Pareto Principle & Pomodoro technique

I am re-reading John Doerr's classic "Measure what matters" in which he brilliantly teaches using case examples of how OKR's  (Objectives and Key results) work and how to go about implementing them. At work, we in the throes of finishing the annual performance appraisals; secretly, everybody loathes the exercises, both supervisors and supervised. It's merely an HR administrative activity to file more things in the holy grail of increasing paper management. Even with the redesign of the tool and the coaching approach in my view, no significant urgency, shift, or movement of the organizational dial moving forward happens. There are certainly some functional aspects of it, but the tool I often wonder is an administrative chore that people go through. This annual instrument fails at linking strategies, efforts of individuals, and the alignment of goals to the overall objectives of the organization. This often leads to some people working too hard and others showing up because they have a job and not making any connection of their daily tasks and projects to the overall objectives and strategies of the organization.

Italian philosopher and economist Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto left us with the Pareto's Principle when he found that 20 percent of the pea plants in his garden produced 80 percent of his healthy produce. Pareto extrapolated the principle calling it the 80/20 rule now attributed to him and applied in many areas of social sciences. For example, using 80/20 rule to your employees say, lead generators or salespeople, you will quickly find the data outlining most of them should be let go. I have been tracking rigorously on a simple spreadsheet all the activities I do for work, personal development, business, and family, and surprisingly identifying in my weekly reviews its 20 percent of the events that result in potential impact in the current and future. It's finding the mix of leveraging your skills and delegating the tasks or even better automating the tasks you can in each area. This eventually leads to the question of time management and where your energies need to get focussed. Productivity then has correlations with focus and energy, which then has an impact on time management.

The Pomodoro technique developed by Francesco Cirillo is a method designed to reduce distractions and boost productivity. I have experimented on this for the last few years to reach my monthly and yearly book reading targets. I set 30 min timers and measure how many chapters I can speed read and boil it down to common words or chapters I have to read to keep track of peaks and valleys and straight lines. The more consistent consecutive lines, I have a better statistic of reading more chapters and eventually reading more books. The other area I have observed by shuffling time is discovering or searching for dead time zones (an example would be driving for 30 mins to work). The secret is learning how to maximize and turn those dead time into and audio activity or even relaxing with zero zoning thoughts or taking a break from mental activity and just enjoy the being.

Machiavellian, Orwellianism, Snollygoster and Power

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli the 14th-15th century Italian diplomat wrote 'the Prince' and is infamously associated with the term "Machiavellian" for people who justify any means to keep power. Machiavelli may have been misunderstood in history. Though his subject matter interest was his treatise on 'power' on how to keep it any cost using any plan, schemes tyranny (moral or immoral) advocated rules in power on how to consolidate, keep 'power' and bring order to a State; However Machiavelli subject matter also inherently exposed what an absolute despot or an authoritarian ruler could do to serve himself at the cost of the citizens of the state. Shakespeare might have been

responsible for coining the term "Machiavel" to refer the unscrupulous character who mischievously devises plans to gain power and achieve the means to influence his schemes to achieve whatever the end objectives.  Machiavelli at the end of his life stated that people should learn and be aware of hell if they ever want to avoid it. Machiavelli himself was exiled from his role in society for opposing absolute power, however unluckily for his work, the term has stuck in common vernacular as to something negative. In the religious wars of Europe, the church often blamed his work as a manual for rulers to do justify their actions to maintain power.

Eric Blair the 19th-century writer known under his pen name George Orwell wrote '1984' a book that has popularized the term "Orwellianism" which again is a wrongly understood term. People often associate Orwellianism with regimes or forms of Govt and organizations that want to control and monitor the actions of their citizens or workers of the state in order to have complete authority over their lives. This extended to bombarding propaganda that influenced its citizens' way of thinking and acting.  This actually is not Orwellianism in its true definition as a form of governance and should be referred correctly as 'Authoritarian'. George Orwell however through his work was warning his readers against the usage of words (which influence ideas & norms of behavior) & language with its dangers of embedded euphemisms. This is as he calls it double-speak ways or means where something else is propounded as action or meaning other than the words and their true meaning. Orwell warned of the cognitive dissonance that can be caused by altering the meaning and practice of something all the while using the terms that they don't really stand for. Orwell in his essay 'Politics & the English Language' warns us about the deceptive and manipulative use of language.  In his work '1984' the nation-state of 'Oceania'  has various ministries like the ''Ministry of Peace'  where people are violated with stringent punishments, which actually is the military, 'Ministry of Love' where political prisoners are actually put in Joycamps. The Populus is bombarded with propaganda made up of historical facts and statistics manipulated controlled by the 'Ministry of Truth' corrupting the ideas and true facts.  This might sound totalitarianism but Orwell warns us of this happening in perfectly elected democratic societies, well-governed organizations (profit or non-profit) even with truly altruistic value systems.  If we do not pay careful attention to the usage of words & their perception of meaning and its narrative language used we fall victim to a society or an organization that degrades and erodes over time. It's then the mandate for leadership to be careful with the usage of words to manage the flow of power its perception and the tremendous social responsibility it carries for leaders. 

I recently heard of a particular word 'Snollygoster' and is quickly becoming one favorite words in my favorite word list. When said with a British accent its sounds cool and a little fun to express in proper King's English. In short, a Snollygoster is a dishonest politician, Mark Forsyth in a TEDx parliament talk refers to a 19th-century newspaper editor who defined Snollygoster more as a fellow who seeks office regardless of a party, platform or principle who when he/she wins gets to power uses sheer force of monumental talknophical assumancy" . I honestly tried looking up the word 'talknophical' but couldn't find its meaning. Using words to express obscure or new emotions associated with them or making up new words is a topic for another post. But words definitely help shape power and power and reality definitely shape the usage or creation of words. Talking of power when the new democracy of the United States was formed the founding fathers debated on various titles for the new head of the state. A three-week debate couldn't resolve the matter between the house of representatives who brought up the term 'President' to the Senate. They agreed to accept the term temporarily instead of that of a "King" or "Chief" or "Protector of the People's Liberty and rights" in case Washingon or his successors would get drunk with power. They also felt the term 'President' was also a little bit weirder and would not give him the respect with other heads of state as it merely referred to the one who presides over meetings. Surprisingly the term to date is still not endorsed by the Government of the United States.  Interestingly, we know the term 'President of the United States" refers to an office of power so much so that 147 nations have adopted the term 'President' as a word chosen to equate their "Head of State".  Words, titles, reality shape, and influence power. Reality and power also shape usage and formation of words and sometimes the creation of new words. 

Reading power accurately is a must, exercising and influencing power for leaders is a given and as leaders how we use it with words even more important. We are usually uncomfortable talking about power in a democratic society or in our capitalistic 'be nice' to people organizations.  However, we need to know and be aware of it and where it comes from; its ability to influence others to do what leaders what their subordinates to do.

 In its raw forms, there are six types of power: Physical (primal use of force), wealth, power caused by state action and laws, social norms, ideas, and sheer numbers. The last two fascinate me and have become especially accentuated in importance in the last three for four decades with its interwovenness with technology. The cases for example or culprits are technology companies like Amazon, Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft to name the big five for starters who hoard an enormous amount of data with their powerful ideas and ability to connect large numbers of people.  With their massive reach using the power of ideas and adoption by population irrespective of trans-national boundaries, these companies are also able to wield power that flows with wealth, influence state and social norms.  It's important to note power follows three laws that govern it. These are that power is never static - it increases or decreases, power is a flow - it permeates an organization, system or society like electricity or water. This flow of influence is usually governed by the glue of politics and policy and finally, power (good or bad) compounds based on how the first two laws operate. 

To bring it all together: Leadership has the onus of recognizing that words are important to influence power but more importantly, it is one's integrity, compassion, courage in character we possess as individuals will shape words to encourage good values and benefits of others rather than our selfish self. 

Thoughts for a Saturday morning! 

Time Buckets

Final takeaways from 'The happiness equation '  reading was my rethinking of time buckets. I have not flushed out my thoughts but wanted to paste here pics from my journal. I like rough drafts and scribbles; maybe as I refine it I may write here how my time buckets help me in my self-development, work and other areas of my life.

 

Thinking & Doing Grid

Another cool space scribble Niel uses to explain is the Thinking and Doing Grid.

My introspection of last year helped me realize I overdid some areas of my life especially work and got nearly burnt out. Burning is good but burning out is not good, I almost did.  So I had to rearrange my schedules, meetings, and activities of my life. Niel mentions a poem by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay in her book Poetry which I think is a good reminder of the seductive lure of burning. I  re-quote the lines here to set up my post.

 My candle burns at both ends;

It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - 

It gives a lovely light!

The temptation to burn for me is high, but the secrets of Shabbat rest are slowly sinking in for me to be intentional in giving more time to reflection, thinking and rearranging my life. 

When you are doing and thinking is in the high mode you are in the BURN quadrant.  It's a good place to be but if you are here for a long time chances are you will burn out for sure. You are incredibly productive, adrenaline runs high and rewards may be high and sometimes to get deadlines met being in this place will help. However seductive the quadrant of productivity is it's hard to always remain there. Consciously knowing when to disengage and the delegate will be key to create for yourself SPACE. This is the place where you create space to almost do nothing, rest, relax and recuperate. The SPACE quadrant can be interjected with practices like the Sabbath, lying on beach, vacation, taking a break from social media etc. These are practices I have engaged in.  However high doses of being in the SPACE quadrant can also be harmful with habits like laziness, oversleeping and inactivity. But you need to create SPACE and also be conscious of keeping it healthy. 

Creating space for THINK time is also critically important.  I like to use the word 'Ponder' (my bestie uses that word a lot :); I also like the word 'reflect'.  This space is your pondering, wondering and reflecting space. The Sabbath practice helps here to where you are journaling, thinking, connecting, storying, engaging your mind and heart. In this quadrant the thinking is in high mode and doing is low. 

The last quadrant DO simply denote 'doing'. Working on your daily routines, tasks, and projects.   Happy people flip flop between these quadrants actively knowing when to engage, disengage, ponder, wonder and manage those spaces!

Shalom,

Sam 

Decision making Grid

I like Niel Pasricha's book "The Happiness Equation". Last month I re-read it and I like the space grid scribbles he uses to explain things. I have often used 4 by 4 grids to explain and teach concepts this way. It's simplicity is good for creating mental frameworks or models of thinking. The next three posts are going to be simple grids he has used in his book that I want to jot down here for my key takeaways.

How should we make decisions fast and how should we slow down on certain kind of decisions. The secret is getting rid of the extra weight of hundreds of decisions we make every day. The key is to think in this framework of importance and time.

If the decisions you can make happen in cyclical fashion every month, every week, every day then Automate them. These decisions will unclutter and free your brain. IoT devices and mobile phones and automated systems can be programmed to help you meditate, breathe, pay monthly bills, adjust your home thermostat etc.  Automate falls into the lower quadrant as shown in the below figure. 

Decisions that need a little bit more time in terms of thinking but are chores low in importance can be regulated. For example, time blocking an hour of the day where you are only doing emails. Or article reading two - 15 minute blocks for me which I have the option to hit one a day.

The decisions that are high in importance but low in time are important for your social consciousness, connectedness and relationship building. This quadrant is the Effectuate. You simply just do it. Saying hello to your team early morning, checking in with your bosses, creating situational awareness, dinner time with family, putting kids to bed, praying with the family are some of the things that fall for me in the effectuate quadrant of those decisions.

Decisions that are big and have long term or even short term impact have to usually be suspended into the Debate quadrant. This is because they are high in importance and take time. Here is where leaders and teams need to debate, have an abundance of counselors, divergent and diverse thinking. This is where we deliberately slow the decision making down so you can engage in deliberation and debate.

Automate, Regulate, and Effectuate decisions help in removing weight, clutter from your brain.  Deep thinking, pondering, wondering and questioning help you to make better effective decisions.

Life Principles

Recently finished Life Principles from Ray Dalio three-part book called Principles. Though I don't agree with all the things in his book there are some key takeaways I want to record as part of my ongoing reading and learning. Things that are useful hacks are worth keeping.

Key takeaway 1: Embrace Reality and Deal with it

• To embrace reality be a hyperrealist. Being radically open-minded and radically transparent are invaluable for rapid learning and effective change. Embracing radical truth and seeking radical transparency will bring more meaningful work and meaningful relationships. Look at nature on how reality works. To be "good" something must operate consistently with the laws o reality and contribute to the evolution of the whole. Evolve or die is natures best way of purging and editing. Finally, don't let fears of what others think of you stand in the way.

Pain + Reflection = Progress

• In the evolution of yourself don't avoid pain, betting against yourself for learning is embracing change and being persistent at things you want to understand. Maximize your evolution, remember "no pain, no gain". It is a fundamental law of nature that in order to gain strength one has to push one's limits, which is usually painful.
• Own your outcomes. 
• Look at the machine from the higher level: Think of yourself as a machine operating within a machine and know that you have the ability to alter your machines to produce better outcomes.  By comparing your outcomes with goals you can determine how to modify your machine. 
• Distinguish between you as a designer of your machine and you as a worker with your machine. The biggest mistake most people make is to not see themselves and other objectively, which leads them to bump into their own and others' weaknesses again and again. Asking others who are strong in areas where you are weak to help you is a great skill that you should develop no matter what, as it will help you develop guardrails that will prevent you from doing what you shouldn't be doing. 
• Because it is difficult to see oneself objectively you have to rely on the input of others and the whole body of evidence. 

Key Takeaway 2: Understand That People are Wired Very Differently

• Understand the power that comes from knowing how you and others are wired. 
• Meaningful work and meaningful relationships aren't just nice things we chose for ourselves - they are genetically programmed into us. 
• Understand the great brain battles and how to control them to get what "you" want. 
• Know that the most constant struggle is between feeling and thinking.
• Choose your habits well
• Train your "lower level you" with kindness and persistence to build the right habits
• Understand the differences between right-brained and left-brained thinking
• Understand how much the brain can and cannot change. 
• Find out what you and others are like
• Planning versus perceiving, introversion vs extroversion, intuiting vs sensing, creators vs refiners vs advancers vs executors vs flexors
• Workplace personality inventory
• Shapers are people who can go from visualization to actualization. 
• Getting the right people in the right roles in support of your goals is the key to succeeding at whatever you choose to accomplish. 

Key Takeaway 3: Learn How to Make Decisions Effectively

• Recognize the biggest threat to decision making is harmful emotions and decision making is a two-step process first learning and then deciding.
• Synthesis of the situation at hand
• Synthesize the situation through time
• Navigate levels effectively
• Logic, reason and common sense are your best tools for synthesizing reality and understanding what to do about it
• Making your decisions as expected value calculations
• Raising the probability of being right is valuable no matter what your probability of being right already is
• Knowing when not to bet is as important as knowing what bets are probably worth making
• The best choices are the ones that have more pros than cons, not those that don has any cons at all. 
• Prioritize by weighing the value of additional information against the cost of not deciding. 
• Don't mistake possibilities for probabilities. 
• Simplify - Chances are you won't have time to deal with the unimportant things, which is better than not having time to deal with the important things. 
• All of your "must do's" must be above over the bar before you do your "like-to dos"
• Build your principles
• Believability weight your decision making
• Be cautious of trusting AI without having a deep understanding

Five Dimensions of Curiosity

Being curious helps! Curious people have helped spawn innovations, inventions, discoveries, and the world and humanity forward in positive ways. The curiosity of individuals in organizations helps move organizations forward and grow the business. A recent HBR article suggested five ways to bolster curiosity. I recap here for things I take away from it and may be helpful for peeps who coach and consult with teams.

1. Hire for Curiosity

In 2004 Google famously put up a billboard on highway 101 in the heart of silicon valley posing the puzzle for finding the first 10 digit prime in consecutive digits of e.com. The answer 7427466391.com led the curious to solve and landing an invite to apply at the search engine giant. Google took an unusual method of hiring curious candidates who saw the billboard and attempted to answer the puzzle. Eric Schmidt the ex-Google CEO famously said: "We want curious people because we run this company on questions, not answers".

It's not the curiosity killed the cat kind of curious we are looking for. It is spotting the inquisitive ones who are looking for better alternatives, puzzled enough to run curious experiments, lost enough in the what could be or what if's or as IDE a design consulting firm puts it looking for T-shaped employees. T-shaped meaning vertically having the predisposition to the creative thinking process and horizontally a predisposition for collaboration across disciplines displaying the qualities of empathy and curiosity.

2. Model Inquisitiveness

Organizational leaders can encourage curiosity by being inquisitive themselves. Chip Conley in 'Wisdom @Work' has cited well when your posture and position yourself as an intern to ask questions of your teams and listen, you will learn more and more. I am learning this myself asking questions and to answers that raise newer questions helps me from avoiding suggestions, blurting out non-relevant knowledge or ignorance. Being inquisitive as a team requires a breed of analysts who are data and information chasing from the perspective of figuring out the right questions even before finding the answers.

3. Emphasize learning goals

The HBR article cited the example of Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger who landed the commercial aircraft on the Hudson River saving hundreds of lives. Every time the plane pushed back from the gate Captain Sully reminded himself of "What can I learn today?". Captain Sully reports in the 208 seconds he had to make decisions on landing the plane he was prepared for various alternatives than the default ones he had trained for. Continuous learning and tracking them will put you in a position to evaluate through alternatives. It will give you perspectives from what you have kept and what you have eliminated. I am reminded of the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu who said: "To acquire knowledge learn every day, to acquire wisdom purge every day".

4. Let employees explore and broaden their interests.

Organizations don't do this well from various kinds of fears of employees leaving to cultures that have not been intentionally fostered for growth.  The article cited an example of United Technologies that budgeted and gave its employees nearly $12K in tuition assistance to pursue their degrees of interest. Starbucks pays for tuition for their baristas for their undergraduate degrees. Sending people on training and allocation of training budgets in budget-strapped organizations takes deliberate courage and faith. Leaders need to resolve and reconcile to the fact that they would rather have trained and developed team members rather than untrained and underdeveloped employees that will cost the company eventually and stifle any kind of innovation. The ones that foster a culture of curiosity and invest in their teams to broaden interests not only help them professionally develop but trust capital increases.

5. Have "Why?", "What If" and "How might we...?" Culture or days

The discovery of the Polaroid camera was the result of a three-year old's question "Why do we have to wait for the picture?" that inspired her father Edwin Land to build the instant camera. Why is ubiquitous in children vocabulary. I recently read another book called "Get Weird" in which the author explains the shame of not being the same and how being different or being curious is squashed away at an early age. The epidemic of killing curiosity at younger ages and instilling the value of structure and sameness is alarming which will have serious implications for the future.

The article aptly conveys to encourage curiosity -  leaders should teach employees how to ask good questions. In my recent upcoming massive change management project I am leading,  I have bantered for several months with leadership trying to convey that at arriving at the right questions is more important than arriving at the right answers and even more important than looking for the right tool to buy or build for the future. Because for the right insights we want to get, and the right data we want to measure and for the right strategic objectives we want to set will determine what the right questions are. This will then help in employing the right strategies we want to execute  The Why's, the What if's, and how might be, are the right questions to start with.