Seeking Coastal Utopia

Maybe we should even restate it by saying that simple is always better. “eyeglasses with black frames” by Jess Watters on  Unsplash Simple. The word itself is simple. The opposite of complex, the opposite of making it so confusing that it requires three people to work on it. It is as simple as one element, one piece. Simple is elegant in its scarcity. When you say “ wow, that was simple, ” you say it with a smile. When you say “ wow, that was complex ” it is usually prefaced or closed with expletives. Now, this is not a treatise against technology, even though technology is taking over. It is adding more complexity to our cars (e.g. self-driving vehicles) or that our appliances are now connected to the web and have browsers and screens built into them, enabled to determine where you are short on foodstuffs. There are (lots of) times when you want simple. It is recognized that self-driving vehicles are required to be complex because of the daunting task for eng...

Or are you wrestling with a chrome squirrel? Are you comfortable with producing work that has no end? Are you comfortable not finishing a job and letting it continue until the end of time? You need to have a bias for action! You need to accept the work as it stands, stop fussing with that thing you are doing, realize that it is good enough to ship.  Go! Ship it . take my work — photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on  Unsplash Constraints are our friends . Constraints help us find solutions when we were not looking. Forcing a time constraint, even if it is artificial, will urge us to produce work on time and allow us to deliver.  What are you waiting for? Ship it already! oooo, shiny…squirrel! Too often we let things distract us from what is most important. A shiny squirrel sitting over in the corner begging for your attention, chittering away. Screeching for your attention. It has called you with that siren song… I’m a problem over here you want to...

Constraints are everywhere. What?! You don’t know what constraints are? “person showing handcuff” by niu niu on  Unsplash You live in, with and around constraints, you just do not know that we typically call a constraint. The most appropriate definition for a constraint is a restriction or limitation. One that you are compelled to either avoid or to complete an action. Constraints can be analogized to a bottleneck where you are unable to perform an action because the available tools, equipment, resources, time, money, etc. are unavailable for you to complete the necessary actions. Instead, we need to view constraints as a catalyst to be more creative, to be more imaginative, to figure out a solution to your problem. Not as a barrier or a reason to quit. Constraints are our friends. The term constraint has been around the manufacturing world for several years. It is used to identify and label bottlenecks in manufacturing or production systems that cause delays or backl...

Parkinson’s Law simply states that work will expand to fill the time available to it.  In a recent personal effort with the altMBA, the opposite is also true — work will compress to fill the time available. If you have less time to get the work done, you will figure out a way to get it completed. This is all about productivity and it is amazing how we all follow this “law.” The same truism can be applied to money. The more money you make, the more money you spend. Having been in and around manufacturing environments for more than 25 years, it is easy to see how Parkinson’s Law comes into play. I have fallen into the trap of allowing work to expand significantly because there was nothing needing done next, but I also used this to my advantage through artificial constraints to get work completed within a period of time that was more compressed. Learning to say “good enough” and not allowing the hunt for perfect cause any more delay is imperative in the business world. However ...