Reading and writing are immensely important human endeavours, human skills, and human communication methods. The widespread ability to read and write have catapulted us into the society we live in now.

On the other hand, maybe widespread reading and writing is getting out of hand, and maybe the advantages have peaked; maybe we’re on a downhill slide.

And then I turn my mind to AI and chatbots writing what we read. To me, that’s a real downhill slide. I’m starting to not trust everything I read. For authenticity, we might be headed back to more talking, less reading and writing.

I had a wide-ranging discussion today about competency: from managing scout leaders’ competence (working with children, taking them on bushwalks, camping), to finding safe cycling routes in Brisbane, to the challenges in ordering pipe for projects where the proponents haven’t ordered linepipe before.

The interesting insight was summarised by observing “boxing at shadows”. When we’re not experienced in something, we’re extra careful, to the point of distrust and wanting reassurance. We box at shadows. In contrast, when we’re experienced, we don’t need to box at those shadows, because they aren’t shadows anymore, not when you have the experience, or competence.

Primary economic activities include the harvesting, extraction, and/or collection of natural resources. Fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy, and agriculture generally are considered “produced”. Mineral and petroleum extraction fit into this group.

Manufacturing, or the secondary economy, uses raw materials for feedstock, combined with enormous amounts of energy, to make new products.

We manufacture millions of things, the list is endless: smart phones, plastic water bottles, solar panels, pens, laptops, eyeglasses, even food is manufactured now.

It’s complex, but also true: the manufacturing industry, which is making millions of products by the millions, has a pretty big impact on the environment.

[ Units / Time ]

If I need to read a large volume of text for a project, I can either track pages read (units), or, do I track time spent?

So, I could set a goal of reading, say, 30 pages a day (measuring units). Or, the goal could be reading for 30minutes a day (measuring time).

Measuring by time doesn’t measure output. In other words, to fully comprehend the content, 30 minutes of reading might only be 10 pages read. A goal of 30 pages might take me 3 hours.

I don’t have an answer. I have to get back to my reading.

[ Visible Progress ]

Something that many of us in the knowledge work environment don’t appreciate enough, is that the type of work we do (mostly revolving around emails and meetings), has the characteristic of not having “visible progress”.

I’ve often found myself wondering at the end of the day, just what did I accomplish? I mean, I’ve sent a dozen emails, sat in meetings, caught up with project members, and generally “done stuff”… but it’s hard to measure.

A key to job satisfaction is making progress visible. And celebrating it. I love the moment of crossing off things on my to do list.

“Just get started”. I’ve been saying that to myself for the past 3 weeks. Taking time off from habits means we must face starting up again.

Internal commitments of our own making, such as posting 100 words most days, or getting fitter, or eating better, or reading more, or any self-directed habit, take extra effort to re-start.

The mantra applies to any change we want to make: just start. The first time (or, coming back after a break), it will be difficult. It will be awkward and it will feel weird.

Just start. If you don’t start, you’ll never achieve.

I tend to start (restart) new things at the beginning of a week, or a month. So, when the calendar turned over to February 1st, 2024, that was my reminder to start up with the 100-words posts again.

This is my 6th year of 100-words posts. I can’t really call it “100-words-a-day” anymore, although that’s how it started, and I’ll still use that hashtag.

I can’t claim I will post every day anymore, but when I do a #100wordsaday post, it will be about something I’ve thought about that day, and the commitment is, it will be precisely 100 words.

The successful design of real things in the real world will always be based on a combination of art and science. The process of design includes unquantifiable judgements almost every step of the way. Experiences are a primary component of judgement, because that is the way to be exposed to mistakes, recognise where innovation can occur, and see the unforeseen. Experience by its nature requires a person to be immersed, to be in the thing being experienced, and for it to be personal to them. Judgement can’t be taught directly, since its application requires that that unforeseen be subsequently seen.

Risk, quality and competency are almost inseparable in a well-run business, or, in an astute individual.

Managing risk through effective controls inherently means high quality outputs and high competence levels. A competent person or business naturally produces quality work and operates at lower risk levels. Focussing on quality naturally results in focussing on competence and risk.

A well-established metaphor for good project management is the three-legged stool, representing the tensions amongst managing cost, time and quality. Similarly, but also differently, is the intertwined nature of risk, quality and competence. Manage one well and the others should follow.

I have a ‘misplaced delivery’ story which won’t fit into 100 words. But the learnings from it makes it worth a try.

None of the three parties involved (me, the vendor, the deliverer) technically did anything wrong.

The ‘secure place’ the deliverer put it in shouldn’t have been accessible. I didn’t think of that location. The deliverer’s agent followed the vendor’s security instructions and did not give me details of the location when asked. The vendor had no humans on the problem, only bots.

Security, expediency, and misunderstood expectations were at play. Understanding others’ perspectives helped keep the situation calm.

Maryanne Wolf is a literacy researcher, and she strongly promotes the valuable skill of reading. But not the skim-reading on our phones and screens, she means actual physical books. In a recent article, she addresses the complex activities going on in our brains when we read books. “The medium of print advantages slower, more attention-requiring processes. The digital medium advantages fast processes and multitasking, suited to skimming information’s daily bombardments.”

We bounce around and think we’re going fast, but miss out a lot.

It’s a magical outcome from slow effort to connection and integration, which just doesn’t happen when skimming.

Expert intuition is not magical. It’s not even the purview of someone ‘extraordinarily smart’. Being an expert means being able to associate a situation with appropriate past experience. So, when there’s a cue, the expert accesses stored information in their memory, from previous experience or observation.

But that ability to remember doesn’t quite make you an expert. I may remember how to play tennis, but, that’s about it. So it is contextual. But I remember all my experiences facilitating a workshop or meeting. I use those memories to enhance the experience for everyone, so they benefit. That’s using my expertise.

Today I spent a bit of time in spreadsheets. For one task, I was putting together some data into tables and graphs to show numerical information about participants in a training course. Another had me demonstrating a gap analysis audit for a procedure that was updated recently. The third task was a matrix to identify where a project intersected with competency requirements.

Spreadsheets (I use Excel) are really good at, of course, calculations. They were invented with accountants in mind, but they have morphed into amazing mathematical tools. And also for tables to display information, even if it isn’t mathematical.

Goals and values are related attributes. Your values will influence your goals. Goals will be influenced by values.

Take, for example, the goal of climbing a peak (“summitting”).

Some will want to do it as fast as possible. Others will want to enjoy the journey. This demonstrates some underlying values: quick achievements, versus a meandering path.

Another value might be demonstrated by whether you do it alone, or in a group. Some value the striving for individual achievements, others prefer the joy of teamwork.

Neither example value characteristic is ‘better’ than the other; it’s informative to recognise our different motivations.

On March 4th, I’ll have made another successful journey around the sun. Time is tracked by celestial increments: earth’s rotation for our days, the moon’s journey for months, and a big circle around the sun for our years. Fifty-three is a lot of journeys around the sun, and most of them have been fun.

Three years ago at this time I was skiing. Four years ago, I was recovering from my fifth Ironman. Thirty years ago, I was about to graduate with my civil engineering degree.

Thirty years from now, I’ll be eighty-three, and probably a darn good lawn bowler.

Complex problems are characterised by their ‘murkiness’, and them being difficult to predict the solution, or even what it looks like when they are ‘solved’. By contrast, complicated problems are ones that may be difficult to solve, but you generally know what the solution might look like.

A checklist approach to complicated problems sets a structure for the solution, because you know what you’re aiming for. But complex problems by their nature evolve and change every step of the way. One possible solution is to extract the complicated from the complex, but this is harder to do than to write.

I’m currently leading an ad hoc working group of international experts, with the scope of work to wrangle an agreed set of defined terms for the high pressure pipeline industry.

We have representation from many different nations around the world. The meetings are held in English, and I’m very grateful for that.

The group understands that it is impossible to determine the ‘right’ definition for many well understood words. It’s a fascinating discussion, always. We’ve landed on a philosophy of trying to explain the term rather than define it. Nuances, context, and culture all play a part in this exercise.

A Japanese martial art concept to describe the stages of learning is “Shu Ha Ri” (learn, detach, transcend). I’ve English-ised it into “Shoe Ha! Re-“.

The Shoe/Shu step is ‘by the book’, where we repeat the known steps. Shoes on the ground.

With Ha!, we start making changes and improvements, achieving the same outcome by different means. Ah Ha! I can do that repetitive calculation by putting it into an excel spreadsheet.

In the Re/Ri step we depart from the book, completely re-writing the way to do the task. Innovation and creativity, sticking to the requirements but ‘re-inventing’ the way.

Experience is so very important when it comes to knowledge work. There is truth to the idea that our learning comes in 70/20/10: 10% formal training, 20% from discussing with others, and 70% from real-world on the job experiences.

I’d also suggest that our opinions hold more weight if there is experience behind it. I can talk about the various challenges of doing an Ironman triathlon, and my opinion has more weight because I’ve done a few. Similarly, if you’re discussing unique welding procedures or tricky construction methods, your opinion (aka judgement), is more trustworthy if there’s experience behind it.

Accountable versus Accessible is the current dilemma for knowledge workers. Our work style (be visible, be on time, be available) was built on the need for production workers to be in the factory making things. It’s so different now; for many, our ‘productivity’ is our ability to add value not necessarily make things. (Though, I support a move back to making things, but only sustainably, so that’s a conundrum for another time).

Our struggle now is to base our value on accountability to things we’re doing, value we’re adding. We shouldn’t base our work on being accessible at any moment.