Hmmm, where to start. Something of a mishmash of thought here.
Actually a manager, not yet clear if I’m particularly successful at it. I certainly enjoy it and I’ve learned a lot in the past year.
Noticing Panic is a great Step 0, and I really like how you contrast it to noticing confusion.
I used to experience ‘Analysis Paralysis’ - too much planning, overthinking, and zero doing. This is a form of perfectionism, and is usually rooted in fear of failure.
My life rapidly became more agentic the more I updated toward the following beliefs:
Failure is cheap
You have an abundance of chances to get it right
Plans are maps, reality is terrain. Doing happens in reality. Thus you can offload a bunch of cognitive work to reality simply by trying stuff; failing is one of the most efficient ways of updating your map, and can sometimes reward you with unexpected success (take a look around at all the ‘stupid’ stuff that actually works/succeeded).
Thus my management strategy is something like:
Have a goal
Build a model of the factors that contribute to that goal
Determine my constraints (e.g. do I have a rigid deadline)
Notice my affordances (most people always underestimate this)
What resources do I have, e.g.
Who can I ask for help?
What work has already been done that I can use (don’t reinvent the wheel)
What actions are available to me
What is the smallest meaningful step I can take toward my goal?
What is the dumbest thing I can do that might actually work?
Prioritize my time
What needs to be done today vs this week vs this month vs actually doesn’t need to be done
So I’ve reduced a combinatorially explosive long term goal into a decent heuristic for prioritizing actions, and then I apply it to the actions I can actually take at different timescales… which is usually an easy choice between a handful of options.
Then I do stuff, and then I update/iterate based on the results.
And sometimes stuff just happens that moves me towards my goal (or my goal towards me) - life is chaotic, and if you’re rigidly following a plan then that chaos is always working against you. Whereas if you’re adaptable and opportunistic—that chaos can work for you.
I guess all of this boils down to: invest in your world model, not your plan.
In my experience, the way you end up doing good in the world has very little to do with how good your initial plan was. Most of your outcome will depend on luck, timing, and your ability to actually get out of your own way and start somewhere. The way to end up with a good plan is not to start with a good plan, it’s to start with some plan, and then slam that plan against reality until reality hands you a better plan.
It’s important to possess a minimal level of ability to update in the face of evidence, and to actually change your mind. But by far the most important thing is to just dive in.
Hmmm, where to start. Something of a mishmash of thought here.
Actually a manager, not yet clear if I’m particularly successful at it. I certainly enjoy it and I’ve learned a lot in the past year.
Noticing Panic is a great Step 0, and I really like how you contrast it to noticing confusion.
I used to experience ‘Analysis Paralysis’ - too much planning, overthinking, and zero doing. This is a form of perfectionism, and is usually rooted in fear of failure.
I expect most academics have been taught entirely the wrong (in the sense of https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/a7n8GdKiAZRX86T5A/making-beliefs-pay-rent-in-anticipated-experiences) heuristics around failure.
My life rapidly became more agentic the more I updated toward the following beliefs:
Failure is cheap
You have an abundance of chances to get it right
Plans are maps, reality is terrain. Doing happens in reality. Thus you can offload a bunch of cognitive work to reality simply by trying stuff; failing is one of the most efficient ways of updating your map, and can sometimes reward you with unexpected success (take a look around at all the ‘stupid’ stuff that actually works/succeeded).
Thus my management strategy is something like:
Have a goal
Build a model of the factors that contribute to that goal
Determine my constraints (e.g. do I have a rigid deadline)
Notice my affordances (most people always underestimate this)
What resources do I have, e.g.
Who can I ask for help?
What work has already been done that I can use (don’t reinvent the wheel)
What actions are available to me
What is the smallest meaningful step I can take toward my goal?
What is the dumbest thing I can do that might actually work?
Prioritize my time
What needs to be done today vs this week vs this month vs actually doesn’t need to be done
So I’ve reduced a combinatorially explosive long term goal into a decent heuristic for prioritizing actions, and then I apply it to the actions I can actually take at different timescales… which is usually an easy choice between a handful of options.
Then I do stuff, and then I update/iterate based on the results.
And sometimes stuff just happens that moves me towards my goal (or my goal towards me) - life is chaotic, and if you’re rigidly following a plan then that chaos is always working against you. Whereas if you’re adaptable and opportunistic—that chaos can work for you.
I guess all of this boils down to: invest in your world model, not your plan.
Great comment. I also like Nate Soares’ Dive in: