I’ve mentioned the Paradox of Choice before, both the New Yorker article and the book I haven’t read. The basic idea is that although it seems like more options would be better, too many options actually creates a situation where we are overwhelmed by choice and can’t make a decision at all. The canonical study […]
Category: thoughts
“The Guy” and community
After pondering “The Guy” theory for a few more days, I think it’s inextricably tied into the formation of community. Every example of “The Guy” that I came up with involved the creation of a new community. This made sense when I thought about it. If a community exists, it’s much harder to become “The […]
Thinking by talking
I had a teddy bear moment today. I was trying to debug something at work, got stuck, asked one of my coworkers to help me, explained the problem to him, and said “Oh, I see what’s going on” without them saying anything. I guess I should bring a teddy bear into work so that I […]
“The Guy” theory
[Apologies in advance for the sexism inherent in calling it “The Guy” theory – the people with whom I was having these conversations were all male, so it made sense in those instances, and I can’t think of an appropriate gender-neutral term right now] So I’ve been referring to “The Guy” theory in several recent […]
The Role of Context
Today’s topic on Scott Berkun’s mailing list for project managers was surprisingly divisive. The story: the project manager has a star programmer who is utterly pessimistic. The programmer does his job well but infects the rest of the team with his cynicism, leaving the project manager having to improve morale. The first several responses all […]
Better living through conversation
I’ve been spending a lot of time on the phone recently with various friends talking about what I’m thinking and where I’m going with my life and my career. After one recent phone call, I realized that I value such conversations because each conversation is an opportunity for me to evolve my understanding of the […]
The Discordant Element
This evening I went to go see So Percussion perform Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich. Long-time readers will remember that I’m a complete nut for Reich’s work, so I was looking forward to seeing it again, especially since the other So Percussion concert I’d been to was enjoyable. Alas, I was incredibly disappointed. […]
But it’s just talking!
One of the things that many of my friends have been struggling with is that managers don’t really do anything. These friends are highly technical people, so when they think of doing something, they think of time spent in the lab, or coding on a computer, or building something. When they see a manager spending […]
Becoming a Technical Leader, by Gerald M. Weinberg
Amazon link This was recommended to me by a friend as a great book on becoming a leader and manager. The book reminds me of How to Win Friends and Influence People in that the advice is deceptively simple. If I had read this book even five years ago, I think I would have dismissed […]
Management is an Attitude
I’ve been thinking about what it takes to be an effective manager for a long time. Between the classes I’m taking at Columbia and the books I’m reading for myself, I’m starting to get some ideas that I’m trying to figure out how to apply in my own life. A recent realization is that being […]
