SPaMCAST 852 features our essay on scaling attention. Seth Godin’s observation that attention doesn’t scale highlights a crucial point: attention, like time, is a finite resource. We often conflate scaling and allocation, but they are distinct concepts. A human’s capacity for focused attention is limited, regardless of how much time we spend awake. This fixed amount of attention, our “attentional budget,” can be allocated to various tasks and activities. Allocation involves choosing where to direct our focus, like deciding to read a book instead of browsing the internet. Scaling, on the other hand, refers to the intensity and scope of that focus. While reading, you narrow your focus to absorb information more deeply, increasing the intensity of your attention on the chosen subject.

We will also have a visit from the Evolutionary Agilist, Jeremy Berriault. Mr. Berriault and I discuss the pervasive use of the term resources that allow organizations to distance themselves from people. 

Mastering Work Intake sponsors SPaMCAST!

Look at your to-do list and tell me your work intake process is perfectly balanced. Whether you are reacting to your work or personal backlog, it’s time to learn to take control! 

Buy a copy of Mastering Work Intake (your work-life balance will improve).

Amazon (US) — https://lnkd.in/gPEHs3DE

JRoss — https://lnkd.in/gWCSuYFf

Do you want to test the water before spending part of your hard-earned paycheck? Jeremy Willets and I offer free 30-minute “office hours” sessions. In these sessions, we’ll facilitate helping to identify and create a plan to tackle one of your work intake challenges. Book time with us here: https://lnkd.in/gtEvtcJd

Re-read Saturday News

This chapter begins with a phenomenal quote from Huxley from Science and Culture “It is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions.” Several years ago (2008, The Center Will Not Hold) I wrote an essay suggesting that radical ideas, like agile, begin at the fringes and then assimilate to the center. I wish I had run across this quote that highlights the life cycle of ideas. In Chapter Five, Sen reviews the impact of capitalist markets on freedom and development in Chapter 5 of Development as Freedom, 

Previous installments of Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen:

Week 1: Context and Logistics

Week 2: Introduction and Preface

Week 3: The Perspective of Freedom

Week 4: The Ends and the Means of Development

Week 5: Freedom and the Foundations of Justice

Week 6: Poverty as Capability Deprivation

Week 7: Markets, State and Social Opportunity

Next SPaMCAST 

The SPaMCAST 853 will feature our interview with John Conafay. the CEO and Co-Founder of Integrate. John and I talked about program management in complex environments and the impact of introducing real-time collaboration.