There’s plenty of advice available advising new workers to ‘communicate well’, ‘think of other ways to do it’, ‘don’t just follow the old way’.

This is valid and useful advice, but the hard part is actioning it. The practicalities of taking that advice to where the work is – that is easier to say than do. It’s not easy to rock the boat as a new employee.

These are concerns worth addressing. Also, you can damage your work reputation by speaking against the norm too often, or offering ‘new’ ways of doing things that are not better, or are more expensive.

#100wordsaday

There are many kinds of puzzles. The jig-saw puzzle requires putting together pieces to create a known picture. Other types of puzzles are based on problem solving or tricks around twisting what you might think you know. Then there are brain teasers, riddles, or Rubik’s cubes.

Some puzzles are ‘proper’ or predictable. The outcome is known and expected – like jig-saw puzzles. Others are more complicated because the outcome is not known or expected or predictable. These complicated puzzles need more creative thinking, more time, and a different approach. Make time for those complicated puzzles and be creative in the approach.

#100wordsaday

Decisions, applying judgement, or taking action are part of any knowledge worker’s day. Value is added through the day by applying decisions, judgement or actions to information. This is achieved mostly through use of that “black box” that is between our ears.

The concept of agency is part of the day as well (considering knowledge work here, not societal issues). Agency is the ability or authority to achieve control, or the capacity to act independently and make choices. And importantly, a knowledge worker’s agency is influenced by their knowledge, skills and past experience with the thing having the valued added.

#100wordsaday

I work in an industry that relies on a series of Australian Standards. Ours are written to be mostly performance-based and results-oriented, rather than prescriptive. I know that there are some (many?) who would prefer a prescriptive standard. By definition, a prescriptive standard prescribes, dictates, tells you: exactly what to do.

With a prescriptive standard, there’s little to no options or judgement. There is no requirement for thinking beyond the recipe. It removes the choice, there’s no judgement required, it just is. This is certainly an easier way to do work; but it eliminates the chance for innovation or improvements.

#100wordsaday

I was recently reminded about this 2017 hoax.  A writer created a fake restaurant, seeded social media with stellar reviews, and posted news that tables were “sold out” for months, even though there were no tables to book.  It reached #1 on the crowd-sourced review sites and made the news for its unique ‘mood’ menu.

It’s obvious where I’m going here:  truth in numbers in the digital world is difficult (but not impossible) to verify.   Think of media reporting on:  emissions claims, virus numbers, poll results. 

The effort to seek the source input numbers is very daunting. So few do. 

#100wordsaday

There is a plethora of work that goes on around us that probably doesn’t get enough public appreciation:  the late night office cleaners (not so much in 2020), the council bus drivers, the school bus drivers (not so much in 2020), the rubbish collectors (which thankfully carried on steadfastly through 2020).

There are also a number of people over on LinkedIn who comment on or like these posts.  So, while my writing habit is solid, I’m not so good at responding to comments that follow.  Know that I read them, and I really appreciate your effort to comment/like.  Thank you.

#100wordsaday

A known bias is the confirmation trap bias:  seeking information that confirms what we know, rather than challenge it with contradictory information.

In pursuing confirmational evidence that our past decisions were correct, or the consequences of a current decision will be positive, that excludes a wealth of information.

The information gained from seeking contradictions is valuable, but seeking it is definitely not easy.  But it’s not possible to be sure something is true without also checking that it might not be.  Like the scientific method:  try to prove a hypothesis (or decision) is wrong, and see what information is learned.

#100wordsaday

What I like about paid (in-person) industry conferences and networking events is their equalness (recognising the cost barrier).

Socially capable or not socially capable, you can still go along to paid events, you can be seen, meet people, and practise your communication skills.

In-person ‘invitation only’ (obviously size-limited) events associated with online conferences might necessarily become part of the future. These are good for the invited, but it leaves out those who are not. If you’re not known (or are awkward socially), it’s harder to get invited.

There’s a real, unspoken, mental issue around ‘belonging’ (or not) to a group.

#100wordsaday

Mostly, things “just work” in our built environment.  It’s easy to focus on the niggly things that aren’t functioning well, but mostly, built things just do their job.

When things really do go wrong in this built environment — a bridge collapses, the internet connection fails, a manufacturing facility leaks poison — a legitimate question is whether those involved with that part of our built environment were competent at their job.

It’s difficult (nearly impossible) to admit incompetence; no one wants that.  But the expectation is nothing less than the opposite.  There’s a large gap, though, with many landing points in between.

#100wordsaday

If you produce good work, you will be talked about.

Anyone who does well in their career has been talked about by others. There’s no way around it: we tell others about good (or bad) experiences, be it with a product, a service, or a person.

If you want to excel, you have to be so good that people recommend you or your work to others. There’s no shortcut or hack; your work has to be good enough that someone recommending you is not risking their own reputation.

If you’re going to succeed, other people will have talked about you.

#100wordsaday

It’s difficult to take on something new: starting a new career, trying a new pastime, meeting new people. The uncertainties put us in a state of unease. That’s why many don’t try new things.

It’s a different psychology when we restart something we used to do. We know a bit about it, yet here we are again. So, it’s been 18 months since my fifth long-distance triathlon; I’m now restarting the long journey back into endurance running events. Restarting from zero is like having never done it, except I’ve experienced it all before. Trying it again for the first time.

#100wordsaday

Business documents should be used. That means read: documents that sit unread on a shelf are not something to be proud of.

It’s very easy to start writing a document without thinking thoroughly enough about the who, the what, or the why. For example, the level of detail needed changes markedly with a sophisticated audience for the “who” versus writing for a novice audience.

The document lifecycle should also be part of the planning: who will use it, what for, and why. And: who approves it, what happens after that, and, know who will care if it doesn’t get written.

#100wordsaday

Are you competent? Take a moment to think about the answer to that.

The answer, of course, should be “that depends”.

But if you said yes, well that’s an impressive ego. If you said no, give yourself a little more credit. 

Competence has context. It applies at a moment in time, or it applies about a certain thing. 

When contemplating if you’re competent, consider not only the topic and level of detail being considered, but also:

• what have you produced (your outputs), 

• who have you told (your interactions with others), and,

• what examples are there to prove it (your stories).

#100wordsaday

Unfortunately, putting time aside to read during the workday seems to not be considered ‘productive’ work in many workplaces. And by “reading”, here I’m meaning deep long-form reading, not Twitter posts, or 100-word observations. 

Reading a book or magazine article at your office desk (when we had that) seemed like some skiving off.  Yet we can skim emails and reply to a few in the same timeframe and that’s seen as productivity.

But reading is crucial for knowledge.  To know something takes more than just being exposed to it.  To understand it means including reading long-form content in different contexts.

#100wordsaday

It’ll be difficult for me to stick to just 100 words about committees. I’m on several, and I chair a few as well. I’ve been on committees for technical standards (hello Standards Australia) for almost twenty years, as well as several with Engineers Australia.

I get an enormous amount of satisfaction from them. They are my ‘giving back’ to society, and to industry. The people are all so interesting, and the opportunity to learn is enormous. It’s not easy work; but it’s worth it. Reaching consensus on issues is the ongoing challenge. You can’t help but improve your communication skills.

#100wordsaday

Mathematics, according to Wikipedia, has no generally accepted definition. I found that to be a bit surprising, since we could all probably agree that we know it when we see it. It’s about quantity, structure, space, and change, and it’s about numbers and letters, and LaPlace Transforms.

Math problems practically always have one answer, a ‘correct’ answer. On the other hand, engineering or technical problems, as well as art and politics, have many answers and possible interpretations. There’s nuance involved, and judgement required. But math doesn’t care what your opinion is or what you think about it. It just is.

#100wordsaday

30-day challenges are a recognised way to develop understanding, habits, or patterns. Doing something once does not mean we are skilled, or experienced, at it. During the repetitive attempts, we expose uncertainty, and we must work through the hard bits. Any sports or music expert has had times of wondering if all the repeating is worth it.

Part of the journey to expertise is working on skills and getting experience. Improving skills means a lot of repetition. It means repeated exposure, to better recognise patterns and systems. Repetition is how we develop skills, and those skills contribute to developing expertise.

#100wordsaday

Putting aside unsolicited advice, of which there seems to be plenty of, sometimes we do actually seek out some advice.

There are two paths by which we decide where to get advice from, and whether it’s trustworthy: we need to know the advisor’s motives, and we need to know their competence.

It makes sense: if the motives and competence are good or positive, then we are more confident the advice will be. The opposite is true too.

What might be surprising is that the motives are related to values: how similar the advisee thinks the advisor’s are to their own.

The world is a tricky and complicated place.  Humans have been trying to overcome the laws of nature for all of our existence, but physics and math sometimes just seem to thwart our efforts. 

Fundamental to science and engineering thinking – and more importantly, the doing – is the analysis portion.

To analyse something is to apply a detailed examination of the elements or structure.  It also requires the asking of how and why, and coming to conclusions around the thinking about the thing being analysed.

The efforts to analyse should not be lost into the black box that is our computers.

#100wordsaday

Quite a bit of work in today’s world is untested. It’s not thoroughly checked for ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. There’s no established way to test creative processes or how the innovative ‘spark’ of an idea came to be.

The idea of ‘drift into failure’, by Dekker in 2011, captures safety complexity where small everyday decisions eventually produce breakdowns on a massive scale.

This happens with technical knowledge work, if it’s not tested. When we successfully complete tasks, without feedback where it might not have been done right, we miss out on the learning and growing that goes with being wrong sometimes.

#100wordsaday