Measurements that mislead

After reading this article by Jonah Lehrer, I wonder if perhaps I have been placing too much faith in metrics and measurements.

In most jobs there seems to be no clear way to measure the truly high performers versus those who are lucky to be at the right place. When I worked a corporate job, I would often wish that all employees could be assigned objective performance ratings (something akin to the Elo chess ratings instead of the subjective ratings that their supervisors give.)

I know of several people (myself included) who can raise their performance when they know that they are being observed and evaluated. Even so, Lehrer's article in WSJ is enlightening in the one main point it makes: That it is important to distinguish between "maximum performance" under staged conditions and long term "typical performance."

Maximum performance has its place, but when it comes to ourselves we should be focusing on our typical performance.

Here's the link to the article.

Not profits, but Autonomy, Mastery & Purpose - Dan Pink

Here's a great video that Dan Pink has put up. The animation is engaging, but the core message is even better, the one he has espoused in his book "Drive."

We are not all mere "profit-maximizers," but we all want three other things:
Autonomy. Mastery. Purpose.

Take a look at the video below.

RSA Animate -- Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.

Checklists for productivity

What can one learn about simple checklists? Especially someone like me who routinely uses checklists, various other lists and even lists of lists (to keep track of new lists).

I had plenty to learn, as it turned out. I read Atul Gawande's book "The Checklist Manifesto" recently and had a number of takeaways. As might befit a surgeon his writing is logical and lucid. He is a good story-teller who takes us into the world of operating theaters, skyscraper construction and aviation history to show us how modern checklists have evolved. Perhaps with the confidence that comes from being a world-class surgeon, he isn't afraid to share his own doubts and misgivings, and that makes the whole book a great read.

Takeaways: For me, the biggest revelation was the importance of the communication checklist. These are used in large construction projects about who will talk to whom. In addition to the familiar checklist for tasks, they have another checklist to ensure that communication steps haven't been missed. This could be invaluable in any setting where groups of people work together as team.

And on a personal level, every chapter in the book reminded me of the need for personal discipline in getting things done. Those who go to work daily have a structure imposed on them. The rest of us have to figure it out ourselves. There are days when I am very productive, and days that I feel I wasted. And the difference is discipline. And in that, I believe, checklists can be a big help.

So, how much do I owe?

From time to time, we all hear of these things. Whether those stories are apocryphal or not, there is a sense of low-octane injustice when we hear of, say, Russian surgeons (or Ukrainian chess GM’s) driving taxi-cabs in New York City. And when the in-laws will not allow certain well-educated and qualified daughters-in-laws to go to work, we feel that they are being incredibly retro. And then there are people like me and my wife. Qualified and able, but simply not working. In all of the above, a certain potential is not being realized.

In my case, I had 22 straight years of formal education. Though my dad paid for it throughout, I know that the Central government of India, various state governments and Universities heavily subsidized my schooling. It was the society as a whole, ‘investing’ in me. Like all investors, society also hopes for a good return on its investment. While my working for a corporation for 12 years was no public service, I did play a functional part, and I paid my taxes.

The underlying basic question that I keep asking myself, that Rupal asked me a few days ago (verbatim): Is it okay for us not to be productive to society?

My obligations still remain, I know. My difficultly is in fulfilling those obligations in ways that seem interesting to me.