Tag: five links

New Project, New Eyes

I am starting a new job. I’ll be the product manager at Informed.co. Excited to join the team and work on helping customers get the right price for the stuff they enjoy.

This batch of links reflects some of the challenges of starting something new. The topics we are covering: facilitation, time management, work environment, teams, and new ideas.

If you find this helpful, feel free to send a note. I’m happy to hear from you.

Five Links

I’ve worked on being a better facilitator for years now, yet one of the things I’ve neglected is the power of using graphics to get teams engaged. This feeling is based on my fear of drawing, and as irrational as it is, it has stopped me from loosening up rooms by getting them involved.

This article has helped me see some of the error of my ways and made me more comfortable with the idea of just breaking out some paper and sharpies and seeing what happens.

How To Hold Better Meetings With The Help Of Graphic Facilitation

I’ll be the first to admit I am not great at time management. That is why I am blessed to know Juvoni Beckford. He is a productivity expert and as one of the leaders of the productivity nerds meetup here in NYC, helps people be even more productive.

His blog is a delight, since he uses the space to discuss his issues in his life generously and what he is doing to fix them. It serves as a reminder that being good at something isn’t easy and still comes with bumps along the way. This post on time management is no different. Read and get some tools and tips on how to get started to track and schedule your time. It made me better after reading, and hopefully, it can help you.

https://juvoni.com/tools-of-the-time-manager

I hate open offices. This hate is from experience, watching my productivity crash after leaving a full cubicle to an open environment in 2012. I had to relearn how to work and even with hacks, finding a way to work at home, in silence, was necessary for me to get anything done.

This Farnam Street piece lays out why open offices are bad and some tips and hints on how to get your productivity back, because open offices save money and unfortunately, they aren’t going anywhere.

https://fs.blog/2013/12/your-environment-matters/

These aren’t as pretty for some reason 😦

What do high performing teams do differently? Mckinsey has an article that lays that very idea out. They’ve spent decades watching teams as consultants and noting what works and what doesn’t. Surprisingly enough, they have found some ideas that you can implement today that help makes your organization more cohesive.

High-performing teams: A timeless leadership topic

I dread most things on Hacker News, but this thread on “The first thing you implement at a company” was interesting. I got a ton of ideas. Worth the read. Some things to think about before you go buck wild (and you I also mean me): different is difficult, change takes time, and patience is a virtue.

Ask HN: What is the first thing you implement at a new company?

Thanks for reading :-).

Good Reads

“IF YOU DECIDE TO INVADE IRAQ, THE PEOPLE WHO VOTE FOR IT SHOULD HAVE CHILDREN IN THE MILITARY.”

Nassim Taleb, the author of AntiFragile (one of my favorite books), is speaking about skin in the game (SITG). STIG means that if you ask for something, there should be a part of you (money, family, job, etc.) in that decision to force you to think about it. It’s a great heuristic to figure out who the person across the table is, and, how you should maneuver against them. His latest book, by the way, deals with STIG in all its forms, and to make it smooth, he called it Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life.

Impact: Where do I have SITG? Also, I got to be better with money – debt free is the way to be. 

“Probabilistic thinking is an extremely useful tool to evaluate how the world will most likely look so that we can effectively strategize.“

I don’t know when the switch happened, but the moment I started getting out of “either, or” and started saying “there is a chance ‘x,’ ‘y,’ ‘z,’ could happen, and here is the probability” I became a much better thinker and strategist. I still have a ways to go (dropping binary thinking is hard, it’s ingrained) however, thinking in probabilities has opened up way more alternate routes and improved my decision making, greatly. I recommend reading this and seeing where you can drop the “black or white” act.

Impact: Less binary, more probabilistic. 

“Notice how detailed, how “micro” these habits are. They’re never going to be in a magazine. And “normal” people would say these border on being OCD.“

There is no hiding that top performers do things different than average or good performers. What top performers learn, however, is that no one wants to hear how the “sausage is made,” people instead believe the narrative in their head (talent, money, etc.). It allows them(the listener) to sleep at night without guilt since they don’t want to put in the work. Whenever I am around the best, they are weirdos and are very serious about the habits they do. Read this and see how different they are, then find out how you serious you want to take something and mimic the detail.

Impact: Less is more, opportunity cost in all things, and whoa, I have to get more serious.

“It’s not just about Overwatch. There are things you can improve in your life, and you can’t do that just living every single day without knowing what’s wrong. Outside assistance can lift you up.”

Come for the Overwatch tips, stay for the message about coaching. A few things that ran through my head while reading this, such as, how searching for the right coach for you takes time, is often less expensive than you think and isn’t always the best player. Coaching isn’t just for the athletic field, or the “life” variety (not a fan) however, for specifics on how to improve your game (;-)) they are a fantastic source.

Impact: Find what you want to be coached in, and go for it.

“You can start with stuff that feels dumb and stupid, and play with it and you will get to places where it becomes potent and powerful.”

I love the 99U conference. I’ve met friends there, learned a ton, and got to listen to Questlove DJ a fantastic set. They had the tenth version of the conference this year, and while I wasn’t able to go, I loved this wrap up that they presented here. Find insights relating to creative leadership, design, and of course how to execute (99U is all about the Thomas Edison quote – “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”

Impact: Play more, do more.