Results, Relationships and actions over time that matter for both.

What do you want to create and for whom?

Find someone, organize something and help others by creating a space where you talk about it

You have more options than we can ever imagine

In case you dont have time to listen:

A quote or two.

Quality creates Growth. Growth creates Bloat.
Quality lets you do more with what you've got—forces you to focus.
Bloat might be technical depth, doing things that are not in focus, or in ways you didn't intend/design. Often, bloat is a symptom of never deciding whom to serve, how, and why that matters to those specific people who care.

Peter Drucker say "Results only happen outside the organisation; everything inside it is a cost."

Below is the full raw Descript Auto-transcription of this episode.
raw = its not edited, and Descript isn't perfect.

Continuous improvement and what you're unaware of control you. Continuous improvement is co-work. It's collaborative in nature. Yet quite often, we have countless books for self-development, and I'm quite sure wherever you've been working throughout your life, you have individuals who perhaps talk languages like self-learning, taking the initiative to learn. 

And something happens. Usually, we have one or a few individuals in each team who are skyrocketing what they are able to achieve and what they're doing; they're embracing new technology, they're learning new processes, and they're adapting faster than most in a reorganisation.  Yet something happens with improvement when we have a team of, say, six+ people, when we have a team of 15 people, and you're trying to scale that, and I'm not talking Dunbar's numbers now.

And the personal thing, an empathy thing.  I'm talking about focusing on improvement as requiring a lot of vulnerability and trust.  Yet,  quite often, we don't talk about it. We talk about it as helping individuals to better things.  We're talking about retrospectives and thinking, figuring out how we as an organisation become better. 

it's important we actually think about this: what you're unaware of controls you here.  We can't talk about continuous improvement if we don't ask ourselves,  why are we here as a team? What's our promise to the organisation?  Here, I think it's vital that we embrace the fact that our hurry to get to say number three on a scale of ten is often what blocks us from actually getting to ten. 

Ten being able to scale up. Ten is being able to automate instead of require or hire,  speed things up,  and let people be free for vacations. In the long term, ten means serve better, not just because what happens when I say in our complex enough to get 3, it often blocks us from getting to 10.

What happens is, quite often, we have a KPI behind that we must get to.  And perhaps we're unwilling to "embrace reality", as Manager Tools discusses. So we're instead focused there on ONLY doing enough to reach "level 3", blindfolding us for what we know lies beyond. Because that's what we need to get done this month.  Sacrificing the future.  And we need to have empathy for that. 

Empathy for that other team who does it "to us un-intentionally".  You need to realise you're most likely doing it, too.  You're most likely also in a hurry to get to three.  That blocks you from scaling up and automating more.  And the better we become at talking about it, the higher we can grow. If we can talk about that quality creates growth,  which is a good thing,  because then you have resources to automate, then you have resources actually to figure out a better way to serve.

What is this team here for?  Who are our customers, who are, and what does the revenue look like?  And as that starts to grow, growth creates bloat and bloat is usually again, in the form of, okay, there's the journey of the urgent looking good in the KPI, in this specific thing that some of the team, especially if you're in a global organisation. 

People are mindful of their own KPIs, and they're not really seeing the whole business.  And that's why when we talk about continuous improvement,  we need to start with, why are we here?  On a great day, what is our healthy boundaries? I'm probably making that a block of three instead of ten for some teams. 

Then we need to talk about that with our manager and people up senior saying how can we  work on this together.  Then we need to go down again to look at our own continuous improvement saying why are we here again?  This is to who are we doing this for?  Probably, the continuous improvement will change. 

Because not everything matter.  If we dare to be very specific,  who our team is here for, if we dare to be very specific,  what our promise is for the work we're doing,  the better we can become at it, the faster we can become really good at it,  figuring out how can we automate more, how can we save resources so we can do this better long term. 

And another way of saying this  is focus. How can we focus on what actually matters and is worth improvement?  New shiny objects will always come along, so how can you stay committed to that?  And how can you be consistent with that? It's only with consistency that real improvement happens, especially if we go beyond ourselves and look at a team.

Notice it gets more complex when we're talking about getting a team to do continuous improvements. There are a lot of negotiations and painting a picture,  and I am looking for that enrollment because no one exactly aligns with any one individual.  So you probably need to work on your very local situation, um,  on how continuous improvement looks like. 

With trust, with transparency, with protecting your team. With this embracing that, reality is someone else isn't hired to get to three that will block you from getting to ten.  And how can you have empathy for your own situation with that? How can you have empathy with their situation with that? 

And then when you have worked on improving your local situation,  And the resistance and the hard work of getting that to work beyond one.  Now, looking at the global,  how can we work with continuous improvement globally?  It's very different from what it's for. It's a very different who it's for. 

And probably starts with empathy. Probably with yourself, with that, you have multiple accesses that will only partially align.  And when you do scale that up to 60 people, 100 people, perhaps thousands of people,  safety looks very different.  Especially if you're thinking of multicultural countries and stuff like that, you probably have one idea of what safety looks like.

You probably have one belief and trust in that, that won't be exactly the same globally.  Yet safety and trust is really important for continuous improvement.  And we need to embrace ourselves too, that,  when we say who it's for,  it's quite, quite often, specifically,  if you're a freelancer, choosing your clients. 

If you're an entrepreneur, choose your customer.  If you're,   an employee, choose your manager.  It's really, really important. And continuous improvement is really important for your next thing in life.  So,  and that also goes back to the core, be the one who lift other people, be the one who train other people, share what you learn, goes back to this three out of 10,  carve out some space to elevate the people around you.

It does not mean picking up a new shiny object because there will be a new tool, a new reorg, a new thing, and daring to commit and focus,  daring to be specific.  And also again,  in the line of continuous improvement, sometimes the challenge is, are we supposed to do this?  And how does that fit into the trajectory this team is on? 

How does this work with the other work we're doing?  And if we think we can fix our bubble and then ignore the rest,  the continuous improvement will fade,  will be less impactful.  So if you can start to embrace that it's actually very collaborative,  and other people see what you're unaware of,  there will be accesses that you will never see that are sort of coax grinding against yours,  the better you become at improving what matters for the people who actually care. 

But it starts with you,  thinking about who you want to serve, what problem is worth solving,  and thus, if it's worth solving, worth improving on.  And then talking to other people around you about that.  About how that changes as you grow.  
Thanks for stopping by, my friend. Have a great one. 

[ Recorded with Audio-Technica AUD BPHS1 and Rodecaster Pro2, 2024-07-21 ]

use it to put some constraints on shipping what might matter today

Remind yourself of it daily. On your decisions. On your effort. On your relationships.
On those you choose to help get to where they want to go.

On the internet. On Everything...

Easy is already taken.

Great, since you don't really want to play an easy game.

You want to play an interesting, worthwhile game with people who care and who want to come back the next time you gather the party.

You sure its yours?

Please move your stuff where its protected, actionable and less costly for our future.

Are you Creating and holding space for Questions?
Are you pondering on what uncertainty to to you and those around you?

Are you actively helping others reflect and ask themselves what if and other powerful questions?

Autobot summary:

We explore the concept of "after commitments," focusing on the impactful actions and efforts that would be missed if discontinued. It highlights the importance of ensuring others recognize the value of these efforts and continue them after our involvement ends. This concept is particularly relevant in project management and cybersecurity, where success is measured by reaching milestones and ensuring sustainability and continued relevance over time.

Ric apologizes for missing last week's episode and expresses gratitude for listener feedback, emphasizing the importance of specific and meaningful communication amidst a sea of generic messages.

The discussion underscores the necessity of embedding the principles of after-commitment into our work. This approach aims to achieve immediate goals and secure lasting benefits and value.

It then addresses the challenge of recognizing the true impact of our work due to biases and the importance of viewing our efforts from others' perspectives. The episode touches on the necessity for empathy, humility, and the questioning of our contributions' long-term sustainability and integration within existing processes or habits.

The episode concludes with reflections on the role of after commitments in assessing our work's relevance and effectiveness and the importance of facilitating a smooth transition for others to maintain and build upon our efforts.

Listeners are encouraged to consider their areas of influence—whether topics, people, or values—and how they can contribute to sustained positive outcomes. The episode challenges the audience to think about the legacy of their actions and how their efforts will continue to be fruitful and relevant in the future.

In summary, "After-Commitments" calls for thoughtful, enduring impact beyond completing a task or project, emphasizing the importance of building habits and systems that ensure continuity, relevance, and lasting value.

Almost 100% of the world didn't notice last week episode not showing up as usual.
Focus on the important people (select few) who missed what it brought to their lives.  Don't let the others distract you from you helping those who see, those who care. Those who benefit from your hard work. Those who would miss THEIR steps if they didn't get to engage with your work showing up for them.

Sharing some of my own fears and struggle

You're Not Ready, you're Intentionally Small & Meaningfully Bold.

Auto-summary for those who don't have time to listen.

The importance of starting before feeling fully ready, arguing that waiting for readiness hinders learning and helping others. 

It highlights the struggle with uncertainty and the human tendency to seek certainty, which can lead to inaction and missed opportunities for growth and assistance. 

Suggests focusing on small, meaningful actions that can make a difference now, 
rather than waiting for the perfect conditions. I know it leaves less space to hide than a superb plan in your head. Remind yourself it's worth it when it feels too pressing to close.

By daring to take small steps, individuals can learn, help others, and eventually find a path that accelerates their ability to serve effectively. The overarching message is to embrace imperfection and uncertainty as opportunities for growth rather than barriers to action.

Barbara Oakley and I converse about Critical Thinking and Learning - recorded for those it might help.

Barbara is the creator of Uncommon Sense Teaching, Learn Like a Pro, Learning How to Learn, and many other courses, books, talks, and business presentations.

Want to learn more from Barbara?

Here’s a great start

• https://coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn
• https://barbaraoakley.com

Books mentioned in this conversation

• The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI by Fei-Fei Li
  https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-See-Curiosity-Exploration-Discovery/dp/B0BSP29SQ4
• The Crux by Richard Rummelt
  https://www.amazon.com/Crux-How-Leaders-Become-Strategists/dp/B09WRTFWNZ
• Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World by Scott Shigeoka
  https://www.amazon.com/Seek-Curiosity-Transform-Change-World/dp/B0C822WG9W
• Annie Duke's books "The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away" and "Thinking in Bets”? https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-in-Bets-Annie-Duke-audiobook/dp/B078SBSBW3
• The Trusted Learning Advisor https://www.amazon.com/Trusted-Advisor-20th-Anniversary/dp/B095PSYBLC
• The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
  https://www.amazon.com/The-Selfish-Gene-Richard-Dawkins-audiobook/dp/B004U8NB2M
• Everybody lies What the internet tells us about who we really are https://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Lies-audiobook/dp/B077XJ5QBB
• Play to Win by Roger Martin - What has to be true for this to be an effective strategy? https://www.amazon.com/Playing-to-Win-audiobook/dp/B00GRMUSOS
• Moral Mazes: The World of Corporate Managers by Robert Jackall https://www.amazon.com/Moral-Mazes-Robert-Jackall-audiobook/dp/B003ATPA1M
• Between the State and the Schoolhouse: Understanding the Failure of Common Core by Tom Loveless
  https://www.amazon.com/Between-State-Schoolhouse-Understanding-Educational/dp/1682535908

The article mentioned Curiosity’s different stances.

https://www.templeton.org/news/curiosity-has-two-faces

General interest curiosity, Deprivation curiosity (Barb also said something new to me. predatory curiosity)

Explores the significance of understanding probability in decision-making, drawing on personal experiences with computer games like Stellaris, board games and roleplay games.

Combining this with YOUR perspective. What did you remove? What do you add? What you choose and not.

IF you're doing work that is meaningful and worth it you will be tired.
Don't wait until you're not. Embrace it as part of the work.
Embrace doing it early. Put it into the hands of someone who cares about it EARLY; don't wait until you're fully done or have figured it out. Do the hard part early and then EARLY put it into the hands of those who care so they help you pull it forward, feedback early before you waste time and others effort and attention on things you will cut once you understand the constraints better.

This is the summary from the generos bot, in case you don't have time to listen in.

explores the nuances and importance of disengagement in communication, especially over the phone. It emphasizes the need to recognize when the other person is not fully engaged and the significance of respecting oneself enough to disengage when necessary. The writer discusses the concept of active listening and creating space in conversations, not just filling it with one's own priorities.

it touches on the broader implications of disengagement for personal work and relationships, advocating for clarity and respect for others' time and engagement levels. The piece concludes by reminding of the value of disengagement and self-respect in various aspects of life.

if you prefer catching the summary from the generous bot instead of listening here it is:

this audio clip highlights the significance of embracing ambiguity in relationships and decision-making, viewing it as an opportunity for leadership and action. Clarity is essential, but most meaningful progress often occurs in ambiguous situations. Clarity is better reached by ACTION than by waiting any day of the year. Surely Patience, caution and other things are also critical yet often that NOT what it's about when we're waiting for clarity or a "better idea" or "know it's worth it before starting/daring."

Centres on the importance of persistence and simplicity, suggesting that solutions should focus on core needs rather than unnecessary complexities. 

USE ambiguity as a catalyst for personal growth and effective problem-solving, particularly in a fast-changing world. If you're NOT your not leveling up nearly as effective.

Advocate for daring decision-making in ambiguous situations and using knowledge management tools to avoid repetitive errors and foster collective learning and progress. Please help others dare to embrace this too.

Summarized by the generous bot.

Think about your life, work and relationships in the terms "replaceable" and "irreplaceable parts". emphasizing the importance of recognizing which aspects of our lives and work are replaceable and which are not.

Most material things and processes, including our roles at work, are replaceable, but certain aspects, particularly related to our perspective, time, and decisions, are not.

The irreplaceable parts of our lives are largely defined by our perspectives and are not influenced by external opinions or societal norms.
Understanding the difference between replaceable and irreplaceable parts can lead to freedom and clarity, allowing us to focus on what truly matters.

Tthe importance of relationships with family and friends, which are irreplaceable, unlike our replaceable roles at work.
Reputation is discussed as something unique to each individual, irreplaceable yet fragile, necessitating careful nurturing and protection.

Reflect on your own life, identifying replaceable and irreplaceable parts, and to honour the latter to avoid losing what's most important.

There's an emphasis on backing up irreplaceable items like photos in the digital space, illustrating the need to understand and protect what's truly ours in a world largely controlled by others.

Focusing on the parts of our lives that we can change or influence, encouraging self-forgiveness and self-improvement in these areas.

Its important to regularly reflect on and have conversations with others to help distinguish between replaceable and irreplaceable parts of in your life and theirs, from their perspective, ensuring we focus our energy and care on what truly matters.

or doing experiments wrong? And some ABJ testing

Generously, a bot has summarised like this, so you can skip this episode if it's not what you want to listen to.

The concept of "viable" in the context of product development and relationships emphasises its importance over "simply achieving the minimum" to get to green on the next iteration/shipping.

Viability includes ensuring a product or solution is effective for the creator, the customer, and the environment and that it should be meaningful.  It's an easy trap to fall into focusing on the minimum by skipping the critical "minimum meaningful specific" instead of favouring the "minimum I can flag green on the project chart"

The speaker also touches on insecurity in product development, suggesting that accepting they exist and addressing insecurities leads to robust and impactful outcomes. 

Encourage embracing inconvenience and addressing hard questions to create long-term viable and significant work. Finally, the speaker advises listing and being specific about the various viability aspects to ensure that solutions serve their intended purpose effectively.

How can you dare to focus more on viable early and recurring?

To make the meaningful specific as small as possible into the hands of a real user, a real customer or whoever you aim to help who also cares about getting that specific help - so you can learn what matters and quit what doesn't as fast as possible, with as little waste as possible. And especially waste that your future self doesn't thank you for because you were too rushed to cut corners to get to green today.

The generous Autobot said this about today's episode

it emphasises the importance of a collaborative, multiplayer mindset in adapting to the speed of technological advancements. It highlights the need to enhance processes across various aspects, not just individually. In the workplace, it urges reflection on how team members contribute to organisational success, considering their roles, learning speeds, and collaborative efforts.

The piece also explores the difference between human and AI ideas, underlining the significance of cooperation in our rapidly advancing world. Historical misconceptions, like the flat earth theory, are cited to demonstrate how human understanding evolves slowly, advocating for openness to new ideas. The example of handwashing in surgery, which took decades for doctors to accept, illustrates human reluctance to embrace new concepts.

Finally, the text poses a reflective question: if one isn't actively helping others learn and adapt to new technologies, are they truly participating in the collaborative environment knowledge management of today (multiplayer with async singleplayer threads), or are they isolated in the old ways of working (locked single-player mode)

Personal sounding board in today's arena
Choose your HARD problem, and YOUR people who care about that problem don't just say it.

In today's fast-evolving landscape, choosing "your meaningful specific hard problem" and "your people" affected by it is crucial. Soft skills like empathy, understanding, and re-learning have always been essential. They are the core of this 10-year-old podcast, yet today, it's more important than ever.
It's also becoming more accessible and easier to have your software-based sounding board give you tailored, specific answers instantly. This is great, yet bias and filters also pose a risk. AI-powered Ways of Working are already here, and middle managers are greatly affected since most of their work is coordination, communication, resourcing, and decision-making - stuff software often does way better, way more straightforward and without the cost of delay. An illustration in comparison. LinkedIn job ads will have a "get a resume review" button
a year from now; many people will say thanks for helping us train our users to click this button. Top on this service is now an Autobot that will do this for 1% of the price and 90% of the results, making it critical for those who used to live "of/within" that boxed-in service - they now need to find other, better revenue and thus better ways to help their people.

Way of working agile resistance from managers - that kind of transparency and owning what is committed and what not is hard

Automation - SLA, KPI, OKR fulfilment. Often, I've encountered we don't want that automated since that would give conflicting reports with those PowerPoint where I've given myself some poetic freedom not to show all, to round a few metrics up for years, etc.
An organization will only learn to run experiments for continuous risk reduction and better experiences faster and more often. What is the core of this for those you serve? And what experiments and learning should go where since not every initiative should be a win if your organisation aim to do better.

Ask yourself what complex and challenging problem might be worth it and for whom we ask yourself a meaningful specific. You need to be precise; otherwise, you can't follow up if it's working for its intended outcome or if you're becoming better at solving this specific problem.

Ask yourself this question.

What happens when your Autobot instantly gives time back to your boss or client
while also leaving no room for conflicting reports?

You can ask any meaningful, specific question about any problem like this from many perspectives.
Perhaps your client is a higher-up, getting time stolen from conflicting reports, which might help.
Perhaps your client is middle management, juggling multiple perspectives from both upwards and peers.

Perhaps your client is forward-orienting and Happy to let go of sunk cost.
Perhaps she is defending sunk cost whatever it costs?

Asking yourself questions like this, with empathy and daring to choose a whom, daring to choose a what, daring to ask ourselves, does it work great for those we aim to help?
And where is that heading in the big ocean-like waves of change?

Who are you in this and what do you want to become? AND who cares about having those problems solved well in a way that will get you and them there?

There is likely a third more effort, cost, and risk than you perceive and accept. Are you holding space for this? If not, is it worth pursuing?

Peer pressure during our school years often leads to groupthink, causing us to lose our identity in the quest to fit in.

Growing up, for me, it rarely led to anyone's elevation. Instead, it taught me to hide and remain within the margins.

However, the right kind of pressure, combined with a peer, cohort, any group of choice or a mentor's keen observation, can profoundly impact. When we and those we care about hold us accountable for our actions and words, helps us see what we said we would and show us our wants. It helps us to stand up for our beliefs consistently in what we do and say.

You become a reflection of the company you keep.

You directly mirror the expectations of your peer group.

You're not a tree. You can find new places and new groups without moving, yet not without reflecting on your time, and efforts and owning your behaviour

EVERYTHING you do in your work is, from other people's perspectives, a movable part.
Are you designing with that in mind? Are you rearranging what others hold fixed?

It's a wonderfully powerful constraint if embraced, yet often we're surprised by it.

thinking out loud on how do you approach thinking about the unthinkable?
Measuring the unmeasurable?

if discipline is a journey of discomfort and joy, how do we improve?
if doubt and a wavering mind are the opposite of discipline how could "that what if" help those you serve?

is it thus a feeling? if we choose to be resolute in our behaviour it looks a lot like discipline

When working its important we embrace data, metrics, and predictions AND what's hard to measure, quantify, and touch ourselves.

for example when conducting due diligence for our systems, we must consider operations, cybersecurity, privacy by design, AI, sustainability, scalability, costs, and robustness. Equally important is the well-being of the people we serve and those who operate and maintain our systems for their intended purpose. What can be backed up by metrics, code, and documentation? and what is hard to measure yet still needs to be translated into disciplined execution to serve its intended outcome.


As always I don't know and love hearing your thoughts on this.

Below is an image intended to show that you always have your digital twin permanently everywhere and it's impossible to know or measure all it's being used for. Generated by leonardo.ai by some nudges by me