a Series of 10 — the seduction of optimization

By my count I am 7 blogs away from having written 500 blogs on my two websites. I thought it might be an interesting idea to write these remaining blogs based on the common threads that have woven themselves through the last 493 I have written — and with that said, “a Series of 10” will continue with a blog on the seduction of optimization.

This is somewhat counter intuitive for me because I have enough Six Sigma training under my belt to be annoying in meetings — I love the DMAIC model for solving problems, enjoy a good Fishbone diagram and can get lost in developing a process map. Reducing errors, streamlining processes, driving efficiency and optimization is very seductive, as well as very satisfying.

I am not suggesting optimization isn’t a crucial activity in whatever you are doing, be it optimizing a production line or optimizing your health but there may come a point where diminishing returns come into play and maybe even stagnation. Optimization focuses on what you are familiar with and can be very action oriented — it will keep you busy and it’s easy to illustrate effort. Quietly, it’s perceived there is no real consequence or risk from optimization because even the most minimal improvement is a victory.

The siren’s call of optimization becomes a concern when it’s preventing you from addressing the possible problem that the thing you are trying to optimize is so broken, too dated or simply misaligned with your goals. Optimization can’t address these situations in any material way because that is not the issue.

Is the seduction of optimization preventing you from seeing the need for change? Change brings risk, uncertainty and consequence, and it is messy — something that optimization is not (remember all of those efficiency models). I am suggesting that focusing on optimization may prevent you from questioning why you are doing what you are doing — is there an alternative to what is being done or should you even be doing what you are doing?

I call it questioning the Sacred Cow. This line of questioning is about ensuring optimization doesn’t stop us from asking the simple question, “Should we even be doing this and is there a better alternative?”.

iamgpe

6 more

a Series of 10 — when experience becomes a liability

By my count I am 8 blogs away from having written 500 blogs on my two websites. I thought it might be an interesting idea to write these remaining blogs based on the common threads that have woven themselves through the last 492 I have written — and with that said, “a Series of 10” will continue with a blog on experience.

I love having experience under my belt because there are so many advantages:

• I know things and have a foundation of skills that serve me well.

• I have seen things that offer insights and perspective.

• I know success and failure — both extremely valuable. And as time goes on, there is more success than failure in my experience (pun intended).

• I’ve developed pattern recognition and the ability to solve problems quickly.

• I’ve earned some awards and recognition along the way as I leveraged my experience.

To be honest, if I’m not careful I could (and maybe have) developed a bubble or maybe even a personal dogma that has me believing that if I am good at one thing I’m also good at everything else (overconfidence bias or arrogance). I could also be losing the realization that knowledge and circumstances are not static and what has worked in the past may not work in the future. I may have become arrogant.

There is a concern that experience, and all the value that comes from the hard work to achieve it, could become a liability and slowly detach me from the ever-present reality of progress.

There are mountains of examples where “experience” just does not apply anymore, and even worse, situations where my experience somewhat applies but I’m haunted by mistakes because of assumptions based on skills or insight that just doesn’t quite fit anymore. Doing a DIY project using old tools when there are modern and more efficient ones available — using a ratchet wrench instead of a classic wrench comes to mind when you have a large number of bolts to tighten.

Again I will stress, I love having experience but it’s better to think of it as an innate skill that I have developed and must remember that nothing is static. Progress is happening even when I myself may not be progressing and I must stay fresh with new ideas and situations. It is better to rally behind the characteristics that helped develop the experience in the first place then rely on the experience itself.

• Curiosity — search out new ideas, information and situations to develop your knowledge base; if it’s new, explore it.

• Tenacity — work hard, take challenges on, and be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

• Flexibility — figuratively be able to pivot from being correct to being incorrect; if your way of thinking is not generating results, change it. Right and wrong are constructs that keep you from solving the problem.

• Cooperation — never is anything solved by one person. You need others to help do what you need to get done.

• Adaptability — a cousin to flexibility. Situations will change so you need to change with the situation.

• Trustworthiness — this is a quiet characteristic that people rarely talk about. If you are trustworthy, opportunities will be presented to you that lead to continued experience development in areas that you may never have appreciated.

Experience is a reflection of the past and potential for the future — resting on your laurels and experience just gets you left behind.

Be humble,

iamgpe

7 more

A thief of good ideas

Over the years I have found there is a strange calm between Christmas and New Years — compared to the previous 51 weeks, it is disturbingly quiet. Why this is I can only hazard to guess but it probably has something to do with figuratively catching your breath and emotionally preparing to do it all over again but with a new calendar.

I am probably just transferring.

I also find myself reflecting on the events of the past year, as well as actively looking for commentary and ideas that may be useful in the coming year. Today I was listening to Ryan Holiday who is a modern champion of stoicism and someone I would recommend you free up some time for — his perspectives truly have stood the test of time. He introduced me to a new phrase I hadn’t heard before, and although it’s something not uttered by Marcus Aurelius, I still found it impactful.

“Don’t Yuck on someone else’s Yum”

It is a reminder to not be critical of someone else’s idea or opinion — you don’t have to like it or agree with it but it is their opinion so let them have it without any egotistical comment. Sure, there are ideas and opinions “that are ‘draw a line in the sand’ wrong” for moral, ethical, and legal reasons but that’s not what I am referring to in this context. I liked this phrase — it was because it was something new to me, aligned with my goals and is something actionable that would offer beneficial results to me.

It was a good idea in my mind. For one, it prevented needless friction but more importantly, it prevents “blind spots” that come with an ego and the belief your opinion or view is more important than someone else’s.

Although I don’t just look for ideas in the last week of the year, there is a concentrated effort in this last week to feed my thinking as I head into a new year. New ideas come about all the time, but in my view, most ideas are taken from someone else, and as a working model, it’s probably better to apply the view that there are few new ideas and it’s much easier to search for existing ones than create new ones.

There is a hierarchy to ideas you know, something akin to features, benefits, and value:

• A bad idea is better than no idea

• A good idea is better than a bad idea

• The best idea is one that aligns with your goals

I am always looking for ideas to steal, and although I like the romantic idea of coming up with a new and unique idea myself, I am very comfortable with “borrowing” someone else’s idea and using it with abandon. It really is fun searching for ideas that someone else has.

“Don’t Yuck on someone else’s Yum” is a great reminder not to let your preconceptions get in the way of the next idea you can take and that you should critically think about whether someone’s Yum is your next bad, good, or best idea before you cast judgement.

And why does it matter? It’s because idea statuses change and yesterday’s bad ideas can become today’s best idea so fill your idea funnel.

iamgpe

*13 more