johnmaconline

Social media begat the selfie. Then selfie videos at the gym, vacations, unboxing deliveries, meet and greets…

Now, personal drones. Hands-free filming from above as we walk, run, paddleboard, or just exist. With ease. Cinematic aerial documentation of each moment worth remembering (or not). 

They’re amazing. Truly. The tech gets better. The image gets cooler. The distance gets wider.

But the question stays the same:

Why are we doing this?

At first, it was to capture the moment. Then, to share it. Now, maybe, to stage it?

The drone doesn’t just document. It directs.

“This moment matters — as long as it looks cinematic.” 

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. But it’s worth noticing.

Have we stopped living moments and started producing them?

Producing moments has also been around forever. What’s a big, fancy wedding but a planned, staged, and highly produced moment? Same with graduation, prom photos, family portaits, business launches, vacation tours, and awards ceremonies. 

But technology has exponentially increased our ability to produce and stage each and every moment. 

The drone, of course, isn’t a problem. 

I think a lot about tools.

Truth be told, I think about tools just about all day, every day. We at 4TLAS build tools. I’ve spent a good portion of my career building tools.

What makes a great tool?

It works and feels right. It’s pleasant to use and disappears into the work. It’s intuitive but may require practice. Practicing with it provides joy. 

It solves your problem. Not just a problem. Your problem.

It makes you better. It provides a capability that you didn’t have previously, or it increases your capacity and value in a way that was impossible without it. 

It teaches. It helps you understand the problem and solution better. It reveals patterns and encourages innovation, new directions, or new uses. 

It fades into the flow. You either stop noticing it, or you build your vernacular around it. 

Great tools have function, of course, but they’re also art. They make us, or allow us, to feel. 

Here are some great tools:

A well-balanced hammer, language, a map, a level, the library, Google search, a compass, a great question, breath, a straight edge, needle and thread, a mirror, a well-formed analogy, a broom, a ToDo list, a perfectly weighted cordless drill, your legs (arms, hands, and feet), a flashlight, a hockey stick, a backpack, and a calendar.

I think LLMs are on the cusp of being great tools. Not quite yet. But maybe soon.

The best tools don’t just help us do. They help us become and enjoy the journey. 

If you’re the leader and the room splits, it’s easy to panic.

Easy to rush into placation, fixing, and tension relief. That’s not leadership, that’s fear.

Most times the best approach is to lean into the tension, at least initially.

Hold the room.

Sit with it. Let them sit with it. Let them argue. Listen. Not for agreement but for clarity. Where are you trying to go? What change are you trying to make? What is the intended outcome? What’s the real goal?

Once you know, the job is simple. Not easy, but simple — build (enough) consensus or push ahead anyway.

Your job isn’t to please the room. It’s to move it.

Hold the room.

You might need to build consensus, but it’s the movement you came for.

“This is a great idea!”
“This is a terrible idea.”

“We should go left.”
“We should go right.”

“I think we should stay the course.”
“I think we should pivot.”

Safe ideas create consensus. Innovative ideas create tension.

When the room splits, that’s the signal. A good sign that you’re onto something. Disagreement isn’t a threat. You, yourself, might be split. That’s OK. Keep going.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with safe and consensus. Tension can be counterproductive. Consensus might be required.

But make no mistake, if everyone agrees, it’s not going to create the change you seek.

(Seth’s original post)

Enhancing productivity, both personal and team, doesn’t require innovative ideas, authoritarianism, or monk-like discipline. It starts with simply respecting everyone’s time, including your own. 

From Seth:

• Show up on time. Leave when the work is done.
• Respect synchronized time. If you can put it in a video instead of saying it live, please do.

Perfect. No more needs to be said. 

I’ll add three of my own specifically for leaders:

• Make objectives, or at least the endpoint, clear and socialized. It doesn’t mean formal or corporate objectives. It just means whatever you’re trying to do at this time. 
• Swat the flies. Keep them shielded from unnecessary external requests, distractions, and noise.
• Respect work-life integration. 

Respecting their time means allowing them to spend it as they need. 

P.S. Wasting time and respecting time are not diametrically opposed. Sometimes, “wasting time” is exactly what you or the team needs. 

(Seth’s original post)

I placed an ad to sell a truck on Facebook Marketplace. After wading through the bots and scammers, I engaged with a real human. Then this:

Me: When would you like to see it?
Them: How long will it take me to get there?

Me: That depends on where you are [eyebrow raised].
Them: I’m in Trenton, New Jersey.

Me: I’m in Oley, PA [as is clearly marked on the ad — now its a flag]
Them: How long will it take me to go from Trenton to Oley?

I ghosted them. 

Maybe you’re thinking, “What? Why?” Or maybe you’re thinking that’s harsh.

I don’t purposely let people waste my time (if I can help it), and I put respect for others’ time at the top of my list. 

From Seth:

• When you get stuck, first ask Claude, then ask a human.

I had no interest in being Google, Maps, or Claude for this person. They’re talking to me on their device. They have any or all of those. They could have literally typed those same 13 words into any browser, map, or AI app and gotten the answer. 

Instead, they’re asking me to do it for them.

There are a million good reasons to ask another person instead of asking a device (for example), but productivity starts with respecting your and others’ time and continues with knowing how to use your tools.

Asking the right questions to the right source makes you exponentially more productive, knowledgeable, and valuable.

(Seth’s original post)

Ah, my two pet peeves — meetings and the overuse of email. The perfect place to start a conversation on personal and team productivity.

Meetings

It’s very simple: Less meetings. Shorter meetings. Smaller meetings. 

Not less conversation or less communication. Less time spent in (physical or virtual) rooms as an observer, reporting status, and generally not engaged in the activities that move you and the team forward simply because someone else thought you should be there or has booked an hour for a conversation that should take 10 minutes. 

Here are some tips for having more effective meetings:

• Use tools for reporting and collecting status. Never meetings.
• Have a 1-on-1 discussion if that will suffice
• Decline meetings that aren’t important for you
• Decline or ask for reschedule of meetings that don’t fit your timeline
• Change the default time for meeting invites to 15 minutes.
• Invite only the necessary people. Three to five people is the ideal size for a meeting. 

[NOTE: As group size increases, individual effort decreases, and the effectiveness of the group tends to flatten out and sometimes decrease — the Ringelmann Effect.]

Email

Email is great. It’s the most revolutionary communication tool for office workers since the copy machine. It’s ubiquitous, simple, and well-understood, and that, unfortunately, leads to its overuse in areas for which it’s a sucky tool. 

Here’s what it’s great for:

• Formal communication (external and internal)
• Publication / one-way broadcast
• Meeting invites
• RSVP / confirmations

Here’s what it’s NOT for:

• Conversation
• Questions

For internal conversation and questions, or anything in real-time, use chat tools such as Slack/Teams.  

Think of email as a library and the chat tool as a coffee shop. 

• If you’d say it in the hallway, don’t email it. 
• If you need back-and-forth, don’t email it. 
• If you need an answer in real time, don’t email it. 

Meetings and email aren’t the enemy, but are woefully misused sometimes. 

Use them well, and you build trust and productivity. Use them poorly, and you’re just wasting everybody’s time.