“Flow, also known as the zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting loss in one’s sense of space and time.”
Wikipedia.
It’s almost definitely no coincidence that a majority of the achievements I’m most proud of within the context of OSS have been originated outside business hours. I strongly believe it all comes down to flow. In a day that is punctuated by meeting after meeting, there is no flow, no ability to get into deep focus. In the world of transaction-based doing, there is rarely the opportunity to generate flow.
Every OSS project I’ve worked on has been in desperate need of innovation. That’s not a criticism, but a statement of the whole industry having so many areas in which improvement is possible. But on your current and/or past projects, how many have fostered an environment where deep focus was possible for you or your colleagues? Where have your greatest achievements been spawned from?
Jason Fried of Basecamp and 37signals fame is an advocate of building an environment where flow can happen and starts with manager and meeting minimisation. The best managers I’ve worked with have been great at facilitating flow for their teams and buffered them from the M&M noise.
How can we all build an OSS environment where the thinkers get more time to think… about improving every facet of ideating, creating, building and implementing?
We recently discussed how the “Ultimate Game,” a study in behavioural psychology, might help to explain why there tends to be less initial animosity between
The great thing about the holiday period is you often get the chance to step away from business as usual (BAU) activities. As customer projects
Last year, we published a series of articles about the chasm that exists between OSS/BSS buyers and sellers. “The chasm” is best exemplified by the
Whilst setting up for another new initiative this week I became aware that the PAOSS blog has just ticked past 1 million words. And that’s
Here at Passionate About OSS, we are exactly that – Passionate About OSS (Operational Support Systems). We’re also passionate about BSS, NMS, or any other names you call the tools that help to operationalise your network.
