johnmaconline

Failing is the present-tense verb.

In the act. Happening. Still going on. But also learning. Figuring it out. Adjusting. Recalibrating. Refactoring. Resetting. Trying something different.

Failure is the past-tense label. Failure is a decision. The story has ended. We’ve defined it.

Not all failure is bad. Not all failing is helpful.

It’s up to you how you see it and what you do with it.

A decision tree is a tool that seeks to objectify and process-ize decisions.

If this, then that. On down the tree.

It can really help in a group scenario. The decision tree presents a clear and organized way to visualize and socialize a decision-making process. “See here? This is how we do it. We all agreed to it.”

You can appeal to the tree to supplant emotions, curtail strong personalities, and create collective agreement where there is little personal agreement. In fact, arguing about the decision tree rather than the decision might be the best strategy for the group. It can be an effective means to equitize the strong and subtle personalities.

But sometimes the decision tree becomes a crutch. A reason not to be courageous. A reason to take the easy road.

Some situations call for courage rather than previously-agreed upon process.

Sometimes, you need to change the decision tree.

Strava tells me I’ve run about 6500 and cycled about 10000 miles since I’ve been using that app. Most of those miles are right around my house with my driveway being the start and end point.

Those are circular miles. I start at the end of my driveway, and somewhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours later, I’m right back where I started. Just looking at the routes on a flat map doesn’t reveal much. Didn’t really get anywhere.

Yet the actual route I took makes all the difference. I’ve got 5-mile running routes with 100 ft of elevation gain, and some with 1000 ft of elevation gain. I’ve got 20-mile cycle routes with 300 ft of elevation, and some with 2500 ft. 

The effect on me, my fitness, and my success in an event I’m training for is directly coupled to the routes, even though the endpoints are the same. There’s no way to get better, go faster, or be stronger without going directly up the hill or through muck. I can get there a different way, but it won’t help me nearly as much. 

Where are you trying to get to? Are you trying to build a company? Learn a new skill? Make an impact in your community or the world? 

The route you take will make all the difference. 

I love to write code to automate stuff.

Here’s an example. I spent several weeks (off and on) writing a bunch of code that automatically generates a weekly status report. I schedule it to run once a week and it creates the report I need with zero work from me. Before I wrote that code, it took me about 4 hours to manually create it every week.

Easy and helpful process tradeoff, right? I have 40 hours of coding time into the tool. It saves me 4 hours per week. After 10 weeks, I’m in the black. Forever.

There’s another understated benefit to this automation — consistency. When I did the work manually, certain aspects of the report inevitably differed from week to week based on my time, mistakes, and one-off inclusions or exclusions. Now, that report shows the same stuff, all of it, each week — 100% consistency. The process itself and the output of that process are identical each time. 

Investing in process brings consistency to the output. However, it doesn’t always save time — on purpose. Sometimes, the purpose of the process is to slow the whole thing down. Safety, justice, accuracy, and creativity are all reasons that you might want process to slow it down.

Ask yourself what you’re trying to accomplish. 

Sometimes, the slow road is the better road.  

It’s the heart of the matter. It’s the reason you’re doing what you’re doing. There’s little point if you’re not making something better for somebody.

The thing about better is that we often assume that a) better is objective, and b) we know what it is.

But the truth is that a) better is subjective, and b) it takes empathy to know what it is.

Better starts and ends with who.

The point of activism is to make change. Not to put “activist” on a business card.

The point of creating a movement is to make change. Not to make yourself a deity.

The point of designing new products is to make change. Not to sell snake oil.

The point of starting up a new business is to make change. Not to take money.

The point of your marketing message is to make change. Not to chase likes, clicks, and empty applause.

Happy Birthday to someone who understood the reason.

There are many ways to look at, feel about, and argue about what’s happening/happened in Los Angeles.

Leadership, systems, nature, God. An event like this reminds us yet again that we must continue to discuss, argue about, and work on these. It never stops. There is no perfect solution. There is only a spectrum that changes over time.

But it’s also an opportunity. An opportunity for humans to remind us how amazing we are. This is where we need to focus.

I’ve personally participated in disaster relief programs after some famous ones, such as Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, as well as other more localized events and non-events. My anecdotal experience is that humans show up. Humans care. Humans love. Humans are the answer.

Humans are amazing.

You’ve heard this before: “It’s not what you know. It’s who you know.”

Basically, success comes through connection over knowledge.

For an engineer, this is a frustrating proverb because (most) engineers focus on knowledge. Knowing somebody won’t keep the bridge standing during a hurricane or the phone call connected at 70 mph on the highway. That’s physics.

But maybe there’s a glimmer at the end of the tunnel because “who you know” isn’t quite correct, either. A connection is meaningless without some level of recognition and trust. Connections alone won’t help if no one remembers your name when it matters. The real key is to build a reputation that travels without you — where others know your work, your character, and your value, even when you’re not in the room.

It’s not who you know. It’s who knows you.

The system wants to make you feel like an imposter because imposters don’t change the system.

But, if you don’t feel like an imposter…

Your idea isn’t novel enough.
What you’re trying isn’t important enough.
Your vision isn’t big enough.

Embrace imposter syndrome. That’s how you know you’re on the right track.