Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Pursuits of a Spiky Fox

I have made it through a couple more books in the last couple of weeks. It took me about a week to read each one so I'm not far off of the book a week pace that some others are pursuing. The fact that both of these books, Thermopylae and Madame Bovary, are on the thin side was key to my staying on that weekly pace. I'm borrowing Notes on the Synthesis of Form (the book I mentioned at the end of my Blue Ocean Strategy post) from the VCU library. I thought it might be a bit ponderous to get through, but it's actually a quick read (at least the first couple of chapters). While pharmaceuticals may not be the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about reading a book about design, the ideas in the book are applicable to some of the problems that I face (well, will very likely be facing if my department's reorganization goes as I expect) in my projects at work. It's a good fit for my spiny fox strategy to pursue interesting ideas that are tangential but relevant to my area(s) of expertise (pharmaceuticals/chemistry/scientific research).

Sunday, March 28, 2010

I'm going on a email diet

A few weeks ago I had a vague thought about how I finish the things that I HAVE to take care of at work in a few hours of my day. I use the rest of the day to work on the projects that I am interested in (but also benefit the company). I do the work that has to be done so I can pursue projects that pique my interest. This unofficial splitting of my time has been the way I've worked since I started my job so I didn't pursue the thought much further. It's just the way that I approach my job.

I was reading a few of the manifestos at changethis.com during some of my extra time at work last week when I came across this one by the guy who wrote The 4 Hour Work Week. He has turned my vague notion into an entire lifestyle. I thought about buying the book, but after reading a few pages at Amazon, I think I read the best idea of the book in that manifesto. I'm going to try an idea in that manifesto at work tomorrow.

My day is very unstructured. I get to work, check my email (work and gmail), see if there are any interesting posts in my reader account, and maybe check cnn or msn. I've been at work for 30 or 40 minutes before I actually start working. I'll work a little while, check email, work some more, go chat with some colleagues, back to work, check the reader again, and so on. I mix my work responsibilities with my personal interests as the mood strikes me. My responsibilities have been shifting from working in the lab, where it's easy to stay focused on the task at hand, to a more supervisory and coordinating function that has me spending more time at my computer. I will need to find a better way to manage my day and not get bogged down with random internet stuff.

Tomorrow, I'm going to cut my umbilical to my electronic distractions. I will not check my email or reader as soon as I get to work. I will get right to what I need to take care of. I will try to stay off of the internet until noon or so. I'm curious to see if I finish my must do tasks in a couple of hours at the front of my day rather than scattering various tasks throughout the day. If nothing else this will give me a better idea of how I spend my time at work.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Cognitive Surplus and Real Objects

I was intrigued by Clay Shirky's observation that the web has unleashed the incredible surplus of mental energy that used to be dissipated by watching TV shows. The opportunities to do something creative and participate in the process of creation rather than simply consuming media has changed the way that I spend most of my evenings. (creativist vs consumer) This blog is constantly in the back of my head as I read interesting things online or one of my ever present books. The process of creating this blog has changed the way that I relate to the media that I consume. It's fuel for this blog, which is simulataneously a chronicle and agent of the changes I need to make to advance my career.

My career highlights one aspect of the web that has not gotten much comment from the web's Big Thinkers, at least not that I have seen. While Wired may think that the next revolution is all about the power of electrons to move atoms, there will always be a need for somebody to manipulate real objects. Real things are central to my activities as a chemist working in the pharmaceutical industry. I want to move my career to a place where I can improve how the industry manipulates things to discover and develop new medicines. The web has reshaped the creation of media, but how will the ability to instantly communicate with people in Japan, India, or China change the way that new medicines are discovered?

You ultimately need a person in a lab trying different things to find a new medicine. As this response to the Wired article make clear, making things is a much different proposition than creating a ebook or a video that can fulfill it's function on a computer screen. There is potential in the connectedness offered by the web. How can the pharmaceutical industry capitalize on that potential. Or, better yet, how can I capitalize on that potential to find a better way to develop new medicines?

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Spartacus Picture Uploaded

I uploaded an after photo for the Spartacus Challenge tonight. I think my gut looks a little bit smaller in the after picture, but you would be hard pressed to say which was the before and which was the after with a quick glance at each picture. Regardless of the actual result, I signed up for the challenge as a motivator to get me going on working out again (and gave myself the resolution to make sure that I actually did it). As the end of the contest got closer, I started thinking about how a little extra effort would have made a big difference. I still have my waist size resolution to work on. I'm going to give my workouts everything I can Monday-Thursday. I have to get a minor medical thing done on Friday that will have me out for a week or so. Resuming my workouts after that hiatus might be a good time to put a little more into my workouts.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

More challenging = More effort?

At least that's what Edwin Locke and Gary Latham have found over 35 years of research in improving motivation in different organizations. A challenging goal results in greater effort than merely telling somebody to do their best. Goals direct attention toward goal related activities and away from activities that are not relevant to goals, they have an energizing function, they affect persistence, and they affect action by indirectly leading to the arousal, discovery, and/or use of task-relevant knowledge and strategies. The review paper I read talked about how motivated the person is to achieve the goal and some other moderating factors that can have a role in how hard somebody goes after a particular goal.

I set my resolutions toward things that I thought I could achieve. Maybe I should have aimed a little higher. It's something to think about as I work on how I'm going to take the next step in my career and how my reading activities will impact that strategy.

The paper I'm talking about can be accessed at this blog post. The paper is in the A far reaching review link.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Fox or Hedgehog?

Jim Collins introduced me to Berlin's The Hedgehog and the Fox essay. He uses Berlin's classification scheme to illustrate one of the principles that he has found leads to strong performance by successful companies. Berlin uses the concept of the fox, who knows many things, and the hedgehog, who knows one big thing, to classify the perspective of several writers. I like to use the idea of the fox and the hedgehog to direct my reading and career development activities. I've been torn on whether it's better to gain deeper knowledge of one subject or to follow my curiosity as it jumps from one subject to another.

I recently realized that I don't have to fully commit to one extreme or the other. I can embrace my expertise in one big thing while reaching out into areas that will allow me to use that expertise in other arenas. Can I be a spiky fox?

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Cosmic Encouragement?

No sooner do I make a decision about the next big project to pursue at work when I see this blog post from Jeff Jonas. I am going to take a couple of steps to get involved in the implementation of PAT in my facility (Process Analytical Technology, it's gathering data about the manufacture of something, in my case pharmaceuticals, while the process is being performed). PAT is all about sensors and how to collect data on a process that can be used for improvements and trouble-shooting. To see a post about the importance of this type of activity appear on the same day that I decided to pursue it is a little spooky. Is somebody trying to tell me something?

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Blue Ocean Strategy for finding new ideas

I was looking at some of the books Seth Godin has recommended in his latest blog post earlier tonight. Down in the books that other people who had looked at the new Tom Peters book also bought were four books that figure pretty prominently in my online reading. Drive, Linchpin, and Switch. Seeing these books all together reminded me of a book chapter that I was reading before I left work on Friday. I got a book from the VCU library called the Nature of Insight. It's a book that summarizes fairly recent (late '90's) psychological research into how people come up with new ideas, solve difficult problems, and have a fresh take on a particular idea. (My route to the book is pretty convoluted, but, ironically enough, the journey started at Dan Pink's blog (he wrote Drive)).

The book is a wealth of interesting ideas, but the chapter that I was thinking about tonight mentions that insights are often the result of pursuing lines of thought that are not recognized as being the richest vein of new approaches to an existing problem. Looking at the list of books above in this light, why would I waste my time (and use up my limited books to buy) on material that everybody else is reading? My time could be better spent looking at more obscure (and likely less readable) books that deal with things a little differently.

Assuming I execute this strategy, what criteria will I use to find new things to read? While I was poking around Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago, I came across a book on complexity science. I was aware of the ideas discussed in the book, but I had never pursued more than a cursory look at them. I looked into things a little more deeply via a google search once I got back to work, and by the end of the day I had found a book that linked complexity science and business management. I checked out that book, with the very creative name of Complexity and Management, from VCU when I checked out the Nature of Insight. I will likely puruse this idea of complexity in more detail. (I like the ways that complexity thinkers handle the uncertainty inherent in any strategic decision.) What is my criteria? I find it intersting and I'm curious about it.

I'm also curious about the formal thinking around design. I may be moving from my current position in the analytical labs to a new group called product design. Nobody really knows what that means, but it would be nice to see what others have to say about design before I have to start finding my own way. I stumbled over a book about design at the 37signals blog. I'll probably buy that soon, but that means I'll probably have to find something else to buy to get my Amazon order over $25.

If I follow what piques my curiosity and pursue a deeper investigation into topics that I think could lead to something more fruitful down the line, I can't imagine I'll end up reading books that show up on many popularity lists. I have nothing against popular books or reading what is the it book of the moment, but the thought that fresh ideas come from pursuing unconventional lines of thought resonates with me.