Effective vs. Efficient: Psychoscope, July 25th, 2019
I have just run into a twit by Shane Parrish @farnamstreet
"Outcome over Ego" - no doubt: ego is the enemy of the outcome, it can sabotage the outcome.
"Doing over Watching" - spot on.
However, "Effective over Efficient" - I would argue with that.
If I interpret it correctly being 'effective' means in this context, being driven by the outcome, or by the effect/result you create. Being 'Efficient' is about the process: how quickly or effortlessly you get to the results...If that is the meaning of this, I have a problem with it, because this implies that the process can be sacrificed in favor of the result.
Let's take some noble cause, such as World Peace, for example, and let's say that's the effect or the result we want to get. Should we really value this outcome over the process through which we get there? Then what what happened with the lessons we've learnt from anti-utopian societies, such as described in 1984?
Or let's take a simple situation that we face everyday: the goal is to prepare 2 cups of morning coffee.
2 cups of steaming fresh coffee is the desired outcome, no matter how you do, get it done. If you value this outcome over process of making coffee, and end up in a mess, burning yourself and driving to Starbucks, the coffee will not be as enjoyable as it would be, if the process was safe, quick and efficient.
So, I think - balance: sacrifice a little bit of an outcome to achieve some efficiency from the get go.
It will be easier to improve the results, once you nailed the process.
All of this is nonsense! Of course we should favor Effectiveness over Efficiency!
This is not about sacrificing the process in order to achieve the results; this is only about sacrificing one aspect of process - the efficacy - in order to achieve the results! It's about not obsessing over the process, but diving in head first to have something done! This is about having it done rather than fearing to make mistakes, fearing to show vulnerability and limitations of your knowledge, and thinking that if you nail the process first, you'll get a perfect results and that saves you from some embarrassment! Who cares if you carefully followed cooking instructions and managed to get halfway through preparation of a perfect and complicated, state-of-the art cake, if what expected was any piece of sweet pastry, and not now, but a week ago? That's what this is about. Did I manage to mess you up a bit? ;)
Outcome over Ego
Effective over Efficient
Doing over WatchingThe intention of the twit, as I understand, is the idea that one should be favored over the other.
"Outcome over Ego" - no doubt: ego is the enemy of the outcome, it can sabotage the outcome.
"Doing over Watching" - spot on.
However, "Effective over Efficient" - I would argue with that.
If I interpret it correctly being 'effective' means in this context, being driven by the outcome, or by the effect/result you create. Being 'Efficient' is about the process: how quickly or effortlessly you get to the results...If that is the meaning of this, I have a problem with it, because this implies that the process can be sacrificed in favor of the result.
Let's take some noble cause, such as World Peace, for example, and let's say that's the effect or the result we want to get. Should we really value this outcome over the process through which we get there? Then what what happened with the lessons we've learnt from anti-utopian societies, such as described in 1984?
Or let's take a simple situation that we face everyday: the goal is to prepare 2 cups of morning coffee.
2 cups of steaming fresh coffee is the desired outcome, no matter how you do, get it done. If you value this outcome over process of making coffee, and end up in a mess, burning yourself and driving to Starbucks, the coffee will not be as enjoyable as it would be, if the process was safe, quick and efficient.
So, I think - balance: sacrifice a little bit of an outcome to achieve some efficiency from the get go.
It will be easier to improve the results, once you nailed the process.
All of this is nonsense! Of course we should favor Effectiveness over Efficiency!
This is not about sacrificing the process in order to achieve the results; this is only about sacrificing one aspect of process - the efficacy - in order to achieve the results! It's about not obsessing over the process, but diving in head first to have something done! This is about having it done rather than fearing to make mistakes, fearing to show vulnerability and limitations of your knowledge, and thinking that if you nail the process first, you'll get a perfect results and that saves you from some embarrassment! Who cares if you carefully followed cooking instructions and managed to get halfway through preparation of a perfect and complicated, state-of-the art cake, if what expected was any piece of sweet pastry, and not now, but a week ago? That's what this is about. Did I manage to mess you up a bit? ;)
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