Michael Lopp's Blog, page 37
March 5, 2015
March 2, 2015
11 year-old boys watching Alien
“At bedtime there was some discussion of whether an army of predators could beat an army of aliens. The issue was never resolved.”
(By Matt Zoller Seitz via Coudal]
February 26, 2015
Stating the Obvious
Michael Sippey on Medium:
“The fundamental unit of the blog is not the blog post. The fundamental unit of the blog is the stream.”
Also, Sippey is blogging on Stating the Obvious. His original blog with the same name was a major inspiration for Rands in Repose.
February 25, 2015
The Great (Incorrect) Disappointment
First day of the new gig. You walk in the building knowing practically no one. Everyone is pleasant and nice… almost too nice. Everyone (including you) are not quite themselves because everyone understands the power of the first impression so they’re watching every single move and attempting to interpret how these moves might be perceived. It’s exhausting and it doesn’t reflect the natural steady state of the team.
You listen. You talk to every single person who is willing and you slowly form the impression of the tangible and intangible aspects of this group of people. A picture slowly forms in your mind of how it fits together and, as an aside, it’s almost always wrong because your brain hates discord. As quickly as possible, your brain wants a framework that efficiently predicts what is going to happen next. Your initial framework is a calming hodgepodge of past experience combined with your three most recent epiphanies and you call this weak sauce, “The way they work.”
Good news, this poor assessment goes both ways. It’s the beginning of The Great (Incorrect) Disappointment. You discover your model for them is incorrect. They discover that you are not who they expected. It’s the end of the new gig honeymoon and the fact the end has begun is progress, but it mostly feels like disappointment. You’re in an unfortunate hole. It’s buyer’s remorse. It’s understanding the world is never ever that simple.
You sense their disappointment, so you listen harder. You push yourself to talk with a wider variety of unfamiliar humans because you continue to erroneously believe that one of them could tell you that elusive one rule that would explain this particular clan’s culture in a immediately useful and revealing way. You read every decrepit wiki page. You attend – every – meeting. You’re attempting to rebuild yourself in a new culture and it’s exhausting because you took all of this for granted in your prior gig. You had built blazing fast intuition, but it took months… perhaps years.
You start climbing out of The Great (Incorrect) Disappointment with a small unexpected win. No one expected you to fix that, no one knew it was that broken, and no one thought it was that important. When you fixed it, no one really noticed. When the consequences of the fix became obvious, they thought, “He can do that?” Your fix is your first legitimate reputation defining moment because while people were told who you were, they didn’t believe it because people don’t believe what they have not seen.
The Great (Incorrect) Disappointment vanishes slowly and quietly each of these small wins. The wins don’t feel substantively nor impactful, but they continue to incrementally define who you are to the rest of the team. They start to build a realistic model of you in their minds. You’re not who they expected, it’s not what you expected, but after three months you start to think of this strange place as home.
How Lego Learned How Children Play
Via Quartz:
These and other findings led the researchers to identify the key patterns: children play to get oxygen, to understand hierarchy, to achieve mastery at a skill, and to socialize. The patterns were simplified into four categories: under the radar, hierarchy, mastery, and social play.
February 20, 2015
An Ideal Conversation
You’re going to have a conversation.
Great.
Ideally, this is going to be an effective conversation. You have a topic you want to discuss that will likely result in a decision or two. You are confident in your version of the truth and you feel no matter what happens in this conversation, you’ll be able to adapt.
Problem is, there is another person in this conversation and from the moment they open their mouth, it’s no longer just about the topic, the conversation is now about how we are having it.
Meeting Creatures
This is an article about basic conversation mechanics. It’s not about what motivates the person sitting across from you, it’s about some of the quirks you’ll encounter as the conversation occurs.
I have a series of mostly embarrassing articles from the mid-00’s that talk about the different types of folks that are going to show up in your meetings. Don’t read these articles. They are simplistic and embarrassing because they judge and they judge simplistically.
The following list of mechanics is presented mostly sans judgement. I’ve attempted to capture these different styles and quirks to both alert you to their existence and to give you an objective opinion about their intent.
For the sake of simplicity, I’m going assume that your hypothetical conversation is regarding a mostly non-controversial topic. Both parties are on equal footing and no one is likely to lose their shit. This is an average no-frills conversation.
Let’s start with:
The Can’t Finishers This particular conversation quirk occurs when the person sitting across the table appears to be unable to complete their thought. They clearly make their point again and again and again. There is a spectrum to the Can’t Finisher. On one end we have the ones who are such good communicators that you can’t really tell they are unable to finish for some time. On the other end, we have the folks who are repeating themselves, word for word, after a minute.
The Can’t Finisher behavior, I’ve found, is situational and I know this because I have this quirk. When I’m spiraling on the same point, it either means I don’t feel I’ve expressed myself clearly and/or the other party hasn’t non-verbally acknowledged my point, yet.
Being on the receiving end of the Can’t Finisher is frustrating because, yes, you got the point the first or second time, but we’re circling back to the fourth version of the same point which means it’s time for…
The Interrupter This conversational behavior is much more prevalent in larger groups of people where folks are jockeying to interject themselves into the conversation, but it happens in one on ones, as well.
You’re halfway through your point and the Interrupter just jumps in mid-sentence. It seem rude, but there are truly artistic Interrupters on the planet. These masters interrupt you mid-thought and you don’t even notice. They have the ability to detect that you’ve said just enough, they intuitively know precisely how and where to interrupt you, and they meaningfully carry on the flow of the conversation. It’s kind’a conversationally gorgeous.
The volatile version of the Interrupter is exactly what you think. They awkwardly jump in mid-word and just start talking. You haven’t remotely finished your thought and here they are talking about a point they can’t fully understand because you haven’t made it.
The Interrupter is enthusiasm. That is what I hear in an interruption. The thing we’re talking about is exciting me, so, well, I’m going to start talking.
You have a choice when interrupted and you need to make it immediately: Are you going to be interrupted or not? Is your point established enough to weather this interruption? Is this a serial Interrupter who needs to check their enthusiasm?
It’s a quick, instinctive call and if you make the call, you re-interrupt, “I’m sorry. I’ve got one more thing to say…”, you continue, and you finish with a redirect back to the Interruptor, “Please continue,” and then this guy shows up…
The Long Pauser A good conversation has flow. Points are being traded back and forth, clarifications are made, and resolution appears to be imminent. You make one more point, verbally hand-off back to the other party, and…
And…
And…
Nothing.
I kind’a love the Long Pauser. They take the time to determine what they have to say before they open their mouth and they will wait as long as necessary before they continue. I had a former boss who would pause for up to 30 awkward seconds while she was considering her point. The first time it happened, 15 seconds in, I wondered, Is the meeting over?
In a world full of people who can’t shut up, the Long Pauser considers. He is processing, he is compiling, and until he’s done, it’s nice and quiet. There is a political version of the Long Pauser who uses this move to seize authority of the conversation, but the healthy Long Pauser is saving everyone time by only saying what is considered and necessary and they are rarely…
The Restater Another trait I have. The Restater says exactly the same thing you just said. Seems odd, but I’ll explain. You just said something of magnitude, complexity, or truth with significant consequences. The details matter, so I say, “Let me make sure I heard you right.”
Conversations at work are often contractual. We are going to agree to X and before I’m committing to this agreement, I’m going to make sure that I understand the terms and conditions of our accord.
Listen carefully as I restate because I really don’t want to be…
The What I Believer If the Restater’s intent is understanding, the What I Believer’s intent is shaping. They are taking what you just said and restating the facts to suit what they believe and not what you said.
Now, in this judgement-free article, I believe What I Believers are doing is not malicious, they are just applying their lens to the conversation. But they may or may not be aware they are doing this, which is why I pay careful attention when what I said starts being restated. The conclusion, decision, or social contract that we’re coming to is being built with each phrase and nod of the head. Your responsibility in this conversation is the correct interpretation of both party’s thoughts and facts because misinterpreted and altered facts – once confirmed – are just facts.
There’s an important variant of the What I Believer that doesn’t actually know what they believe because they are…
The Brainstormer Another Rands trait. You’ve landed a compelling point and I can sense its value, but I don’t have a response, yet, so, well, I start talking and I don’t really know what I think, yet, but your point – so great… it needs immediate words and I have words.
The Brainstormer figures out what they think by talking. The problem with Brainstormers is if they’re in a position of power or are compelling speakers, the brainstorming might sound a lot like the truth or a decision rather than the current version of the thoughts.
I do this so much that I’ve learned to declare when we’re entering the brainstorming portion of the conversation. This declaration makes it clear that I reserve the right to change my point of view at will and take nothing as the truth.
For the record, brainstorming is my favorite part of any conversation. We’re jamming on the topic at hand and that means all portions of our brains are fully engaged and we have absolutely no need for…
The Finisher Conversations can be a healthy competition. Rather than a decision, we might be working to find the truth of a thing. People and their agendas swirl around a company like weather and part of your job is not just understanding, but predicting that social weather.
In these fact comparison conversations, the Finisher is the person who, well, likes to finish the conversation. She likes to have the final word. Perhaps it’s power thing, but I’m not here to judge, I’m here to listen. The Finisher isn’t a Restater, but someone who is going to make sure no matter how the conversation is flowing, she is going to have the last word.
The Finisher is a reminder that there is status in a conversation. You might be the boss, you might be the person with authority over the matter, or you might be the person who needs a critical piece of information. The Finisher’s finishing is telling you how they see themselves relative to the matter at hand. While what they finish with might not matter the fact they feel compelled to finish is interesting.
The Art of Listening
Talk with me for a bit and you’ll notice I say “But um” a lot. Now that I hear myself saying it, each “But um” stands out like a verbal sore thumb, but um, I use those two annoying useless words for a important reason. I want our conversation to flow or I’m in the middle of thought and need just a smidge of a second to gather my next thought. “But um” is my verbal punctuation that is somewhere between an ellipses and an em-dash.
Conversations between humans have a dynamic structure that is unique to both you and the person sitting across from you. This article only documents a handful of the interesting ways we construct the flows of conversations. What you need to understand is that within our habits and quirks there is an entirely different set of information that affects the conversation, but you must listen… you must listen hard to the pauses, the shapes of phrases, the quirks, and the way they are exchanged.
Listen long enough and you’ll hear an entirely different conversation.
February 14, 2015
Still Playing Destiny
I’m still playing Destiny. It’s February. We’re well past the holiday period where I have an unusual amount of free time to binge on video games. This Christmas it was Warlords of Draenor (revitalized game play, almost a reboot, right?), Shadows of Mordor (fascinating engaging game play and enemy reputation system + best game based on movie lore ever), and Destiny.
It’s February and it’s just Destiny now. My minutes per week are spiking, I’m compulsively checking Friday morning to see what wares Xûr is sporting, and I’m slowly gathering a group of fellow Guardians where we’ll collectively help each other tackle the end game content.
Video game reviews aren’t my forte. There is so much great writing about Destiny elsewhere, but for the first time since World of Warcraft, I’m lost in a video game and I want to explain why:
Destiny is hard. There has been an ongoing lobotomization of video games for decades and it’s understandable. The easier a game is to play, the more humans will play it. It’s a delicate balance that game designers have to manage: how hard to build the puzzle?
Destiny won’t scare new players. It does a fine job of introducing new players to the mechanics of the new world. You’ll level up quite a bit, but at some point with your first character, you’re going to run into a part of the story you can’t pass with your currently level character and gear. The enemies are too hard. You’ll be frustrated and you’ll ask a friend who will tell you, “Yeah, go level up on Crucible or run some Vanguard missions and come back.”
It’s a risky game design move. Early on, creating a potential roadblock for new players that involves branching from the main story line. This is a moment where non-committed players can switch to any of the other great many distractions available to them, but those who return will notice that one or two earned levels will get them past the roadblock and they’ll also gain valuable exposure to the other parts of the game.
Destiny feels like Quake. I was a big player of both Quake, Unreal, and Halo. I was not a Call of Duty player. I played a couple versions of Call of Duty, but it never stuck. Whether it’s the content or the the game play, I don’t know, but early on in Destiny, I was struck how much – even though I was using a controller and not a keyboard – Destiny felt like those early games. Here’s why:
First person shooters (FPS) have a mechanic called Time-to-kill (TTK) which measures the average time it takes to kill a fellow player. There’s a trend in FPS games to lower the TTK to increase gamer joy. Make sense, right? Run into a room and BAM BAM BAM, you’ve got three insta-kills. There is satisfaction there, but it’s empty gaming calories. You ran into the room and TWITCH TWITCH TWITCH, you’re a big winner.
You won nothing. You showed no skill save for pulling the trigger fast. Destiny’s higher TTK means that you have to think and strategize (quickly) before you run into a room of full of enemies because it’s go to take some time to mow these folks down:
What is the right weapon for this room? (How good is your understanding of your currently equipped weapons and skills?)
What is the right entry point? (Do you intimately understand the map?)
Where are you going to aim? (Can you aim?)
Really, Can You Aim? Crucible is the player-versus-player (PVP) portion of Destiny and there is no better way to explore your utter Destiny ineptitude than a few hours getting waxed in the Crucible. If you’ve ever been remotely good at FPS, you’ll spend your first week yelling an endless stream of profanities at your screen because you’re aware that I know how I could be better.
Again, another bold move by Bungie. Each degree of gaming frustration correlates to a portion of the potential gaming population bailing for greener and easier fields. I say – good riddance – I want to play with folks who are eager to achieve excellence.
I’m on month number five of Crucible and only in the last month have I felt like I had a clue what I was doing, but now I cherish what I considered my hard earned ability. Right behind Crucible is the ever-evolving raiding content and the difficulty of that content has created entire cottage industries of websites designed to help players organize raiding parties around these multi-hour events.
I’m awful at raids right now, but that won’t always be the case.
Destiny has no story. Lore and how it’s told has never been a differentiator for me in video games. Frostmoure is that big sword… for that guy? Right? Destiny’s lore has been getting ripped on since the beginning and I have two points:
First, have you seen the game?
Forget about what stories are being told within the game. Just look at the amazing detail within in the game. This is a universe where shit has gone down. It’s not entirely clear what has gone down, but it’s serious and it’s everywhere. I feel surrounded by a story that I don’t quite understand and I like that dramatic tension.
Second, who cares? Selfishly, the story I care about the most is mine. How am I progressing? Are there unsurmountable challenges that I have surmounted? Am I learning? Am I progressing? Do you remember how I ended up getting Invective? I do. It’s a great story.
Destiny is a story in progress. It’s not quite done, but there is more than enough in place for me to enjoy my place within the story. It’s a difficult world where achievement is increasingly difficult to unlock, but I prefer to work for achievement because that makes for a fascinating story.
January 27, 2015
January 19, 2015
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