This argument is crucial since it’s relevant to the majority of attempts to
Use the attention capital principle. According to research, this is one of the main reasons is that attention capital.
The reason behind the hyperactive hive mind’s persistance in the knowledge sector is
it’s very convenient in this moment for people who utilize it. It’s really convenient for the people who use it.
There aren’t any systems to master or rules to follow; you just grab the people you like.
electronically when you require to use them. Virtually any alternative to this workflow can be done electronically.
is likely to be less user-friendly will be less convenient, as it will take more effort
Then, it can cause issues in the short-term, such as delayed tasks, or even
long response delays. This is one reason for the fact that so many reforms to work
movement, which is a result of inbox exhaustion, eventually get being reduced to just
minor tweaks, like promoting smaller tweaks, like promoting “etiquette” in regards to messagingsmall tweaks
since these slack suggestions keep any person from confronting the
challenges that result from real-life changes to the hyperactive hive mind state of the art.
Imagine that you’d like to make an important change to your home or to your
organization’s workflow. What are the best ways to prevent the hassles that come with
With this experimentation? You can’t. Instead, you must change your mental outlook
to ensure that you don’t worry about these issues. In order to support this to make it easier for you, let’s
Revert back into the business sector in which the acceptance of discomfort is
generally typically. Take a moment to think about what it might have been like
Henry Ford’s Highland Park factory during the radical experiments that
was between 1908 and 1914. In the early period, the process of
Ford when it was making cars that made perfect sense. The same design was being used
Method that was dominant for a long time, he made workers gather in a circle
stationary vehicles that are bolting and filing components transporting the necessary supplies between them
into the machine shops and in general, building the cars in the same way that people did
Always naturally constructed complex things: one piece at a.
Ford’s first assembly line, in contrast, would be a nightmare
his employees. There was nothing natural about the way he worked. One thing is that it needed more
complex machinery that was prone to breakdown. The machine was prone to breakdown.
The transfer of a bumper from a pile to the stationary vehicle was a simple and secure procedure.
Try to pull the entire car’s chassis using an adjustable-speed winch
towards a worker and then bolt onto the bumper as it passed. was a different
A more complex method of completing this exact step.
There were also the tools that were custom-designed. One of the things that creates continuous
the production process is made possible by specialized equipment which can perform precise tasks
quickly. Ford for example created a drilling machine which could
simultaneously bore 45 holes in an simultaneously drill 45 holes into an block.12
The thing to remember about
Custom tools, however, is that it’s difficult to make them run in a consistent manner. It’s
It is a reasonable guess that during the early years, there was plenty of people who were frustrated
time during the day at Highland Park spent tweaking and fixing these heavy
rigs.
Another annoying aspect of an assembly line is an issue can occur at any time
of a process, an installation process that is taking too long or a component of the process not completing
when it’s required in a timely manner–can when it’s needed–can stop production completely. Such shutdowns
This must have been the norm when the kinks were removed for the early
lines. Consider the frustration slipping away from the stable reliability of the
design a procedure that made you put off work completely
and then. And to make things even more difficult and again, the assembly line required
the addition of engineers and managers to oversee. The addition of more managers and engineers was not limited to that.
frustrating, and also expensive to run!
In summation, Henry Ford took a solid and efficient approach for
making cars and replacing it with something more expensive
The process, which was long and involved more overhead and management, was not even natural,
and is often broken and often caused significant production delay.
This would not be easy or obvious. If you were Ford, you would have been a Ford
worker, manager or investor in this time, you had the experience of a
I would prefer a more secure and less invasive concentration on making the tried-and-truepopular
The most efficient method, slightly better than the industrial equivalent of the method of
better email etiquette.
We now realize it is true that these fears were erroneous in the same way.
The assembly line was eventually with the final product Ford Motor Company one of the biggest
and the most profitable companies in the world. in the world of industrial
Production, we easily take these stories into consideration, since when we think of the idea of
Factory, it makes sense that the aim is not ease of use or
stopping bad things from taking place, rather
producing products at the lowest cost is.
If you’ve read 20th-century management literature, you will see you will see the concept
to increase your effectiveness by the ability to take on more
Complexity is praised. In his book from 1959, Landmarks of Tomorrow, Peter
Drucker applauds the “steady working towards improvement as well as adaptation
application” directed by applied researchers and engineers, which helped
companies to produce new and better products more quickly than ever before
before.13
Similar to James McCay’s classic business tome called The
Management of Time, also written in 1959, McCay connects leadership in
The modern world has given us the ability to continually explore the ways in which work can be done
achieved, and stoically managing the complexity that resulted:
“The man to watch” of this moment is one who is able to handle the complexity
issues caused by the growing speed of technology. . . . He is
the man of extraordinary creativity. He is the person who is
The man was disciplined to learn new skills and knowledge.
He has invented new concepts for production and marketing concepts
strategies for financing.14
In our modern-day knowledge-based work, we’ve abandoned the desire to move
bravely for the future, accepting the hardships that follow as the price of doing
businesses more effective than the previous years. It is still a topic of discussion “innovation,” but this concept is a lot more effective
The current policy applies to the services and products we provide, and it’s not
the methods we use to make the means by which we produce. Concerning the subject of the other,
business people tend to focus on the secondary aspects, such as more effective leadership
or more clear objectives to increase or clearer objectives to help boost productivity. The focus is not on the right things to do.
dedicated to the workings of how work gets completed, assigned and completed.
reviewed.
Its focus is on the secondary aspects is not because of insecurity on the part of
Knowledge work leaders. It’s more likely to be due to the trap of autonomy
previously discussed. The natural result is that you do not provide the specifics of the process
Knowledge workers are able to work until the person is an ensconcement in
workflows that put efficiency in the moment over anything else. Once
We must be free of this trap and begin to work on our own
Rethinking our methods of working by rethinking our methods, we’ll eventually cause temporary inconvenience
We are well on our journey to long-term growth. My industrial history is will show hopefully
It is important to note that this issue should not be considered a cause for concern. When it comes to business, there is no substitute for good.
is not the same as effortless or quick. Likewise, fulfilling your obligations isn’t the same as easy and convenient. Deep
down, experts would like to feel that they’re creating something important
output that fully takes advantage of their hard-earned skills regardless of whether this results in
it’s not always possible to get an answer in a timely manner to their inquiries.
A Side Note One Response: Didn’t Assembly Lines Awful for Workers?
In the initial stages of contemplating this book, I went to an event.
Wedding of the family. The rehearsal dinner was a great time. I started chatting with one of the guests.
relative. He was curious about what I was doing I informed him about this
book and tried out my thoughts on the importance of assembly lines to
Rethinking the work of knowledge. I can still recall his reaction word-for-word:
“That sounds terrible.”
The problem with using an assembly line for an instance is that it’s not the
the experience of working on the one line was not a pleasant one.
positive. The scholar Joshua Freeman argues in his 2019 book,
Behemoth When we think of the gains in productivity from the assembly line
We focus too much on the efficiency of material handling. A lot of these benefits
was a result of rather from the “sheer increase in work.”15
If you’ve been lazy
If you don’t pay attention for one second you pay attention, you could stop your entire line by forcing
employees into an unnatural mixture of boredom and the need to be bored
attentiveness. Frederick Winslow Taylor had earlier attempted to increase effectiveness.
by measuring the performance of workers by means of a stopwatch. It also provides
incentives for people who were quick. Henry Ford bypassed Taylor’s approach
simply by making it impossible to be anything less than speedy. “For assembly-line
Workers, the work was never-ending and monotonous,” writes Freeman. “Assemblyline work was physically and psychologically exhausting in a variety of ways
Other forms of labor weren’t. In more ways than ever workers were
Extensions of machinery, dependent on the demands of its pace.”16
The year was 1936. Charlie Chaplin satirized this dark reality in his iconic
The film Modern Times, which features his Little Tramp character trying to stay alive.
to create an assembly line which goes more and more quickly. With two massive
tools, Chaplin is able to turn bolts onto every item that goes through. As the foreman
The line’s speed increases as Chaplin’s actions become rapid, leading to
the man to finally leap into the belt conveyor in one final attempt to hold him.
up, with the items flying through. He’s taken away via an opening and
The film is buried beneath the plant’s huge gears. Chaplin directed the film.
immediately after visiting at one of Henry Ford’s factories.17
This is the general perception that work on assembly lines is an act of dehumanization
That’s what provoked my cousin’s negative reaction. He was trying to imagine the possibility of
the future of knowledge-based work in which we are in a digital-era rebirth of
Modern Times, with the fast-paced wrenching replaced by fast typing
and the sequence is still to end with us being crushed by the machinery of life
of efficiency. This is a normal concern to bring attention to on capital
Principle, however, when we look at particular case studies on this principle, we will find that it is not the case in
Action, the dreadful drudgery isn’t realized. Think about Devesh’s
marketing firm. There is nothing wrong with changing jobs from an
The transformation of jumbled email into structured project boards signals a shift to more
boring or soulless work that is boring or soulless. This change has led to a shift in the opposite direction.
effect. This is a reversed version of the events that occurred in the first place when Ford created the assembly
The bottom line is that Devesh’s employees have discovered their work easier and less stressful.
more sustainable following Devesh improved their workflow after Devesh.
As you’ll discover cases studies which follow in the 2nd part of the course,
the advantages of Devesh’s workflow change are the norm not the exception.
exception. This is clear when we study of my usage of the
Assembly line analogy. The reason I am pointing to Henry Ford is not to
The effectiveness of the particular way the workers of his team built
automobiles, because there aren’t many connections, say the assembly of automobiles, for instance.
magneto, and establishing an effective marketing strategy. Instead, it’s to highlight the
the power of testing different methods of using capital
process , which is very different between the knowledge and industrial industries. It is a process that differs greatly between the two.
In the same way that Peter Drucker established, in the field of knowledge, you must remain an expert
workers’ freedom to decide how they apply their skills. The focus
Capital Principle asks that you play with the workflows you’ve created.
determine how the work will be defined and analyzed. These guidelines are designed to help you manage your work.
modifications are to make it easier and more durable for the know-how
employee to do important tasks, not coerce them to do so.
doing more , faster, a method that’s not likely to work in the end.
phrase when it comes to tasks that require a lot of brainpower.
Henry Ford took radical steps to think about how to maximize the value of his
Factory equipment. Work leaders with knowledge should adopt radical measures to
Get more from the human brains that they use. This analogy, however, needs to be a snub.
further. In the Ford world, workers were not needed, but they were able to be replaced
The brains of our society are the main source of worth. In fact, they are the
Hyperactive hive brain already keeps us in the digital Modern Times,
trying to keep up with the email messages that come in at a faster pace.
The attention capital principle could assist us in overcoming this plight.
When making changes, Seek Partners, Not
Forgiveness
In the latter half of 1984 Sam Carpenter, then 35 years old, purchased a struggling
answering phone service.18
It employed seven people and served 140 customers. It had 140 clients and seven employees.
cost him $21,000. Carpenter started boldly declaring that he had lost $21,000 to anyone he knew.
that “we could one day be the top-quality answering service”
within The United States.” As Carpenter succinctly notes in the 2008 edition of his book
Use with the system: “Events did not unfold as anticipated.”19
It is discovered that the phone answering service company is
complicated. Clients are constantly calling with each one representing a totally different type of
of problem, from medical emergency to a pressing problem in business, there is always a reason
making demands of its own on the person who answers the call. Similar to
numerous small business entrepreneurs, Carpenter found his life was turning into one of
“disorganized nightmare” where he worked eighty-hour days,
Always stopping the flames. He was able to burn down his home and his car. He put up bunk beds.
at work for his two teenager children to rest in. In one instance, Carpenter
was answering calls for himself acting as sole agent was answering calls as the sole representative on duty
from midnight until midnight to a.m. the shift. He then worked between 8 and 5 in the
administrative tangles that are a result of the business.20
Of course, could be sustained. After 15 years, Carpenter
was close to destruction, physically and financially. As it happens so often
It is stated in these business memoirs in these memoirs, that he was able to provide the “earthmoving” perspective.
The acknowledgement that his company was at its zenith
in a way, in a way, it gave Carpenter confidence to try radical new ideas
approaches. This mindset ignited that moment of clarity He was able to see his
The company was similar to an instrument made of metal. It was made up of many
The assemblages worked in predictable patterns that were predictable. His difficulties, which stem originate from
the continual crises and the overwhelming volume of frantic administrative
The work of drowning him was not the result of chance or the will of fate and fate, however,
Instead, it was due to weaknesses in the system which comprised his
company’s operation. If he was able to clearly distinguish the various systems in each,
Write down what was working, and then improve it when problems arise He could also
the organization is running smoothly without any issues and without his
constant, hands-on-the-controls interventions.
Carpenter made a listing of the various actions that defined
the operation of his business was established, and he began to work with staff members to develop an
Official system for the system that is used for. One of the places where he established was his own company
finances. He would spend several hours a week making payments and cashing
checks, as well as frequent trips to the bank — all of which is a significant source of
stress. He then replaced the chaos with a more disciplined system for
monitoring revenue and expenses, and allowed his employees to be able to make the
bank trips on behalf of his. It used to take hours every week was cut to
One brief session in which he signed checks — a step that he acknowledges he could
could have been automated, but he decided to not automate, so that he could keep a better
A tangible view of his expenses. Another new system
improved customer service through the provision of clear guidelines to empower customers
employees to address all service concerns directly and without Carpenter’s
involvement. The fundamental operating procedure for the personnel at the call center
Answered calls also became codified, which provided a lot more
reliable service (with more problems with performance for Carpenter to deal with),
and even the process of taking on new employees was in large part
Automatic, drastically reducing difficulties caused by the constant turnover of staff.
“The reasoning behind it was clear and amazing,” he writes. “I felt a quiet
joy I had never felt before. Even to this day I will always remember every minute of it.”21
Carpenter’s optimism was well-founded. While he was working to repair his home, he was optimistic.
The company was founded on simple and well-designed business processes, profit grew by
for the first time. “My individual income . . . Let’s say more than I’ll ever need.”
Carpenter is a writer on the website of his. The most important thing is that his obligations to his job fell
From eighty hours or more between two and eighty hours per week. In some
statistics, the business even surpassed Carpenter’s original
arrogant goals, placing first among more than 1,500 people who responded.
services that are still in operation across the country.
22
Sam Carpenter doesn’t run a knowledge work-related organization. We
should not, therefore, not pay too much attention to the specifics of the systems
Implemented to improve the operation of his answering service to make it more efficient. What is the procedure
What makes his contribution to the discussion. This is a more general achievement:
having his employees transform the way they worked. The
The chapters that follow offer specific suggestions on how to focus the attention
the capital principle into action by radically changing the workflows. The majority
In some cases, the effects of these changes will go beyond your personal
Professional life can influence the lives of others, perhaps
Your employees, colleagues or customers. This can result in a tense dynamic,
This is the reason we proceed to more detailed suggestions on what to do
Change, it is important to begin by addressing the issue of how to implement these general
kinds of workflow changes in a manner that is enduring. Carpenter’s
Our experience will help us achieve our efforts to achieve this goal.
There are two ways in which the principle of attention capital could influence the
individuals with whom you interact. The first one is when it changes workflows in this manner.
method by which people are pressured to alter the way they do their work.
This is what happened for instance in the event that Devesh relocated his marketing
the company’s workflow has moved moving away from email to project boards. His
Employees must sign in to Trello and then click on cards to
Communicate about a particular project, instead of sending emails.
The second kind of impact is that it alters only the expectations of other people.
regarding your working. This is the case when you are focusing on improving your skills.
Your personal routine. If, for instance you are now checking your email only once a day, then you are following a
every day in an overall change in how you work, your coworkers’
expectations about how quickly you’ll be able to respond to their messages have to shift.
Let’s begin by looking at the impact type that is first because it’s more difficult to handle.
with. This is also the kind of impact that we can get to the greatest extent from Sam
Carpenter. The most important message in the Carpenter book is the necessity to
The people who are affected by a brand new process of work that has been developed in the creation of
this procedure. His team wrote 98 percent of the procedures that are currently in
spot and also had an “heavy hands” in shaping the other 2 percent.
Carpenter invented himself. In the end, the employees’ rights are “fully invested” in
these procedures. And, perhaps more important, Carpenter made it easy to
to make further improvement. “If someone in the company is able to come up with a great idea to
If we want to improve a process by making immediate changes–without
administrative snafus,” he explains.23
He is adamant about this involvement of employees.
so much that he demands that his service reps be present at
at the very least, a dozen or more proposed improvements before they can be eligible for their
annual bonus for performance.
Carpenter’s method makes sense when viewed in the environment of what’s known as
The locus theory of control an area of psychology for the personality which argues that
Motivation is closely linked to the degree to which people feel they are able to
the final outcome when it comes to a project. You have the right to decide control over their ultimate success, you have a say
What is it that you’re doing (placing the control’s locus towards the internal end of
across the range) the spectrum) inspired as you are feeling you’re on the wrong side of it.
the actions of individuals are mostly controlled by external forces (placing the control point
towards the outside).
This is the problem when you defy Carpenter’s rules and instead
Try to implement a new process on your team through force. In any case, you must be able to
of the workflow’s inherent advantages of the workflow’s inherent benefits, you could be accidentally shifting the workflow’s inherent benefits. You could be accidentally shifting
Team’s sense that they are in control, from the inside to the external and sapping energy
which makes it highly unlikely they’ll stay to the new rules. It’s highly unlikely that they’ll stick. On the other hand, it’s also making it unlikely that they’ll stick with the
On the other hand, if you have team members who take part in the design of the brand new
workflow and, more importantly do they feel that they can improve it as
When problems arise, the control is still internal and the process is
Much more likely to be welcomed.
The concept isn’t applicable equally to positions in which there are
There are no expectations of autonomy. This is why, as an instance, the well-known
Autocratic Henry Ford didn’t feel the necessity to include his workers in
discussion of the advantages and drawbacks. It also
The reason for this is that the military has a high success rate. boot camps, the epitome of external
control–in rapidly producing professional soldiers for volunteer armies:
The new recruits begin the process relying on the proven method to help them get
and where they’re supposed to get them to where they should. We’ve been aware of this since modern, forward-thinking
the theories and concepts that were developed by Peter Drucker, however, the concept of knowledge work will be described
with large quantities of autonomous actions. Control theory is therefore a central part of the process.
invariably happens: it will not work to drastically alter workflows
Without the involvement of the people who have to make use of without the input of those who must use.
There are three steps to continue these experiments
collaborative. The first thing is education. It’s crucial to ensure that your team is educated.
know the distinction between workflows and execution understand the difference between workflows and work execution, and also why
the hyperactive hive brain is only one of many.
Most likely not a good one. For many workers in the field of knowledge email is
is synonymous with work, therefore it’s important to end this misconception.
prior to discussing the possibility of breaking their reliance on the mind of the hive
to accomplish things.
The next step is to gain acceptance of new workflows from
the ones who actually need to perform them. In order to achieve this,
These ideas must emerge from discussions. The discussion should be general
There is a consensus that the new method is an interesting experiment and
following Carpenter’s model the details of it should be captured using crystal-clear
Certainty, which means there’s no confusion about the exact method that is being carried out.
The final step is to continue following Carpenter’s example by putting it the framework in place
Simple methods to improve the new workflow processes whenever problems occur.
There’s no better way to keep the place of control within the company than to
enable your team to alter the things that aren’t allow your team to make changes that aren’t. In practice, you might
You’ll be amazed at the amount of changes that are recommended. It’s the power to
Make changes that matter to make, because it offers an emotional emergency steam
valve, which neutralizes the anxiety that you could be trapped in some
Unexpectedly sharp aspect of your new workflow inability to get the job completed.
It’s also typical for people who have surpassed the accessibility to all people everywhere.
the hyperactive hive brain to set up an emergency backup system
is able to handle urgent problems that the new workflow could overlook. This is because it can handle urgent issues that the new workflow might not.
System to be truly an alternative, not just a backdoor which takes you back to
hive mind, it should create enough friction to make you think twice about using it unless you are sure of the
The situation is urgent enough. One of the most common scenarios is to make phone calls to make sure the
The catch-all fallback is that your coworkers can dial your cell phone in the event of an emergency.
appears that’s urgent enough for the workflow of the official system to effectively handle.
time. Backup systems give you the assurance that nothing is will go wrong.
could happen within the time it takes to spot and correct the problems with the new technology.
processes.
—
Now let’s turn our attention to the different kind of impact on people around you.
that are caused by the application of the principle of attention capital: adjustments to other people’s
expectations regarding your expectations about your own. This is the case in the case of
change your personal workflow transform your workflow, shifting your routine away from
The unpredictability of the hyperactive hive brain. These changes
will likely to bring about changes that will be apparent to your clients and colleagues,
The most noticeable is that you’re no longer checking your email
or instant messages promptly. Other people also have to
Change their perceptions regarding working with your company. They will shift their expectations about working with.
A typical method of handling these kinds of personal workflow changes is
to clearly communicate the structure of your proposed strategy to your colleagues.
Perhaps accompanied by an unassailably rational explanation of why you’re
Making these changes. An illustration of this concept working is the
Following an autoresponder for emails that Tim Ferriss cited in his 2007 mega-bestseller, The Four Hour Workweek:
24
Greetings, Friends [or Esteemed Colleagues],
Due to the high volume of work I am currently reviewing and responding to e-mails twice a day
at 12:01 P.M. ET [or the time zone of your choicebetween 12:00 P.M. ET [or your time zone] and 4:00 P.M. ET.
If you require immediate assistance (please ensure that it is urgent) you cannot wait for
at the time is 12:00 P.M. or 4:00 P.M. Please call me at 555-555-5555.
Thank you for your understanding of this change to improve efficiency and efficiency. It
assists me in achieving more and help you more effectively.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
In the wake of the success of Ferriss’s book was a time of several
years when hundreds of thousands of knowledgeable employees from all over the globe
started receiving a variation of the autoresponder above from their lifehacking friends. From a rational standpoint this tactic is a good one.
Completely understandable It resets expectations to ensure it doesn’t matter who your corespondents are.
you’re wondering what they’ll be hearing from you to know when they’ll hear from you. It also provides an unshakeable
The reason for the change The explanation is concise, simple, and it’s difficult to dispute. This is
that’s why so many people were so thrilled when they first saw the concept. The
Problem is that it ended up being really frustrating for the people
those who received these auto-reply messages.
It’s difficult to pinpoint what caused people to feel wrong
Perhaps the formality of cold, which is susceptible to bleeding
to an area of demeaning or the suggestion that the writer of
Autoresponders are trying to counteract the poor work habits of the receiver.
Whatever the reason Ferriss’s fans began to be aware that this
This particular method didn’t work in the way they been hoping for. According to anecdotal evidence, this
It appears that autoresponders are becoming much less common than they were in the past.
The peak was in the immediate following the publication of Ferriss’s book out. They were at a
A good concept initially, but it gets stale by the friction of reality
application.
The lesson that can be drawn from the case is to be aware of how care needs to be taken when deciding how
you announce any changes in your personal work practices. Through the years,
We have seen many different attempts made by people to counter or
alter their dependence of the hyperactive hive mind change their dependency on hyperactive hive minds, as well as being able to
I’ve tried a number of these changes on my own, and I’ve discovered that
These experiments should be conducted in a quiet manner. Do not divulge the results of your
A new way of working, or unless someone specifically requests it to do something different out of genuine
interest. Be cautious about expressing any new expectations, like “I typically
I don’t receive emails up to 10:00 a.m.” Or “I check my email only once or twice per week.”
often throughout the day.” They provide sharp edges that can be questioned by colleagues or clients
bosses may begin to cut into. (“What do I do if I require something urgently
Have you heard from you before? Have you heard from us before . . . I’m not a fan to the least. I believe you need to be there
more effective to be to stay on top of your messages.”) Also, when you are in the habit of asking questions
to forgive, which is often recommended. near you will join the
Habit of thinking that your work strategy should be changed, as there is no other reason.
Do they cause you to make excuses?
The best way to alter the perceptions of others about what you accomplish is
always deliver what you say instead of constantly explaining
the way you’re working. Be famous as someone who doesn’t let the ball go down,
is not someone who is constantly thinking about their own work. If you have a question
When it arrives If it comes through in an email or in a chat room You must ensure it’s dealt with.
Don’t let things slip between the cracks If you are committed to do
You must complete something within a specific time or by a certain date, or state why you need to
transfer it. If they trust you to do the job they give you the job will be handled.
They’re usually fine when they don’t hear from them right away. They’re generally okay with not hearing back from you immediately.
However when you’re a bit sloppy the other individuals will want more rapid responses.
They feel that they must be around to ensure that the things are completed. The professor and
Business journalist Adam Grant uses the phrase “idiosyncrasy credits” to
Define the reality.
The better you do when it comes to your job, says he states the
the more freedom you get the more freedom you have to be unique in how you perform your work.
An explanation is needed.
Another issue comes from changing your personal workflow
refers to interfaces between systems. In the event that you install the advanced system interfaces that are available,
workflow systems that will be discussed in the next chapters, you’ll need to work out
Outline what you would like to see from to be perceived by other people who are accustomed to take your
Attention with a simple message, to communicate with these more formal
alternatives.
To get some guidance on this issue we can take a lesson from the field of IT support.
As we’ve discussed in the text, decades back, IT support personnel
The team began internalizing the technological issues they were assigned to
fixing through ticketing systems, also known as ticketing methods, referred to as ticketing. The systems allocate each
Problem solved by one ticket. The notes and all conversations regarding the issue are
Attached to its ticket that they can easily viewed.
Professionals in IT quickly realized impracticality of demanding that they use the same software.
was used to connect directly to the system for ticketing for instance,
Then, they log on to a specific support site to track and create the tickets.
This is perhaps the most effective method to address these issues in the context of abstract,
But the reality of a lot of organizations is that the vast majority of people won’t
To pay for the extra cost. The solution was to design an
seamless interface. In many IT configurations, you can send a request to the
The most natural method is via email to an all-purpose
address like support@companyname.com. The majority of ticketing systems are
set up so that they receive the emails direct, and later convert them into tickets
and then place them in an inbox that is virtual to be and processed. The IT staff is working on an
tickets, and the software could then automatically send updates via email to the ticket.
to the source of to the person who started the problem. The person who is interacting with IT isn’t required to
Do they know anything about ticketing systems. They send an email
Receive email updates in reply. However, internally, there is a problem.
the more organized is developing.
This is applicable to the methods you set up to help you organize your
Personal workflows. Do not expect the people you collaborate with to understand your
the new systems you have installed or alter how they work with your systems, or change the way they interact with. Instead, you should consider changing the way they interact with
It is possible to create an integrated interface. You can make use of my latest
experiences as a professor aid in developing this strategy. The year is a time to use my
in which I’m writing the majority of this document in, I’m also taking a turn in the role of
Director of Graduate Studies in the department of computer science at
Georgetown. One of the responsibilities in this position is to oversee the graduate program
committee that oversees our graduate program, which includes approval of
updates and responses to requests regarding policies.
As you could imagine, this can lead to many incoming problems
I’m responsible for taking care of. I’m taking a leaf from Devesh’s book I
Internally, I use internally, I use a Trello boards to you make sense of the requests. My
The board is composed of The following columns are on the board:
still to be dealt with
in the process of addressing (time sensitive)
to be discussed at the next graduate committee to be discussed at the next graduate committee
to discuss at the next departmental session with chair of department
Waiting to hear from someone
Working on this week’s project
When someone contacts me via email or comes to my office to address an issue
Concerning the graduate program I instantly transform it into a card
Place it in the appropriate row on the Trello board.
Each week, I go over this board and make sure to move cards
about as you like around, such as deciding, for instance the things I would like to do with in this particular moment.
this week, or what is needed to be discussed at next meetings. I am also able to
keep track of issues that I’m waiting to hear from someone regarding. My
the general rule is that once I shift a card into an entirely new column, I’ll send an email
An update with the individual who brought up the problem to the person who brought me that. In the case, for example If I decide to move
A waiting column to be discussed at the next graduate committee
meeting column, I’ll mail an email to the right person to inform them that
we’ll discuss their issue shortly. If I pull one of the cards off the board due to a reason,
Completed the task in question, I’ll notify the appropriate people that I’ve completed the task.
ultimate resolution. And so on.
The main feature to this method is professors and graduate students
My students do not know anything about it. Perhaps I can try to
insist that everyone logs into my Trello board to create new issues, or to check on
the status of issues from years ago. Theoretically, it can help me to avoid a few more messages,
However, the truth is, no one would ever do it, and I don’t blame them! This
It takes me around 30 minutes every week, for once for me to process my boards and forward it to
Update messages. I get huge advantages from structuring these problems
that clearly, and also because I put in a little extra time to create my interface more clear, and also because I took the time to design my
My colleagues and I can benefit from these advantages as well.
— At first contact my suggestions to apply the principle of attention capital to
The groups seem to be in conflict with my suggestion in applying this principle
individuals. This is a strong argument for the importance of transparent communication regarding
The workflows that replace the hyperactive hive brain, and the former suggests
You keep these changes you keep these changes largely private. An examination, however will reveal that
Both approaches are both based on the same premise People don’t like changes
they aren’t able to be controlled.
If you want to alter the process of an entire team or an entire organization,
Everyone can participate in this transformation and feel empowered to improve the results.
As we’ve discussed it provides the impression that the place of control is
internalmotivation to keep the changes in place. If you make changes to your
Personal workflows, however the people you work with had no real workflow.
decide what you want to say in what you decided to. If they’re later presented with a different method, they can
which will affect their work, yet for which they have no involvement that will affect their work, but for which they had no input.
of control shifts towards the outside, causing an irritability and a tendency
You try to push back, and assert some control. They won’t be applauding your smartness.
The new autoresponder is a completely different one; they look for ways to break down the limitations it imposes.
is imposed on them.
The psychology that is at playing here may be more obscure, but it is vital to
mastery is essential if you want to maximize your concentration capital. It is important to work
It’s not only concerned with getting the job done, it’s about a messy humans
three individuals are trying to determine ways to collaborate effectively. Three
The chapters that follow look at specific strategies to replace the
hyperactive hive brain with more efficient workflows. The benefit of
These specific methods are, however, drastically reduced the more you do
Learn the skill of placing them into practice to make them stick.
Chapter 5
The Process Principle
the Power of Process
In the early stages of my work in this novel, I was looking through a shelf that was barely used,
In the depths of the midst of Georgetown’s Lauinger Library full of
titles that discuss the intricacies that industrial engineers have to offer. I found titles that delve into the nuances of industrial engineering.
Collection of articles from an now closed, early 20th-century business
The magazine is called System is a magazine devoted to case studies on the
Then, a the new “scientific” method of management. These were articles that almost
all over the world are captivated by how much more money they could earn.
can be created by industrial companies when they started to think about it.
In detail, they describe how their work was carried out. The reports
Also, it was evident that the majority of them were boring for the contemporary reader.
In this period, the management of science was believed to be a great deal do with the process of filling out
Forms in triplicate. System magazine loves forms. Inside it’s pages, there’s a chance to discover
photographs of the forms as well as information about their colors, and how they’re
Perforated material, including the materials of the folders holding them (manila is
preferred).1
Within these small details However, I came across an article from the perspective of
The 1916 issue was the one that caught my eye. The subject matter was so outdated that it was a
border to caricature improving the effectiveness of the brass work that is that are in operation
inside that of Pullman train car manufacturer’s huge manufacturing complex at Lake
Calumet fourteen miles to the south of Chicago. There was something special about it.
the story was written by Pullman President John Runnells,
which appeared to be surprisingly that appeared to be surprisingly modern. A lot of Pullman’s thirty three departments relied on brass factories for their key components.
keeping the approximately 350 men who work in the foundries as well as machine tools
The brass is constantly busy. The issue is their system is that it’s constantly busy.
the reason for the entire task in the first place, as the article points out for handling all this work, was that there was nothing to do.
actually any system at all is nothing more than an unorganized chaos of “slipshod
methods.”2
The brass department was staffed by just seven managers who could help make sense of
the continuous flow of requests for work. The managers were, of course
overwhelmed. In the end, everyone was required to be involved
controlling the flow of work. “In numerous places throughout the plant, there is only one person or
Another was dedicating a portion of his time in support of the active seven.” the report notes.
“All that planning was executed in some place. Each man contributed
By doing so, he was demoralized in his particular work due to this disruption.” As
The article explains, it was commonplace for workers from different areas of the
factory to arrive in the brass department and stand in line for the rest of the day.
They would be pestering employees they knew until they could get the component they required.
The first decade of the 20th century, that is, in other words the
The Pullman brass works were devolving into something that looked similar to the
Hyperactive hive mind work. But, it is not like the many sources of knowledge
the work groups of today suffer from a similar informal
workflow, the management of Pullman were swept up by the excitement of research
management, and were willing to try out radical solutions.
To improve the efficiency of the brass department efficient, the executive team of Pullman implemented a number of changes.
Something that is counterintuitive: They made the process more complicated. If
You needed some brass work completed, you were now required to fill out an official form
that included all pertinent that contained all the relevant. To stop employees from
by avoiding this procedure and returning to the more logical status in place
of not informally causing trouble for workers of informally causing trouble, they shut the door and secured the area
the windows. There was no other choice other than to utilize the newly implemented
“regular channel.”
When a request is made through a slot devoted to this reason,
It was then subjected to a rigorous process. Clerks were assigned the responsibility of
Finding a feasible method for carrying out the work includes the steps to take.
Raw materials from the source would be needed , and how many hours would be required
necessary to construct the finished needed to build the finished. The plans were later incorporated into the final product.
It is then distributed to the appropriate departments to ensure timely execution. The
the details of the process become complicated as of now the process is complex, yet fascinating. Utilizing
Clerks’ armies and clerks Pullman brass works appears to have been a replica of the work of many
the jobs that we can complete in a flash with the click of an
button in a computer program which implements a type of steampunk IT
systemthat is comprised of instructions for each step and endless forms that can be routed from
desk to desk, similar to packets that make up a modern network. They even created customized
Hardware, my favorite example is an analog spreadsheet that
It involved hanging brass tags onto the large wooden board that was which was divided into grids
that somehow enabled the work planners to swiftly “cross-index” this way, allowing the work planners to “cross-index”
Current assignment of workers to machines.
In order to implement this more formal workflow, Runnells was required to invest
More additional. There were seven administrative employees to help manage
the work of the the 350 brass employees. The number of brass workers increased to forty-seven. “Here is an
massive increase in overheads,” the article acknowledges. Each of these managers
The department earned about $1,000 per year and significantly increased the department’s revenue.
Costs of salary. “But is it paying?” it asks. “It certainly has.” The latest
The process reduced the cost of production for each train by about $100. This is does not
Only covered the cost of the overheads, but was into a “substantial
profit.”
The article clarifies the reason for the increased overhead profits.
The old process, which was actually not a process at all, required 350
people who actually contributed to important output for the department.
They constantly shift back and forth informal and formal management of their
workflow , and then actually doing the task itself. The process is “demoralizing”
Double duty has made them slower in their actual efforts, which reduced their effectiveness.
the benefits the department was receiving from its frontline staff.
The workflow was then restructured to eliminate the double
duty and the same workers can make more polished brass in the same
duration of duration. “The traditional lack of technique is not and never will be beneficial to
A better standardization,” the article concludes. “But the systemization
The project quickly showed a remarkable increase in the quality of work; workers were focused and
The product demonstrated the results.”
— What is the source of industrial productivity hackers such as John Runnells discovered
during the first decade of the 20th century shows that efficiency grows
Beyond the processes beyond the physical processes involved in manufacturing beyond the physical manufacturing of.
It is equally important to know how you organize the work. The issue with this is coordination.
The Pullman brass plant or, to put it another way it wasn’t that the workers were bad at.
casting and polishing brass parts and polishing brass components, but not the way these efforts were
designated and organized.
As with many fundamental concepts, it took time for this new approach to
begin to take over industry. In the year Frederick Winslow Taylor, the
The father of the scientific management revolution, was the first person to rise to
In the late 1890s, when the movement was gaining prominence The majority of the energy of this movement was directed towards
on the production process on the production process itself. This was the time that created the concept of
the brutal Taylorist consultant holding a stopwatch, trying to eradicate
inefficient motion in factories floors. Taylor himself was a shaman.
working in conjunction with Bethlehem Steel between 1898 and 1900, and where there were many
Improvements, and he famedly altered the shovel style used by workers
to move slag to move slag, increasing the speed at the slag could be transferred.
material between piles. Pullman used some of these ideas in the process of
the factory was built during the time of construction. John Runnells mentions that the
brass work had been laid out in a careful manner with wide aisles and tools
Organized on racks, to maximize the efficiency the work was completed.
conducted. However, as they discovered, they were not focused on physical performance.
It wasn’t enough to get the department to hum.
The Pullman research was released in the year 1916 just one year after the publication date.
Following Taylor’s passing, magazines like System were expanding their
Pay attention to the decisions and information in the manual
labor. The magazine was less concerned with better shovels, and more about the best
Forms to help determine the amount of shoveling that needs to be completed. To be
More specific, we’ll utilize the term”production process” for this discussion.
Combination of the actual manufacturing work and all the data and
The decisions that govern the work. The production process is the process of thinking
as it was in the article of 1916. continued to rule the industrial
Management, which is the core concept. In his 1983 business classic,
High Output Management, for instance Former Intel Vice President Andy Grove
The book devotes the first two chapters to describing the importance of production
Process thinking. He says in the absence of this system you’re left with
one way to boost productivity is to figure out how to encourage employees to
“work more quickly.” When you look at the entire process you will see a whole lot greater
The most powerful solution is: “We can change the nature of the work
The work was done.” Improve processes, he advised to do, not people.3
This brings us back to the topic of this book the work of knowledge. In
In this particular area, we stubbornly refuse to accept this idea from the management of industrial production.
We often avoid processes, and invest our time and energy in trying to figure out
How can you make people more efficient. We are obsessed with the hiring and promotion of stars. We are obsessed with hiring and promoting stars.
We seek out leadership consultants to help us to motivate employees to stay longer at work and also
harder. We welcome innovations like smartphones that let us work for longer hours
The day is interrupted by work. Dry cleaners were put on our corporate
campuses and wi-fi access on our corporate buses to aid in the process of helping you find
speedier ways to move more slag.
This isn’t going well in any way.
The central argument to be made in the chapter process thinking can be applied to
Equally well to knowledge work just as industrial manufacturing. It’s just
Because you create things using your brain, not your hands , it doesn’t mean that you don’t
Change the basic reality that this effort must be coordinated.
The importance of making the decisions of who is involved in what and how is vital, as well as
the need to find systematic ways to monitor this work as it develops and is applied as
as much in generating computer code or client propositions as it does casting
brass.
In the field of knowledge you can get any valuable result you or you
The output of an organization is often described as the result of
Production process. If you’re a business which manages public relations
campaigns for your clients your company has a public relations production
process. If you’re on the HR teams that deal with pay issues, your team
There is a salary issue resolution procedure. When you’re an instructor who teaches the class, you can resolve salary issues.
which requires you to grade and assign problem sets, you’ve got an assignment set
process.
In the pages to follow I’ll make the case that the experts acknowledge that
These processes are in existence they are there, and you need to clarify and improve their efficiency the process
they’ll see the same outcome like the Pullman brass work: the cost of
The additional cost will be largely offset by the gains in productivity.
If the benefits and costs can be compared, it’s not uncommon to come up with an
“substantial profits.” The issue is, of course, that there are a few skilled workers
We are conditioned to think that way: they are focused on peopleand not processes. As they
As a result, the sector of knowledge is more inclined to leave the processes undefined.
Instead, we rely upon the hyperactive brain workflow instead to inform
They organize their work.
The most likely reason for this process’s abstention is the need to insist
on the autonomy of knowledge workers that we previously discussed. Production
processes, in essence are subject to rules regarding the way work is planned. Rules
Reduce autonomy, causing friction in the notion that employees with knowledge
“must be able to manage themselves,”” according to Peter Drucker commanded. This disdain for
The process, however, goes beyond the general tendency toward autonomy. There’s processes, however, that go beyond a
the belief held implicitly by a large number of knowledge workers that knowledge workers are not able to comprehend
the processes that are used in this industry isn’t just a normal result of self-management it’s actually an effective way to perform. In the absence of processes can be a problem, but it’s
Commonly, the word “nimble” refers to agility and flexibility — a basis
for the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that is essential.
This view is fundamentally Rousseauian and is a reference to the
18th-century Enlightenment theorist Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who
Human nature was believed to be the most fundamental thing in the universe was innate, prior to the advent of influence by the state,
was fundamentally moral. It asserts that when you were left to work on your own, it was
Whatever way is natural to them the knowledge workers will adjust easily to
the intricate challenges they face their complex problems, and generating innovative solutions
game-changing innovations. In our worldview codified processes of work are
Artificial that corrupts the Edenic creative process, creating bureaucracy,
stagnation — a Dilbert comic made real.
In the past, I have spent a lot of time learning the intricacies of the knowledge worker
productivity, I believe that this knowledge is fundamentally flawed. To keep
by comparing it with the analogy Enlightenment philosophical thought, and the truth of knowledge
This work is much more Hobbesian, and is a nod to Thomas Hobbes’s beliefs,
The original description was originally in Leviathan originally in Leviathan, which was a way to escape the limitations of the state
The human experience human life is “nasty rough, nasty and brief.” If you limit work to a minimum, you’re reducing
of nature, permitting processes to unfold informally, the resulting behaviors
It’s not utopian. Much like what is seen in real natural settings, in
The informal process of work where dominance hierarchies are created. If you’re
rude and snarky or are the preferred of your boss, you are able to like the
The most powerful lion in the pride, stay away from any work that you don’t like gazing at them
They attempt to pass it off to you, not paying attention to their messages or claiming overload.
However If you’re more rational and acceptable, you’ll be able to get along.
overwhelmed with more work than can be handled by one person to manage.
This setup is simultaneously demoralizing and inefficient
use of capital attention. However, without an opposing force the aforementioned
Hierarchies are usually inevitable.
In natural settings too or workplaces with no clearly defined
Processes, energy efficiency is prioritized. This is a fundamental
Human nature: If there’s no system to govern the extent of effort
In a state of coordination, we default to our natural instinct of not putting forth more energy than
is essential. Many of us are often guilty of following this urge when presented with a situation.
chance. A message arrives informally indicates a new responsibility
you manage, since there’s no formal procedure in place to delegate the
to track the progress of your work to track its progress, you look for the most effective method of tracking its progress
the burden off of your shoulders–even for a short time, so you just take a moment to send an email to take the burden off your shoulders.
Response asking for ambiguous clarification. This leads to a game of
Hot potato of obligation in which messages move around, each one temporarily changing
Responsibility shifts from an inbox to the next, until there is a deadline or angry boss
Finally, the music stops which leads to a final-minute scramble to create the song.
The result is not even acceptable. This is clearly a very inefficient method of
get work done.
A well-designed process for production In other words, can’t be a hindrance to
effective knowledge work, however it is usually a precondition. This leads to
we come to the principle this chapter defines.
The Process Principle
Making smart production processes for knowledge work could dramatically
boost performance and make work more efficient and less tiring.
To overcome the flaws of the hyperactive mind workflow
We must let go of our Rousseauian belief that knowledge workers would be left to
Nature is a natural phenomenon that is one that thrives. To make the most from our capital investment in attention we
require processes. This is the case for both businesses and individuals.
Knowledge workers. For the sake of reiterating this isn’t about
procedures that try to minimize the dynamic and skilled elements
of experience and knowledge are applied to step-by step of recipes that are step-by-step. We have established this in the past
Chapter 3, our efforts to reform in this book concentrate on the processes that
Coordinate knowledge work, not skillful execution of the task in itself.
The same is the same for our discussion on manufacturing processes, which are used to in the creation of
The sense of who is working on what, but don’t provide the specifics of the way this
work is carried out; replacing, or, in other words, endless back-and-forth of a hive mind
messages with guidelines that let professionals with knowledge spend more time on their time on
time working, instead of talking about their work. This is the cognitive
like John Runnells’s redesigned brass foundry.
The remaining portion of this chapter will explore strategies for building smarter
Production processes that you can use in your work knowledge organization as well as your
personal professional life. We’ll start, as is normal by introducing a
an actual case study that can be used in our discussions. In
in this instance, we’ll look the time to look closely at a media company with a staff of twelve which is
The company has taken its belief in the principle of process to a profit-making degree.
Case Study Optimizing the Optimizers
Optimize Enterprises is a media business that is focused on self-improvement
content. Its primary product is an subscription service that gives weekly book summaries that are in-depth as well as daily lessons that are delivered in short videos.
The service can be accessed via a web browser or a smartphone application.
Optimize also recently started coaching programs for coaches that proved to be a success.
surprise hit. More than 11,000 coaches registered for the inaugural round
of instruction, a course of 3000 days. The company has employees
Twelve full-time team members who are paired alongside eight or twelve other team members.
part-time contractors. There’s no physical office for Optimize,
This team works at a distance. As the president and the founder,
Brian Johnson, told me during the interview I conducted for this bookthat the company
is on track to bring in $2.5 million in revenue annually.
The reason Johnson’s business captivated me was not the size or the product it offers.
services, rather the particulars of how the company operates. As Johnson explained
In the beginning of our discussion “We never email. Zero. Zero. There never will be
an email sent between an employee and another the team members.” However, the team member was
Johnson doesn’t employ this exact term, Johnson and his team were capable of
overcome the hyperactive hive brain to avoid the hyperactive hive mind by adopting a production method
mindset. Driven by his instinctive dislike of interruptions and being harried
the hustle and bustle, Johnson had his team meticulously break their work into
processes that can be clearly identified or (appropriately enough) could be optimized
to maximize the amount of time doing productive work and to reduce the amount of time you spend
shifting back and back and. “Our team is completely
focused on a single task,” Johnson told me. “You only do one thing at a time.
time.”
One of Optimize’s most intricate procedures, for instance it involves the
Production of daily videos of lessons that are distributed to multiple
platforms each day. The work involved in this production takes place on
substantial. Johnson is responsible for inventing and writing
The lessons. He also gives the instruction on video for
video. However, more duties are at hand in the texts of the lessons
Editing must be done, the video clips must be filmed and the film clips have to be edited and edited.
Everything must be released to various platforms at the right moment.
About a half dozen individuals are involved in carrying out the various steps.
In many companies the sheer quantity of interconnected actions
necessary to keep this production machinery in place would appear to
require constant back-and-forth emails or an extremely active Slack
chattering. However, not at Optimize: through the years, they’ve developed a product
The process that completely eliminates informal interactions,
The participants can concentrate all of their efforts to
doing the tasks required to ensure that the pipeline of top-quality content flowing.
The process begins by sharing a spreadsheet. Then, Johnson appears, it is a good idea to share the spreadsheet.
with an idea of an activity, he includes a subtitle and a title on the sheet.
Each row is assigned an status column that Johnson assigns the status column to “idea,” marking the
The lesson is still in its early stage of its development. Once Johnson gets
about to write the lesson. He’ll then write the lesson and upload the lesson to a shared directory on the
the company’s Dropbox account, and then add the hyperlink to this draft in the spreadsheet
row to complete the course. Then it will change to “ready for
Editorship.” The editor of Johnson does not speak directly to Johnson and instead
The spreadsheet is monitored. If he is able to see that an assignment is in need of editing and the teacher
Downloads it, converts it in the correct format, makes edits, and then transforms it to the format of
Postproduction Dropbox folder, which holds the text that’s ready for going live.
At this point, the editor alters the grade of the lesson to “ready for
Filming.” Johnson has a studio in his home, in which he film lessons. He also has an
an ongoing schedule for his crew, which will specify the days of the month.
They are there to finish the bulk of instructional videos. The crew will arrive shortly,
There’s no doubt about the subject matter they’ll film the present lessons.
the “ready to film” status. After filming crew members will upload the raw footage
the files into files to a shared Dropbox directory specifically for editing. The
The status of these lessons is currently updated by the Excel spreadsheet. show
They’re in the process of being edited. The Optimize editor will
Download the videos from the directory dedicated to them and use them to run the
normal processing to make the files ready for release and then upload the files to an online storage service.
shared postproduction folder for shared postproduction. The status of the lessons is modified to reflect
They are now ready to be released they are ready for release, and a release date is set and then added to each
A row is corresponding to the row.
The last step is the actual publication of both the video and written versions of
the lessons on their planned dates for release. Two content management
service (CMS) specialists carry out this final process. They supervise the
spreadsheet to track the lessons planned for which days. They
Download the content from directories for postproduction and plan it for scheduling.
for publication to be released using the CMS for release using the CMS platform. Once the time comes to release the CMS platform, learn from the experience.
was initially just an idea that Johnson had in his head is now live on the Optimize
networks.