Shipulski On Design

Archive for the ‘Clarity’ Category

More isn’t better, it’s just more. What makes it better is how it compares to the expectations we set.

Less isn’t worse, it’s just less.  What makes it work is how we compare it to what we want.

Enough isn’t enough until we decide it is.

We forget what we have until we don’t have it.

Our health isn’t bad until we can’t do what we want to do.  But don’t we decide what we want to do?

Activities aren’t fun unless the experiences exceed our minimum level of enjoyment.  But aren’t we the ones who define that threshold?

When we look back at last year, we will have more of some things and less of others.  None of the situations are good or bad, but we will make them that way by comparing what happened with what we wanted, what we expected, or the thresholds society sets for us.  We will decide what’s good and what’s bad. We will define our level of happiness.

When we look forward to next year, we will set expectations or goals to have more of some things and less of others.  We will define those thresholds and establish the criteria for good/bad.  And at the end of the year, we will compare what happened against our self-defined thresholds.  We will be responsible for our happiness.

Things happened last year.  They were not good or bad.  They just were.  We can’t change what happened, but we can change how we feel about what happened.  At the end of the year, may we be aware that we set our good/bad thresholds for the year.  And may we remember that we defined our thresholds somewhat arbitrarily, and we can reset them along the way.

Things will happen next year.  They will not be good or bad.  They will just be.  We won’t have infinite control over what happens, but we can control our good/bad thresholds.  At the start of next year, may we set our good/bad thresholds skillfully.

Image credit — Ajay Goel

What is this all about?

What is the reason you do what you do? What’s your WHY behind the WHAT?

When you don’t do what you said you’d do, what’s the reason? And what does that say about you?

If the reason is right, I think it can be okay NOT to do something you said you’d do.  But I try to set a high bar on this one.

When things get tough, what gets you to push through?  For me, it’s about doing something for the people I care about.

When things go well, what causes you to give credit to others?  For me, it’s about building momentum and helping people understand the special things they did to make it happen.

Why do you show up?  When you ask yourself, do you have an answer?

How do you show up for? And the more difficult question – WHY?

When is it okay to be compliant in a minimum energy way?  And how do you decide that’s okay?

When do you decide to apply your whole self to something that others think is misaligned with the charter?  I think this says a lot about a person.

What are you willing to do even though you know you’ll be judged negatively for doing it?  I’m often unsure why to do it, but I’m sure it’s the right thing to do.  I don’t know what that says about me, but I’m okay with it.

To me, the WHY is far more important than the WHAT.  The WHY explains things.  The WHY tells the story.  The WHY gives guidance on what will happen next time.

When you do something happen that’s out of the ordinary (a WHAT), I suggest you try to figure out the WHY.  I have found that some seemingly nonsensical WHATs make a lot of sense when you understand the WHY underpinning the WHAT.

And during this holiday season, may you give people the benefit of the doubt on their WHATs, and take the time to understand their highly personal WHYs.  That can make for a happier holiday season for all.

Image credit — Christopher Henry

When you start something, by definition, you will end it.

All good things come to an end.  So do all bad things. That’s how it goes with things.

All new things start with the end of old things. That’s how things are.

What does it say when a phase of your life comes to an end?

Doesn’t the start of a new phase demand the end of an existing one?

When something ends, do you curse it or celebrate it, do both, or neither?  And how do you decide?

If you stay with the old thing too long, what does that say?  And how do you know it was too long?

Can you know it will be too long before you stay too long?

If you leave too soon, can you know that before you leave?

The follow-on results of a decision do not determine the quality of a decision.

There is no right decision to make.

Make the decision and then make it right.

Image credit — Karissa Burnett

What’s the rule?  Are you sure?

Where did the rule come from?  And how do you know?

When the rule was created, was there also a rule that it could not be changed?

Show me the rule book!

Is the rule always applicable, even after hours?

If the rule is limited to a certain location, work from home.

Is it a rule or a ritual?  It’s easier to abstain from rituals.

Is it a rule or a rut?  Ruts aren’t rules; they’re just how we’ve done it.

Is it a rule or a guideline? Squinting can easily transform a rule into a guideline.

If there’s a disagreement about what the rule is, take a position that’s advantageous to you.

If you don’t know it’s a rule, there’s no need to break it.

If one knows who broke the rule, was it really broken?

If the rules are unknown, don’t follow them.

If the context changed around the rule, the rule is no longer applicable.

If no one remembers why the rule exists, it’s no longer a rule.

If you don’t like a rule, run an experiment to show its shortcomings.

If a rule blocks progress, make progress.

If no one knows a rule was broken, it wasn’t broken.

Image credit — nirak68

I’ve written a blog post every Wednesday for the last sixteen years.

The first years were difficult because I was unsure if my writing was worth reading.  Writing became easier when I realized it wasn’t about what others thought of my writing.  For the next ten years, I let go and wrote about things I wanted to write about.  I transitioned from describing things to others to writing to understand things for myself.  I learned that writing about a topic helped me understand it better.

By writing every week, my writing skills improved.  I learned to eliminate words and write densely.  Early on, I wanted to sound smart and, over time, I became comfortable using plain language and everyday words.  My improved writing skills have helped my career.

Over the last several years, writing has become difficult for me.  After 800 blog posts, it became difficult to come up with new topics, and I started putting pressure on myself by trying to live up to an imaginary standard.  I blocked my own flow, everything tightened, and the words came reluctantly.

Then I became tired of paragraphs. I wrote in topic sentences, bulletized lists, and a sequence of questions.  Each topic sentence could have been the topic of a blog post; the individual bullets were standalone thoughts; and the questions ganged up to build the skeleton of a big theme.  For some reason, it was easier to come up with a collection of big thoughts than to write in detail about a single topic.

I’m not sure what the future will bring, but thanks for reading,

Mike

Image credit — chuddlesworth

When do you bring your whole self to the endeavor?  You can’t do this every time, and that’s okay.

What are the conditions that cause you to engage fully?  Full engagement is expensive.  Spend wisely.

What about the situation causes you to run toward the problem? Solve the right ones, but leave some for the rest of us.

Which situations bring out the best in you?  Sometimes your best isn’t very good, and that’s okay.

When do you block yourself from jumping into the adventure?  All adventures aren’t worth the jump.  Block wisely.

What are the conditions that cause you to phone it in? Sometimes the best choice is a phone call.

What about the situation causes you to give others a chance to run toward the problem?  There’s nothing wrong with that.  Save yourself for the right problems.

Which situations demand that you protect your best self?   It’s okay to protect yourself and live to fight another day.  That’s why they make bulletproof vests.

Sometimes we get caught up in the heat of battle and bring our energy in an unskillful way.  And sometimes we are lulled into inaction when bringing our energy is the more skillful action.

I have found that maintaining awareness helps me allocate my energy wisely and skillfully.

May you be aware of your surroundings and your self.

Image credit – Jan Mosimann

Are you working on important problems?

Or are you seeking out important problems?

Or are you connecting with people who work on important problems?

I ask because I think working on important problems is important.

Are you working with people who build you up?

Do you separate from those who do the opposite?

Are you building up others?

Do you call out those who do the opposite?

Are you seeking out people who deserve rebuilding?

Do you suppress the unbuilding that creates the need for rebuilding?

I ask because I think building builds character.

Does your work matter?

What do you do when it doesn’t?

To whom does your work matter?

What do you do if you don’t know?

Do you seek out work that matters?

What do you do to block yourself from seeking out work that matters?

How do you decide if your work matters?

What do you do when you are unsure?

I ask because I think it matters.

Who is important to you?

How can you spend more time with them?

Who is not important to you?

How can you spend less time with them?

I ask because I think that’s important.

What do you think is most important?

What deserves more attention?

Who deserves to know?

When will you tell them?

I ask because I think this adds meaning to our lives.

Image credit – Dr. Matthias Ripp – Any Questions?

You know you know, but you don’t.

You think you know, but you don’t.

You’re pretty sure you don’t know.

You know you don’t know, you think it’s not a problem that you don’t, but it is a problem.

You know you don’t know, you think it’s a problem that you don’t, but it isn’t a problem.

You don’t know, you don’t know that you don’t need to know yet, and you try.

You don’t know, you know you don’t need to know yet, and you wait.

You don’t know, you can’t know, you don’t know you can’t, and you try.

You don’t know, you can’t know, you know you can’t, and you wait.

Some skills you may want to develop….

To know when you know and when you don’t, ask yourself if you know and listen to the response.

To know if it’s a problem that you don’t know or if it isn’t, ask yourself, “Is it a problem that I don’t know?”  If it isn’t, let it go.  If it is, get after it.

To know if it’s not time to know or if it is, ask yourself, “Do I have to know this right now?” If it’s not time, wait.  If it is time, let the learning begin.  Trying to know before you need to is a big waste of time.

To know if you can’t know or if you can, ask yourself, “Can I know this?” and listen for the answer. Trying to learn when you can’t is the biggest waste of time.

Image credit — Dennis Skley

I started writing because I had no mentor to help me.  I thought I could help myself grow.  I thought I could write to better understand my ideas.  I thought I could use writing to mentor myself.  I tried it.  It was difficult.  It was scary.  But I started.

You will see the title, but you won’t see my scrap paper scribblings that emerge as I struggle to converge on a topic.  Prismatic shapes, zig-zags, arrows pointing toward nothing, nested triangles, cross-hatched circles, words that don’t go together, random words.  And when a topic finds me, I move to the laptop, but you won’t see that either.

You will see the sentences and paragraphs that hang together.  You won’t see the clustered fragments of almost sentences, the disjointed paragraphs, the out-of-sequence logic, the inconsistency of tense, and the wrong words.  You won’t see my head pressed to the kitchen table as I struggle to unshuffle the deck.

You will see the density of my writing.  You won’t see the preening.

You will see a curated image and a shout out to the owner.  You won’t see me spend 30 minutes searching for an image that supports the blog post obliquely.

You will see the research underpinning the main points, but you won’t see me doing it.  Books on and off the shelf, books on the floor, technical papers in my backpack, old presentations in forgotten folders, YouTube, blogs, and podcasts.  Far too many podcasts.

You will see this week’s blog post on Wednesday night, Thursday morning, or Thursday afternoon, depending on your time zone.  You won’t see the 750+ blog posts from 15 years of Wednesdays.

When it was time to send out my first blog post, I was afraid.  I questioned whether the content was worthy, whether I was right, and whether it made sense. I struggled to push the button.  I hesitated, hesitated again, and pushed the button.  And nothing bad happened.

When it was time to send out this blog post, I was confident the content was worthy, confident I was right, and confident that it made sense.   I put myself out there, and when it was time to hit the button, I did not hesitate because I wrote it for me.

Image credit — Charlie Marshall

Sometimes when I have a good idea, my body recognizes it before my mind does.  I believe my body has been doing this since I was young, but only over the last five years have I developed sufficient body awareness to recognize the sensation my body generates.  And now that I know the sensation is a signal, I know my body knows more than I do.

My body’s signaling system is usually triggered during a conversation with someone I trust.  While they are speaking to me, one or two of their words help my body flip the “knowing switch” and send its signal. Sometimes I stop listening and wait for the idea to come to my awareness.  Sometimes I say out loud, “My body thinks there’s something important in what you said.” Sometimes the signal and idea come as a pair, and I tell my friend about the idea after they finish their sentence.  All this takes some time for my coworkers and friends to understand and become comfortable.

My body can also send signals when it recognizes wrong paths or approaches that will cause conflict or confusion.  It’s a colder sensation than the one described above, and the coldness distinguishes it as a signal of potential wrongness, conflict, or confusion. Like above, it’s usually triggered during a conversation where a coworker’s words help my body flip its knowing switch and send the cold sensation.  Sometimes I stop listening and wait for the knowing to arrive.  Sometimes I acknowledge I just received a knowing signal. And sometimes I tell my friend about the knowing as soon as there’s an opening.  This, too, takes time for others to understand and become comfortable.

For my body to be able to do this for me, it must be well-rested, well-exercised, and grounded.  To do this, my body must be standing on emotional bedrock.

I think I’m more effective because I can connect with my body’s signals.  I can become aware of better ideas, I can become aware of skillful approaches, and I can become aware of ways to protect my friends from conflict and confusion.

Bessel van der Kolk says The Body Keeps The Score, and I agree. And with deep calm and awareness, I think the body can do much more.

Image credit — darkday

For the past two decades, I’ve actively developed engineering leaders.  A good friend asked me how I do it, so I took some time to write it down.  Here is the curriculum in the form of How Tos:

How to build trust.  This is the first thing.  Always.  Done right, the trust-based informal networks are stronger than the formal organization chart. Done right, the informal networks can protect the company from bad decisions.  Done right, the right information flows among the right engineers at the right time so the right work happens in the right way.

How to decide what to do next. This is a broad one.  We start with a series of questions: What are we doing now?  What’s the problem? How do you know? What should we do more of?  What should we do less of?  What resources are available? When must we be done?

How to map the current state.  We don’t define the idealized future state or the North Star, we start with what’s happening now.  We make one-page maps of the territory.  We use drawings, flow charts, boxes/arrows, and the fewest words. And we take no action before there’s agreement on how things are.  The value of GPS isn’t to define your destination, it’s to establish your location.  That’s why we map the current state.

How to build momentum. It’s easy to jump onto a moving steam train, but a stationary one is difficult to get moving.  We define the active projects and ask – How might we hitch our wagon to a fast-moving train?

How to start something new. We start small and make a thought-provoking demo.  The prototype forces us to think through all the elements, makes things real, and helps others understand the concept. If that doesn’t work, we start smaller.

How to define problems so we can solve them easily. We define problems with blocks and arrows, and limit ourselves to one page.  The problem is defined as a region of contact between two things, and we identify it with the color red.  That helps us know where the problem is and when it occurs. If there are two problems on a page, we break it up into two pages with one problem.  Then we decide to solve the problem before, during, or after it occurs.

How to design products that work better and cost less. We create Pareto charts of the cost of the existing product (cost by subassembly and cost by part) and set a cost reduction goal.  We create Pareto charts of the part count of the existing product (part count by subassembly and part count by individual part number) and define a goal for part count reduction.  We define test protocols that capture the functionality customers care about. We test the existing product and set performance improvement goals for the new one.  We test the new product using the same protocols and show the data in a simple A-B format. We present all this data at formal design reviews.

How to define technology projects. We define how the customer does their work.  We then define the evolutionary history of our products and services, and project that history forward.  For lines of goodness with trajectories that predict improvement, we run projects to improve them.  For lines of goodness with stalled trajectories, we run projects to establish new technologies and jump to the next S-curve.  We assess our offerings for completeness and create technologies to fill the gap.

How to file the right patents.  We ask these questions: How quickly will the customer notice the new functionality or benefit? Once recognized, will they care? Will the patent protect high-volume / high-margin consumables? There are more questions, but these are the ones we start with.  And the patent team is an integral part of the technology reviews and product development process.

How to do the learning.   We start with the leader’s existing goals and deliverables and identify the necessary How Tos to get their work done. There are no special projects or extra work.

If you’re interested in learning more about the curriculum or how to enroll, send me an email mike@shipulski.com.

Image credit — Paul VanDerWerf