Articles for category: Drive

2 months ago

Greg Thomas

Genius at Work

I can’t remember when or where, but at some place I worked, someone put this sign up as they were doing stuff. The person, in general, was anything but a genius, and I think this made them feel good about doing “genius” style work. Truth of the matter, we don’t need more “genius, half-created, kind of works, skunkworks” work – we need good quality work, that makes sense, that has value, that builds confidence. That’s the Genius Work we need, not more sloppy stuff that no one will ever consume.

2 months ago

Greg Thomas

AI Doesn’t Get to Context Switch

I took a day, went into the cave, and accomplished so much.  I left that day feeling like I had made a huge dent in my pile of work. The next day, I had questions, emails, and instant messages from everyone, and my output dropped like a rock. That’s where AI will beat us, where we have to context switch, AI doesn’t.  It takes your question/complaint/prompt and keeps working at the same time in the background. Our constant context switching is what is bringing us down.

2 months ago

Greg Thomas

You Work Too Hard

In the beginning, if you work too hard, you’ll sputter out when it counts. There is a tight balance between overworking yourself and operating at the level you need to be at to be effective. We spend most of our careers trying to understand and find that perfect nirvana of optimization between working smart and working hard. We all know our internal limits, and the eternal goal is to find that balance so you don’t sputter out when you need it the most.

2 months ago

Greg Thomas

AI is Accountable

Whether AI gets it right or wrong, it will do the task. This is the truth – it will do the task, it will complete the task. It will not hum and haw on it for days and weeks; it will do the task. And whether it’s right or wrong, you can plot a next path, a next course, a next direction. Think about that when ignoring or not updating your next task.

2 months ago

Greg Thomas

Remote Works when Driven By Value

For many years, I read articles about Basecamp and how they have been able to lead and champion remote work through a completely distributed team. Then we all did it, and most of us failed. And now many are being forced back to the office. Being Remote is about delivering value, and if you’re not delivering value, well, you might as well come to the office so we can feel safe in the knowledge that we “hope” you’ll create some value here. Sadly, this pulls down the people who were being most effective with being remote, getting the most work