Optional Homework Assignments: 3 podcast episodes, 2 books, 1 short video

Whether you have 15 minutes, two hours, or time to read a book, here's six things that will engage your brain in a positive way

One of my business partners introduced me to the term “windshield time” — meditating while on a long drive. This week I dropped my oldest child off at college 8 hours away, so I had a lot of windshield time. I spent much of that thinking about how I want to evolve what “Full Backlog” is over the rest of this year as we head into an exciting 2025.

One of the core concepts I use in my work the idea of “lenses” to view concepts through. Sometimes this is in the form of a parable such as the Blind Men and the Elephant or The Way It’s Always Been Done (Five Apes).

This post is meant to introduce two of those lenses, and drive home a couple of other concepts.

Two Books on Pace Layers Thinking

I was first introduced to Pace Layers Thinking or just “Pace Layers” by my colleague Matthew Reinbold and I’ve been coming back to it ever since.

Stewart Brand first explained the idea of “Pace Layers” in his 01999 book The Clock of Long Now. On page 37, in a chapter that cites Brian Eno and Freeman Dyson amongst others, the diagram first appears. It shows six layers that function simultaneously at different speeds within society.

There are two books on the topic, and I recommend reading both. However, if you only want to read one, read:

1. The Clock of the Long Now: Time and Responsibility if you also want to read about the hopes and aspirations of pre-www Internet pioneers at the dawn of the World Wide Web. And thinking on a 10,000+ year timescale. The other reason to chose this one would be if you strongly prefer reading on a Kindle/eReader.

2. How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built if you want a less technical book that uses historic to modern architectural adaptation to explain the Pace Layers concept. Because of the extensive use of illustrations in this book, I would recommend either the soft- or hard-cover print editions, not the digital edition.

I will be referencing the Pace Layers concept in future posts, so this one really is a bit of “homework” if you want to follow along closely.

Three Podcast Episodes

These are three podcast episodes I’ve listened to multiple times in the recent past:

1. Tetragrammaton (Rick Rubin) — Tyler Cowen: This fast-paced, wide-ranging dicussion has lots of great nuggets, but Cowen does an especially good job explaining opportunity cost.

2. Tetragrammaton (Rick Rubin) — Robert Downey Jr.: A candid conversation with an actor who has entertained many of is, and is very open about doing the work (IYKYK).

3. Wind of Change — Episode 1 — My Friend Michael: I can’t write a better description than theirs:

   LANGLEY, VIRGINIA, 2011:
   The Scorpions’ song “Wind of Change” became the soundtrack to the end of the Cold War. But decades later, New Yorker investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe heard a rumor from a trusted source: the Scorpions didn’t write the song. The CIA did.

   Emphasis mine, and ostensibly I’m recommending this since it’s a fun ride. If you’re into any of music, Cold War/80s history, or conspiracies, you should enjoy it… but also we’re now in the age of deepfakes, so it takes on even greater weight in my view. PsyOps are real, and all sides use propaganda.

One TEDx Talk

Deborah Adler’s “Go to the Gemba” is one that I keep finding myself recommending to people in my line of work, which means there’s a good chance you’ll get something out of it. I was lucky enough to get to see this in person:

Do you have the opportunity to go to the gemba in your work? If not, I hope this video inspires you to find ways to do so!

Bonus

Watch at least the first 3m 30s of this 8-year-old coding with AI help 🤯