Reflections
The title is almost enough.
Category: Non-fiction (Page 3 of 5)
I started this book July 11, 2024. It’s the story of the Hurricane that destroyed Galveston Texas on Sept 8, 1900. It killed over 6000 people.
Incredibly well written. I can’t put it down any easier than a mystery or romance novel. I have no idea where this book came from. I found it while doing my book reorganization – I don’t usually read this sort of thing but I probably will now.
It has over 9000 reviews on Amazon, 56% 5 stars – 3% 1 and 2 stars. I always read the poor reviews as I’ve noted before, several of the 1 and 2 star reviews on Amazon were on the poor condition of the book they purchased not the book itself! Though some people said they found it dry. I don’t know how. But I’m not book reviewer, just a reader.
Author – Alan Watts
Reflections
I’ve done a lot of highlighting in this book, the way he explains is clear and easy to understand. I haven’t decided if I’m going to read this book a second time or find something else that he wrote.
It was published posthumously nearly 50 years after he died – so perhaps something he published?? This book was put together by his son, Mark Watts, from his lectures. He says;
I selected recordings- that flowed together beautifully-from six historic events to become the Out of Your Mind audio collection
Out of your mind, Mark watts
A book about the upside of Procrastination by Frank Portnoy
Reflections and Random Thoughts
I started reading this book on April 26th and finished it on July 6th, 2024.
Insights
Key Take-Aways
Something Actionable
What Everyone Else Thinks
I found it compelling and worth the read, but it received relatively low ratings on both Amazon and Good Reads reviews—4.1 and 3.6, respectively—including seven 1-star reviews!
In both the five-star and one-star reviews, the book was compared to “How We Decide ” by Jonah Lehrer and “Why We Make Mistakes” by Joseph T. Hallinan.
This book was published in 1983 – I purchased it 2012 and I didn’t read it. I’m pretty sure I started it and thought because it was about manufacturing it didn’t apply to me or my business. That was of course very shortsighted.
The hardcover version that I own is not available on Amazon and has only been reviewed once. Interestingly it has been reviewed on Goodreads almost 1000 times and rated almost 20,000 times with an average rating of 4.31.
As always I went to the bad reviews first. There was 1 – 1 star review, a very long rant about what a useless book this is. I found nothing useful in this review although it seems 119 other people did. This reviewer has 20 followers. I don’t think I’ll be adding myself to the list.
I started this read on March 27th and it’s part of my themed read on Measurement and Forecasting.
Introduction
The author lets us know the book covers three basic ideas.
- An output oriented approach to management i.e. he takes the principles of manufacturing and applies them to management.
- The output of a manager is the output of the organizational units under his supervision (he identifies this as the most important sentence in the book.
- Can business use whatever it is that motivates an athlete to put out his “personal best” consistently.
Chapter 1
Chapter 1 Takeaways
- Build your process around the limiting step i.e. the most difficult, sensitive, expensive, critical step.
- Fix problems at the lowest value stage possible.
Chapter 2
Chapter 2 Takeaways
March 25, 2023
I started my re-read of this book this morning. I read the 1st and last chapters. The last chapter, Final Thoughts and the 13th week because this is week 13 of 2024.
I have to credit Alex from Alex and Books with this format – it’s not exactly what he does but it is close and certainly inspired by what he does. For each chapter I’ll try to outline the key takeaway(s) and at least 1 action I plan to or want to or could take.
Chapter 1 Key Takeaways & Actions
Takeaways – Chapter 1
4 times your results by using what you already know.
Actions – Chapter 1
I downloaded an OKR template for Notion. While in the past I’ve used several different OKR software programs I don’t want to take the time to work thru the learning curve and I don’t want to spend the money. So instead I downloaded a simple OKR template for Notion where I plan to outline and measure my Objectives and Key Results for this next 12 Weeks.
Chapter 2 Key Takeaways & Actions
Takeaways – Chapter 2
Discard annualized planning.
Apply the concept of periodization to my business plans
Actions – Chapter 2
- I revived my 12 Week Trello Board
- Identify no more than 3 Objectives for this “12 Week Year” i.e. quarter less would probably be more effective.
Chapter 3 Key Takeaways & Actions
Takeaways – Chapter 3
Create a compelling vision for the future to enable you to stay the course when things get uncomfortable.
The most important actions are usually the most uncomfortable actions.
Your business objectives are not the means
Actions – Chapter 3
I’ve done these vision exercises many times and honestly I’m not 30 years old or 40, or even 50 – I’m no longer looking to the future. I’m looking for today – for making today great and productive.
- Work on OKR’s for the next 12 weeks
Chapter 4 Key Takeaways & Actions
March 26, 2024
Takeaways – Chapter 4
If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else
Yogi Berra
Plan the next 12 weeks – this chapter was somewhat redundant but mercifully short.
Actions – Chapter 4
Nothing new
Chapter 5 Key Takeaways & Actions
Again mercifully short and more of the same. Primary takeaway create a weekly plan. Assess daily.
Chapter 6 Key Takeaways & Actions
“In God we trust: all other must bring data.”
W. Edwards demming
Takeaways – Chapter 6
Measure Your Results
Actions – Chapter 6
I said I wasn’t going to do it, but I did. I found a fantastic OKR program. It’s called Cascade. They have a free version for up to 4 users. I’m still in a free trial so I don’t know what features I’ll lose when that ends. We’ll see, I’ll post about it.
Chapter 7 Key Takeaways & Actions
Takeaways – Chapter 7
Accountability is not consequences it’s ownership
Actions – Chapter 7
Nothing new, I embraced this many years ago
Chapter 8 Key Takeaways & Actions
Takeaways – Chapter 8
Actions – Chapter 8
Author John Doerr
“When dealing with numerical data, approximately right is better than precisely wrong.”
Natural resources management gateway
– Carl G. Thor
March 24, 2024
Published in April 2018, I purchased Measure What Matters in December 2018, but didn’t read it – geez. I bought it because wanted to be certain I measured what mattered.
I really don’t know how or why I didn’t finish reading it. There are 9049 reviews on Amazon, 66% of which are 5-star reviews, that’s 66%. There are another 32,179 ratings on Goodreads (as reported by Amazon). That’s a lot of reviews.
As always, I looked at the one-star and two-star reviews. The top one-star review found the book “dry, uninspired and a little creepy.” I disagreed and found the review annoying, but the thing I like about critical reviews is that they frequently recommend other books on the same subject, and sometimes, they are worth reading.
In this case, the recommendation is “High Output Management by Andy Grove – who is considered to be the author of OKRs. I have this book and, again, haven’t read it – so I’m going to add it to this themed read.
This is one of now 4 books in my current themed read about measurement and forecasting.
You can find the Amazon reviews of Measure What Matters here.
May 3rd, 2024
I’m still trying to figure out how to document this project – in the blog – in each book post? I really don’t know YET. I’ll figure it out.
I’ve just finished chapter 20 of this book – I’m going to have to read it again. Reading is great, but doing something with what you read is another ball game altogether, and that’s the point of the project.
My takeaways so far:
- My goals are very small – MINUSCULE really
- My thinking is foggy
The Art and Science of prediction Copyright 2015
This is one of three books in my themed read about measuring and forecasting. Again I’m only 60 pages into the book today March 23, 2024, so I can’t say much about it, other than, good forecasting is possible and apparently useful – two concepts I’ve never bought into.
You can read the Amazon reviews here – there are 4213 reviews with an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5 – so 60%.
I often find the critical reviews of a book to be more helpful – though some are absurd. One 1 star review complains about the paper quality -and another recommends a different book which is actually about the Vietnam war – really?
Reading the reviews, however brings to me to the subject of todays Day 3 blog post which you can read here – should you be so inclined:)
A book about finding the value of intangibles in business by Douglas W. Hubbard
“When dealing with numerical data, approximately right is better than precisely wrong.”
Carl G Thor
My rating of this book is not based on the quality of its writing or content but rather on how practical and valuable it has been in my life. Not an easy read.
It’s a great book, but it may not be worth the time if you aren’t struggling with the problem it addresses.
March 22, 2024
Reflections and Random Thoughts
One of the first things that came up for me was that not only do “big companies” not know how to measure, but they don’t even try! And here I thought it was just me that couldn’t figure things out.
Insights
Key Take-Aways
Measurements inform decisions. Decisions always have some level of uncertainty. Reducing the amount of uncertainty is the point.
Value of Measurement Matters. If you don’t compute the value of measurements, you are probably measuring the wrong things the wrong way.
Step one: Determine what you already know … even when you think you know nothing
Something Actionable
Review what I’m measuring, i.e., KPI, and consider the value of the measurement. Stop measuring the low-value measurements.
Keep a list of the decisions I’m trying to make.
What Everyone Else Thinks
In any case, I’m reading the 3rd Edition. It was initially published in 1962. It has 563 reviews on Amazon (in Jan of 2025) and a rating of 4.5 but only 3.9 on Good Reads with over 3600 ratings and 257 reviews. You can read the Amazon reviews here, and the Goodread reviews here.
Many of the poor reviews complain about the difficulty of reading the book and too much repetition. And, as usual, the folks who complain about the physical quality of the book they received.
A Book about Hiking the Pacific Trail by Cheryl Strayed
Reflections and Random Thoughts
Started Sept 29th and finished Oct 5, 2023
I started this book in December 2022; my brother Connor gave it to me. I can’t imagine how I put it down without finishing it. This time around, I couldn’t put it down. At the age of 26, the author hiked 1000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. I was hooked after reading the opening paragraph of the prologue – here it is.
“The trees were tall, but I was taller, standing above them on a steep mountain slope in northern California. Moments before, I’d removed my boots and the left one had fallen into those trees, first catapulting into the air when my enormous backpack toppled onto it … I let out a stunned gasp, though I’d been in the wilderness thirty-eight days and by then I’d come to know that anything could happen and that everything would.”
Wild, Cheryl Strayed
This book has almost 73,000 Amazon reviews, 2% of which are passionately negative. The negative reviews range from accusing her of fabricating her story to complaints that she “probably only actually hiked three or four hundred miles of the 2600-mile trail.”
I found the accusation that she is “more interested in showing off her writing skill than telling her story” particularly galling. Perhaps more authors should give us less than their very best – lest we feel they are “showing off.”
Personally, if I manage to get my three-mile walk on the paved hills (not mountains) around my neighborhood completed more than twice a week, I congratulate myself quite heartily. And when I manage to write even a few sensible words about anything and have anyone at all interested in reading them, I feel like I’ve managed to do something.
She walked somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 miles in the wilderness and wrote an engaging and beautiful recounting of it.