Charles Duhigg’s book are always entertaining. The central thesis make me dubious. That isn’t important though as the stories are full of interesting observations. This is true of Smarter, Faster, Better. Duhigg shares a secret to being productive.
Great Stories
I’m not a fan of some of the literature at the basis of the book. As such, it would be a bit tough for Duhigg to fashion something that appealed to me from it. The stories however nicely illustrate key points. He discusses the making of Frozen. He describes how the film changed from a problem into the megahit that it is today. Big changes in direction also may explain some of the puzzling plot twists. Maybe I wasn’t paying sufficient attention to Frozen but at least one massive plot twist didn’t really seem to be properly foreshadowed.
While I’ll generally praise Duhigg’s stories, I found the story of the doomed airline a bit much. I really didn’t need to hear quite so much about it).
A Secret To Being Productive?
He has some interesting suggestions. He describes how “team leaders at Google make checkmarks next to people’s names each time they speak and won’t end a meeting until those checks are roughly equal.” (Duhigg, 2016, page 70). I think this advice could be useful, if you have a problem with some people always dominating discussions. That said, there are obvious problems if team members really have nothing to say. You wait for them to make some irrelevant comments. Furthermore, some people are less talkative than others naturally. They may feel nervous about being made to speak. Forcing them to say something for the sake of a tickmark seems a bit much.
The general point is that I’m all for good ideas to try. We can definitely be inspired by what others do well. That said people and teams differ. What works for you in one situation, or what works for Google generally, won’t necessarily work for you in another situation.
Why not read Duhigg for fun stores and some ideas of things to try. That said, I’m yet to be convinced there is a secret to being productive that you can apply off the shelf.
For more by Duhigg see here and advice from Frozen see here.
Read: Charles Duhigg, 2016, Smarter, Faster, Better: The Secrets to being Productive in Life and Business, Doubleday