I have started another blog. It’s an experiment in ‘Working out loud’, which is to share what you are doing and thinking so that others can add their comments, share relevant information, give you advice and generally help you get ‘the work’ done. The idea is that you are tapping into the collective intelligence of you network so that you do better work and move faster.
This is not without danger, of course. Your network may conclude that you don’t actually add much to the collective intelligence and not bother to engage. Even worse, they may bother to engage so that they can tell your as much! We hate rejection, being cast out, because we are programmed to belong. Putting up our work and ideas carried a lot of personal risk. Especially when those ideas are rough and ready, early musings and wonderings.
That’s one of the reasons why i decided to start a separate blog. There’s a particular audience I want to share this with and I didn’t want to spam my more general network (and family and friends) with the blogs. They are welcome to read them but I think they would find them even less interesting than my normal blogs.
There is another reason too. Putting a blog up here takes time. I feel I have set a certain standard that I have to meet. It must have a decent, and hopefully relevant, picture that credits the photographer. ; tags; links to the sites I refer to. I need to check any facts, put in links to sources, and choose tags for it.I need to check it for spelling and grammar, keep it to a certain length and craft the words to the best of my ability. This rather inhibits free-flowing thought. It’s like publishing an opinion piece rather than having a debate down the pub.
So I have set up a really plain blog, without pictures or tags or links, which I can just type into and hit publish. I’m not trying to keep to any particular frequency, length or subjects. I can just type in what’s on my mind, with the barest minimum of quality control. I’ve removed as much friction from the process as possible. It doesn’t post onto other sites, people have to come and find it. It is what it is, what I am thinking about at the moment.
And it’s worked. I have blogged much more frequently. The blogs have been of a decent length, 300-500 words, but I can just put up one or two lines. Or a thought. Or a picture, I suppose (though that doesn’t come naturally to me – it’s a generational thing!). I’m doing for me, to capture what’s whizzing around my brain so I have space for other stuff. Or just space, and calm. It’s a reference, a bit like an open notebook or journal.
So, taking the friction away has increased the output. We’ll see how it develops but I am enjoying the freedom to share my thoughts and the satisfaction of getting stuff shipped.
2 Comments