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What is a Growth Hacker? Does your startup need a Growth Team?

You wanted to be there, you just didn’t know it. The Growth Hackers Conference was last week and it was awesome. The conference was way sold out and unlike most it was totally worth the investment! Thanks to the speakers for focusing on creating value for the user through the product – it’s not about spam or zombies or farm animals, it’s about creating value!

Thought I’d share my notes for all the growth teams at startups in NY, LA, London, and everywhere else who didn’t get to attend. Continue reading “What is a Growth Hacker? Does your startup need a Growth Team?”

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Personal Idea Management: Nuts, Bolts and Apps

Hi Caneel,

In “How to Keep an Idea Log You Will Actually Use” you talked, in part, about rereading your archive of ideas every 3 months.  That is manageable, but I struggle with the revisiting of all the other information including: bookmarks, downloaded files, saved emails, hand written notes, etc.

I would very much like to know how you cope with the incredible amount of useful information at your fingertips.  How do you organize everything that you collect (in different forms)?  –Software Engineer

Hi Software Engineer,

I keep all of the data you’re talking about in simply structured (hardly tagged, mostly just thorough file names) folders on my hard drive.

I use Evernote for highly formatted reference materials I’ve captured (web pages, pdfs not associated with a project, etc), and Notational Velocity synced with my iPhone and iPad for reference notes to myself and reference lists (blog post ideas, books to read, cool companies, movies to see, etc.).
For big projects I keep a rich text running log of progress, steps taken, ideas, any thoughts or questions or concerns that pop into my mind, etc – and all entries are time and date stamped. I include visual screenshots of everything I’m talking about, and often links to the files.  I even timestamp my entries using a keyboard shortcut create using Smile Software’s TextExpander (I type “ttm” to get the current date and time, then follow it with a quick description of what I’m doing… it’s addictive!). For any one day working I would enter about four pages of notes, just to give you a sense of how stream of consciousness it all is.
I deal with everything as it comes and don’t revisit. My intuition guides my search for inspiration and ideas, my projects drive my search for everything else.
I believe in silence and randomness and fun, and I hate discipline and drudgery.  I have a million RSS feeds going into my Google reader and some into the Pulse iPhone app (also a reader), and I look at them when I am on the tube or hanging out with nothing else to do, but when I tried to keep “on top of everything” that came through my RSS feed, I noticed I was creating a lot less, “working” a lot more, and always felt like I had homework hanging over my head. Sort of like a drone.
So now I just do what I want and try to read books/long articles and write a lot. Most of us have too much electronic input these days anyway.

Current projects drive my search for new information and stimuli. I use Safari bookmarks for bookmarks but mostly for keyboard shortcutting the bookmarks menu (e.g., command-6 is “Bit.ly it”, command-7 just became “Pinterest it”, etc.) but I feel no need to revisit most things.
I hope some of this helps. Please write back in the comments and let me know where you’d like to challenge me on the above.  It’s a super nerdy but obsessively interesting topic.  –the Caneelian
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How to Pick a Thesis or Dissertation Topic: Thinking by Writing

Dear Caneel,

Choosing a thesis topic is kind of crazy.  I feel like I’m committing to marriage or something. Is it the right one? Will I be happy? Will I get bored? Will it keep my interest? Is there something better out there? 

– A Masters Student

Writing at a Table (via Dylanfm on flickr)

Dear Masters Student,

I know, the decision can be crippling!!!  Don’t let it paralyze you.  The best way to pick is to write out your thought process.  Play with ideas.  Talk to yourself in your journal about the pros and cons of each idea that pops into your head, not worrying about the order.

Most importantly, free-write through your thoughts, feelings, fears, and fascinations relating to your thesis.  They are extremely relevant to your progress.  I like handwriting best as I have more access to my emotional evaluation of my ideas when pen touches paper. I go to a café where I can noodle in my journal without being lulled into the safe distractions of the internet.

THINK BY WRITING…  This is my biggest advice for the whole entire process!  15 minutes a day free-writing, every single day except Sunday. Let it flow, writing “I don’t know what to write” when you’re stuck – don’t wait till you know what you want to say. You figure out what you want to say by writing.

Feels disorderly?  That’s okay, and a necessary part of the process you need to push through.  Probably you don’t have a list of distinct dissertation topics or ideas that you could list and write pros/cons for at this stage.  There are probably many that are similar.  Or maybe you don’t have any ideas (or so you think!).  This method acknowledges that.  Instead, it allows you to investigate the blurry edges between ideas – the overlaps.

Don’t spend too much time on this process however (your subconscious wants you to procrastinate, waste time debating, because writing the dissertation is so much more threatening to the ego than indecision is… don’t give in to this temptation).  The best thing is to pick an idea and commit to it after allowing yourself a short while to debate. Any idea is always more interesting the more time you spend with it, making it yours.  So don’t worry too much about picking the right idea.

Remember the importance of constraints (the topic of my own dissertation!).  Pick a narrow enough idea that you can go in-depth in a way that is truly unique – there will be less reading to do and more room for your own creativity if you intentionally constrain yourself to a smaller scope.
A big hug to you, and best of luck!  Let me know how it goes and how/if this works for you in the comments section below.
Resources
While writing my dissertation, I joined the Academic Ladder Writing Club and found it invaluable. I also highly recommend the following books:
1. Destination Dissertation (Foss & Waters) walks you through the process from day 1 to completion, very concretely.
2. Completing your Qualitative Dissertation (Bloomberg & Volpe) walks you through what a dissertation should look like, and how the different sections should compliment each other and build on each other.
3.  Writing Your Dissertation in 15 Minutes a Day (Bolker) gives help with the writing process (and a reminder that the easiest and BEST way is a little writing of notes to self each day, BEFORE you are “ready to write”).
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Distract Your Inner Critic

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Ratatat

I have written before about the evils of multi-tasking and especially task-switching. However I’d like to offer a caveat.

One part of the brain – the critic – is logical, rational, judgmental, and oriented to language and analysis. Distract this part with Continue reading “Distract Your Inner Critic”

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How to Keep an Idea Log You Will Actually Use

Me & Steven Johnson

Earlier this week, Steven Johnson came to the London School of Economics to present his new book, Where Good Ideas Come From: A Natural History of Innovation. This thought leader’s fascinating talk was sponsored by my department.

(You can watch the video or download the podcast on the LSE Events website.)

At the end of his talk, I asked Johnson to explain how we as individuals can come up with more “good ideas”.

Steven described his method: Continue reading “How to Keep an Idea Log You Will Actually Use”

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My new mission statement is an invitation to create

I believe in observation, collaboration, and the open-minded following of ones’ heart and nose. I blog in part to find like-minded collaborators who want to create good work together.

I share hunches and ideas here while they’re still forming – something I don’t often get to do in traditional academic publishing. It’s silly, but this feels risky at times. But my hope is that my little half-ideas can find life out there by combining with yours. I want to talk about design, innovation, and the social context of the creative process – and maybe some day help each other create high-impact solutions to meaningful problems.

Please share your thoughts, questions, and half-baked hunches, whatever they are.