Welcome to another edition of Idea Surplus Disorder.
This week: why efficiency kills magic, the busywork we do to feel productive, how rules make saying "no" easy, what organizational charts miss, and some sobering statistics about organizational change.
Plus, systems that take on lives of their own, why employees should have more say in how they work, maps of fictional journeys, pedestrian icons from around the world, and some wonderfully useful internet tools.
As always, I'm Matt Homann, and I'm glad you're here!
My Favorite Find:
I read hundreds of blogs and dozens of newsletters every week, and I always find more ideas than I can share. My favorite find this week is this collection of nuggets from Rory Sutherland's conversation with Shane Parrish:
- Efficiency is the enemy of magic. Any idiot can cut visible costs by firing the doorman. But the invisible costs are where the magic happens. When you optimize for efficiency, you often kill the very thing that customers value.
- Character is a proxy for quality. When people can’t judge a product’s quality, they judge the seller’s character. If they trust you, they trust what you’re selling. Character is the ultimate warranty.
- Price is a feature, not just a number. We don’t just pay for utility, we pay for how the transaction makes us feel. A higher price can actually improve the experience by signaling value and generosity. Sometimes the best way to improve a product is to charge more for it.
- Weirdness creates monopolies. If you follow the rules, you compete with everyone else. If you do something that seems irrational but works, you stand alone. The best advantage is being the only one crazy enough to do what you do.
- Inefficiency is a filter for character. A little friction is good for the soul. How someone handles a slight delay or a mistake tells you everything about how they’ll handle a crisis.
- Don’t measure a home run with a stopwatch. Creative work follows a power law: one great idea pays for a thousand failures. If you pay people by the hour or measure them by daily output, you inadvertently incentivize mediocrity.
This Week's Question:
Scott Belsky has a name for the little things we do that make us feel productive without actually accomplishing much: insecurity work.
“Insecurity Work” is stuff you do that (1) has no intended outcome, (2) does not move the ball forward in any way, and (3) is quick enough that you can do it multiple times a day without realizing it—but nonetheless puts you at ease.
What's your insecurity work, and what would your team identify as theirs?
A Few More Things Worth Your Time:
Ryan Holiday shares 33 things he's learned in life (so far). These three stood out:
- When people say that something is wrong, they are almost always right. When they tell you how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.
- Steve Kamb told me that the best and most polite excuse is just to say you have a rule. “I have a rule that I don’t decide on the phone.” “I have a rule that I don’t accept gifts.” “I have a rule that I don’t speak for free anymore.” “I have a rule that I am home for bath time with the kids every night.” People respect rules, and they accept that it’s not you rejecting the [offer, request, demand, opportunity] but that the rule allows you no choice.
- “Your last book won’t write your next one.” Don’t remember who said it, but it’s true for writing and for all professions. You are constantly starting at zero. Every sale is a new sale. Every season is a new season. Every fight is a new fight. If you think your past success guarantees you anything, you’re in for a rude awakening. In fact, someone has already started to beat you.
Rishad Tobaccowala thinks we need to rethink organizational design in three dimensions:
An organizational chart is a two-dimensional view—what we need is a three-dimensional redesign.
For years, we’ve fooled ourselves into believing that the organizational chart represents how the organization works. That was okay in less complex, less volatile times, but it’s no longer acceptable. Consider that organizational charts and maps indicate how leaders want the company to operate, but the reality often is quite different.
For instance, the maps and charts document zones of control rather than zones of influence. A title represents a position that may be vested with authority but not necessarily the authority to determine how work is done.
Michael Bungay Stanier has also collected some pretty dismal statistics about organizational change:
Just 5% of those companies involved in digital transformation efforts reported that they had achieved or exceeded the expectations they had set for themselves. — 2024 Bain report
Only 8% of executives demonstrate the ability to lead change effectively, leaving a full 92% of top leaders unprepared to steer their organizations through transformation. — 2026 DDI report
The share of employees willing to support enterprise change collapsed to just 38% in 2022, compared with 74% in 2016. — 2023 Gartner report
John Gall, in The Systems Bible, reminds us what can happen when we build elaborate systems to make our lives easier:
- Systems are seductive. They promise to do a hard job faster, better, and more easily than you could do it by yourself. But if you set up a System, you are likely to find your time and effort now being consumed in the care and feeding of the System itself. New Problems are created by its very presence.
- In setting up a new System, tread softly. You may be disturbing another System that is actually working.
- Once set up, a system won’t Go Away; it Grows and Encroaches. It begins to do Strange and Wonderful Things and Breaks Down in Ways You Never Thought Possible. It Kicks Back, Gets In The Way and Opposes Its Own Proper Function.
Bruce Daisley suggests a surprisingly simple way to improve productivity: let people have more say in how they do their jobs.
When people are asked [how to improve their job], they’re more than happy to input and often they input a lot.
The challenge for many organisations is that they don’t necessarily want to hear the inputs from frontline workers, maybe they believe that a new system is too bureaucratic or new computer software is unsuited to the job. Head office is determined to implement a plan which feels inappropriate for those doing the job. It’s why these workers often don’t believe the company culture belongs to them.
Random Things for Smart People:
- Reading Maps plots the journeys of characters in famous books on real-world maps.
- Walking Men Worldwide is an art project collecting life-sized pedestrian crossing icons from around the world.
- Normal Tools is a collection of little utilities that do one thing without making you create an account.
- OK Go Sandbox turns the band's inventive music videos into lessons about science, math, art, and creativity.
- 12 Axes is a free quiz that maps your political views across a dozen different dimensions.
Words of Wisdom:
The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes. — Sherlock Holmes
I always arrived at the conclusion that life need not be easy provided only that it is not empty. — Lise Meitner
When you get a clever idea, it is a consequence of being connected. To language, to other people. And so that magical, spiritual aspect of the concept is the product of a group effort. — Mary Heilmann
Give every other human being every right you claim for yourself. — Robert G. Ingersoll
Serendipity is not a key performance indicator. It is a function of system design, culture, and attention. It flourishes in organisations that allow time for exploration, value lateral thinking, and recognise that not everything of value can be forecast in advance. — David Cleevely
No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else. — Bill Joy