Strategies for the Workplace

The point is to decide when you need to decide something before you decide it.  It may be useful to make some decisions later than you initially think, although don’t assume this is costless.  Should changes be possible near execution time, be certain everyone knows that this can happen and that you have effective communication channels to ensure all participants get the update.

When trying to figure something out, it can be useful to distinguish a puzzle from a mystery.  Puzzles have well defined pieces and the solution may come from time spent organizing, rearranging, and so on.  A mystery is not the same thing, and it may have no simple answer.  Mysteries require a different kind of analysis and may not be solvable.  The reason that it is important to distinguish between a puzzle and a mystery is that how you approach the search for a solution involves a different process and skills.

Apply the appropriate level of analysis for the situation and check, periodically, if you are continuing to get a good return for additional effort.  In other words, think, but don’t over think.

You may be presenting a product or service and your audience will need to know whether they are looking at something that is unfinished, mostly done, finished, etc.  You will want to be clear about the state of the instance they are viewing. 

Eager to be helpful and perhaps to appear knowledgeable, you may be tempted to answer a question without understanding fully what is being asked.  Many seemingly straightforward questions are asking something slightly different from what they may first appear to be asking.

Before contracting with someone or an organization to do a piece of work, it is prudent to get a concrete proposal or estimate.  This approach works in the business world and in your personal life, say for getting your car insured or fixed, planning a home improvement project, undergoing a medical procedure, and so on.  Get more than one bid and keep soliciting bids until you feel you have a good sense of what the market is offering.

Feedback, like everything else, should be categorized and prioritized. This podcast suggests some ways to handle feeback.

When thinking about any course of action, it is prudent both to check all assumptions and ask questions, such as which is more correct, a statement or its opposite.

Basis points (bps) are a unit of measure for interest rates (and other percentages), where one basis point is 1/100th of one percent.  The finance industry uses basis points to reduce ambiguity.

Getting into a market (and staying competitive) involves a clear-eyed analysis of what it takes to participate.  Ideally, you are already in a market and the barriers to new entrants are very high.  Before entering a new market, look at the barriers carefully.  When in a market, be realistic about the potential for new competitors to emerge.