Andrew's Digital Domain

Update (04/10/2013) Came across another interesting video on the same subject (thanks to  Stanislav Glozman ) Original Post (12/13/2010) Very interesting video that I found via a reference in one of the Information Technology (IT) online publications that I read on a pretty much daily basis: I liked many things about it - the format, in my opinion, is awesome; the presentation is dynamic; and, of course, the content is quite interesting. This "new theory of motivation" departs sharply from the established practice of monetary incentives and instead emphasizes the following three intrinsic human motivators: Autonomy Mastery Purpose I have first discovered these ideas in the book called  "Cognitive Surplus" by Clay Shirky. The format was not as animated, but the ideas about these intrinsic motivators (and how they sometimes can be canceled by an addition of a monetary incentive) were interesting nonetheless. The book was a good read, though I mus...

4/5/2012:  Caught something relevant while reading Larry Page's 2012 Update from the CEO (Google's CEO in case you are wondering) - “a healthy disregard for the impossible”, sounds like an essential quality for an entrepreneur.   2/23/2012: Just came across the following on Google+ and figured it would make a wonderful addition to the post I published earlier :) The exploration of the subject started for me, as it often does, from taking in information from various sources over a period of time. Then, things started moving and coalescing in my head until something clicked and voilà - all pieces of the puzzle fitted together and a picture was formed. No, I am not going to describe that picture. It is my personal interpretation, the symbiosis of my experiences and external stimuli. Thus, others could create their own interpretations, based on their own experiences. I will, however, share a few catalysts with you. Here they are, in no particular order: An...

Psychobabble, mambo jumbo? - I don't know, but I found it to be very interesting and well presented: My brain, my universe:

I've been going through some of my old notes and decided to pull a couple of them together for another post. Decision making is an interesting subject, something that applies to all spheres of our lives - from everyday decision making, to economics, politics, etc. In some cases it is desirable to delay making decisions as long as possible - " I've learned one thing in politics. You don't make a decision until you have to" ( Margaret Thatcher ); in some we need to make decisions quickly - the rapid-fire decisions that make up our daily lives. Sometimes we need to rely on intuition  and instinct, sometimes it is necessary to carefully consider and weigh a complex set of inputs and variables. But regardless of the circumstances we can benefit from getting rid of myths surrounding decision making and becoming more aware of the inner processes we use to make those decisions. For example, the following article from the  Harvard Magazine:  " The Marketplace of Perc...

"All the world's a stage and the men and women on it merely players" - Shakespeare Applying game theory concepts to all sorts of things has become quite trendy, and probably for good reasons. So, what is it all about? A quick search into "t he source of all knowledge" (i.e. Wikipedia ) provides us with the following reference: Game theory is a branch of applied mathematics that is used in the social sciences, most notably in economics, as well as in biology (particularly evolutionary biology and ecology), engineering, political science, international relations, computer science, social psychology, and philosophy. Game theory attempts to mathematically capture behavior in strategic situations, or games, in which an individual's success in making choices depends on the choices of others (Myerson, 1991). Interestingly enough, people have been using these concepts long before the "unified field" theory got established. For example, in the 17th century...

4/6/2012:  Came across an interesting article in Harvard Business Review titled " The Magic of Doing One Thing at a Time ". It is just full of information that really resonated with me. To quote the conclusion - " When you're engaged at work, fully engage, for defined periods of time. When you're renewing, truly renew. Make waves. Stop living your life in the gray zone. " There are also a few references there to other great articles: Nearly half of employers say workers are burned out on their jobs Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don’t Read This in Traffic Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time Take Vacation Now, Be More Productive Later Not too long ago I read a book titled "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams" by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister. It was a good book and I enjoyed reading it, but I did not find any groundbreaking or truly novel concepts in it. So, I would call the book very commonsensical, but I still find reading abou...