Author: neil

finding the energy and commitment to do things that others might not easily measure in the short run is the best way to make a difference. – Seth Godin

Reading has bookended a short nap I took in the afternoon: David & Tom Kelley’s book Creative Confidence followed Clayton Christensen’s essay “How will you measure your life”, and dozens of interesting blog posts. Natalie Merchant’s haunting version of “Motherland” is playing the background when I started writing this, just after I read Seth’s daily blog post.

From my meandering reflections of my life thus far, it’s amply clear that I have kept that voice inside me that wants to soar way beyond the boundaries I’ve found myself in. “Make a  living to have a life” is the tenet I’ve unconsciously followed, only occasionally permitting myself to follow purpose.

Re-reading the Manifesto for Agile Software Development  made me wonder about what and how I’ve prioritised throughout my life.  The 4 values of the manifesto acknowledge that there is value in both columns, and that they value what’s on the left OVER what’s on the right. In other words, when faced with a choice between two good things, the principles make the decision easier.  Clayton Christensen makes it even more personal: Choose the metric you will measure your life by, and live up to it.

It’s easier said than done. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. Listening to that voice inside, following my instinct when connecting with people, and trusting that I am carrying out my purpose has become much easier in the last four years.

I can measure the difference I’m making by my own yardstick.

I listened to Leslie Shannon’s presentation on telco trends this morning. The energy and enthusiasm she poured through the screen was infectious, and had the virtual audience spellbound.

She is a seasoned presenter and storyteller. I hoped there may be some ideas she’s shared about her techniques, and so I did an online search. I was not disappointed. This particular interview was illuminating, and actionable too. One paragraph in particular stood out:

It’s really Find, Filter, and then File. That is the input hopper. Then once you have the file, familiarize, by reviewing; and reviewing to make sure that you haven’t forgotten anything either on the trivia side or what are interesting elements of my story here; because sometimes I put things in the giant 400 slide deck and I forget that they’re there, so when I’m just reviewing those, I’m like, Oh, that was interesting in the past but now it’s important, I’d forgotten about that one, bring it in. Then formulate, formulating the story that I’m going to tell whether it’s an external story to convince people about the credence of new technological developments and the importance of those or formulating a story so that I can remember key bits of information and random bits of information that I happen to come across. It’s the five F’s, Find, Filter, File, Familiarize and Formulate.

I’d like to give this a try. I do much reading, and file it away in my mind (ha!). The graph database in my head works okay when finding things. What I can (and want to) do is to Familiarize and Formulate.

John Boyd developed the Observe – Orient – Decide – Act loop strategy to apply in  a military context, for combat operations.  The faster one is able to go through this loop, the more effective they are.

I’m involved in several projects at work. In most conversations I’ve had this week, I’ve observed the magnetic pull of “Act”. Let’s do something to fix things. I remain in the Observatory, usually alone. Perhaps people have already oriented to the situation, and have decided on a course of action. I find it fascinating that they choose to act on their decision the moment our conversation begins. I don’t know if they ever go through the loop again; I must find out over the course of the next few weeks.

I find it fascinating that people – myself often included – cannot help themselves from deciding and acting in the moment. Pausing is a heretic idea. There’s no need to sharpen the axe. Just keep hacking away and you’ll eventually cut the tree down.

 

Debate and discussion are a healthy way of thrashing out ideas that at best malformed in our minds. How do you build a culture where debate and discussion are considered healthy and desirable?

It’s possible to do, and it takes time, and deliberate effort. For the last four years, it’s something I’ve contributed to along with the rest of my team. It is by no means easy. Everyday behavior and choice of words go some way in making this a reality.

And yet, I often stumble in my choice of language, and consequently vocabulary.  Idioms in my instinctive language don’t translate well to English, and not pausing to think about the implications of the translation leads to incorrect yet totally understandable interpretations.

I made another such stumble today. It was gently called out, and I apologized for my choice of words. And immediately thought of the book I need on my desk: Metaphors We Live By (Lakoff and Johnson). It’s on it’s way 🙂

 

Conversations with users are a quick and effective way of building a good conceptual understanding of a new (to me) area of business. The more I do them, the more comfortable I get in asking questions. I’ve been eliciting information I wouldn’t have thought about asking, and getting pointers and connections to other people and ideas.

I must figure out a way to better capture the insight from those conversations immediately after. It’s a skill, like asking questions, and being able to get the essence of the conversation without losing the nuance is a fun exercise in truly listening and paying attention.

It’s also interesting to see how people respond to these conversations. Adapting and mirroring styles is not an easy skill.  Years of learning how to do it, especially in my teens, is paying off. Genuine interest in the other person’s opinions, allowing them to speak, listening with the intent to understand, knowing when to ease off and when to press on intuitively, these are all skills I casually picked up in my youth.  The payoff was not  immediate (in most cases). Compounded over decades, they’ve become fairly natural to me – and evident only when pointed out by my peers, many of who struggle with conversations.