Graham Chastney (oak-grove)

3 Years of Blogging

I bit of reflection for a Friday evening.

When I first started writing this blog I was still in my thirties - three years later I am into my forties and still writing.

I know lots of people who have started blogging and stalled, or crashed altogether, but something keeps me going. I've often wondered what that "something" is, actually I think that it's "somethings".

Probably the single biggest reason is that I enjoy it. Sometimes the reason doesn't need to be any more complicated than that, but there is more. I regard it as a privileged that people actually read what I write. I get very little interaction directly on my blog, what I do get are people commenting to me when I meet them and sideline conversations that have been prompted by something I've written. That feedback cycle is quite edifying and gives me an encouraging lift.

This is post number 631, which isn't the thousands that I see other write, but it is roughly 1 every working day which is actually amazing.

Writing about things helps to develop the thoughts around a subject, I've particularly found this in the My Brain series of posts, where a little reading got me thinking about something which then urged me on to read some more. Reading a bit, writing a bit, cemented the thinking. I started with a couple of big questions; while pondering them I asked and answered other questions. It's growth and growth is good. Those with agile brains will be the ones of value in years to come, not to mention the ones who have a happy and fulfilling retirement.

I've recently been really enjoying thinking about the tools that I use and why I use them. I have a friend whose garage is immaculate, the tools all have their place and only depart from it when they are being used. I have a few boxes in my garage where my assortment of tools lurk in wonderful randomness. My IT tools are similar, I collect them, use them, leave them lying around. They wait, lurking on hard disks all over the place. Writing about why I use the ones that I use is actually helping me to sort them out a bit.

There is another theme that I think about quite a bit, it's kind of links the brain theme with the tools theme. I am concerned that the tools and working environment that we are currently exposing ourselves too might actually be as dangerous as the ones that other heavier industry exposed our fathers too. I don't mean that there is a disease like asbestosis lying undiscovered out there, what concerns me is what we are doing to our brains. I'm think of conditions like ADT, and Deindividuation, we don't really know that much about the long term impact of high IT use. My son has finished school (already) after completing his GCSE's. Some of his friends are really proud of the amount of time that they have been spending on WoW. One of them is playing so late into the night that he is almost nocturnal. He's in danger of working his body clock all the way around until he's back on the right time. These are brains that are going through rapid development and very susceptable. Are we really sure that this is not doing them irreparable harm?

On a lighter note, I also really enjoyed the company of Jimmy and Grandad. It started as a bit of fun, and has continued that way. Emily (who take many of the pictures) and I have had some strange looks from people as we have exposed them to the delights of these two fellows and the rest of the family.

It's now Friday evening and time for me to go into the garden and remove some weeds. Gardens are definitely good for the brain.

IT Blog Awards 2008 - I'm on a shortlist

Much to my amazement, I was informed today that I have been shortlisted for the Computer Weekly IT Blog Awards 2008 in the IT Lifestyle category.

When I found out I expected the shortlist to be quite long, but actually I'm one of only 10.

So go on, be a dear, vote for me.

in Lifestyle Blogs

 

(Thanks for nominating me James)

Too busy to Think - Thinking Faster

Does this sound like anyone or anywhere you know:

Working with a number of senior managers and executives from some Fortune 500 firms, I increasingly find that all of them seem to be measured with a new statistic - meeting minutes consumed.  Often, the only valuable time you can acquire from these folks is in the hallway between meetings.  They are overworked, overscheduled, multi-tasking and reacting to what's going on around them rather than taking control of their work and their results.

Where is it written that we have to attend every meeting that we are invited to?  Where was the law laid down that we HAVE to be busy all of the time?  If these concepts are true, when does anyone have time to think about the consequences of being busy all the time, and the missed opportunities?

Jeffrey Philips of Thinking Faster then goes on to explain five reasons why he thinks that this might be:

1. Most firms place a high value on busyness, not necessarily results.  If a person seems very busy, then they must be doing something valuable.
2. However, if someone is successful at something, we have even more incentive to ask them to take on more work - of the type they are good at and often work they aren't so good at.  It is very difficult to say "no"
3. Many firms have lack good, clear objectives and strategic communication, so it is hard to tell what initiatives are really important.  When there's a lack of clarity, everything is important.
4. We've lost the ability to determine who needs to know what.  In a recent meeting I was asked to lead, many of the participants brought others who weren't originally invited, and who did not have a clear role to play in the meeting.
5. The pressure of making the quarter.  Speaking recently with a gentleman who was highly placed in a Fortune 500 firm, the frustration of constantly short changing the future to "make" the quarter was evident.

I'd subscribe to all of these, but I thought I would add to and expand a few of them:

1. Many places don't allow for good delegation. I work with a number of senior people who are constantly dragged into the trivial. They get pulled so often that they no longer put up a resistance.
2. Information sicknesses causing destructive behaviours. Everyone feels like they need to know everything, and react to it instantaneously. The BlackBerry is an addiction for many.
3. Lack of good administrative support. Administrators are devalued in many organisations, as such senior people are dealing with administrative activities.
4. Poor meeting etiquette. I've been in many poorly managed meetings where people have phased out rather than fix, or cancel, the meeting.

Just a few ideas, and many of them are interlinked.

Many of these issues cause terrible negative spirals. Last weekend I was sent an email at 10:20 at night on Sunday and then again at 5:30 on Monday morning, but the same person. This person is more senior than me. My initial reaction to this was to question whether I was putting in enough effort to be "impressive". I only thought about it for a few seconds, because I've been around long enough not to get caught. Once caught, though, it's really difficult to get off the hook.

Hello Supplier

I've noticed an interesting trend in the access logs for this blog.

Every time I have a meeting with a supplier my blog will be visited by someone from that suppliers just beforehand, or just afterwards.

I wanted to say "Hello" and "Welcome" in acknowledgement of the effort you are putting in to understanding what might be important to me.

Back from Vacation

Last week was a silent week because I was on vacation.

I spent some time decorating Emily's room.

I spent some time pottering in the garden.

I spent some time walking in the Lake District.

 

Normal service should now resume - for a little while anyway.

Why encourage shockwave jams?

This is reasonably off topic, but it's something we have all suffered from I'm sure.

Anyone who drives on any UK motorway has been involved in situations where the traffic slows to halt for no apparent reason. The reason for this is the shockwave jam. Until recently this has really only been a theory; modelled by mathematicians. Recently a Japanese team has managed to recreate the theory on a track.

We, therefore, now have a reasonably well established theory with an experiment and results.

So why do the people who look after the roads in the UK insist on creating so many circumstances where they encourage shockwave jams?

There are at least two sections of motorway near me where the road authorities have put on the road a set of very helpful arrows to indicate the safe distance between vehicles.

These are accompanied by a set of signs informing the drivers to "Keep apart 2 chevrons".

I drive both of these roads quite regularly and whenever I am approaching these sections something happens. I slow down to a crawl, and regularly stop.

Why is this?

Because of a shockwave jam. Drivers approach the section too close together so drop back a little. That small action, on a busy road causes a shockwave which reacts back down the line of traffic until it forms a jam. The drivers within the chevron section may be safer, but the drivers approaching it are in more danger because they are bunched far closer together because of the shockwave.

The same thing happens as you approach speed cameras of which we seem to have at least our fair share.

I do have quite a lot of sympathy with the road authorities though. What are they to do? Am I expecting them to do nothing and let drivers go faster and faster and get closer and closer? No, I know that they have to do something. they have to remind us drivers what the safe limits are, because we need that reminder.

I'm not sure, though, that they do enough to protect us drivers as we approach these safety features, because the approach to them is the danger zone. I'm safer when I get there, but I'm less safe as I approach them. I'm not convinced that enough is done to try and avoid the shockwave and hence the danger.

One of the joys of working from home is that I don't need to worry about such things because I travel to work by foot. If you want a bit of fun though you could always go and simulate your own shockwave jam.

One of the challenges of working from home is that my neighbour is building an extension and today seems to be angle-grinder day.

Pictures of me - I don't look like this

Recently a few people have encouraged me to be more visible with pictures of myself They say that it's easier to relate to someone's writings if you can see who they are.

My problem with this is that I don't think that there are many good pictures of me.

Like many people, I suspect, I think that the pictures that are taken of me don't look anything like me. Perhaps I'm the one that's deluded though, and actually I do look like this:

Do I always have that puzzled look on my face?

Have I really become so plump?

Is there really so little hair left up there?

Where did all that other hair come from?

Now I'm a forty something

Well I have passed into a new era, one of fortyness. I'm quite happy about it, I still feel 21 in my head so that's OK by me.

My birthday present was a huge surprise - a digital SLR camera. Jimmy and Grandad will now be showing in even more glorious technicolor.

It great to be able to be able to play around with aperture again.

Lost my blogging muse

I seem to have entered into a season where I am struggling to write. It's been an extended period of time since I have had anything really constructive to say, it's been even longer since I have had a flow of ideas that have resulted in a number of different posts.

It's like I've lost my muse.

It shows the power of being busy doing.

I've had no muse because I've made little time to cultivate one. Little time to take in fresh ideas. Little time to meditate upon these ideas so that the make me think beyond the information. Little time to then write about the ideas that have been created in the mental stew of my brain. Little time to exercise and to stimulate the brain cells.

I miss it.

Time to regain control and to find my muse.

"Multitasking is dumbing us down and driving us crazy"

Attention deficit and the impacts of multi-tasking have been themes on this blog for a while now. It all started with me thinking about whether it is possible to have a "strong" brain, and whether it was possible to do things to exercise your brain and make it "stronger". Along the way I came across the issue of attention deficit trait and the impact of multi-tasking.

Walter Kirn has written a fascinating article on the impact of multi-tasking. It starts with this bold statement:

Neuroscience is confirming what we all suspect: Multitasking is dumbing us down and driving us crazy. One man’s odyssey through the nightmare of infinite connectivity.

It even gives some wonderful statistics on the impact:

Six hundred and fifty billion dollars. That’s what we might call our National Attention Deficit, according to Jonathan B. Spira, who’s the chief analyst at a business- research firm called Basex and has estimated the per annum cost to the economy of multitasking-induced disruptions. (He obtained the figure by surveying office workers across the country, who reported that some 28 percent of their time was wasted dealing with multitasking- related transitions and interruptions.)

But the real joy in this article is the story that surrounds all of the information, and for that, you need to read the article.

One of the reasons I am writing this post is that I had planned to work from home today because I need to get my head around some thing. Working from home normally allows me to blank out everything and focus in on the core task. Unfortunately my neighbour has started some building work today and the trucks keep reversing up the cul-de-sac with those annoying reversing warnings blaring away. However much I try to focus in on the important thing, the distractions keep coming, and you can only turn the quiet music up so load. There's no point in me trying to get my head around the task that is ahead of me because I will just get distracted, try to regain my thought, get distracted, get frustrated, and on and on.

If this post comes to you as an interruption - sorry, but it's really your fault for not turning off the notification on whatever reader you are using. You are allowed to turn things off you know.

(Jimmy and Grandad are watching Mr. Benn at the National Media Museum in Bradford. One of the attractions of the museum is to be able to go into one section, choose a programme from the archives and show your kids what television was like when you were a kid. We were all surprised how slow Mr. Benn was. Another sign of the impact we are having on our brains.)

Technorati tags: Attenteion Deficit, Multi Tasking, Brainstorm, Dumb, Concentration