Game on!

I have learned a few lessons this week. I would like to highlight one, mainly because it is a simple yet powerful idea people seem to neglect!

Examining assumptions

I was reminded of this by Prof Wong Poh Kam, director NEC and angel investor. Strangely, I was feeling rather free that one day and I tagged along with Lawrence to a networking cum sharing session. It turns out Prof Wong happens to be the director of BANSEA.

The idea over here is rather simple. After coming up with a business plan, examine closely, at my own assumptions. For example, is it possible that we get 50,000 users a month? Is it possible for some one to clock 100 hrs / week of programming time etc? This simple reflection would reveal the flaws and also forces us to clear of our plan of action. Simplest solutions are the best!

Also, it is not to say that we shouldn't make assumption. They just have to reflect reality. Let's look at some (simplifying) assumptions that I have for final project:

• Flash can be learned and mastered in a month.
• The game would be interesting enough for people to want to try
• The team's effort is synergistic and that everyone is enthusiastic about that we do. 
• We would be principled in our execution.
• Everyone in the team can provide the team with as much resources as we need to make project fly at the minimum. 

The next questions (What is there to learn about flash? What do I mean by mastery? What is the usual timeline?...) is of course asked to verify this assumptions, which leads to the next rounds of questions and assumptions. And as computer scientist likes it, this will go on recursively until we are clear on what we want and until we start asking questions that are either too stupid or too general or too specific like "What is the meaning of Life? "

The purpose of this exercise is of course to be clear on what we want. Clarity is the the most important outcome of this theoretical, goggle-aided, ideas bouncing exercise. (= After which we should have a fair idea on what we want and how to achieve it, although the solutions may not be optimise. To optimise is again, other exercise altogether. 

On another note, I was pretty excited by the CS3216 pitching session, which makes me feel like a VC, although I know that this is a mere ego-trip. These are people with real world problems to solve or ideas to implement. Thanks for giving us the flavor at least, prof!

Happy Chinese New Year!

How to be a great Jack of all Trade?

What I am going to explicate over here are my insights and thoughts about being a great interdisciplinary learner and a person who seeks out experiences and wisdom in Life with spontaneity and curiosity. Perhaps the term “all trades” is misleading, as I don’t profess to be interested in the universal sum of knowledge and skill sets. Rather, I would like to replace the word “all” with “few/many”. The number does not matter, as some people are naturally interested in more stuff and they do it with all the love for live and can manage to excel in many things.

            To start off, I would like to introduce the concept of an “adaptor”, which happens to also be called a “Jack” in colloquial terms and have the connotation of being adaptive and spontaneous. Lovely, because that is exactly what a Jack needs to be

I.      To be able to plug into different domains of knowledge and bring all the innovations and solutions together as one integrated piece.

II.    There is no way one can possibly keep up with the exponential expansion of domain knowledge. Hence, it is wiser to use the networked effect of different domains of knowledge as a leverage. (meaning that the more things you know, the more perspectives, possibilities and potential ideas you have to work with as long as you can draw links between different domains of knowledge. Think of what led to the video game industry? Design + Traditional games + computer advances + businesses)

Hence, my basic aspiration of becoming a great Jack of many trades (specifically Combio, humanism and SE and many of their subsets) has been reduced to the challenge of fulfilling these goes.

How to fulfill the basis

1.     I love people. It is as simple as that that follows of my take on Life that there are many many people (perhaps everyone) who are intrinsically special. Learning, talking and doing things with people inspires me. And hence, from the many interesting experiences, paradigms and wisdom that I gain from people, I can begin to build up my understanding of many pools of knowledge in Life, and appreciate the connection between things. Like how an apple may mean food, a business opportunity, red color, an alphabet aid at the same time.

2.     Read as widely and ask as many interesting questions as possible, so I get to learn more.

3.     Continuously strive to be inspired. When one area does not seem as exciting to me, I would either find new perspective or I would often skip on to other domains that are “happening”, it helps to be along with exciting people moving onto the next big thing. 

4.     Reflect and think. Learning so much without thinking through, reflecting, asking myself questions forming frameworks and explaining to others is kind of a deflated way of learning. The best way to learn is to teach others and to apply what I have learned directly though action. Clarity helps.

5.     Being an expansive thinker – I am not sure whether this could be acquired or taught, but I am acutely aware that my brain is abuzz in a playground of ideas and get easily fired up by ideas, relating ideas seems to be intuitive in that sense. Perhaps exploring Life and thinking things through via first principles instead of textbook answers and theories might help. Talking to people and seeing what they see helps. Is this creativity?

6.     Basically, I am not that smart. But I just ask good questions and I think that can get me somewhere.

What not to do

1.     To be distracted like a dog by cats or squirrels. One can easily be caught up and overwhelmed by the number of books to read and things to learn. However, always question, is it useful? Is it fun? Is it meaningful? Could it lead to something? If the answer is no to all, perhaps you might wasting your time and energy… One can only do that much. More importantly thing leverage from synergistic domains of knowledge and skill sets.

2.     With that much learning and doing, being a great Jack of all trade requires rather high maintenance.

The Value

1.     To be able to leverage on the network of ideas, knowledge and people. Hence solutions tend to be have an integrated approach and is leveraged by the synergy of different fields.

2.     Project management this together with the ability to appreciate interpersonal team dynamics, team capacity and skill sets allows me to take my team further. It allows me to serve as a conduit for ideas.

3.     This toolkit will get upgraded by being polished by other people’s experience and insights. Which means that I learn faster with more knowledge gain. (=

4.     Adaptiveness – allows me to survive and excel.

5.     I believe that everyone good enough ought to be crossed-trained.

Project Management Insights from USC Productions 2009

Amongst other things, I was producer for the University Scholars' Club Production 09 -  Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue - which I am very proud to say that we have held it at the Esplanade to an amazing audience. On top of that, we made profits and gave friends the opportunity to do something fun and challenging.

It is not all smooth sailing of course. Here's the lesson that I have learned. It's rusting in my archive folder under After Action Review, so I have decided to take it out:

·      Build team capacity

o   Capacity is important for any project team to be functional. Do keep in mind that most students would not have the relevant experience in marketing, publicity, etc. Hence it is important to share experiences and process with people who have been there and done that.

·      Define roles and responsibility clearly and hold each person responsible for the results they create

o   It allows individuals to have a concrete idea of their roles and actionables, and minimize the possibility of having important project areas unattended to. Also, give credit to people who have done well in their roles

·      Trust each other and build bonds

o   Trust is very fundamental. It either creates leverage through synergy or jams through doubts and distrust. Managing emotions and crisis are part and parcel of teamwork, and building a strong team would minimize the need for this

·      Keep to deadlines and key performance indicators

o   It is important to set realistic and manage expectation. It creates achievable deadlines and KPI, fulfilling which would create more momentum and gratification in the project.

·      Tap onto the talents

o   Each individual is unique in terms of character and skill sets. Tapping into them allows these potential to flourish, which in turn creates amazing results. It would also allows the individual to improve their skill sets and ability to work in a team.

·      Start all process early and have good time buffers

o   Deadlines are always an issue, and some delays are unavoidable. Get money in and publicity out early amongst other things. Not a good idea to have an under-financed productions with very few tickets sold

·      Focus – Do one thing well at a time, before moving on to the next

o   So the team can concentrate on one project and not diluted throughout many moving parts

·      Work smart and employ simple solutions 

o   Work hard too. Sometimes the most grunt-ish methods works, but more importantly, but there is almost always a better way. Listen to feedback and employ simple solutions. Given simple rules and context, the human mind can work innovatively to create complex and powerful solutions.

·      When things screw up work to solve problems instead of blaming people