The African Enterprise (01/11/2021)
Two types of Work, Zuckerberg's feedback method, The reason for "chrome"
Hi friends,
I published a new short essay last week: Two questions on thought. From the Birth of Tragedy, I pulled two questions:
What influences hold sway over our thought and how long do they maintain sway?
When does the matured mind throw off these fetters?
The first question implies that our thoughts are strongly influenced by context, experiences, other people, the general current of thought at the time, and prejudices. The second question then seeks to know and understand when we're able to sidestep these influences.
With the essay, I think through answers to these questions. I write about these influences as the hypnotizer to whose direction all thoughts bend, what maturity is and what it means for throwing them off, and why these questions are important.
Coolest things I learned this week
Two types of work
I loved reading Always Day One by Alex Kantrowitz where he writes about the processes within the world's largest and most innovative companies today; which is contrary to that of companies that once ruled the economy by developing core advantages, hunkering down, and defending them at all costs. These companies today are always in Day One where they do not just seek to simply defend their advantage, but also look for innovative ways to stretch that advantage.
Alex describes the two types of work: Idea work and Execution work.
Idea work, he wrote, is everything that goes into creating something new. It's the work from which new things are envisioned, the plans to make them are made, and creation proper starts.
While Execution work is everything that goes into supporting those things once they're made. Work like ordering products, inputting data, closing books, and maintenance.
This distinction is important because as is often seen with the life-cycle of businesses, there is the work that's done to get the idea going, draw a business plan, and make plunges into starting proper. And then there's the work done after starting the business. There are significant differences between an idea bursting to life out of nothingness to then nurturing and growing it once it's here.
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Zuckerberg's Feedback Method
Mark Zuckerberg's method for sharing feedback has three main components:
State a fact - The fact is a description of what happened. Adapted to writing, it's sharing a sense of what is in there. What the idea/message is.
Share your story - The story is the explanation that's developed in the mind. It's the intended path for the piece of work and what/where any roadblocks may have developed.
Make an ask - The ask is a question meant to get a resolution. After stating the fact and story, it's important to set guardrails with which the feedback can be useful
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Why Chrome is called Chrome
The first thing I do on every new device I get is to install Chrome and make it my default browser. It's just a preference, not that there is a specific service improvement that only chrome fulfills.
So, It was exciting to learn why Google called it Chrome in the first place. The name is a reference to its goal to minimize the browser's "chrome"
Chrome is a term for anything that's not where the browsing occurs, such as the address bar, tabs, buttons, and widgets.
That’s it for this week.
If you have any thoughts or questions, hit reply and we can have a chat. And if you enjoyed it, share it with friends.
Till next week,
Kelvin