A quick update on systems thinking items:

Models are like kitchen utensils. You need a variety of them, and you should know when and how to use them. They should be useful for more than a single task.

First, when you’re not doing email (or phone) there are more “channels” than simply “language”. Indeed, in your example you two were operating with a particularly thin communication mechanism. One of the countermeasures, I think, is having a pile of communication channels going on at once, then you can compare between.

My name is Don, and I have a problem. I’m trying to make sense of my world. Sometime ago I asked myself the question, “What is the earliest indicator that something is going wrong?” And of course, I’m not happy with just a single problem, I’m looking for the answer for the base problem class, which all other problems inherit. What would you expect from an ENTP?

Albert has an interesting job. He takes the manufacturing software the plant operators use, and creates simulation software to train operators. I started working with him when his company selected some new software, and he needed suggestions on how to do things like make time stop.

I’ll never forget that morning even though it happened a quarter of a century ago. I was a programmer helping start up a new factory, and things had been going OK. Not great, but OK. I decided that morning on the way to the factory I was going to stay calm and not let anyone “get to me”. Right.