Studio Non Troppo

Photo: atomicjeep

Little problems sometimes merit treatment with big-time tools. The problem solving methodology I teach, TRIZ, is most commonly used to solve mind-bending (and sometimes multi-million-dollar) engineering design problems, but it can also be a good companion when addressing non-technical problems.

Here’s an example:

In order to make progress when working on a project, it’s important to focus on details, to not get distracted by philosophical or high-level questions. But if I were unaware of the relevant contexts, the higher-level questions (including “why?”), the strategic issues, and the ethical/moral issues, it would be too easy to be digging a hole in the wrong place, digging the wrong depth of hole, or even digging a hole when I should be doing something else entirely.

TRIZ suggests I formulate this conundrum as what’s called a physical contradiction: “I should be narrowly focused” and “I should not be narrowly focused.”

Then TRIZ suggests applying what are called separation principles. Two separation principles that work in this case are separation in space and separation in time.

Separation in space might lead me to focus on the details of the problem whenever I’m seated in my task chair, at my desk, working on my computer…while avoiding detail focus whenever I’m not physically in that context.

Separation in time would hint that I might try setting a timer: 40 minutes of focus, then 10 minutes of break and 10 minutes of higher level thinking and reflecting.

Clearly, these are only two possible solutions. And the tools available through TRIZ are massive, towering over such a simple, little problem. But anything that can burst me out of an “either/or” mindset into the open landscape of “both/and” possibilities is worth drawing on.

Photo: Tambako the Jaguar

Looking across a fence, we perceive ourselves differently than we would without the fence there. “The grass is greener” has always been a story about us, not about them, right?

Enjoying a slow stream…

What’s that feeling called when you’re on vacation, but the people around you aren’t? Or when you take a moment to smell the flowers while simultaneously being aware of others not smelling them?

Wondering about the fast stream…

And how are these things related to the pressure we sometimes feel to be caught up, not left behind, fluent in the newest, latest, fastest happenings?

I don’t know if some people manage to stay in one of these streams, the slower or the faster, long-term, essentially continuously, in a sustainable way.

I know I don’t. I switch from one to the other, sometimes gracefully, feeling good (or relieved, or excited) about the switch. Frequently, though, I feel I’m just reacting to outside or self-imposed pressures.

I think the various feelings we can experience when we’re in one stream and aware of the other are all related to the “grass is greener on the other side” phenomenon. Much of the time, as the saying most commonly suggests, we just think it would be better to have that which we don’t have.

But sometimes, for a little while, we’re able to feel ourselves being out of “this” world and inhabiting the “other (greener)  side.” What I don’t know is whether that’s an error of perception, an error of perception that cancels out a failure to be satisfied (two wrongs making a right), or a gift.

Photo: MShades

When there’s more of something in one place than there is in another, that discrepancy can be a resource. The water at the top of a creek has more potential energy than the water at the bottom of a creek, and that’s why a water wheel can do something useful like mill grain. Or if you have fine silk fabric and the people around you only have coarse or low quality fabric, you may be able to exchange some of your high quality fabric for food or something else you would like. We’re used to thinking of benefits and value together.

But inefficiency and waste can also be resources in some cases. Lawyers benefit when two parties cannot come to an agreement on their own. Matchmaking websites make money in addition to matches because the process of finding a good partner for a relationship is rarely straightforward. The stock markets have built-in inefficiencies: they’re known as commissions, and stockbrokers don’t seem to mind them.

In thinking about how you’re trying to earn money with your business, have you considered how to leverage inefficiency and waste? Some of the strongest solutions to tough problems don’t just ameliorate failures; they use failure as a resource.

Some things are meant to be done one bit at a time. Living life, for example. Life is lived as it comes, even though we might spend a lot of time and effort apparently ignoring our presence in the present.

Other things are best done in clumps or “bunches.” For me, processing emails is a task that works best with bunching. If I leave my email program open when trying to work on projects at my computer, the constant, distracting trickle of emails might not completely paralyze me, but it certainly reduces my concentration to undetectable levels.

The problems caused by a constant influx of email interruptions may not be news to you, but if you know the downsides, it’s very easy to fall back in to bad habits of email overexposure.

Batch processing and email are made for each other. Here’s how to do it. Pick a time when you can spend a reasonable amount of time going through email (whatever “a reasonable amount of time” is for you). When that time arrives, turn on your email program and read, write, file, and delete as necessary. Then turn your email program off.

Many people who field a lot of actionable email find they can manage with just two of these email batch sessions a day. They enjoy higher levels of concentration and find themselves more productive than they used to be when they were in their “always on” mode.

What are your “always on” issues? Would your life be made any easier, less hectic, or more enjoyable if you tried batch processing instead?