Mysterious predictability
A watched pot will boil. As it heats up, there’s no way to predict where the cavitation will start and which bubble will arrive first. But with enough time and enough heat, it’s going to boil.
Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect
Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect
Better vs. done
“There, it’s done.” This is the production mindset and the rule of school. Pencils down. Hand it in. The alternative is, “Sign me up for a commitment to better.” Ship an update every day.
The next generation of AI businesses
The first generation was built on large models, demonstrating what could be done and powering many tools. The second generation is focused on reducing costs and saving time. Replacing workers or
Tip for tap
There is plenty of unintentional harm in our world. We’ve all been bruised or derailed by someone who had no ill intent. We often respond with intentional harm, to make a point and to teach a
Time well spent
What an admirable goal. Perhaps the overriding goal of all goals. How often do we measure this? Do we even know how? Do the systems we’re in push us from considering this? I wonder why.
A starting point for the blog
The challenge of the library is the card catalog. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, it’s hard to find much of anything. The challenge of the web is the search box, for the same reason.
Process thinking
Sure, you made it work this time, but will it work next time? Can you teach the method to someone else? Do you have a protocol for what to do when it doesn’t work? How can someone else contribute
Free agency
Unrestricted free choice is a myth. There are always boundaries and trade-offs. But being fully stuck is also a myth. We might not like the trade offs, but we also have a choice. Since we always live
Vessel size
“May your cup runneth over…” This begs the question: how big a cup? The logistics of vessel size determine how much money we need to raise, how big a team we need, how many customers are
Voluntary stories
The narrative we run in our head is a choice. It might or might not be based on objective reality and verified history. Doesn’t matter, it’s still a choice. There are millions of ways we can
Making it whole
Integrity is the act of being in and of itself, from every angle. As we see the bait-and-switch of the online networks and monopolists, it’s easy to imagine that nothing with integrity stays that
Terrible
Most of us are terrible at some things. Lack of skill, focus, practice, care or just temperament means that we don’t do the task as well as we might. This might be anything from promptness to
Insulation > power
When energy is cheap, people build buildings that are poorly insulated. It’s faster and cheaper in the short run. In the long run, though, insulation always wins. You invest in it once and get the
On the hiring line
There have always been two sides: Hiring people to do tasks and jobs, or hoping to be hired to do those tasks and jobs. The difference now is that it’s increasingly difficult to find a good job to
Skepticism, surprise and resistance
Every important medical innovation of the last five hundred years has been ridiculed, undermined and ignored by doctors and the medical establishment. Every single one. Hand-washing, antibiotics, and
More trouble than it’s worth
This is the hallmark of projects that turn out to be worth doing. The trouble might be a symptom that we’re onto something that others don’t care enough to do. And the things that are obviously
Precision vs. accuracy
Precision requires producing the same results each time. Repeatable, measurable, dependable. Accuracy means hitting the target. The only way to consistently be accurate is to be precise. But there
“Everybody wants to win”
Sports analogies often let us down. A colleague was explaining how measurement was difficult in many organizations, unlike a basketball game, where the time, the score and the stats are clear and
Sorting
A surprising amount of our time is spent sorting things to create value. They sort the rotten cranberries from the good ones to ensure that the bag at the market is worth buying. And we sort the