I follow lots of people on Twitter, many of whom I followed reflexively after they followed me, before it got infeasible to do that. I've noticed there seem to be a few different kinds of twitterers: Redirectors. People whose tweets mainly serve to point me to other...
Get-it-Done Guy Blog
Here are articles on Get-it-Done Guy Blog
What’s your approach to the unknown and unknowable?
I've been reading a lot recently about the fundamental unknowability of the universe. I'd like to include a tip or two in my book on the topic, but truly, I'm at a loss. So I'm turning to you, in the hopes you can share some ideas. When we're doing something we've...
Why don’t you ask for help?
I'm working on a segment for the book about asking for help. I've noticed that I just don't ask for help nearly enough. Here are some of the reasons why: I don't want to admit to myself that I don't know the thing. I don't realize that I need help, even though I'm not...
Looking for names of many ethnicities
There are many places in my book where I change names to protect the innocent (or guilty), or where I am just telling a made-up story and need a character name. I've been going through my list of gender-neutral names, in an attempt to let readers indulge their own...
Unbiased language: what do you think?
As you know from listening to my podcast, I like to use unbiased language whenever I can. That's language that is as free from gender assumptions as possible. The APA has explicit guidelines for how to do this. You can find them here: http://is.gd/prz4 in the section...
Breakthrough!!! And observations on dictation software.
I have been slogging through editing my pre-first-draft for several weeks now. It's been hellish. You see, I wrote the first 150 pages of the book using dictation software. The theory was: I can speak extemporaneously and create excellent, well-thought-out, coherent...
What do you do with email you’ve read?
I save pretty much all my email, and it fills up my hard drive, my backups, and my Gmail account. I rarely go back and read it, though sometimes it *is* a valuable reference source. I've been thinking of linking my Blackberry to my email so deleting a message on the...
What are your beliefs about planning?
Now that we've explored some rules and beliefs on organizational life, would you like to chime in on rules and beliefs about projects and planning? Some of the beliefs that have ruled my life: I have to plan for contingencies. I have to deliver according to plan. If I...
What are some rules and beliefs of organizational life?
Hi! For my book, I would like to gather a set of beliefs that govern how people operate in organizations. I'm especially looking for beliefs that really drive people's behavior, decision-making, etc. Contradictions and alternate viewpoints welcome and encouraged. For...
Giving money to family or friends
If your company went public and you made a large sum but not super-large, say $5 million, would you give any to family & friends? Why/why not? How about if you made $20 million? $100 million?