This is how it works:

Do task A (about 1-2 hours). When you feel the thing just got really interesting and there could be still something there, stop, take a break and do something else.

During this time your mind will be processing task A and the next time you are on it you’ll have things handed to you like on a plate, a lovely dessert.

When that dessert tastes its best, stop eating it and leave it there (the leftovers are supposed to be left for the creativity elves).

On the case is kind of a mental model inspired from police and private detective novels. I have also had past customers in the field of security that share this mental model (very zen-like attitude to business, decisions and getting things done). It cannot get any simpler than this.

From all the people I’ve met, dealt with, or followed, the ones who seem to be the most successful are able to detach from the actual product or project that they are undertaking and go to a higher level.

It is as if there actually was a metaphorical ball rolling and when it comes to that ball, a finer level of insight or abstract thinking overtakes practical or procedural thinking.

For decision makers, the ability to detach and attach is natural because they are on it every day. Obvious, as a term, could be considered here.

Decisions like these are not based on procedural logic (if he then… if she then… but if I and he and them and she then…). Procedural logic is the kind that keeps you awake at night. Rather, they are based on a picture where each module is a tile of sub-picture that when stacked together form a mosaic.

It’s looking at this mosaic we make the bigger decisions and this allows us to operate naturally in a seemingly chaotic environment.

(If someone does make these bigger decisions procedurally and succeeds, well then he’s just a thought monster.)

To quote “Joshua”, the supercomputer from War Games:

“Strange game. The only way to win is not to play.” -Joshua

Speaking of supercomputers on Sunday the 5th there’s a super full moon.

…until there’s action.

There are practically three ways to react to any argument:

For example, when someone comes up to you and says:”You’re wrong.” You can:

1) Counter-argue the opponent’s logic (with all possible tools that you have).

2) Superiority: I don’t even need to react because I know I’m right. Anyway, that person is meaningless.

3) Inquiry: What is it that makes that person say these things? What are the true motivations behind these words and feelings?

[Hint: 1 and 2 are especially common during the previous millennium.]

Scientists often worry about people creating their own unscientific models of reality. They worry about demons. For me that worry is a demon.

All things considered, it’s the best hypothesis that wins. If that proves to be a demon, hence it’s a demon. If it’s something else then it’s something else. We can give it a name, our view of the world gets expanded once again and we move on.

So why worry about demons? Replace controlling demons with the joy of discovery and see where it takes you.

A tip I once received for passing written exams published in Upmarket magazine.

Talented or gifted people stand apart from the crowd in that as the gift is received, they don’t throw their gift away.

Instead, they hold it, polish it, cherish it, come back to it.

About a decade ago recycling and the notion of separating your garbage was fully adopted in Scandinavian countries. However, there were inconsistencies in the recycling chain.

For example, people found out that biological waste, or biowaste, was actually combined with the rest of the garbage at the recycling station and not used for composting new soil, for which it was supposed to be used. Therefore, it seemed like not worth the effort to separate biowaste, even if the bin was there.

However, getting people to separate their biowaste is only one part of the process and equally as important as the processing part at the recycling station. The processing part was to be resolved at some point.

Therefore, healthy optimism: Why stop if you are already doing the right thing? Even if everything isn’t fully implemented and working?

There is a certain strength in letting go and devoting all your time into a practice. What you do is what you become. There is a continuation in what you do. Due to this continuation you gradually become a master in what you do. It starts with a decision after which everything becomes more or less automatic. To grow is to grow like a tree and to devote oneself means that you commit all your past experience and knowledge while forging it into something new.

To produce is to produce.

When you produce,

nothing is missing,

there is nothing to take away,

nothing to add,

nothing else but,

to produce.

A conversation, almost an argument, took place between a lead singer and his band.

Members of the band were concerned about new songs that the singer wanted to play the very night. Show time was in a few hours, the house was full, and nobody had ever played these songs before.

“The thing is that we haven’t rehearsed.”

Known for his wild ideas, the singer replied:“Not a problem. We will rehearse during the gig."

95% of the way and people start relaxing and planning other endeavors.

You see it in sports: the cyclist, runner or cross country skier lifts her hands in victory before crossing the finish line. It also happened to an around the world motorist, who wrecked his bike against a light pole at the harbor, just before embarking on a ferry that would take him to his final destination.

I’m about half way reading Jack London’s Seawolf in iBooks. It’s the first “real book” I’m reading on the iPad. The last time I have read The Seawolf was probably twenty years ago. I hadn’t read fiction in a long time, so I thought I’d reward myself an afternoon of reading.

At first, I had problems concentrating. I’m so used to browsing the web and sending email on the iPad that I had a hard time not switching away from the book (I bet interactive books might help in this regard). Then I realized how much time you usually waste on the Internet and kept reading.

Gradually, I got completely immersed in the book and read a good number of chapters non-stop. I even got up to tell people in the living room, those infidels who watch television, how great the book was. Usually, I would do that by holding the book in my hand. However, here I was holding the iPad up high. (And now I’m announcing it here!)

I’m probably going to re-read London first and then see where to go from there.

What if Wolf Larsen would have had access to iBooks?

Musicians don’t stop in the middle of a concert to wait for applause. They sense if things are going well or if things are rotting away, but they don’t stop.

Failure or success (or something in between), you can’t stop on stage.

Feedback has a way of finding you in any case.

The mind is limited. You seem to get passionate about one thing and then pursue that. The mind fills up with everything about it.

When a venture, project or production is coming to its end something happens. A new cycle begins. What is the best way to proceed at this point? To take care and finish what you began, of course. Loose ends always take time.

What about the new things that are coming? What is the best way to start something new?

The turning point of a cycle seems to be an important time when one must keep the mind open and not rush, but with determination walk in one direction while keeping all options open in every direction.

Anyway, just keep the production line running.

One problem with ideas and visions is that there are too many of them.

The other, more severe problem, might be in the difficulty of transforming the vision into concrete tasks.

In a workshop, do engine mechanics work on one car at a time? I know that in a laundromat the idea is to maximize the rate of laundry that comes in and goes out.

Is design a combination of a workshop and a laundromat? Not entirely. Maybe it is time to do things in a different way.

I recall reading about customer contracts and cycles when studying digital economy in the 90s.

The general rule was to spread out customer contract termination dates to make it harder for competition to attract and get back customers, so that when their contracts terminate your offer, for the moment, is still the best one.

The logic behind this is that if you let customer contracts terminate all at the same time, you run the risk of losing them should a competitor create a better offer at that time.

The rule seems as valid as ever. Getting into the game is, of course, the first step.

In team work, we have people with specialized skills. I’m convinced that for a team to be successful everyone should understand, up to a point, where the other team members excel. The bridge on Star Trek is a good example.

In real life, a programmer might know some graphic design (everyone can draw recognizable figures) but understanding that after a certain point the graphics just won’t have what it takes, and this is when the graphic designer should take over.

Same thing with programmer-programmer relations: a system level programmer should respect the application level programmer and vice versa. Someone once said that software is simple but engineer relations are complex, which is true today. Nevertheless, teamwork is essential in larger software projects.

Writers, people who think in black and white, are good at pulling out frameworks out of a void. A playwright, for example, is able to create a structure, a story, that flourishes when it’s taken into production. Here too, there’s a point where the playwright could go out on the street and recite his lines and attract people. It could even become a hit. However, this too can only go up to a point whereas a theater group could take it more than a couple steps further (even imitate or put the playwright inside the play).

Same thing with PR and selling: A polymath could excel in all areas, create graphics, software, market it and sell it on a site. However, after this is done a step further would be to plug in people to key points so that they extend, cover, and take the show to places where it couldn’t have gone before.

Two ways to ruin it: 1) to not build it in the first place and 2) to not honor the expansion.

Creators learn while creating.

The absurdity of a package based learning system is the assumption that learning is actually separate from the real thing. Learn first, then do.

Creators learn while creating, that’s why they create.

Sure, go to school and get training, but understand that some people are like gun powder in some areas while others are like blocks of wood in other areas.

The teacher is the spark or the flame, inner or outer.

How much should one buffer one’s work/response/message before sending it out? For how much time should we let things sink in?

In a culture of instant responses and disposable information, quick answers and FYI links, it might even feel scary to think things over, save a draft and get back to it.

Colored drops in the pond, not bucketfuls.

Fall is coming gradually to Brazil. The air feels slightly cooler and fresher. A different kind of business sets in. I’m taking advantage of these days by going out in the morning.

I have been reading Leonardo da Vinci’s book called Thoughts on Art and Life (available for free in iBooks). What struck me most was how modern the things he writes sound:

==

Threats are the only weapons of the threatened man.

A natural action is accomplished in the briefest manner.

There is nothing which deceives us as much as our own judgement.

Avoid the precepts of those thinkers whose reasoning is not confirmed by experience.

It is better to imitate ancient than modern work.

Finally:

He who in reasoning cites authority is making use of his memory rather than of his intellect.

==

An amazing book that I’m able to get back to anywhere at any time.

Principles of Success:

1. Interest
2. Patience
3. Concentration
4. Practice
5. Devotion

Most of the time, being productive is only about not being unproductive.

A piece I wrote earlier for Upmarket magazine.

Water

I’ve written all kinds of methods for personal productivity that I’ve come up with, first, out of necessity, and second, with an actual motivation to really get better at my own craft, which is computer programming.

This morning, I took a dip in the Atlantic Ocean. The water was cold. As I dived in, I felt how the cold water affected the circulation of the entire body. Breathing changes and heart rate goes down.

My hands are slightly arthritic (from too much typing) and I feel how the cool water massages the joints and the nerves of my hands. Another part in me which gets stuck often from too much sitting is the pelvis, which in turn affects overall circulation. In the water the body stretches in a way that opens up, not only your pelvis, but also your belly. The entire body stretches in a way that’s natural, opening up the arteries. The neck and shoulder muscles relax, letting new blood flow and flush through your brain.

The mental effects of swimming are profound. The moment you dip your head in the water everything changes. The mind goes blank. Nobody worries about anything while swimming, it’s just not possible. Therefore, it’s a terrific way to start the day not only for computer programmers, but for writers and designers as well.

…and you’ll learn to listen.

About ten years ago, I started studying Spanish. I was a very stubborn student and never brilliant in anything at school. However, for some reason I became a sponge for Spanish grammar and vocabulary. With a fair amount of effort, I managed to get the best grades and eventually became the guy who everyone turned to for asking for help. Explaining grammar and words to other students increased my own understanding of the language and the whole thing became a sort of positive feedback loop.

While I was good in writing, I didn’t manage to grasp the speaking and listening part. I did a lot of internet text chat and listened to the radio, and visited Spain every year, but for some reason I still didn’t manage to understand radio and television shows and really talk and interact with people.

One day, a Spanish friend wanted me to teach him to play the piano. I accepted, but only on one condition: it had to be all in Spanish.

I have no idea how foolish I sounded in the beginning, however, gradually all that reading and grammar finally started to flow off my tongue.

After a few days, I returned to work and turned on Spanish radio like always. To my surprise, I suddenly understood what they were saying. It was a traffic report of Madrid explaining which roads were jammed, where there had been accidents, and which roads were closed for construction. Amazing!

In order to learn how to listen, I first had to learn how to speak.

…more actions.

Often, we come up with a great idea and want to share it immediately with someone.

I think most of us can be forgiven, because we honestly like the idea and would really like it to happen. However, at the same time we’re afraid that the idea might be forgotten (in the sea of all those other ideas) and perhaps if I send this person a message about it, something will happen and it won’t be forgotten.

How much control do we actually have? Computers, notebooks, mail archives and palm leaves are good for storing information, but it tends to stockpile^*.

Luckily, good ideas have a tendency to come back to you.

Don’t wear it out!

---

^*not to mention walls and timelines on social networks.

Humans are incredibly sensitive beings.

It occurred to me earlier at the gym, when people are on the exercise machines, that you can determine just about how long they have been working out.

You watch for a certain tone or fluidity in the movement, and find out instantly if someone is a regular or just starting out, or restarting again.

It’s not only the exercise but also the way people walk in. Does the person know already, for example, that this is the ski machine? How are you supposed to exercise on this particular thing? You see it by the way people move and look around.

If someone has been working out elsewhere you see it too. They adapt quickly to the new environment, ask around and do their own thing. The trainer doesn’t even have to exercise.

I don’t think the phenomenon is cultural at all -- and not limited to the gym. Our insight can adapt and see these patterns elsewhere.

If someone is trying too hard you see it too, but not necessarily if you’re the one.

A big ship with its tremendous size, hull, engines and cargo operates by spending enormous amounts of energy.

Yet the fine instruments, the steering mechanics, the crew and eventually the captain’s mind, where eventually the process of directing takes place, and where the decisions are made, spends a fraction of the overall energy.

A fine adjustment makes the ship go faster. Another fine adjustment makes the ship turn. Some energy is needed to keep the ship on its course.

Can you control the mind?

Up to a point, you can probably control someone else’s mind, but what about your own?

“I will get up in the morning.” “I will go and take care of those permits and papers.” “I will learn that method.”

Drudgery. Have you created a framework in which you’ve enslaved yourself? Or, is the current situation a compromise, something you are waiting to pass? Are you waiting for light to appear at the other end of the tunnel?

Could there be another way?

I have been studying Mushashi for more than ten years. Here’s what he writes about crossing a river (my own translation / adaptation):

Crossing a river pass

Crossing a river pass means, for example, crossing a bay or crossing a lake that spans over a hundred miles. I believe that “crossing over” happens many times during a lifetime. It means setting sail, even if your friends are left behind at harbor. You know the way, you know the draft of your ship’s hull and the favorable day to set sail.

When all conditions are fulfilled and even a favorable wind, or tailwind, then set sail. If the wind turns when you are only a few miles from your destination, then you have to row without the help of your sail.

If you achieve the spirit of crossing a river pass, you can apply it in your daily life. Always, think about crossing a river pass.

Tomorrow occurs the second full moon of this year. During this time I’m taking a complete break from the internet, RSS and the computer in general for three days.

Personally, I have been burning the candle at both ends, letting days stretch at times up to 14 hours. When you are in really good shape, it is possible to keep this up for lengths of time, and I love making long stretches. However, at some point (especially after 35) you just start falling apart and productivity goes down.

As self-employed you basically create your own schedule. When I started out, I didn’t care about which day of the week it was or what time of day it was. At times, I would start work at midnight and sleep during the day. Then, I started taking weekends off. After that, the daily schedule gradually shifted back to something resembling nine-to-five. The funny thing is that today I rarely set an alarm because I get up automatically in the morning.

Today will be just like any working day (before a small vacation).

After three days, if all goes well, I’ll be back with a clear mind.

Startups: Be the Polymath, But Keep It to Yourself by yours truly.

(via Upmarket)

Below, I have scanned the first page of the Helsinki University Almanac of 2012 (a leap year, btw).

The page gives a nice overview of the whole year. “Vuosi” means year in Finnish. There are also the month names, the abbreviations of the days of the week in our mother-tongue and some important national dates on the bottom.

I’m interested in the occurrences of full moons (the white circles). The last time a full moon occurred was on January 9, which was when I was at the Sao Paolo iOS 5 Tech Talks. I took a three day pause then from blogging, the internet and the computer in general. I’ve decided to continue the tradition.

Today is February 1st and the next full moon will occur in six days.

I’m currently in the process of refactoring and rearranging a multimedia game application. The project consists of about 8000 lines of code and 20 MB of graphics and audio files. While the modifications are routine (I just want to upgrade to the latest APIs, optimize and clean up), there’s a lot of potato peeling involved, moving and modifying, even erasing, large chunks of code so that they fit in with the rest of the program and the new technologies.

Because no one right solution exists, you run into situation where you have to make a design decision. Here’s a couple of strategies that went through my mind:

1) Don’t be afraid to transcend. Modifying your creation involves taking a solid part of it, which has been working OK until now, and breaking it apart so that nothing actually works anymore. During the time you’re fixing it, you’re in a state of change (moving through four dimensional space). Let it flow.

2) Trust the parts that work already. Change the parts you have to change. Don’t touch anything else.

3) Think like a car mechanic. Think like a surgeon. Think like an architect. Think like a construction worker. Think like a tailor. Think like a truck driver.

4) Think on paper (buy a ruler). When facing a choice of multiple design decisions make a list of them, their good points and bad points. You’ll understand them much better and probably why one choice is actually the best one (for now).

5) This is for multimedia application programmers: Think like a cook.

I have absolutely nothing to write about!

Maybe it is a signal that there is not a lot of noise going on in the mind, so hopefully this will be a productive day.

OK, one thing: Earlier, I got a message from a friend stating that he wouldn’t be able to maintain a blog, updating it every morning. He said that he just wouldn’t have enough self-control or restraint to pull it off. Why not? People use twitter every day but it is not considered remarkable. A blog, for me, is nothing but a slightly bigger tweet. You just have to take a little more time to formulate your message, nothing else. As some people can’t stop tweeting, I cannot stop blogging.

What’s better than becoming addicted to good things?

Here is a quick story of two pictures. It might help someone think about planning their focus, let us say, for three years.

SoftCubicle 2009 (known then as Tmi Parabits):


SoftCubicle 2012:

Today I revised my setup. Just about a year ago I had serious computer trouble when my iMac 24” burned out in the middle of a hectic project rumba. I panicked and bought a used Macbook so that I could continue working while the iMac was getting repaired. Eventually I hear that everything was burnt out (the motherboard and graphics card) and that the repair would cost more than a new computer.

I didn’t know what to do so I stuck with the Macbook, which was kind of sluggish and unproductive. However, this weekend I refreshed my setup and bought a Mac Mini (my fifth Macintosh). Along with it I bought an HP Compaq monitor (to get the Steve Wosniak vibes). I already had a mouse and a keyboard that came with the iMac so nothing else was needed. I hope this setup will get street credibility.



Also, we got new teeth! grrr!

... if a percentage of the sites on the Internet went dark?

No, there would not be chaos.

Creating confidence, not only in your customers and colleagues, but also in people you talk to or inspire, is an ability worth millions.

Confidence does not come alone with skills. You can have great skills but poor confidence. You can also have great confidence but poor skills. Both choices are bad.

Confidence can be created by bringing a meaning to someone’s struggle. “You’ve banged your head against the wall for two years. Look, it has been worth it. Now, open this door and continue to the next room, enjoy your journey while you are at it.”

Or, it can be done by telling someone what not to do. “Look, that is so old and done with, just learn these methods. I don’t want to see or hear about the old ones ever again.”

Confidence can be created by confirmation. “You are on the right path. Yes, more things are coming.”

Or, by example, where there is someone the other can look up to and come back to for inspiration.

Physical activities also create confidence. Just doing stuff with your hands or running, or swimming, or anything else. Great health results in confidence.

False confidence can result in following a false metric, or model, blindly without self-criticism. True confidence on the other hand is something natural, that is, we can feed it, water it and let it flourish.

I’m back on the internet. Three days have gone by without any browsing, email or RSS. I took two six hour bus rides, met a couple of old friends, made new friends, and managed to rest my eyes and my thoughts. There probably are a couple of dozen emails waiting, a lot of interesting blog posts and news, however, I won’t look at them until 12 PM – I’m dedicating the morning for creative work.

I recommend the three day pause once in a while, even once a month.

1) Easy

A 2-4 hour day. You might get one thing done and even do it well. When it’s finished you wrap up quickly and go on doing something else. Some artists report that this is the perfect stride for them.

2) Medium

4-6 hours. You spend some time on one thing, then have lunch and continue or switch to something else. This is the most typical stride for people working in companies.

3) Strenuous

6-9 hours. You have 3-4 things or a list of things to do. More things are pouring in. This could be seen as a typical working stride of a modern executive.

4) Ultra

9-14 hours. This is the working stride of the entrepreneur. You have a plan in place and the only thing to do is to execute the plan. To endure this you have to be passionate about what you do. Also, you need to take care of your health. Regular exercise, light food that gives energy, meditation, breathing exercises and lazy sundays are recommended.

0) Do nothing and 5) Promise more than you are able to do have the same result.

Yesterday, I wrote about the tool as an amplifier. I also wrote about hunters that hunt pray on foot, basically by out-jogging the animals over the course of a few days. I saw this in a documentary and while I don’t remember the factual data (which african tribe it was, etc.) I remember a couple of interesting things that relate to sensitivity in design and productivity.

First, the hunters painted their faces. To find the pray the hunters painted their faces according to the animal they were after. Each pray (antelope, zebra, etc.) meant a certain face paint. This way, the hunters said that they were able to sense the animal better, its whereabouts and movements. Once the pray was spotted the chase began.

The hunters were bear-footed. The running went on during the day well into the evening until it was too dark to continue. The strategy behind this, I understood, was that during they day the animals normally rest and feed. But as they were being chased, they would have to flee during the day and rest during the night (which is usually when they are awake). Also, there were about five hunters. The group was small.

Not a lot of days of chasing; after about three days of chasing, the pray became so tired that it gave up and tried to hide. As one of the hunters spotted the animal in a bush, he got into close range and shot a spear. After the animal collapsed the hunter expressed compassion and respect to the pray, pet the animal, spoke to it and did away with it quickly. (This connects with how nomad hunters killed a Bear and went through a ritual of several days in an apology to the Bear’s spirit.)

I think there is something to learn here about sensitivity. We have all these powerful tools. We could set things up today to kill pray on the press of a button (we have actually done that, but that’s another story), but then we kill all of the sensitivity that’s actually part of us, because we are a part of nature. In the process we end up killing a part of ourselves. I think here exists a challenge to bring back and rediscover things regarding sensitivity in both design and in productivity.

Use the tool and amplify but don’t kill the story.

Steve Jobs talked about the bicycle and how it makes man one of the most energy efficient travelers on this earth.

Without the bicycle, man didn’t score too well when compared with creatures of the wild kingdom. However, I’ve seen documentaries and read about nomads that had to stop to rest because their domesticated animals couldn’t keep up with them on foot. I’ve also seen documentaries about hunters that hunt pray by chasing them for so long (I recall it was a few days of jogging) that the animal just gives up. So actually, our body’s abilities and skills can match and even supersede most animals (wild or domesticated) in certain areas.

This morning, I’m thinking about tools and how they increase our efficiency. There is another side of the equation, though. While tools increase our efficiency and act as a lever, they can also cripple us. Anyone that has done a lot of arithmetic and used an analog calculator knows that the digital age has crippled some of the techniques that underly calculating things in your mind.

I think the same thing has happened recently in a lot of areas like programming, design, audio and video production, even game production. Do we use the tools to increase our efficiency in creating great things or do they represent a short cut that actually cripples the creator and the creation?

Whether you used a digital or analog calculator the mathematics are the same underneath. I think there is an analogy to this in almost any field that has gone digital in the recent decades.

If you don’t walk, the muscles of your feet will cripple. The more you push your responsibility as a creator into the creation tools instead of using them as an amplifier, the more will your creativity cripple.

Who do you report to?

Change that to who do you muse to?

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Muse : to become absorbed in thought; especially : to turn something over in the mind meditatively and often inconclusively

Sometimes, the mind gets blocked with creative people. Often, you have a composer, painter, writer, even a designer or developer that doesn’t want anyone to see her work “until it is at a mature stage”.

You were told in school not to think out loud. You were supposed to process a given problem from start to end silently in your mind with the help of tools like pen and paper, a computer or a calculator.

“Don’t talk.” “Turn around.”

However, today we have people sharing their daily activities several times a day. Up to the point that it’s so beaten to the pulp that it’s not information anymore. It becomes noise.

Maybe, just maybe, there exists a golden middle way.

Nothing like a fresh coat of white on the wall for tackling next year’s endeavors.

Did you ever have a problem in your mind that you couldn’t solve? Then when coming back to it the next day your thoughts were arranged differently and the solution appeared.

“yeah, yeah, and that, and of course, then I can do that and then I’m done.”

Thoughts, images, concepts just come in a manner of seconds. The day before it was like boiling a rock. Nothing advanced.

I’ve had this happen so many times since school and it’s still happening that I’m convinced there’s some sort of a background task that rearranges how things are connected in the mind.

Maybe, it is similar to garbage collection or automatic retain count – once you don’t need something anymore it’s zapped away. Or maybe it’s a daemon that zaps useless thoughts that can’t justify themselves. It could also be that one thought is dominating the others so much that some sort of a “democracy” decides to shut it down.

Or maybe it’s a simulation of all possible outcomes for the next day and the best ones are selected and loaded up for fast access.

Whatever it is it seems to take out the clutter parts (infinite loops perhaps, or any scripts that had been running for too long).

Anyway, good riddance!

My grandfather was from Karelia, the most eastern part of Finland which we lost in the war against the Soviet Union. He was a skilled craftsman in wood and metal. He knew how to build instruments, like violins, mandolins and guitars. My aunt who lives in Germany tells me that the living room was always full of my grandfather’s pending projects and there were splinters of wood everywhere.

He also knew how to fix machines, cars and motorcycles. I heard of a story of a man getting crushed in his workshop. A pickup truck (probably those heavier kind of the 1920’s) fell down on someone and crushed his chest.

My father and my uncles are all skilled in building things, even though their professions range in completely different areas. Still, the craftsman tradition continues.

The craftsman’s method of learning is the following:

You learn by watching patiently what the person, who is more skilled than you, is doing. Eventually, you start to get it (by questioning, mimicking, guidance, trial and error). Then, you are able to replicate some of what the more skilled person has created. Then (and only then) you are equipped to apply what you learned by creating a craft or method of your own. Passing on the tradition benefits both the teacher and the learner.

In my experience, the spirit of this tradition is best captured in a painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela called Ensiopetus or The First Lesson. If you ever visit Helsinki, the painting will probably be on display at the Ateneum museum.

When I started out as self-employed in 2005, I registered myself on every possible forum and social network that I could think of. I thought I would gain a lot of contacts and thus win projects, get customers and possibly land a big contract. I also had my website and did some blogging but I wasn’t putting much effort into it. I was spending time on social networks like LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook.

Today, I regret I didn’t focus 100% on the site from the beginning. To me, it seems, that for some reason the social networks still embrace the old corporate model – what I wanted to avoid by becoming self-employed in the first place. Meanwhile, active blogging has gained more readers than I could have ever gained on all social networks combined.

Currently, I have my LinkedIn account and Facebook account offline. I do have a Google+ account where I follow some interesting people and I post something there once or twice a week. I was also very active on Twitter about two years ago, but then again the noise just overwhelmed me, so today I’m posting stuff there only in the form of an RSS feed. (I do get notifications sometimes when I’m mentioned which I use to direct some of the topics on the blog accordingly.) Also, if you follow me and I dig you, I’ll follow you too.

About contacting: Don’t invite me to LinkedIn or anything else, my email is on the bottom of every page of the site if you have something on your mind. You can also send a proposal through Elance.

This is a craftsman’s shop – the door is open and anyone can enter. The list of services is here.

Thanks.

Long term planning is for setting your long term goals. What do you want to be doing in two, three or four years? This is what the long term plan will tell you when you have forgotten about it. It is like a second brain, an auxiliary memory storage.

People might avoid long term planning if they are not ready for the freedom that it implies. It is like the case of the classical musician that can’t play Jazz – with only the thought of being able (and allowed) to play whatever that comes to her mind, she becomes paralyzed.

Maybe you want to make a record album. Or, if you’re a scientist you might want your research to go in a certain direction. Or maybe you want to make a significant advance in your design or programming skills. Or maybe you want to become a horse trainer. Whatever it is there is a “gut feeling” about it.

Once long term goals are written down, your future will gradually steer in that direction. You can make decisions based on your long term plans. You can tell someone:”Oh yeah, thanks for the offer. It’s interesting but my focus is elsewhere.”

Ancient sailors and merchants managed to get where they were going with very crude and simple instruments. Voyages like these are full of surprises. That’s why they are fun.

I loved this tip. Just what I needed.

(via Time Management Ninja)

Do what you're interested in. Write what you're interested in. Talk about it. Ignore other things.

As writing, talking or communicating is becoming ever more important to market your thing, you are going to have a hard time persuading anyone to get interested in what you do if you are not passionate about it. This is also why you need to focus.

I get contacted frequently by companies that try to sell a web page / online image package. The sales speech goes like this (more or less): “Get your online image up to date once and for all.” And the marketing mail is full of eye candy.

“Once and for all?” I’m planting my roots here. How could I use their services? I don’t need a ready made package. How will your ready made package grow with me and with time? Sorry, but I’m taking care of this garden myself.

When you are in a foreign land and talk to people there is a slight difference between when you talk to other foreigners like yourself (immigrants), and when you talk to native speakers.

I find it easier to have a conversation with immigrants because the communication is error tolerant. This is because both parties have gone through the pain of learning the new language. Unlike a child who learns unconsciously, an adult or a teenager has to deal with the failure part of the learning. You say something wrong, use a wrong word or just don’t remember the word or phrase - maybe next time you’ll do better.

Sometimes, native speakers do not see how high and established their level of communication actually is. They are used to the speed, dynamics and effectiveness of established communication.

When two foreigners meet in a foreign land they both take a step back and allow the miscommunication to happen while still maintaining some sort of a consensus during the conversation.

Comparing Europe and America I would say America has a more error tolerant tradition of communication.

Something I grabbed over from gautama.info. I will just re-paste it here (I’m supposed to be writing an article but I got terrible writer’s block at the moment.)

TOOLKIT FOR A FLOWING COMMUNITY of adults and children

We are who we are from wherever we are and no one knows us fully, not even ourselves. We know others, our children, colleagues, friends little. Thus when we speak or listen we are unlikely to fully communicate or fully understand. The only thing that is certain is that we understand partially. Thus incomplete and inaccurate understanding will be the rule. Can we give each other permission to understand what we say in ways different from what we may want or prefer. Can we say to ourselves and others:

1. Speak and you will be incompletely or wrongly understood, but please speak nevertheless.

2. When you find yourself reacting to me, please state your feeling since I may not understand. Also please tell me not to do anything about it.

3. Whenever something is told to you or asked of you, you can and must seek clarification about the intentions of the speaker.

For example:

1. What do you want me to do with what you have told me?

2. Are you telling me something so you want me to do something about it? Why do you think I should do something and not somebody else?

3. Do you want my view, a decision, discussion, just listening?

4. Easy agreement is dangerous.

If you find us agreeing too easily please do not hesitate to ask, for example,

1. Why are we agreeing on this point?

2. What do you see as the limitations of this idea, proposal?

3. Are there alternatives we should be considering, which we may have overlooked?

4. Are there hidden assumptions in our conclusion, decision?

G.Gautama, 2002

When you start working in the morning and ask yourself:”Where was I?”. Does your mind fill up with things and you go:”oh yeah that was where I left off” - and you go ahead and start?

If true then you have managed to set your agenda in the right manner.

I believe the true key to productivity is in enthusiasm. However, if your enthusiasm wears out, and eventually gets replaced by boredom, you’re in trouble. Therefore, there has to be that moment every day when you let go and leave things for later. Whether things are going really well or you’re stuck and cannot proceed a break is needed. Small breaks are ok. However, here I’m talking about bigger breaks like dropping everything, maybe writing a quick plan for tomorrow and continuing the next day.

So where was I? If everyone on the team asked that question in the morning and already knew the answer not only personal but team productivity would flourish.

In Brazil I have seen teams having a morning meeting which seems to be a custom. What if there was a way to move that meeting to 12:00? Would that make a difference?

Concentration is when we try to focus and keep just one thing on our mind. When I concentrate I run the risk of getting distracted.

Attention is exactly the opposite. Rather than trying to focus on anything specific I welcome everything and anything to accompany what I’m doing.

I have lots of things around me, my desk, my chair, computer, books, papers, a poster on the wall. Then I have more abstract things like deadlines, tasks for today and what I’m doing at the moment. I hear sounds coming from inside the house and outside on the street.

My fingers are typing as I’m aware of everything around me. Work has become meditative as I let everything flow through my awareness. The mind feels at rest although it’s working on something. It seems that I don’t need to focus on anything but still I get this blog post done. I don’t need to force my mind. What I’m doing is just part of the whole.

I wrote earlier about the dessert principle.

The dessert principle is based on the question: When is the best time to stop eating your dessert?

Let’s say we’re eating a big donut (I could also call it the snack principle). When is the best time to stop eating the big donut? If we take one bite and leave it there our taste buds will not be turned on yet and we cannot get the full benefits of the donut. On the other hand if we munch a bag of donuts we will just get sick of them sooner or later.

When is the best time to stop eating a donut? It is when it tastes the best. Then you will want to come back for more. Note: companies that sell snacks probably know this when they regulate the size of the snacks.

Therefore, when you are working on many things at once and have to switch at times. One shot is the schedule things according to the donut principle. For example, if you are a programmer you get those moments of accomplishment where you just got something running that is pretty significant and ingenious. Stop right there! Drop it and do the other things you have to do. Continue the next morning.

Or if you are a designer painting 100 graphical illustrations, stop when you get a couple of really good ones.

If you continue like this it is likely that you make yourself become addicted to your project. You will start off right where you were + your mind has already been working on it on the background. It is not going to be just a start it is going to be a jumpstart!

Finally, we know that donuts are not healthy. My donuts are a metaphor – I rarely eat them in real life. Addiction is also thought of as a negative thing. However, what’s better than becoming addicted to good things?

While people need a framework to execute their plans they also need a way to focus.

When we are resting we can let the mind flow freely but when we are working we need to concentrate.

For example: A designer needs to paint 100 graphical illustrations or a programmer needs to create an application. You get an idea and you want to make it a reality. While the work is fun it can get mechanical at times and you lose focus.

What is concentration? Concentration is blocking out all other thoughts than the one you’re supposed to be thinking about.

In the center there is the main thing which is what you’re supposed to be doing or focusing on. Then you have all these other things circling your mind that try to invade the center spot.

Is this how it works? What can we do about it?

Execution is 95%

Whether you “have it” or not, whether you’re talented or not is only worth 5% or less.

Neurologists have found out that IQ can change over time in teenagers. It is fairly safe to assume this also happens in adults so that 5% might change. Eastern philosophy tells us that your mind is like a cloth that becomes the color you choose to dip it in. In my book, all this is called training and practice.

Whatever medication you took or didn’t take, whichever training you underwent, that 5% is your special talent which is always there working on the background. We are over that now.

What about the 95%?

What do you do when you’re in the middle of creating something and the next idea, correction: the next dozen ideas already haunt you?

Ideas are not only cheap but distracting.

We like to think creativity is boundless. But sometimes working with restrictions makes it better. When you have a target to shoot for you are free to improvise within those limits, say getting from point A to point B. But then again, you can start from the end, go back to the beginning and then work on the middle part. Maybe even better than starting at the middle.

“One of the things that went right was that we could trust in everyone's ability and intent” says Jim Guthrie. Through it all, there was a solid foundation of trust that kept everything on an even keel. We knew Jim would be able to find the right song or sound for any occasion, we knew Superbrothers would eventually find the art or narrative concept, and we knew that the Capy team had their hearts in the right place and that they’d figure out how to move us forward to get us across the finish line. Even through the darker, more uncertain times on this project, this basic trust remained intact.

This high degree of trust allowed for an improvisatory, highly iterative design process between collaborators: Jim’s song might inspire a scene from Superbrothers, which might inspire a design idea from Capy, which would influence Jim’s song and suggest new ideas for everyone. Even the strangest of suggestions—a naked dancing bear, unknowable cosmic geometry, a landscape inspired by Al Jaffe Mad fold-ins— would eventually come together with the right art, sound, and design ideas. This trusting, respectful relationship allowed each collaborator a high degree of authorship. People were able to more or less “own” aspects of the project, giving it a personal, handcrafted feeling.

[...]

In a strange twist of fate, Capy programmer Jon Maur had worked with Craig almost 10 years prior, and this coincidence (or fate) added to the trust on the project. Through Jon and Craig’s
shared history came the immediate mutual understanding between creative and technical that usually takes significant time to build.
As Kris Piotrowski says, “Everyone on the team brought a different skill and a different sensibility to the project, and the end result feels mildly schizophrenic in every regard, but beautifully so.” *

*(from the post mortem of S:S&S EP, Game Developer Magazine Volume 18 Number 08)

Often, you see people rushing in to the latest big thing in the hope to be the first, basically to exploit the system. For a few it works but for many it is a disappointment. Then there’s the next big thing and the same thing happens. Look at the broken web today and you’ll see a prime example.

Is it possible to take a look at new media as something useful or helpful and use it for what you’re already doing? To make it your own? Becoming a part of it?

I’m interested in people who take the time and effort to look at the latest thing or trend with depth and I follow some good RSS feeds that do that. I don’t have a lot of time to do my own research outside my own limited focus area so I’m glad there are people who make these other areas easily accessible.

Then there’s a lot of useless info around and I’ve actually taken into my agenda to avoid some sites, that only seem to post irrational and negative things. You can actually get hooked up on some of these until you get to that point when find yourself posting negative things about light bulbs (yes, I actually wrote once something along the lines that:“light bulbs suck”) ???

Anyway, I don’t want to spoil my Sunday thinking too much about this. I’ll probably be doing something personal as a preparation for things to come.

Imagine a three hour day.

That is how long you’re able to work on something ideally if you have nine hours and three things to do.

We have, 3+3+3=9 hours.

Nevertheless, in most cases the ideal doesn’t happen. We get interrupted, have meetings, take time to concentrate on the next thing, etc., so maybe we’re talking about something along the lines of 2.5+2.5+2.5=7.5 hours (with 2.5 hours lost in idle time*) or even less but let’s be optimistic.

In a week the idle time adds up 7 days*2.5 hours=17.5 hours.

In a month it adds up to 4 weeks*17.5 hours=70 hours.

And in a year it’s 12 months*70 hours=840 hours=35 days (more than a month) of twiddling your thumbs.

*(it can easily take from half an hour up to an hour to get a good flow of work going).

[For example, I spent six hours integrating audio into an application. I could have split that over two of three days but six hours is definitely something else than two days, which is how you remember that afterwards.]

Anyway, just get the work done.

“[...] The main thing that I can see about practicing—and it's also true about playing—is that the very basis of practicing, and knowing "when" and "how" and all of that, stems from first having an intention to advance, an intention to improve. An intention to take a certain challenge, or a certain piece of music or a certain phrase, or any particular thing that you think of, and then you have an idea that you would like to improve it, and you also have an idea of how it probably would sound, when it sounded right.

And this is another real important aspect—how you know when you've arrived, is that you have to trust your own judgment of what it should sound like. You can't just accept another's opinion about it. If a teacher is listening to you practice, and they say, "Oh yeah, that's right," when you play, you have to make sure you understand that that's someone else's opinion; it's not yours, unless you can also see that same thing.

So it's all about one's own understanding of what his own goal, or target, or object of accomplishment, is. You have that in mind, and then you just go for that. You apply yourself calmly, and create the time, and you just keep doing it, until you've got it.

That's the simple explanation of how to practice. I try to do that, and I get better at it, actually, as I get older. I learn more and more how to do that. And how to slow things down, sometimes, to the right speed, in order to understand every little part of it. You don't want to go too fast or too slow, but just at a tempo and pace that you can have success at, and really know that you're gaining on your goal.”

-- Chick

Rather than making a big splash a duck enters the water making almost unnoticeable waves.

When we are creating our profile and putting our work on display, participating in social networks or posting on forums we must ask ourselves a serious question: Why am I doing this? or: What is my motivation?

Consider the following before posting:

Do I post to gain attention?
Do I post to gain traffic?
Do I post seriously to show off my best work?
Do I post because I’m looking for work?
Do I post just to have something there?
Do I post because of a deeper plan involved?
Do I post to collaborate with people?
Do I post to have fun?
Do I just post something now and correct it later?
Do I post to promote something?
Do I post to send a signal to someone?
Do I post because I want to agree with someone? (Agreements are dangerous.)
Do I post because everyone else is doing it?
Do I post to announce something?
Am I just testing and figuring things out?
Do I post to learn to communicate to people I’m interested in?
Do I post in anger?
Do I post to be one of the first?
Do I post as a series of small steps in building something? (Like your own business.)
Do I post to sell something?
Do I post to communicate something?
Do I post as a reaction to something?
Do I post as a result of hard focused work?
Do I post because someone is asking a question?
[Your question here]?

It is these questions that will enable you to strengthen your signal to noise ratio*. Every question has its place. The challenge is to learn where, in which phase, each question is relevant. This is what we are learning right now.

*(The clearer are your signals the better are your chances at getting heard.)

Often, people wonder how they’re going to make it when starting a business or franchise of their own.

Others have trust in the future and others do not.

“I’ll do everything.” vs. “I don’t see how.”

Fortunately, reality is not either one of these two. It is both and everything that falls in between. And, there’s a lot of information available.

Any step forward is when you transition from one situation to the next one. In the next one you have opportunities that you didn’t have before, so it’s a chaotic process. The only thing needed is guts to become a part of it.

Wasting time on mail? You don’t need to. Check out these tips and master email messaging.

1. Send precise messages related to the project (avoid noise).

It sounds like a strict rule and it is. Think of messages like hand grenades. You have a limited supply of (effective) messages that you want to get across. You not only have to aim very carefully but also to time your throw. A well placed hand grenade does a lot of damage while hand grenades thrown at random only make a lot of noise.

Here is an example of effective messaging.

2. State if there are any next steps required by the recipient.

Be clear in your motivations. Why did you send this message to me? Is it just something you wanted to share? Does it affect my work in any way? Hopefully there aren’t any hidden messages because then I’ll probably fail to understand. Or if I do notice a hidden message it will take some time for me to try to understand it (I’ll be thinking about it and meanwhile I might get distracted from my good flow of work). But then again I might misunderstand it altogether. But even if I didn’t get it I might not send you an enquiry about it.

3. Refrain from sending FYI mails if there are no relevant actions involved.

FYI mails are the best way to get a warrior distracted. Is this really something she should know? If something came up and it is important maybe its better to call her. If it isn’t important take it up later in a meeting (if it still happens to come to your mind).

Save it for later or keep it to yourself. You act upon it. Make it relevant for everyone. Make it part of your “evil plan”. Make it a habit of not telling anyone. Or save it for the lunch break. Introduce what you’ve found to someone special. Build upon it. Work on it. Steer yourself (and thus people around you) in the right direction.

Messages are precious (but noisy) golden spheres of life energy. Use wisely.

4. Every message is a probe. Prepare it, launch it and take time to listen to it.

This model of thinking was suggested by an Indian friend. It somehow frees you from the nervousness that sometimes occurs when sending “important” mails.

Imagine you’re a space explorer and you’re in front of this mysterious planet. You want to know more about it. You prepare a (magical) probe (which is your email message) get it ready with the right instruments turned on and send it away.

Entering an atmosphere of a new alien planet is dangerous. The probe might enter a thunderstorm or a hurricane. Who knows what kind of civilization (if any) inhabits the planet. Your probe might crash and burn. Or it might end up in the junk yard.

Or if you’re lucky it might find something interesting and a message gets sent back. The better you equip your probe, the simpler and more effective it is, the more likely it is that the message will penetrate and it will actually have a desired effect.

What is the desired effect?

5. Every message doesn’t need an answer.

Be cool. Spare your keyboard. Refrain from sending acknowledgement messages, even if you’re excited about things. On the other hand if you don’t get an answer it doesn’t mean the recipient hasn’t read your message. If there’s no answer you’re free to do whatever you want with the issue.

A good acknowledgement is a short message like: “I’ll be thinking about it. Thanks.”

For chronic acknowledgement message freaks there’s a way to get out of this: just close the message window, get up from your desk, nod to yourself, smile, and get a glass of water. And never open the message again.

6. Some questions can be answered without the question (proactive messages / actions that support the work of the recipient and don’t confuse her).

At times there are ways to send messages that help someone in their work.

Consider: “Hi Bob, I have double checked the meeting with [name of important client]. Things are going smoothly. I’m currently in communication with them and they seem happy.”

Compare this with: “Hi Bob, are you available next week? It’s because there’s the [name of important client] case that’s still unresolved (though, I’m currently resolving it). It looks like things are going good (cross your fingers) but I need to double check with them still (I’ll do that now) and I need to know which slots are free in everyone’s calendar. Let’s see how it goes :D.”

7. Just make the project happen.

Trust is the essential ingredient. You battle on your front, I battle on my front. I have your back when you’re in trouble. You have my back. Later, we’ll meet at the campfire to share the loot and heal our wounds.

Remember: The pen is mightier than the sword. The keyboard is even mightier.

Getting picky of specifics in the beginning might kill a project that was bound to be successful. Buyers often want security and if they don’t hear the right signals, or if they hear wrong signals, they often won’t have the courage or the patience to pursue and work through the project.

Note: Providers should be careful when choosing a buyer that doesn’t seem to have a realistic view on when and how much they are expecting returns on their investment, that is, investment in your work. Too often, especially in mobile app development, it seems to be the case that the buyer expects rapid returns which most of the time results in disappointment.

The craftsman type provider must adopt a style that fits both the worldview of his potential clients and his own worldview. This is when trust becomes a foundation that supports the project. When there is trust the specifics do not matter that much.

Trust allows inaccurate communication, strange behavior and irrational reasoning. It allows the qualitative and the quantitative to mix and match. It allows all which is humane and it creates a firm basis for creativity and productivity.

True trust is not disposable. It cannot be demonstrated in a week.

For the rest of this year, I’m going to implement a simple rule that I grabbed over from Al Pittampalli’s blog.

It is basically a rule to not have any meetings (online, offline) in the morning. Instead, dedicate the whole morning for a good flow of creative work.

Let’s see if it helps.

[(12:21 PM): There is something definitely to this. Even not reading mails, blogs or anything allows you to start off with a clear mind.]

People find themselves in a situation where they need to switch from one task to another. Sometimes, that switch doesn’t happen in an instant. Sometimes it minutes, hours, even a day to switch.

If we reflect on the flow of work there seems to be a starting point, the productive time window and a point where things saturate and you’re not advancing that fast anymore.

So when is a good time to switch?

We all love dessert. The best moment is the beginning when you eat the first spoonful. Then, there’s the middle phase when you’re still kind of loving it, and finally, you could go on eating more, but at one point you would just become sick of it.

So coming back to switching tasks, when is the best time to stop eating your metaphoric dessert? It’s when it tastes the best. That way the next day you’ll come back for more!!!

Toolkit for productive messaging:

1. Send precise messages related to the project (avoid noise).

2. State if there are any next steps required by the recipient.

3. Refrain from sending FYI mails if there are no relevant actions involved.

4. Every message is a probe. Prepare it, launch it and take time to listen to it.

5. Every message doesn’t need an answer.

6. Some questions can be answered without the question (proactive messages / actions that support the work of the recipient and don’t confuse her).

7. Just make the project happen.

Interestingly, a lot of musical training books seem to suggest that during a performance you shouldn’t ever try to play over your technical capabilities. It doesn’t sound good and after that you’ve already given everything so it is only down hill from there. Instead, you should play at most 90% of what you can but most of the time just play around 50%.

The benefit of this is that you’re free to decide which points are the climaxes and which points are the subtle ones where the listener is drawn into the music.

In the classical world, musicians consider music to be 95% technique and 5% music, where the 5% is the important part.

If you do some sort exercise for one hour (walking, gym, yoga, swimming, etc.) and work for one hour you’ll get more done than in two hours without the exercise.

You spend two hours in both cases but only half of that goes to the actual work. In the ideal case you get twice as much done.

So the formula goes:

50% = 200%

You have just quadrupled your efficiency!

All communication is asynchronous, even conversations. We send signals or probes to each other and wait for outcomes. It takes the brain a few seconds to interpret the incoming probe and process it before making a cognitive decision on how to respond. Conversations have a “beat” or rhythm in them that makes them synchronous by nature, that is, you are given a certain time window to respond.

Text chats are less synchronous by nature. You get a minute or two of extra time before you are expected to respond. While this makes you able to reflect on your answer, it also makes the conversation extremely slow. This is why text chats can last hours when the same thing could have been discussed by voice (and video) in ten minutes.

Text chats are time consuming and not a very efficient way to communicate. They also require you to be online which can be distracting to some people who like to keep all communication off while they are working. Also, text chats are recorded and can later be interpreted in different ways.

E-mail is mostly asynchronous by nature. With quick precise mails it is possible to communicate efficiently. In the professional freelance field, you’re expected to respond to mails within a day or so depending on the urgency of the matter. However, traditionally in business not responding at all is ok too. It means that you’ve probably acknowledged the mail but you’re too busy to address the issues and thus, the sender is free to do whatever she wants regarding the issue. Sometimes, things have their own way of resolving themselves.

One to one e-mail combined with one to one video chats, with the occasional group mail, status report or memo, are a good and efficient way to communicate, and most of the time, it is all that is needed in order to have a successful project.

There’s one school of thought that teaches you to go by the book, plan carefully, maintain risks and advance in rational steps.

Then there’s another school that tells you to jump off the deepest end.

You’re attending both of these schools.

I’m personally in favor of short messages. I try to keep my emails as short as possible. Normally, I don’t even bother to read long mails. If I see a long mail I normally try to setup a meeting to discuss it. The same goes with text chats. If the issue is important it is better to discuss it face to face.

My online meetings normally last about an hour or two. It’s a special time when you’re connecting with someone that’s often on another continent. It’s the best way to touch base.

One or two monthly meetings per customer seem to be enough. If there are too many meetings it’s a trouble sign.

For some people acting under a crisis means putting their head down, avoiding the noise, working on something special and keeping silent about it.

There certainly is a great energy in keeping silent, concentrating your energies and focusing on what you’re doing--even keeping it secret.

Why not work like this not only in a time of crisis but all the time?

It is building something. Holding it, cherishing it, strengthening it, polishing it...

The sharing part is already taken care of.

...is in yourself.

Business startups fail in two ways:

1) They never get past the planning stage.

2) The goals are unrealistic from the beginning and there’s no foundation. (Getting rich quickly, becoming a CEO just for the title, becoming a startup because it is cool, in essence: building a house before building the foundation)

If you don’t have a foundation you don’t have a business.

Note: number two might happen but it doesn’t mean you can’t try again. So let’s add:

3) After failure they don’t get up and try again.

A business is a progressive operation with an ongoing plan for working, improving that work, and profiting from the work.

You are in the center of all that.

[Because in the end that’s all it takes.]

There’s a difference between theory and practice.

In theory you plot out your moves and anticipate different outcomes but you’re not moving anywhere (or you just plot out someone else’s moves).

In practice you leap, you advance and there’s no going back. Then you advance again and again and again...

The results are unexpected and every time you’re somewhere else. New opportunities - new horizons.

If you don’t do it you’ll never go anywhere.

The current situation is due to the choices you have made so far. To get yourself into a new situation you have to make new choices.

I spent a few hours revising digital economy, marketing and sales of digital goods which games also are. For some reason I ended up watching this Bob Moog interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TttYkC3NyjM

Moog understood the importance of the interface. He was an engineer but also a gifted salesman. During his last years I recall him saying that we have synthesizers that can produce basically any sound imaginable so rather than talking about the sound of the Mini Moog he emphasized the importance of the interface between the instrument and the musician (where the Mini Moog also excels). This definitely resonates with anyone who fancies Moog synthesizers!

I think the same holds for games. Almost any kind of a game is possible to produce today but the way the player interacts with it is what’s important. Even though HCI has gone a long way it seems more important than it ever was before today.

As a producer you must know the latest fashions not only in HCI but in sales and marketing. You must know how navigate within these fashions to resonate with your users.

Manufacturing, marketing and sales have to interact more than in the past. On one hand you have to have a tight interaction but on the other you have to give space to the other guy. It has to be based on trust and a peer type relationship. Not a boss - grunt relationship.