Best practices are often pernicious wastes of time often because we believe we’re doing a good thing, the right thing. The problem is that we rarely validate best practices are actually necessary. Instead, we implicitly believe that they’re justified regardless of benefit and/or cost. After all, why would we do things any way but the right way? Are there any…
Let people fill in the gaps
I’m working on an article that has an analogy that my editor pointed out had a “gap” in it, in his mind. The analogy involves TSA screening, I discuss bins that we place our belongings in and the belongings flow through screening, and perhaps are flagged for extra screening. After which items might be removed that aren’t permitted. What I…
What’s time consuming?
If you want to speed up your work, ask yourself what’s time consuming. You don’t need to quantify it. Just qualify it, what feels time consuming? Often you intuitively know what is a waste of time. Now if it’s going to take hundreds of hours of work to make it better, then maybe quantify things. Otherwise just fix it and…
Things that matter, just like boomerangs, come back
I constantly have ideas for what I’d like to work on next with my business. I often email myself late at night so I don’t forget that brilliant idea that I just had. But the thing is, most of my ideas aren’t new. I’m rehashing ideas I’ve already had. Ideas that I’ll have yet again. Anything that matters will resurface.…
Contemplating inefficiency is oft a waste of time
We all innately multi-task. We check emails on the toilet. We read junk mail while waiting on hold. We work on two projects simultaneously at work. Many “agile proponents” claim that multi-tasking is inherently inefficient. I’ve heard them quote some study about the efficiency of stuffing envelopes. Something about one at a time versus an assembly line type process where…
Ask people what they don’t want to do.
I believe that most people waste most of the time they spend working. They could easily not work half of a day, if in the other half of the day they only do the things that should be done. And they’ll be just as productive as working a full day. There are many reasons why we waste time. If you…
Can you say no to the idea people?
There are some people that have a knack for having ideas. For getting excited about what could be done. And that rarely ask if things should be done. Or they get people so excited about an idea that everyone forgets to think about if it is a good idea. I’ve been that person, I still am at times. I know…
Confusion helps people learn
A while back someone asked me about something confusing in one of my courses. This course happened to be a thought provoking course. That was the intent. I wanted people to think. When I was making the course, I was worried that people wouldn’t like it. Or that it wouldn’t engage them in deep thought. Turns out quite the opposite.…
Docker and containers are about software
Over the next year I will create several courses about containers and Docker. I’m wrapping up my first course and I wanted to share some of the analogies I used. Docker simplifies using software. If you already understand software then you already understand Docker. When you hear container think process or application. When you hear image think of the file…
Seek help from people that don’t do what you do
If you decide to have someone help you identify habitual waste in the work you do, don’t fret over whether or not they can do the work you do. If you’re a lawyer, they don’t have to be a lawyer. In fact, it would be best if they don’t do what you do because they won’t have preconceptions about what…