Reading this book was an exercise in confirmation bias. Long ago, I had reached similar conclusions Comte-Sponville, after a similarly devout upbringing while also leaving the faith in early adulthood.
While losing a personal diety may be difficult for some folks, it was quite liberating for me. Not to become a wanton libertine. Rather I was freed from carrying an unnecessary construct in my brain. It allowed me to enjoy life more fully.
That said, I don’t begrudge those who are religious, and Comte-Sponville’s first essay is a discussion about tolerance in the face of the unknown. You be you.
However, we’ll still believe in the absence of a god (more certain than a mere agnostic). His second essay plainly addresses why he does not believe in the existence of a deity.
Finally, he tackles the title of the book in the third essay, exploring how an atheist can explore spirituality.
I’m an architect, not a philosopher. So even though I had naturally come to similar conclusions as Comte-Sponville, I enjoyed reading a professional exposition on this matter. The book is well structured with the three essays that build upon each other, and then it ends with a rousing epilogue, on Truth and Love.
Here is where all our different themes converge without conflating.
Fidelity to truth: rationalism – the rejection of Sophism.
Fidelity to love: humanism – the rejection of nihilism.
Fidelity to a separation between the two: atheism.
…
Love, not hope, is what helps us live. Truth, not faith, is what sets us free.
We are already in the kingdom. Eternity is now.
In all a great read. He hit his mark in writing a book for a popular but serious audience. There are plenty of allusions to other authors whose names I recognize but have never read, but the book is plenty readable, and each essay is properly dense, as appropriate for this weight subject. This is not your usual quick burn self-help fare. It may be “little”, but took a surprising amount of time to work through.
Even though I don’t feel the urge to purchase my own copy, I’ve already recommended it to several friends and I suspect this will become my standard book recommendation for anyone interested in such matters.
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Job Walks
I’ve never been great at job walks.
Last year, my weekly walks on my big project had become so unproductive that I called a former intern for advice. He recommended that I study the drawings and re-walk the project after the big team walk.
When the pandemic surged at the end of 2020, I started walking the job site alone on Sunday mornings. In the quiet of an empty building, I found my stride. I could sense the building and feel its gaps.
I was completely alert without studying the drawings. I didn’t need to practice this extra step because I wasn’t distracted by people. My mind was purely focused.
But quiet meditation on a job site is not normal.
Along with my major project, I started a couple of small quick tenant improvements. I held those walks with the contractor, but I had become complacent with my habits.
I forgot to check my drawings. I missed obvious items, resulting in significant rework. Contractually, these busts were the contractors’ problems, but I could have been more helpful.
Back to the basics. Study the drawings. If walking with a companion, I must re-walk the project by myself or insist upon being excruciatingly methodical.
And don’t get cocky. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Coda: Today is my former intern’s first day as an OPM at Nevada State College. The big project I just completed is now his building. JB, all the best in your new gig!
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Two Questions
Do you have any tips and tricks for maximizing your job walks?
Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you next week!
Stay humble, be kind, and keep experimenting! Justus Pang, RA
The pandemic landed in America at the same moment that my in-law’s tenants gave up their lease.
After a couple of coworkers called in sick in mid-Februrary, I went into exile to minimize the chance of exposing the parents and children to this mysterious disease.
My wife bought an air mattress and hand pump, packed up some groceries, and I was a single man again.
The air mattress lasted about half a year. Kids ruined it by jumping up and down on it. However, the pump (which cost more than the air mattress) has paid off handsomely.
It turns out that when you buy a tool, you’ll find other uses for it.
They used it to blow air on each other’s faces. They played around with the detachable flexible tube that came with the pump, using it like a telescope. I used it to pump up the yoga ball.
And then we got a packet of balloons for my daughter’s birthday.
With the germophobia induced by the pandemic, we quickly realized this was the perfect way to inflate balloons.
Because it was so easy to inflate them, it was also no big deal to deflate them.
For a couple of weeks, the boy would watch me inflate a balloon and then release it, laughing as it bounced off the ceilings and walls, sputtering around the room.
This pump is about eighteen inches tall, a perfect height for children. So the boy has been able to operate it as well.
As implied by the “Double Quick” name, this thing pushes air on both the up and down strokes. It’s endlessly amusing to watch him strain with this thing.
As middle-class parents in a wealthy nation, we purchase many toys that get land with a thud. These wasted expenditures purchases are lottery tickets for amusing our children.
Then life intervenes and a worldwide pandemic forces you to buy the perfect toy that you didn’t even know was a toy.
We pulled out the pump after storing it for a few months. His face brightened up immediately, and he went right back to inflating and deflating balloons. Some toys are just real, and we’re lucky when we find them.
The three steps of this practice are Recall, Simple Explanations, and Spaced Repetition.
“Recall” is as basic as it sounds. Pause and think about what you just read. Information shouldn’t be treated like a page-turner. Pause between chapters and ponder what was just read.
I stumbled into this practice two years ago, after refocusing this blog as “notes on my consumption”. I try to write a blurb about every bit of extended content that I consumed. At the time, I was trying to force myself to be a more consistent content producer, but it unwittingly made me a better consumer as well!
“Simple explanations” are called the “Feynman Technique” in the video. Master the subject so you can explain it to a 5-year-old.
I have used this technique throughout my career. I’ve always forced my engineers to explain problems so that I can retell the story to the clients. Decision-makers are rarely the subject matter experts, so the consultant’s job includes distilling issues to their core essence for informed action.
“Spaced Repetition” is the practice to regularly review content. As we internalize the info, we gradually increase the intervals between reviews to lock the information into our long-term memory.
Again, this blog has come to the rescue because posts involve multiple rounds of edits. For example, this post was initially drafted on June 8th. I edited it in August and I’m now publishing it in October.
This post regurgitates the actionable advice from the second half, but the first half is worth watching because it provides the neurological context for its recommendations and includes a potent warning that feeling like we know something is not a sign of real understanding.
Give it a watch, take some notes, explain it to a kid, and watch it again!
Also, consider starting a blog. This site has hosted a variety of odd experiments. This digital archive of the decade has become a personal infrastructure for further explorations. Maybe it will even unwittingly create a process to help you improve at remembering things.
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One Question
Do you have any processes that help you practice spaced repetition? How do you avoid forgetting information as quickly as you learned it?
Hit reply and let’s chat!
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One Link
While this video may be the best single shot I’ve come across this year, I have been really enjoying the Technology Connections Channel by Alec Watson. He explains common technology (such as the dishwasher) in simple clear language with a wickedly dry humor.
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Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you next week!
Stay humble, be kind, and keep experimenting! Justus Pang, RA
Last year we watched the new Mulan after watching the original animated Mulan a year before that. Accented Cinema did an excellent comparison on these movies. Everyone else also properly panned the new show as well.
The live-action film movie has stunning locations marred by ridiculously outlandish characters. I understand why the actors would take the gig, but I don’t see why any self-respecting Asian would pay money to watch this new movie.
It’s a mish-mash of exotic Asian-ness, as respectful of the culture as the cheesy dub on a bad kung fu flick.
Then again, as an Asian American, I’ve always had a tortured relationship with Asia on the big screen. I’ve avoided movies like Lost in Translation or Last Samurai because I am particularly uninterested in a film centered on a white protagonist in an Asian setting. But as an American, a truly Asian film is too foreign to be relatable.
When I studied abroad in Paris, I met an Algerian who dropped the perfect line about immigrant life, “living with your ass on two seats.”
To be honest, life as an Asian American is pretty good. Things are a bit crazy at the moment and I’m well aware that things could turn much worse. But generally, the worst I have to deal with is being constantly aware of my otherness. Then again, I presume white kids have plenty of hang-ups from their adolescence that they have to deal with.
Even so, it does suck to never see yourself well portrayed on the big screen. However, I’m not a big fan of movies, so maybe it’s my lack of interest to blame? Maybe it’s a chicken and egg problem?
I’ve heard of some recent offerings that I should most likely watch at some point, but I keep going back to that exchange at the end of Chan is Missing. It perfectly captures the tension of being Asian American – life as an immigrant and a native and always an other in both worlds.
Mulan has only diminished further in my mind’s eye as time passes. I’ve heard good things about the new Shang Chi movie, though Accented Cinema did a pointed critique, “Shang Chi and the Perpetual Foreigners” that has cooled my interest in film as well, not that I’m going to a movie theater any time soon.
Things have been a little hectic. I’m going to try a simplified letter for a month and see how this works.
As always, thanks for reading. Please subscribe if you’d like the next letter in your inbox.
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Highlighting Thoroughly
It feels like the dumbest hack to remind yourself to highlight text while reading document. However, it is invaluable for reviewing plans and specifications as an Owner’s PM.
When I started as a draftsman, I didn’t need to highlight things during my drawing reviews, because I drew every line and wrote every letter by hand. I’d highlight my boss’ redlines as I picked them up.
However, I picked up the habit at my last job in private practice. At first, it felt strange because I never highlighted books in school, but I quickly realized it was essential for keeping me focused on the work of my team.
More so for an OPM. We are a further step away from from the production, so it is easy to mentally overlook the details – especially the wall of text called a spec book.
Highlighting, what a basic idea! But if it maintains focus, that’s everything for a knowledge worker.
When I was in private practice, I used three highlighters. Yellow for reading and verifying coordination in the plan set. Green for redlines that have been picked up (to be applied by the draftsman doing the work). Orange for questions that need further discussion. Orange is the most neglected color, but it is critical because this third color lets the intern take notes and batch them into a single review with the supervisor when she is available.
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One Question
Do you have any critical hacks for your job? Are any of them specific to OPMing?
Hit reply and let’s chat!
~
Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you next week!
Stay humble, be kind, and keep experimenting! Justus Pang, RA
Growing up conservative Christian, divination carried an illicit edge.
But a Tarot deck is just a normal deck of cards with a fifth all-trump suit. Still spooky?
A while back, my daughter and I messed around with a tarot deck to create a variant on War that improves upon the original (the big change was that we evened out the players’ decks after each round; whoever won more cards banked the extras).
With the Tarot deck in hand, I also played around with a card reading after the kids went to sleep.
The booklet that came with this deck was very specific. The cups = love, coins = money, etc. Each card had specific effects in its orientation and place within the tableaux.
Now, this is where the religious folks have it right. This is not good entertainment. Such a practice with specific prompts will put things in the head that don’t need to be there.
However, that’s not an issue with divination in general.
I also played with the Decktet, a modern deck designed in 2008. The creator has published suggestions for using his cards for readings with an open interpretive system. Instead of relying upon concrete predictive functions for each card, a Decktet reading creates a network of relationships between the cards. This method is much more suggestive and might be a great way to unearth the unconscious.
A few months later, I started messing around with the I Ching. Maybe I’ll revisit the Tarot one day, but it’s hard to beat several thousand years of Chinese divination.
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Transformational Transactions
My first two jobs after college were strict hourly – no benefits, PTO, or any other perks. By any metric, these were purely transactional arrangements. There were also the two most influential jobs in my career.
The first gig was as a laborer moving dirt in a landscape crew. This job taught me more about teamwork than any time spent at a desk.
The second was a draftsman in a sole proprietorship. Even though the terms of employment was a straight exchange of time for money, I continue to have a rich relationship with my old boss.
The trappings of transformational leadership and a cool culture pale against the simple act of caring deeply.
I wonder if trying to create a “transformational” work environment hinders our ability to fully live out our daily relationships. Maybe it would better to manage a company with simple “transactional” rules, respecting the fundamentally raw exchange of time for money that makes up our paid endeavors.
Strip away all the fluff and maybe we’ll be free to enjoy each other’s company.
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One Question
What was the most influential job in your career? Who was the catalyst?
Hit reply and let’s chat!
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Three Links
Seth Godin about how to attract more customers, a longer post compared to his pithy missives, but well worth the read.
Matthew Schnipper wrote an amusing essay for the New York Times about dressing our babies to impress others – of the parent’s fine taste!
Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you next week!
Stay humble, be kind, and keep experimenting! Justus Pang, RA
Do not ask your children to strive for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life. Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to cry when pets and people die. Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand. And make the ordinary come alive for them. The extraordinary will take care of itself.
I came across this quote during the pandemic. I immediately put it at the top of my personal core values document.
Naturally, I was eager to read the entire book, but the library does not have a copy. Fortunately, I found a free loaner at archive.org.
The book is great.
Admittedly, its appeal is limited to the already persuaded. But if you are sympathetic to woo eastern philosophy and a permissive parental style, this book is for you.
Parenting is stressful at times, worrying at others. Especially during a pandemic when all choices are lackluster (at best). One is haunted by a nagging sense of opportunity cost as the kids lose years of their childhood, trapped at home.
This book is a salve for such concerns. The basic message is to take your foot off the gas. Let the kids grow up and grow up with them.
It is also an insightful approach towards the Tao De Ching. In the past, I’ve had difficulty reading through the original. It’s heavy dense stuff that is purposely impenetrable to the uninitiated.
This parenting version focuses only upon this facet of humanity, making it much easier to read. I’ve read the original enough to feel comfortable claiming that this version reflects the spirit of Laozi. Indeed, it can be a lens to help you navigate the original work.
Of course, this book is watered down compared to the original. But if it resonates, what more do you want?
While writing my first draft, I had every intention to purchase my own copy. Since then my ardor has cooled. This is no fault of this book; I’m buried in too many great books and classics! As I read more, the backlog increases.
One day I’ll figure out how to control my reading appetite. Maybe I’ll pick up this book then.
Even so, this book is highly recommended. Plus you should check out William Martin’s blog; he posts regularly.
A few months ago, I was on a web panel with four architects and an HR professional to discuss the changing relationship between employers and employees.
In preparation, I wrote responses to questions that were sent to us before the event. The conversation turned out to be more collegial than one might assume from the contents of this post. For better or worse, the written word is a sharp instrument.
I feel some trepidation in publishing this post because I’m contradicting statements I’ve heard from past principals I’ve met. However, I believe this alternate viewpoint should be given voice.
Thanks for reading. Please subscribe if you’d like the next letter in your inbox.
Is it management’s job to make the relationship work no matter what?
As business partners, the different parties play separate roles in the organization and have different responsibilites towards each other. That said, the employee is transient compared to management, so the incentives and the stakes will diverge. Management needs to juggle multiple relationships and competing interests within the firm while trying to maintain a harmonious environment. Conversely, an employee only has one job, so they are more dependent upon the whims of management than the firm’s dependency upon any specific employee.
How transactional is the relationship?
How transactional is any business relationship? Someone is hired to do work. They do it. They get paid.
What moderates the raw exchange is the context. A career is an “infinite game”. The definition of “winning” an infinite game is to keep playing. A small victory isn’t worth losing a seat at the table. Reputation and relationships are critical in this tight-knit industry.
Personal pride, firm reputation, employee retention, keeping your job, and company culture are all aspects of the infinite game that breathes life into the day-to-day grind.
How much commitment do staff owe management, and why?
How much commitment does a firm owe its client? Standard of care. As an architect, the life safety of the public is non-negotiable. Everything else should be discussed upfront.
Here is a juicy question. Youtuber CGP Grey worked several side hustles before settling into his current career. He is very open that he did his best work early in the morning before going to work as a teacher before going full time as a content creator. As long as they discharging their duties properly, do employees owe their employer their “holistically best” effort?
My answer is maybe. If architecting is just a job, then the standard of care is fair. If architecture is our profession, then coming to work at less than best is shortchanging ourselves in the long run.
Of course, there are shades of grey. After I had children, I chose to limit myself to a 40-hour workweek. I knew it would affect my market rate and possibilities for promotion, but I discussed it upfront in my job interviews and this request was respected by my employers.
What level of sacrifice should management make to accommodate a staff member’s preferences or weaknesses?
What level of sacrifice is management willing to make to retain that staff member’s services (or maintain an overall culture to support the morale of the wider team)?
Additional thoughts on this unequal relationship.
The employee gives 8 hours out of 24 every day, half of their waking day. That’s a pretty big ratio. Within the company, this employee’s salary is only a small percentage of their budget.
Would a firm look kindly on an employee who repaid two months of 50 hour weeks with eight weeks of 30 hour work weeks?
Between the Dotcom Bust and the Great Recession, we’ve lived through a couple of moments of sudden mass layoffs. Why do employers believe that calls for loyalty still have resonance?
The analogy of the firm as a family is tenuous at best. What do people do with their family members when funds run tight?
Employees aren’t owners. They don’t get a cut of the pie. They have minimal say in how the business is run. (Admittedly, employees also don’t live with sleepless nights worrying about how to make payroll.) Why should they be expected to act like it?
Summary
Management needs to get work done and turn a profit. The employees need to get work done and keep their jobs.
Getting work done is the basis of the relationship, but life is complicated. It takes earnest effort to keep the two parties in alignment.
The employee-employer relationship is best served with a cold understanding of the nature of this business arrangement, tempered by the infinite nature of this game.
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One Question
Is this perspective on employment too transactional? Is there a better mental framework for these relationships?
Hit reply and let’s chat!
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Three Links
Jeff Eaker points out the future of the office is outside the office. And we’ve been living it for the past year and a half.
Congrats to the Journey to the West Podcast! Every week, Richard Tseng and James Young discussed the Chinese novel, Journey to the West. 100 chapters and two years later, they’ve completed the project. In the era of dystopic social media, this project is a reminder of the decentralized internet at its best.
Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you next week!
Stay humble, be kind, and keep experimenting! Justus Pang, RA
