High Output Management

High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove

This is an older management book from a boss at Intel. The chip business was booming in the day, though there were plenty of pivots and changes that the company went through. There are some insights that seem funny today. Email was seen as a powerful tool that helped enable communication throughout the company. This would give American companies the similar "real time" communication similar to Japanese companies where everybody sits at a table together. Well that has come and gone. We have even gone through the open office trend, instant messaging and other real time communication tools. Now the college is often to get more focussed.

There was some good discussion on 1:1 meetings. It is good for both sides to take notes. Look at problems. Plan actions and get to the bottom of things.

In spite of the changes in technology many key aspects of management remain similar.

Making a Good Brain Great: The Amen Clinic Program for Achieving and Sustaining Optimal Mental Performance

I don't know whether to treat this book as quackery or expert advice. The author did mention that they made an appearance on daytime talk TV and frequently testify in court. He also advocates for nutritional supplements. 

On the other hand, he does have quality medical credentials. Much of the advise does seem to make sense. You should "exercise the brain". Avoid brain trauma. (He has a strong preference for people playing table tennis instead of contact sports.) Eat good food, not junk.

He also loves to do brain scans. He thinks that they can help identify many problems. Maybe this is true. Do we currently have the expertise to understand what we see? 

Disciplined Dreaming

Jazz musicians spend significant time learning the musical framework of jazz music. This framework then gives them opportunity to improvise - and even break some of the rules in the process. Some people are naturally more creative. However, about 80% of creativity is learned. Being in a "heads up" state allows people to get new ideas and be creative. Disciplined Dreaming provides a number of tools to help people be more creative. Often simply asking "why?" can help find new solutions. Fear of change can often be a huge creativity killer. These are all some of the bullet points in "disciplined dreaming." The book itself felt like a serious of points and anecdotes in order to facilitate directed creativity. Focussing creativity can help let the juices flow to find solutions in the area. However, care must be taken to not be too focussed. Most of the points in the book felt like things I had read elsewhere. (I guess the "creative" book was not too creative after all.)

Door to Door

Door to Door provides a look at transportation in America. Ample coverage is provided on ports and the movement of freight. (Ironically, most people don't realize the importance of the ports, such as the resident that complained of the port traffic being useless to here because she could just get things at Wal-Mart. Little did she realize how Wal-Mart got its things.) People are reluctant to build roads that would be mostly used by freight. They would prefer to optimize roads for less-efficient single occupancy vehicles.

Freeways tend to induce demand. The story was told of the busy California freeway that was closed for reconstruction and expansion. Calamity was expected when it was closed, with drivers clogging local roads. Instead, drivers simply did not drive. The traffic on other roads was lighter than normal, even with the freeway closed. However, once it was opened with additional lanes, traffic picked up with a vengeance, with times being even slower than they were before the expansion.

Cars are just plain dangerous. Distracted drivers are given a few tons of metal to do what they see fit. Early on, cars were seen for the danger that they were. However, through the careful PR work of the automobile interests, we have the language of "accidents". The incidents are viewed as things that could just as well happen to anybody and need not be punished. The author gives an account of a number of fatal "accidents" that happened in a single day. We have become "immune" to the serious scourge in our society. We demand recalls when small parts have problem in cars, but do very little for the large scale problem we have with cars. Modern "stroads" that combine large multi-lane highway design with strip malls and other attractions are another significant danger of the modern car culture.

The author of the book is very keen on driver-less cars. They are seen as a great help that can improve cities and make the roads safer for everyone involved. The cars can respond instantly to dangers and incursions. They can also be communal taxis, not needing to occupy real estate in dense city centers. Will they catch on? Or will the auto interests find a way to encourage more personal ownership and make roads even more inclusive to automobiles. I have been a driver-less skeptic, but the arguments presented here are quite persuasive. However, the "road bullies" driving their own cars could still be a concern in a driverless world.