Vocabulary

I was chatting with my friend the other day and we got talking about vocabulary. In his case, he was interested in some short-term solutions to the problem because of an approaching exam. I didn't have many ideas at that time, but later, I came up with some thoughts:

• Read political writing in blogs and newspaper editorials. The writing is generally done by trained journalists who are very good writers. Politics also covers a wide variety of topics (economics, law, etc.) and you will be exposed to many different words in short time. Any of the major newspapers (liberal or conservative) or magazines would do the trick as long as you consistently read them. Blogs are even more convenient. Reading a few articles daily takes just a few minutes, but pays a high dividend.
  
• An easy book to learn big words is Norman Lewis's "Word Power Made Easy". It contains several exercises and mnemonics. I suppose there are many similar books in the same category to improve vocabulary, but this is the only one I have read. My recommendation is to get at least one book in the category and work through it.

Short-term vocabulary improvement requires making a conscious, active effort at learning. This can mean writing down new words that you are unfamiliar with and looking them up in a dictionary. You should try to use these new words in your writing or speech until you become comfortable with them. Sometimes, a poor choice of words may result in embarrassment, but such problems come with the territory when you are in learning mode.

A long-term commitment to improving vocabulary can be passive. The easiest way is to read whenever you can and your subconscious mind will automatically learn new words. Fictional works will introduce you to generic, but obscure words, while non-fiction will give you jargon, terminology specific to the area you are reading. The trick is repetition. The more often you see a word, the more your brain understands the context and is able to notice it then and recall it at a later time.

Writing is a good way to strengthen your knowledge of words. You don't have to write articles or blogs to do this. It could be as simple as trying to write better emails to people, or writing full sentences when you exchange instant messages with someone. You could use the opportunities when you are asked to prepare any written material (say technical documentation) to use the words that you come across.

Listening to famous speeches and podcasts is another way to improve recognition of words, the only problem being that it is sometimes inconvenient to interrupt your listening and record the new words that you are hearing. Joining a Toastmasters Club or a local debating association will also help you improve vocabulary skills (and of course, your speech-making capability). Public speaking forces you to be structured and accurate with your words. In addition, you also get to hear talented speakers.

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Technorati tags: improvement, vocabulary

Strengths vs. Weaknesses

When it comes to managing one's strengths and weaknesses, there are different schools of thought. Some people are of the opinion that weaknesses are areas of improvement and it pays to work on them. The contrary point of view is that we should focus on improving and taking advantage of strengths rather than trying to reduce weaknesses.

Focusing on strengths and working at a job where you can utilize your talents and skills makes sense on different levels. You can be much more productive and have a greater chance of obtaining successful results. Success at your job can provide greater satisfaction in both tangible and intangible ways. Strengths usually have a snowball effect, i.e., the better you are at something, the more you are likely to learn and improve upon them.

Of course, you don't have to be dependent on your job to receive satisfaction. Many skills can be used at hobbies, which provide an outlet for greater creativity and fun. Many personal qualities can be channeled into productive activities within your community, helping people in the best way you know.

But let us look at the limitations with only focusing on improving strengths:

1. The snowball effect does not continue forever. At some point, you hit a point of diminishing returns from improving your strengths. This is usually a function of external circumstances. For example, while the best programmer may be 10 times more productive than the worst programmers, they never get paid at the same ratio. High rates of improvement may not be possible because of stagnation or lack of innovation in your industry. This is not true of the technology industry, but many other sectors are conservative and not receptive to or do not generate new ideas.
   
   
2. People often confuse managing their strengths and weaknesses with managing other people's strengths and weaknesses. As a manager, it is advantageous to place people in situations which make maximum use of their strengths and reduce any risks caused by their weaknesses. All things considered, you cannot force people to change their personality and hence this is your best option. But when it comes to you, you do have a choice to do something about your weaknesses, such as creating a process around you to prevent problems.
   
   
3. You cannot expect other people to accept your weaknesses and put you in a situation where only your strengths matter. That may be the wise thing for those people to do, but often, they don't do it and you don't have a choice. Nobody loves you for what you are. They always love you for what you will become (or what they imagine you to be). And that means change. There will be many aspects of your job that will require you to overcome certain weaknesses. A new opportunity that closely matches your strengths may also mean managing some of your failings. You cannot be perfect, nor can you improve upon everything, but you may have to work hard on some aspects of your personality.
   
   
4. Many people also tend to confuse strengths and weaknesses with likes and dislikes, leading to premature dismissal of anything distasteful. Some jobs or tasks may take great advantage of the person's strengths, but the person takes time to realize this. Often, the cause is bad training or a bad trainer. You can see this in the school system where some students fail at everything, even though it is conceivable that they may succeed in jobs requiring one or more of those subjects.
   
   
5. Knowing one's strengths and weaknesses is an imprecise science. For example, consider the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and its different personality types. Even setting aside concerns about reliability and accuracy, people may end up making mistakes in answering an MBTI questionnaire, and think that they have strengths and weaknesses that they do not possess. This may drive them to make incorrect choices about their career and what they do at their jobs.
   

Nothing is ever static. As industries evolve and the nature of jobs change, strengths that may have worked for you in the past are no longer as helpful. Long-term neglect of weaknesses may create a crisis situation. To avoid that, pay some attention to your weak spots regularly. Constantly evaluate your strengths and weaknesses with respect to your present career path and make necessary adjustments to avoid big corrections in the future.

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Technorati tags: personal learning, strengths, weaknesses

2007 – The Best and Worst Books I Read

I read around 65 non-fiction books in 2007. Here are the lists for the best and worst books I read. Some of them may have been published prior to 2007, but the best books seldom get outdated and the worst never get better over time.

Best books I read in 2007

• The No Asshole Rule, by Robert Sutton: The title that resonates with nearly everyone who has ever had a job. The most timely book of the year.
  
  
• The Halo Effect, by Phil Rosenzweig: The theory described in this book invalidates popular ideas about what makes a company great and profitable. My review here.
  
  
• What Got You Here Won't Get You There, by Marshall Goldsmith: How your behavioral failings at the executive level can hurt you, and how to start fixing them.
  
  
• Peopleware, by Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister: How to manage knowledge workers: A must for every software project manager.
  
  
• Coping with Difficult People, by Robert M. Bramson: This is a much older book from 1988, but is worth the read as it talks about the different difficult behaviors exhibited by people in the workplace and how to cope with them.

Honorable mention goes to Barack Obama's non-political autobiography "Dreams from My Father" (2004). Poetic!

There are a few books I should have read years ago and finally managed to get around to them this year. They include "Code Complete 2" (Steve McConnell), "The Goal" (Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox), and "Freedom at Midnight" (Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins). All great reads.

My favorite authors for 2007 are Steve McConnell (Code Complete and Software Estimation) and Robert Sutton (The No Asshole Rule and "Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths & Total Nonsense").

The worst books of 2007 are not the ones that are truly bad in the sense that they are devoid of content or the author writes poorly. The following books are selected because they promise much, and deliver little. A number of these authors are among my favorites, but they disappointed badly. They are:

• The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss: I am surprised that more people, having read his book, have not found many aspects of his advice disturbing and impractical.
  
  
• The Cluetrain Manifesto, by Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger: Corporate bashing at its worst. I looked forward to reading this for a long time, but the rants overwhelmed the content.
  
  
• The Dip, by Seth Godin: Short is good and readable, but the topic deserved a lot more treatment. It failed to explore the nuances, exceptions and pitfalls effectively. A rare misstep by a great author.
  
  
• Wikinomics, by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams: I have never read a more incomprehensible book. The authors use laborious examples and specialized jargon to obfuscate any ideas contained in the book.
  
  
• Go Put Your Strengths to Work, by Marcus Buckingham: What a way to fall! Buckingham's "First, Break all the rules" remains one of my favorites, but this book is a true hack and condescending towards the reader.

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Technorati tags: reading, books, top 5

Thinking

Here is an interesting quote by A. A. Milne that I found thought-provoking:

The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority.
The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority.
The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.

There are different levels of thinking and learning. Here is a stab at what I think some of the stages are:

1. Not thinking at all or having no opinion.
2. Having an opinion or belief.
3. Knowing opinions contrary to one's own.
4. Learning to defend one's opinion against arguments.
5. Understanding the strong points of contrary opinions.
6. Accepting that the other party may have some valid points.
7. Formulating a new opinion by integrating strong points on both sides of the argument.
8. Playing devil's advocate against one's opinions.
9. Making opinions evolve through experience and knowledge.

Most of us are usually at steps 2 to 4. In many situations, this is perfectly fine because otherwise, we would waste unnecessary time and energy pursuing needless arguments. But there are other circumstances where not questioning what we believe and what we do can lead to inefficiencies and failures. An example would be the software processes that we follow every day.

Questioning our beliefs and actions is quite difficult. It is much easier to be for or against something and stay on auto-pilot. Sometimes, it requires external intervention from events and people to knock us out of our comfort zone and start critiquing ourselves.

One way to do this is to seek out contrary opinions. If you believe something, search for the opposite argument and read about it. For example, if you believe you should use Framework XYZ to write your new application, search on Google and find what the critics are saying. If you read about a new technique, learn about its weak points.

Above all, don't believe your own rhetoric. Tying your ego to your present ideas is a sure way to drown with them.

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Technorati tags: learning, thinking

Bookswim - Book Lending Service

Bookswim, the new book lending service I signed up for, seems to be working very nicely. I received 3 books last week. They would have cost me around $50 at the very minimum. I finished and returned two of them. Now two more are on the way. At $20 per month, the cost savings is really good. And the shipping is free.

I also found the customer service very responsive. They replied back to all my emails and also pointed out an useful book request service. If you don't find a book in their inventory, you can submit a list of books that you want them to purchase. I submitted a big list of books and they added almost all of them, except a few pricey ones.

There were only 2 problems I faced. One was the slow performance in the initial days as many people hit the site because of the publicity. This situation has become better. The other problem which still exists is the search, which returns many unrelated results without proper ordering. Fortunately, the search allows ISBN searches, so it is only a minor hassle.

I definitely recommend signing up for this service if you like reading books (fiction or non-fiction, but especially the latter). And here is a list of some lists of books that other people recommend:

1. Personal MBA: http://personalmba.com/recommended-business-books/
2. Coding Horror: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000020.html
3. Joel on Software: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/navLinks/fog0000000262.html
4. Steve McConnell: http://www.stevemcconnell.com/rl-cc.htm
5. Gray's Matter: http://graysmatter.codivation.com/HowIAmBecomingABetterDeveloperPart1OfInfinity.aspx

Also check your local library for some of these books, especially the business management ones. And that costs no money.

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Technorati tags: reading, bookswim, books, recommended books

Getting Rid of the TV

A couple of weeks ago, we moved the TV from the living room to my study room. This has enormously reduced wasted time watching stupid stuff on TV. Otherwise the TV is on all the time. Half the time, you spend watching the advertisements. And the rest of the time - well, let us say that the advertisements are more entertaining.

In my view, TV is one of the most wasteful uses of one's time, unless one is extremely picky about what one watches. The tendency is to keep it on even though there is nothing interesting. When you have more TV channels, you keep flipping the channels until you find something that you can just tolerate seeing. Watching re-runs of old movies and TV series is another time-sink.

The other advantage of moving the TV from the living room is to have real conversations with people who come to your house. Otherwise, part of the time is spent watching some sports or movie, and then you don't get to talk with the person or exchange any meaningful information.

Other things I have unnecessarily wasted my time on

• Worrying about the future: Now I am here, I know what I shouldn't have worried about.
• Learning stuff that became obsolete: No learning is entirely useless, still I could have prioritized better.
• Not holding people accountable: Give a man a fish, you have fed him for today. Teach him to fish...
• Training un-trainable people: Some people cannot be taught to fish, either.

Things I have should spent more time on

• Family, friends and relatives
• Learning what was truly important to my profession
• Becoming a better human being

Hopefully, I still have the opportunity. Yet, I sometimes feel really stupid about the time I wasted. If one only knew then what one knows now...

Technorati tags: time management, TV, prioritization

Productivity Tips for Nerds

Everyone wants to be more productive and there are literally thousands of books and web pages to cater to them. In this article, I want to focus on technical people because they exhibit certain special behaviors that get in the way of being productive, even if they want to. Here are some productivity tips for them:

1. Stop trying to be an early adopter for every product: Technical people go gaga over every new application or consumer electronic product that comes out. They must get a hold of it, even if it means starving for the rest of the month. This is such a waste of time and money. Only 1-2 products truly succeed in any problem domain. Trying out all the possible products consumes enormous amounts of time without much return.
   
   
2. Learn to switch off electronic items: Switch off your TV and your computer. Stop picking up your phone. Most technical people find this impossible to do. One friend told me that the one thing he needed for survival (other than air and water) was an active Internet connection! But if you manage to turn off, suddenly you get this huge slab of free time which you can use to do all sorts of interesting things.
   
   
3. Focus on quality instead of quantity: Don't try to learn 10 different languages or platforms at the same time. At a time, learn one really well and understand its nuances. Don't try to swallow hundreds of feeds, articles and books. Instead, select the few that would be really useful. In any case, life is too short for you to consume everything. So be selective and make effective use of your time.
   
   
4. It is okay if you are not busy: Some technical folks treat busy work as a badge of honor. They actually love complaining that they have no time to do anything because it proves that they are doing something important and they are wanted. So much so that they have withdrawal symptoms anytime the work load comes down. Having free time is not something to be ashamed of. Use it to refresh your mind and body. Plan for future work by learning something new or advanced.
   
   
5. New technology is not necessarily more productive: Email and chat can be more time-consuming than phone calls. It takes less time to call someone and resolve a problem than exchange emails all days long. In development work, a newer technology may have some cool feature that saves some effort, but you also waste a lot of time learning how to do the regular mundane work in it. Choose technology for its utility, not its newness.

The addiction to being connected is something all technical people share. Many people don't switch off because they are afraid of missing an urgent message. But the fact is that if someone sending an email really wanted to get an answer immediately, they would call you. If someone calling you really wanted to talk to you, they would leave a voice message. So most of the time, there is no reason to respond in real time. (This does not mean that you should be a jerk and not pick up the phone at all, just that sometimes you need to be able to get away from the need to be always available.)

Also imagine if you had an accident and were in a hospital bed unable to move. Would you care about calls or emails? You may be worried, but you cannot do anything about it. And your contacts would have to wait until you got better. Most things in life are not really as urgent as you think or as people would like to have you think.

And tell people about when you normally respond. If they expect you to be responding 24 hours a day, they will send emails or call you 24 hours a day. On the other hand, if they know that certain hours are off-limits, your volume of emails and calls will automatically go down. Unless of course, you want to be masochistic.

A final point: Reduce the need to repeat yourself. When 2 people ask you the same question, send the reply to all possible interested parties. Or post it on your website or blog. I have found the last technique quite useful. When people ask me something and I already have an article on it, I just send them the URL. That really saves a lot of time.

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Technorati tags: productivity tips, technology

Making Money from a Hobby

Sometime back, I discussed how doing a hobby project can help one learn many new things regarding a particular subject. When a hobby becomes a passion, you quickly become an expert at it and it is possible to turn the hobby into something that can help you earn money on the side. For example, if you are interested in photography, you could actually try to sell some of your photographs to somebody who is interested.

Doing your hobby as a day job may not be possible, as the amount of money you can make may not replace your regular salary. Although some people are able to make a hobby their full-time occupation, realistically, most people can mostly hope only to augment their income. Doing this is a good thing. Additional income will help you justify the time you spend on the hobby as well as buy or do useful or entertaining things.

There are many hobbies that you can make money off, especially if you are in the technology field. Creating programs or content on the web and using advertisements to gain revenue. Teaching people about computers or programming languages. Giving speeches and taking seminars. Trouble-shooting problems for people. I used to do some of these activities in the past.

Doing a hobby for money does bring a few challenges:

1. There is a direct relationship between how hard you work and how much money you earn. Well almost - the more you work, the greater the possibility of earning more money (not necessarily actually earning). So it is difficult to avoid spending a lot of time on the particular activity and becoming a workaholic. Soon, a hobby can become pretty consuming. Even holidays and weekends can get filled with activities.
   
   
2. The focus changes from you to your customers or consumers. A non-commercialized hobby can be pursued without consideration for what other people think. When you are trying to earn money, your preferences may not match the people who are contributing to your income. So you will have to adapt or perish. The hobby becomes more work than a relaxing pastime.
   
   
3. At some point, you will hit a plateau where more work doesn't result in more revenue. You may need to start looking at advertising or marketing or even change various attributes of your products. Thus the actual creativity work becomes less, and more time is spent on selling. In fact, the more successful you are, the less you would actually spend on the core of your hobby and more on publicizing and monetizing it.
   
   
4. The ups and downs of income can create additional pressure and stress. When you have a bad day or week where you have less income, you can feel dejected and frustrated, even though the factors that contributed to this may be totally outside your control. It may take time to understand and realize that this is all part of a typical business.

I don't mean to mention these challenges as a way of discouraging someone from commercializing their hobby. In fact, realizing that you could have earned (and didn't try to earn) a significant amount of money from something you were just doing for fun can make you feel stupid and foolish. By all means, use your full potential to earn as much money as you can.

But do understand that the process of making money can change the dynamics, make it less fun and create more work and tension. Once you learn to accept this, then it becomes much smoother as you can be better prepared.

Technorati tags: hobby project, making money, monetization, ads

Evergreen Creations

About 13 years ago, a few movie enthusiasts including me gathered after class hours outside the Great Hall in CMS College, set up a TV and VCR and started playing great movie hits. Among them was Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights". I remember being extremely touched by the final scene between Chaplin and the flower girl. Today, I watched it again and, even though I knew the ending, I had the same lump-in-the-throat feeling as I watched that final scene.

What a great film! Made as a silent movie three-quarters of a century ago in black-and-white, it still has the capability to arouse strong emotions. That is the power of great creations. They last long after the creator has passed away and are immortal. It is not just movies - great writings, paintings, music, architecture, philosophies, etc. created decades and even centuries ago have lasted and influenced human culture and way of life.

Most of us live in the present and are, in one form or another, news junkies. We want to read or talk about what is happening right now - things that affect our lives or careers. And there is a huge market to cater to this need. The whole newspaper and TV news industries exist because they can serve our need for information now. On the Internet, news and product bloggers attract the largest number of visitors every day.

But beyond our instant news gratification needs, we also crave for the immortal stuff. These are the ones that have lasting value. They give greater meaning to our lives, enriching it with ideas, dreams and experiences. And it is not just the inanimate things like books and movies. Think about the people who were in your life. Which teachers do you remember? Which friends would you stay up the whole night talking to?

When I look back, the teachers I remember fondly are the ones who taught us to dream and hope. We didn't even know what we wanted to achieve, but they gave us the confidence that we could achieve anything we tried. The good ones transferred their passion to us. They made us love what we were learning. Teaching for them was not about exams or grades - it was something much more and we could feel it.

The friends that I respect are the ones who had this contagious disease of love for their life and work. My memories? My long discussions with my friend Chase Joseph about politics, economics and history. My old Hit Software gang at college (Jeesmon & Jayan) going crazy over class projects. My present and former colleagues teaching and encouraging me. The Internet friends who I have never met or spoken to - their emails are so full of enthusiasm and bubbling with life that I wish I were 20 years old again.

I was recently again reminded of the idealism of youth when I read this blog by Vipul Naik. He recently posted two good posts about how people are easily influenced and manipulated by false criteria of success. He has amazing maturity for a person of his age. When I read his posts, the thing that runs through my mind is that his post would probably be just as valid and meaningful 40 years from now as it is today. That is immortality.

Of course, there are many A-list bloggers who create such content - notably Joel Spolsky, Seth Godin, Paul Graham, Guy Kawasaki and, recently, Marc Andreessen. But Vipul's blog is an illustration of how people who are not famous can still create content that is highly relevant even as time passes. In sharp contrast, a popular blogger like Robert Scoble has mostly content that has high impact today, but loses its value as each day goes by.

The question is not whether you should be creating "immortal" content. In my opinion, doing something for building your legacy is egotistic and conceited. It also has less chance of succeeding because your behavior will lean towards pleasing people today. No, the best work comes when you don't even think about your legacy.

It comes when you really love and understand what you are doing. It comes when you genuinely believe that others would be just as happy as you are if they would do the same things you are doing. It comes when there is a twinkle in your eyes when you talk about your work. It comes when you want to share the knowledge you have about your work, because it is so much exciting.

Roger Ebert hit the nail on the head when he said,

"If you take a step back and really think about James Bond, you will realize that he is mad. So is Batman. So is the Phantom ... They live in fantasy worlds of their own creation, and bring a certain style to their delusions."

To achieve truly great things, you have to be a little crazy.

Technorati tags: personal learning, immortality, value, legacy

Writing an Essay

Many of us have had experiences with writing essays during our English language classes and exams, and later during admission or qualification tests like the GMAT. In those situations, the topic is usually provided for us and then we have to write the essay within a certain period of time. Typically, one prepares a formula for managing the test and, with practice, the formula has a high percentage of success.

It is a little different writing an essay outside an academic situation. First, why write an essay in the first place? After all, there are definitely many other forms of communication - conversations, emails, etc. The reason why essays are still written is that the essay form provides a way to analyze a particular situation in a structured way. You can consider the subject in depth, allowing you to make informed judgments.

For example, if I just wanted to express my opinion about the best Presidential candidate, I could simply write a 1-line email. But if I want to analyze why the candidate is the best among all candidates by comparing their merits or demerits, the essay provides a much better avenue. Another example: If a manager faces an organizational problem, writing a detailed article helps in understanding the issue better by evaluating various alternatives.

Another challenge with writing essays is finding the right subject to talk about. The truth is that getting ideas is not the problem. Every day is filled with different happenings, each of which can serve as the inspiration for another article. However, every idea is not born equal. Some topics may be too simple to lend themselves to a detailed analysis. Others may be too complex that even a book may not do them proper justice. Some topics, while interesting, may not fit into the general category of things you want to write about.

All said and done, you will always have something to write about. The problem then becomes: when do you start writing? If you are just doing reporting of an event or happening, it is easy to dish up a few sentences. However, when you are doing analysis, it helps to wait until you can see the event in proper perspective. For example, if a company launches a new product, the event will be surrounded by marketing hype, which can confuse the message. You can do a better analysis by waiting until the noise abates and you are less influenced by the news reporters and public relations personnel.

Unlike a class room, writing an essay is not a time-bound activity. If you wish, you can write an essay in an hour and publish it immediately. Or you can keep writing for days and never get to completion. Most articles fall somewhere between the two extremes. A reasonably good essay takes several hours from start to completion. It is difficult to finish most essays in one sitting. 

Here is how a typical essay is written: You start putting together a few sentences based on an idea and then mysteriously develop writer's block. You take a break, find your rhythm again and write some more. You cross out a few things you had previously written and rewrite other sentences. Fix some scattered grammar mistakes. Clarify something using a different word. You get tired, go to sleep. Wake up and realize that your whole approach was wrong and rewrite it from scratch. So on until you "finish" it. You show it to someone. They don't understand what you are talking about. Back to Square One!

There is also another less-understood problem: There is an elusive perfect size for an essay based on the subject it is discussing. Sometimes when you re-read your article after taking a break, you may find that removing 25% of the article makes no difference to the point you are trying to make. However, at other times, you realize that you must make a reference to a particular person or incident. Otherwise the article feels hollow.

Taking breaks can serve in thinking about the length and other aspects of the article. Ideas, metaphors and examples are the key components of an essay. What do you include? How do you preserve the core theme and idea in your article while considering different nuances and contradictions? What do you leave out and how do you decide? This sort of thinking is best done away from your writing desk or computer keyboard.

Don't misinterpret breaks as interruptions. By breaks, I mean a voluntary decision on your part to stop writing and do something else. An interruption is when someone or something breaks your flow of thought. You need solitude and full attention to writing a good essay. Interruptions can disrupt creativity just when you are doing your best work. Find a time and place where you can do long stretches of uninterrupted work. Some people do their best creative work when others are asleep because that is when they have taken care of other chores and distractions. Only tiredness can stop them from going on.

I believe that logical flow is more important than structure and form. But you can attract more people to your essays through judicious use of formatting and graphics. The ability to scan an article is a big concern. Using headings, bold text, smaller paragraphs, lists, etc. can make it easier for more people to read the essay and understand its meaning. But don't do it artificially. For example, using a bulleted list has the potential to muddy an article's primary message by making several different points.

Finally, how do you end an essay? Sometimes, you can write an article to build up to a great logical conclusion. But usually what happens is that you have been talking about the conclusion for the last several paragraphs and explaining it with examples. You run out of steam and you settle for a tame ending like a summary paragraph. In my experience, that is the rule in most articles, not the exception. Readers can feel short-changed, but if the rest of your article was good, they will probably forgive you.

The main thing about an essay is that there are no rules, except that you write it for yourself. You should be satisfied that you gave the essay your best shot and you analyzed the subject the best you could. Intellectual honesty is critical. Be sincere in examining all sides of the situation. At the same time, leave things out that have nothing to do with the subject.

In short, the author in you writes the essay for the reader in you. The former should make the best effort to keep the latter contented.

Technorati tags: essays, writing, subjects

Effort versus Reward

Consider any task that requires effort over a period of time. Examples would be studying a subject or marketing a product. Each such task demands various activities to be performed. For example, when studying a programming language, you will have to read different books and other material, understand various programming environments, and experiment with different examples and projects.

The question I want to discuss here is: How many activities provide an actual return in terms of the goal you want to achieve? For example, do you have to read all the prescribed books? How many programs do you need to write before you are proficient? How much does each activity contribute to your learning? Should you increase or reduce a particular activity?

A similar set of thoughts passed through my mind when I was looking at the graph below:

The graph shows the percentage of page views received by each individual page on this blog. Here are some interesting statistics:

• The most popular post received 20% of the page views.
• The most popular post received page views equal to the bottom 66% of other posts, i.e., 127 posts.
• The top 15 posts received over 50% of the page views. (Similar to the 80/20 Principle)

So what does that mean? Here is how I could misinterpret this information:

• Stupid deduction 1: I could have achieved almost the same results with considerably less effort.
• Stupid deduction 2: The non-popular posts were a waste of time.
• Stupid deduction 3: I should only try to post posts that have a chance of being popular.

The reasoning seem straightforward, so why are the deductions stupid?

• The successful blogs would not have happened if I hadn't continued to write more and hit upon some that people found useful.
• Each additional post contributed to greater search engine visibility that helped people find the website. Without a lot of content, the successful posts would not have been discovered.
• Each post helped me understand how to write a little better each time. Every time you do something, you learn something new.
• Some of the success was incidental. For example, posts about technical problems were very successful although that is not my primary focus.

This brings me to the topic under discussion. How does this relate to effort and reward? Here are some of the lessons learned:

1. Immediate success is a mirage. You must work extremely hard over a period of time to achieve a few successes.
2. Much of the work you do will never be adequately rewarded. In fact, much of it will have zero direct reward.
3. Every part of your work contributes in some way towards creating those elusive successes. The very least it can do is make you better at the task.
4. A "masterpiece" worked on for days may turn out to be a dud, where as something that requires less effort may be a hit. The trick is to keep producing.

In many situations, I have seen people just give up because they don't see the results that they are looking for. Too often, they blame themselves for not having the talent, instead of looking at the real problem: lack of sufficient effort. It is not that people are lazy, it is just that they underestimate the magnitude of hard work involved.

Achieving any sort of success in any field takes years of dedicated effort. You must first spend time learning the basics. Then you learn the achievements of people previously in the field. You compete with contemporaries. You experiment and come up with innovations. You spend more time perfecting some of the techniques you learnt. You also face disasters and flops, in spite of your best efforts.

Quite often, you go down dead ends or do something that yields poor results. For example, a photographer may visit certain places for good scenes or try different kinds of cameras and films, but only some of them succeed. But even when you have failures, you are still practicing techniques that may work better in a different setting. Even in the worst failures, there are things that you did right.

Success has a cumulative effect. In more elegant terms, it is called the Long Tail. The idea is that once you have created something, you have no more expenses, but you can continue to benefit from it. Consider a reasonably skilled singer. The more she sings, the more she is likely to have a huge hit. Any hit has a beneficial sales effect on older songs. The singer benefits from the previous work created while not having to spend any more effort in creation. However, if she aimed to create just one successful song, she would probably fail.

People focusing on only results make the following vital mistakes:

• They tend to work only on those activities that they "think" will yield results. They could be wrong. They could be selectively choosing the wrong things. For example, I have seen some students memorizing answers instead of learning them. They fail when the question doesn't exactly match what they memorized.


• Immediate results may be different from long-term results. For example, although passing an exam may be your highest priority, not learning the subject puts you at a significant disadvantage later on in your career compared to someone who has learnt the subject really well.

The bottom line: Work harder. Produce more. Rewards will follow.

Technorati tags: personal learning, hard work, effort, results

Personal Productivity by Marc Andreessen

Recently, I came across Marc Andreessen's blog. If you remember, he was the co-founder of Netscape Corporation which, for some time during the late 1990s, gave Microsoft a scare with its dominance of the browser market. He has been writing some really good articles, which, like Paul Graham's, are a joy to read.

One of the articles talks about his guide to personal productivity. It was pretty interesting, so I thought I would add my thoughts to his. Please read his article first so that my comments below make sense:

1. I agree that not keeping a schedule is liberating to an extent. When you have a meeting planned for a certain time in the day, everything else has to be scheduled around it. You sometimes postpone certain tasks that may interfere with the meeting, and instead, remain idle or work on unimportant tasks.
   
   However, tasks (that you don't enjoy doing) like legal paperwork or certain meetings are better off scheduled. This way, you can block other activities and get them out of the way, instead of having them festering at the back of your mind. Also, you cannot entirely get away from schedules, because the rest of the world doesn't quite work that way.
   
   
2. Keeping only three lists is good, ONE is better. The idea is that you should know where to look for your tasks, pending or otherwise. Many people have things scattered at multiple places and it wastes a lot of time. Keeping things organized by 3 lists (To Do, Watch and Later) is good. But it can be further streamlined into one list, and perhaps, scheduling.
   
   For example, if it works for you, you can use your email Inbox as your list. Anything that is in the Inbox must be acted upon at some point and you can ignore what is not there. You can add new tasks for yourself by sending an email. Clear out items from the Inbox as you finish the task. You can also use the Calendar in conjunction, especially with regard to recurring tasks. Automatic bill payment can also save a lot of time.
   
   
3. Index cards - why? This seems like additional work. From the previous point, we already have a list. Why not look at that list and decide what you want to do the next day? Preparing and carrying index cards is really not simplifying life. Also, my personal opinion is that you should do the prioritization work at the end of your day's work (at office or home) and not wait before you go to sleep. Planning to do something before you sleep conflicts with Point (1) above.
   
   
4. Anti-Todo List - more lists? The list of lists keeps growing! I can understand the reasoning behind what Marc is saying, but really, isn't work its own motivation? I think a better use of one's time is to figure out why you couldn't do all the things you wanted to do. And then, use that information to avoid activities that have disrupted you. For example, if someone is constantly interrupting you, it is a sign that they probably don't have enough information to be self-reliant. Hence, you may need to have a longer meeting with them to clarify all their questions and reduce future interruptions.
   
   
5. Structured Procrastination - I like it. If you don't feel like doing something, do something else to fill the time. Even sleeping is good - give your body the rest it needs. Certain chores at work or in the household keep getting postponed because of other urgent matters. But they still have to be done, so use the procrastination time to wipe them off your list. In fact, when these minor items are dealt with, it is easier to concentrate on the tough, unpleasant tasks.
   
   
6. I remember seeing an episode on "Everybody Loves Raymond" about Strategic Incompetence, though they didn't use those exact words. The husband doesn't "know" how to do household work like ironing or cleaning while the wife doesn't "know" anything about electronics. That way, they could get out of doing the work even though they profess to be interested in helping the other person.
   
   Although it seems like an interesting method, it depends on the situation. Sometimes, delegating it to someone else or telling the truth about lack of time and/or interest may be the right solution. The problem with strategic incompetence is that people may not come to you for something important that you could do better than others. And they end up creating new problems for you while you are oblivious to the situation.
   
   
7. I like the general point behind the tactic of doing email only twice a day: If you are doing anything creative or something that needs dedicated attention, email is very distracting. Instant messaging is even more so. It basically depends on how you operate at work: If your work revolves around using email as a dashboard to drive your day, then this advice may not apply to you. If your day consists of many different tasks and real-time communication and decisions are important, then email cannot be relegated to the back burner.
   
   Marc mentions that someone who really wants to reach you can call you, but in a later point, he says, "Don't answer the phone." Shutting off email and not answering your phone means that you are effectively unreachable for several hours during working hours. Someone at a different geographic location desperately trying to inform you about some work-related issue is probably going to get more desperate.
   
   
8. I agree with his idea that when you finish processing email, you should try to have an empty inbox. But I don't agree with achieving that by moving items into Pending and Review. Then your Inbox is not really empty. You are just creating another folder you need to pay attention to. There is only one rule for an email message: Do you need to take any action on the email again? If so, keep it in your Inbox. Otherwise do what you have to do and move it out.
   
   Keep the "Review" items in the Inbox itself. If you really need to review them, you will review them soon and then move them out. If they stay for more than a few days, they didn't really need to be reviewed and you will move them out. As for any emails you want to keep for reference or backup, move them to a well-named folder and use Search to find them again if you need to. Use a task management system or calendar scheduling to remind you about any follow-ups.
   
   
9. Don't answer the phone, but only if you don't know who is calling. If it is something important, the person will leave you a voice message. If you recognize the phone number, my feeling is that you should pick it up out of respect and courtesy. I get irritated when I call someone and they don't pick up the phone, especially when it is an urgent matter. Following the Golden Rule, I think it doesn't make any sense if I also do the same.
   
   Once again, it depends on your job. If your company is in its early stages, you want to take every single call that comes because every individual who talks to you matters. It could be a potential or current customer or employee. You want to open the door when opportunity knocks. Not everything should be a slave to productivity. You should use productivity measures within the context of your overall goals.
   
   
10. If you don't want to be distracted, hiding in your iPod is a good thing. There are other things you can do, like closing your door and shutting down your instant messenger. If you display any signs that you are available, people will interrupt you. But even after you do all this and somebody still interrupts you, maybe it is something important. Pay attention.
    
    I think a question to ask here is: why do people interrupt you? If it is a work-related interruption, then somebody needs your attention and you should probably take time out to help them. Better yet, help them understand the way to solve the problem so that it doesn't occur again. If somebody interrupts you at work for something non-work-related, muster the courage to tell them that you have a lot of work to do and can talk later. Being open is much better than hiding.
    
    
11. Have a good breakfast. Definitely. Take care of your health. Sleep well. Laugh. Enjoy life. You will be much more productive and full of energy when you get down to work.
    
    
12. I also agree with the idea of taking up new commitments only when both your head and heart agree, but it is not easy. Sometimes a new project or activity looks very exciting, but then the amount of time and effort drains you and leaves you unable to devote sufficient time to existing work. Always leave some free time on your hands which you can use as you wish. Instead of adding more items to your plate, start clearing it by completing existing tasks and not accepting new ones unless they are really valuable.
    
    If you are already stacked up with activities, try to delegate. Buy more time from people waiting for you to complete the work. Apologize profusely to those collaborating with you. Postpone any tasks that can be delayed. Cancel any that can be canceled. If you have money to buy time, do so - for example, order out instead of cooking, or buy a software application to automate a tedious task.
    
    
13. Doing something you love is great advice. Practically speaking, though, while you should try to maximize the time you spend on interesting things, you must accept the fact that there will be boring and unpleasant tasks you need to do. As a manager, you have to manage conflict, do fire-fighting, prepare reports, etc. These don't really add value, but it is part of the game. You have to learn to love them, otherwise they will drag you down until you cannot even get satisfaction from the interesting things you do.

"Productivity" essentially means "doing more with your time". But the question is what time period are we looking at? Are we looking at maximum productivity each day, each month or each year? Sometimes, taking a longer-term approach to productivity can mean reductions in immediate productivity.

For example, avoiding interruptions may mean you can get more of your personal work done, but your co-workers don't get theirs done properly or on time. Accepting the interruption and spending 15-20 minutes addressing someone's concerns and teaching them to find solutions may go a long way in setting up someone for success. Down the road, that can save you a lot of time, money and aggravation.

So I will leave you with this thought: Productivity is just one aspect you need to improve on. To focus on that entirely without paying attention to other concerns such as customer satisfaction and employee morale can lead you down a wrong path.

Technorati tags: Marc Andreessen, productivity tips

Writing Better

Written communication is becoming more important every day because of global integration. Nowadays, it is rare to see all the members of a project team in one geographic location or working the same hours. There is outsourcing within the United States as well as outsourcing to various parts of the world, like India, China and other countries. Even with a local team, people now do a lot of work from home.

Although face-to-face communication cannot be replaced, increasingly more information is transmitted through email and documents than ever before. Even when there are direct meetings, quality processes dictate that information be documented properly for long-term understanding and knowledge transfer to future team members.

This requires us to improve our professional writing skills. Unfortunately, during most of our schooling (except probably business school), we are never taught to communicate well to others. Most of our writing is about what we understood about the subject. It is meant to be factual or meet the course requirements, but never evaluated on what other people understood.

So how can we improve upon our writing? I don't claim to be an expert in writing, but here are some of the learning strategies and tips I use to improve my writing:

1. Write more: You can always improve with practice. When you write an email, spend time writing a long email. When you chat with people and you have time, type long sentences instead of funny acronyms and abbreviations. If you can, start a diary or a blog and try to write regularly. The more you write, the easier it becomes. Also, if you write a public blog, you will be under pressure to write and edit better than you would normally.
2. Read more: Read both fiction and non-fiction. Reading fiction helps you understand the language that people use in daily life - idioms, slang, colloquialisms, nuances, etc. Business writing is more formal, of course, but it is better to use straight, simple talk than roundabout jargon. Reading non-fiction helps you understand industry terminology and practices and also use good examples in your writing.
3. Ask for feedback: Show your writing to people and ask them for their feedback. Is it readable? Is it meaningful? What should be improved? Many friends have offered me valuable suggestions on my writing on this blog - some in the comments and others privately and it has made me change my writing.
4. Accept unsolicited feedback: Sometimes, people will point out flaws in your writing without your asking. My secondary school English teacher, the Head of the Physics Department, and the Director of the School of Computer Science would mark my writing mistakes (spelling, grammar, wording, etc.) It was tough to hear the criticism, but it was worth it.
5. Take a test: Preparing for the GMAT (Graduation Management Admission Test) or TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) can significantly improve your writing skills. It makes you more disciplined about the rules of English grammar. And the umpteen practice tests helps you understand the weak points.
6. Correct bad writing: Emphasize good written English with your team members. This makes you careful of making mistakes yourself. Beware, though. Some people can get upset or defensive, so do this only to subordinates privately and only when the flawed communication affects you. You can get pretty unpopular by telling people to create readable, short sentences or using "your" instead of "you're".
7. Train yourself: Read books on how to write better. A good writing style guide is "The Elements of Style" by Strunk & White. Do research on the Internet for writing styles. Many web sites and blogs also provide information on writing better.

Regardless of your current writing skill, there is always scope for improvement. You can always learn new techniques and methods for communicating to people. For example, a couple of things I can improve upon: Keeping my writing shorter and illustrating it better with graphics and good layout. I suppose each of you would also find things you can enhance.

Technorati tags: personal improvement, good writing

Meetings

A few people from a customer of mine were having a webinar session with a vendor and they invited me along to provide my appraisal of the product. It was a rather tiresome 2 hours and the consensus at the end was that we would not be proceeding to select this particular product. As we were wrapping up the meeting, one of the customer people turned to the other and said, "At least I got my 3 actionable items."

I was puzzled and I asked him what he meant. He said that whenever he was in a meeting, he would try to note down 3 things that he had never known before. And then he would follow up on them. Sometimes, a few of them turned out to be quite useful.

His habit intrigued me. In the days that followed, I tried to imitate him. Whenever a meeting ended, I would create a bulleted list of interesting items. I tried to maintain the documentation habit, but I could not sustain it. But the spirit of that discussion remained with me and I tried to see how I could make meetings meaningful to me. Some thoughts:

1. Some meetings can be gold mines of information and ideas. Plan for such meetings. Pay attention. Follow up as soon as you can after the meeting to think about and discuss the ideas so that you can take advantage of them.
   
   
2. Other meetings can be totally barren. But you can learn something from that too. Why was the meeting totally useless? How can you avoid such types of meetings? And if you cannot avoid them, what can you do to make them more meaningful?
   
   
3. Sometimes, the most important thing you can get from a meeting or a seminar is not the specific pieces of information, but understanding the overall concept, especially when you are hearing about something for the first time. In this case, take fewer notes and get excited enough to follow up.
   
   An example is a seminar where they are discussing what a technology can do and show code or architectural diagrams on the screen. Instead of taking those down, instead write down a few points about the advantages and later, you can do more research on the Internet.
   
   
4. At the end of the meeting, ask people what they thought about the discussion. They may have a different perspective than you did and that can be the source of many ideas. Also, you may not be fully alert during the entire meeting and others may have latched onto some important point that was not emphasized enough.
   
   
5. The times before and after the meeting are as important as the meeting itself. For example, by planning for the meeting, you will have prepared your mind to focus on what you want to get out of the meeting. After the meeting, by doing further research, you can validate whether the information and tips you collected from the meeting are accurate. It goes without saying that you should be open enough to deviate from your original plan for the meeting if the presenter takes you down an unexpected train of thought.

Of course, this is based on the same learning philosophy that you need to carry everywhere. They say that the best learners would read the ingredients on food wrappers if they cannot find anything else to read. Learning requires an attitude to always be on the lookout for things to increase knowledge and improve behavior.

Technorati tags: business management, meetings, learning

Analogies

Long back, when I was learning optics in my Physics class, I had a conceptual problem understanding refraction, the phenomenon where light changes directly when it passes from one medium to another, say while passing through a glass prism. It was not the equations, real-life examples or problems that baffled me. But I really didn't get the "why" - why would light shift direction when the medium it passes through changes.

Then one day, I came across an analogy that made it clear as daylight. Look at the following diagram explaining the concept of refraction:

You can see how the light ray was traveling at a certain angle (say "x") to the glass, then bends towards the perpendicular to reduce the angle and then as they came out, they bend away so that the angle is widened. Very theoretical and it can even be confusing to remember when it bends into and when it bends away.

Now, consider the analogy. You want to walk across a field and reach the opposite corner as quickly as you can. Now imagine that the middle of the field have all the grass removed and is filled with sand. Here is the situation you need to deal with:

1. The sandy portion of the field is much tougher to walk on. So you want to minimize the time you want to walk on it. Instead of walking diagonally across the sand, you would walk straight.


2. However by walking straight, you will now be walking a much greater distance across the rest of the field.


3. So the solution is to find the best compromise between the smallest overall distance you need to travel and the smallest distance you need to walk across the sand. Hence you bend your path a little, but not all the way.

Analogies like these can help us understand concepts better. Another analogy I like very much is the comparison of software development and building construction, which is elaborately dealt with in Steve McConnell's "Code Complete". This is very useful sometimes in explaining to non-technical customers the importance of controlling changes to the product.

Proverbs also contain gems of great analogies. Although there are many opposing proverbs like "Look before you leap" versus "He who hesitates is lost", they represent useful ways to understand the extremes to which we are accustomed to. The best way to handle the wisdom in proverbs is to understand the trade-offs with different approaches in a situation. For instance, in the two proverbs I cited in this paragraph, you need to trade-off the need to deliberate versus the need for action in a particular case.

The one danger with analogies is to carry them too far. After all, analogies are used to compare a situation in one context to a similar one in another context. It is important not to ignore some of the contextual aspects of each situation. For example, the current Web 2.0 gold rush can be compared to the original Web bubble, but how similar are the two? Will the outcomes be the same?

So, use analogies to help you gain more insight into the problem or situation you are facing. Use your judgment and rational thinking to determine the right solution.

Technorati tags: personal learning, analogies

Flash Forward

There was an incredible story in the news today about a Polish man, Jan Grzebski, who woke up 19 years after having fallen in a coma. He attributed his survival to his caring wife, Gertuda, who stayed by her husband's side and helped prevent any infections by moving his position every hour. It is a remarkable recovery considering that many such patients never wake up from unconsciousness. Sometime back, there was the case of Terry Schiavo, in Florida, who was in a vegetative state for over 15 years until her feeding tube was removed.

In the case of Jan, his recovery is almost like a time travel into the future, except that he has also aged. Everything is totally different. In his words,

When I went into a coma there was only tea and vinegar in the shops, meat was rationed and huge petrol queues were everywhere. Now I see people on the streets with cell phones and there are so many goods in the shops it makes my head spin.

Between his 1988 accident and today, there have been so many amazing changes. The Cold War is over. Communism is dead, except for small pockets here and there. The Internet has fundamentally changed communication and opened opportunities for people across the globe. Hundreds of millions of people have come out of poverty in India and China. Micro-processors increasingly manage every aspect of our daily life, including travel, entertainment, social life, etc.

What would the Communist leaders of the Eastern Bloc have said if they could have taken a trip to the future and seen the world we live in today? I would like to think that they would realize how many more people are realizing their aspirations and dreams than they ever would have under an oppressive socialist regime. At the very least, they would know that communism had failed as an experiment in solving the problems of the market system.

All the technological innovations aside, it is amazing how much we have advanced on the human front. The world we live now is more free and open than it has ever been in all history. There are fewer wars and conflicts, fewer starving people, less illness and death and all the other problems that have plagued humanity. It is very likely that within our lifetime, we will see the end of absolute poverty, disease and war.

And when you consider that, you realize how petty and crazy some of the people in the past were. All the bloodshed and oppression in the past were initiated by people who had no vision of the world that has been made possible today. Think of Europe. 60 years ago, it was the center of the deadliest conflict in all history. Just 20 years ago, it was split between two heavily armed camps ready to destroy the entire world to prove that their way of life was correct. Today, that same Europe has become almost a single entity under the European Union. No more talk of German or French superiority.

Or take a look at other examples from the past and present. The slave traders and slave owners who would not even consider Africans to be human. The cultures that treated women as second-class citizens. In India, "lower-caste" people were treated as "untouchables". Their sight could make other people "impure". Today, a person who even suggests something like that would be thrown out. To provide the name of your caste or family today as a supposed mark of superiority serves only one purpose: To display your only crutch and show that you are clueless, idiotic and inferior in every respect.

So the question is: Which side of history are you on?

Are we holding to thoughts and principles that will become outdated in the new world that is shaping before our eyes? Can we look at what we are doing today and see if it makes any sense in 20 years from now? What about our likings and fears today - will they be around in that time? How open-minded are we? What if we wake up tomorrow and find the world changed, our dreams fulfilled and our dangers destroyed? Are we prepared to take advantage of such a world?

And if we are not able to give the right answers to these questions, it is guaranteed that we will laughed at, mocked and hated by people in the future, just like those Communists, Nazis, slave traders, and feudal lords.

Technorati tags: personal learning, jan grzebski, ideas, principles

Short-Term, Long-Term and External Memory

With due respect to biology, here are the types of memory that we human beings can tap into:

• Short-term memory
• Long-term memory
• External memory

Short-term memory contains all the recent events that happened to us. For example, if I ask you how you spent yesterday, you can probably give minute details of the entire day. However, you would probably not be able to do the same for a day three months back. We can also consciously try to store important pieces of information in short-term memory. For example, if someone gives us an email address over the phone, we can remember it long enough to write it down after we put down the phone.

Although short-term memory is transient, it is essential in our life. Human beings would not be able to converse with each other if each one forgot what they or the other person said immediately after they said it. Short-term memory also provides a "working database" from which we can perform various activities at home or work. For example, a programmer needs to know all the business rules of an object when writing code.

There is also an advantage of memory being short, because we have the ability to forget things not worth remembering. Many things that happen daily, like the cars that passed you on the highway, are not important to keep thinking about. You can also utilize your short-term memory to remember key points before an important event (meeting, test, etc.) that may not be relevant afterwards.

Long-term memory is where we specialize and build deep knowledge. It contains ingrained habits that can be used to perform activities without really paying attention to them. For example, when someone asks us to multiply two numbers, we easily tap into the multiplication tables that we learnt years or decades ago. There is something interesting going on, because if you ask a child who is learning multiplication, he would find it more difficult even though he is currently learning the subject.

The reason, of course, is that the child is using short-term memory which is very fickle. But an adult has built upon the multiplication skills to learn higher concepts like algebra, geometry, trigonometry, etc. that the basic concepts are laid in stone. That is the secret behind long-term memory: The more you practice, the more you transfer from short-term memory to long-term memory.

Consider another example from sports: When you first start playing tennis, you find it tough even to keep score. Serving, volleying, etc. all are difficult. But after sometime, these become second-nature. But then you have moved to a different playing level - what will the opponent do next? How do you outlast a 5-set match? How much spin do you employ?

So every time, you are moving decisions that you had to carefully consider to a part of your brain where the decisions happen automatically. This allows you to focus on more important decisions ignoring items of less priority. This is similar to voluntary and involuntary muscles. The involuntary muscles take care of body processes like respiration, digestion, etc. without your involvement. The voluntary muscles give you the flexibility and freedom where you need it.

Finally, we have external memory which is outside our body. This primarily means knowledge in the form of paper in books, bits on electronic media, etc. where you can easily access them without having to remember. You can record both information as well as logic. By the latter, I mean, we can record how decisions are made, what processes should be followed, etc. At the same time, we are not bound to the external documentation, we still continue to have the freedom to innovate and make new rules.

Now, you are thinking, "This is all very nice, but remind me again why I am reading this." Well, the point of this article is to ask ourselves how can we take teh greatest advantage of the different forms of memory. Here are some ideas:

1. Leverage external memory as much as possible so that you can focus less on trying to remember things and more on analyzing and making decisions. Don't try to remember anything you don't have to remember. Instead, note down where you can get to that information if you ever need it.
   
2. Keep your personal external memory as compact as possible so that recall can be faster. If you have tons of ideas written down, it is difficult to find any idea again. Instead keep only the most important points. Nowadays, Google and Wikipedia are better than the best notes you can keep. If you can find it on Google, throw away your personal notes.
   
3. If knowledge of the important aspects of your job are in your internal long-term memory, you will be really efficient at your job. And you can get around any challenges in your job by knowing where and how to locate the external memory that contains the information. For example, knowing the right query to type into Google.
   
4. Short-term memory is not that useful in real life, because you have access to huge amounts of external memory. Unfortunately, the teaching profession doesn't really understand this properly. They keep insisting on making you remember stuff that you could look up. If you are a student, this means that you still need to work on trying to remember things that you probably don't like just so you can obtain results necessary outside your school life.
   
5. To be an expert, you absolutely need to work on building long-term memory in the subject. The way to do this is "continuous practice". If it is theory, read as much as you can. If it is something practical, keep doing it until you can do it in your sleep.

Technorati tags: personal learning, memory, remembering, using Google

Some Thoughts on Reading

Having spent much of the long weekend sick at home reading, here are some of my random thoughts about reading in general and books in particular:

1. It is impossible to read all books. This is so plainly obvious, but difficult to follow especially when you see a new book with a great design on a glossy cover. To avoid wasting time on rubbish books, use lists of great or bestselling books compiled by good sources. Some examples: Recommended Reading by Jeff Atwood of Coding Horror, Book Reviews by Joel Spolsky of Joel on Software, Personal MBA books by Josh Kaufman, etc. Use Amazon reviews to see if a book is worth reading. I have also created quick 1-minute reviews of books I read on business management and technology.
   
   
2. Reading a book at one stretch is a joy to treasure, but such opportunities come rarely. Learn to read books like articles, i.e., chapter by chapter. This way, you can break off, do something else, come back and continue with the book. If chapters in the book are too large, read section by section.
   
   
3. The greatest respect you can give to a book is to ruin it by constant use. A book that is clean with straight pages is useless because its knowledge is locked inside. If you own the book, dog-ear important pages. Use a marker or tape to highlight good sections. Let it get crumpled or rain-drenched because you keep carrying it around. If you are done with the book, give it away to your local library or to a friend who will value the knowledge.
   
   
4. Talking of dog ears, I dog-ear the bottom corner of a page to note important sections while the top corner only has one dog-ear to keep track of the last page I read. Bookmarks would have been better, but they keep falling out and I keep losing them. But I digress.
   
   
5. Don't make notes from the book unless you plan to use them very soon, send them to someone or use them as a reference for another book. If that is not the case, those notes will become shelf-ware, never to be seen again. Why waste the time? Read the book, enjoy and remember what you can. Besides, if the book is really good, you can always find another copy in the local bookstore or the library.
   
   
6. Read multiple books at the same time. Huh? Well, not exactly simultaneously. But keep different books at different spots in your home. When you are in that spot, read a few pages. It is amazing how many books you can get through by this technique.
   
   
7. Books can be fun. Books can be informative. Great books are both - they provide knowledge and you really enjoying reading them. However, if you are reading to gain knowledge, don't assume all reading is fun. Sometimes, there are a few boring tomes on a subject, including the authoritative ones, and you have to be ready to wade through them to understand the information.
   
   
8. Many great books are freely available on the Internet. No, not pirate downloading sites, but sites like Gutenberg and Librivox. And of course, some of the most superb writing in recent years is not available in a book, only on websites and blogs. Examples: Steve Yegge and Paul Graham.
   
   
9. The more I read, the more I realize how little I know. Reading great writers is a humbling experience. It also makes you thirsty for more great writing. Unfortunately, there is only so much time. If you have children, the greatest gift you can give them is to make them interested in reading at an early age. That way, they have a lifetime of book reading to savor.

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