4 good uninterrupted hours of this type of work in them each day before their capacity is used up. Then they need to go and do something else to recover for the next day of focus. What about us, we typically work 8-12…
Be Careful Getting A Company Phone
Sometimes when we are promoted to management we try to prove our worth by placing ourselves in the flow of activities to help make fast decisions (taking calls, responding to emails) and be aware of everything. This is one of the reasons someone will get a company cellphone at this time. Being a part of…
You Are Not a Machine or a Computer
Many of the tools we use to work assume we are either a machine, assembly line or a computer, believing that we should be able to process inputs unemotionally without thinking about the broader landscape of upcoming tasks. Consider email, others can pile tasks on your to-do list and that act of piling creates stress…
Get Really Good at The Basics
We seem to implement many process improvements to fix problems when we need to be doing the boring, hard, and tedious daily work.
False Perception of Control
We can measure tolerances and understand variables that we couldn’t in the past. This awareness makes us want to manipulate these variables in an attempt to control outcomes. Measuring a variable does not mean we understand its impact on the outcome when it is confounded. Furthermore, we have limited capacity to manipulate all of the…
Younger Generations Might Have More Stress
I am either a Gen X or a millennial depending on the source. I have always viewed work as something that had to be done, but the stress was always manageable. I am beginning to wonder if the younger generations experience stress that we older folks don’t realize or understand. It is like it is…
You Are Putting Too Many Words on Your Slides
When giving a presentation the goal is for YOU to tell a story, not the slides. The slides are to augment the story. The slides should not do double duty as a document that can tell the story alone, you are an integral part of the presentation. If your audience spends the presentation reading the…
I Got It Boss
Your goal is to become so dependable that you can say “I got it” to most any request and everyone trusts that you have the situation covered and followup is unnecessary. This will give you freedom in your job.
Endless Cycle of Meetings
My calendar is full of meetings. If someone wants to talk with me they have to schedule another meeting. This leads to even more meetings creating a perpetual cycle of continuous meetings. What if a whole organization is stuck with this problem?
Bigger Organization=More Process Control
scale and ubiquity demands complexity and requires efficiency – Howard Schulze The bigger your organization the more complex operations will become requiring more control of processes and standardization to reduce variability.