Comments on: The Fine Art of Opportunism http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/ experiments in refactored perception Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:22:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Peter Armstrong http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-3720 Peter Armstrong Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:19:17 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-3720 Great post. This reminds me of the advice Eric Ries gives to startups (his Lean Startup concept) and the OODA loop of John Boyd. It also reminds me of what I accidentally did when I self-published a book that was in the intersection of two very buzz-filled areas at the right time... Great post. This reminds me of the advice Eric Ries gives to startups (his Lean Startup concept) and the OODA loop of John Boyd. It also reminds me of what I accidentally did when I self-published a book that was in the intersection of two very buzz-filled areas at the right time…

]]> By: Ali http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-3603 Ali Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:24:21 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-3603 Not sure if I agree with your description of opportunism. The woman might already be on her way to the store to fetch coffee but along the way sees a coffee stand or something... I myself have often wished I could improve my ability to recognize opportunity. In hindsight, it is so much more visible. Not sure if I agree with your description of opportunism. The woman might already be on her way to the store to fetch coffee but along the way sees a coffee stand or something…

I myself have often wished I could improve my ability to recognize opportunity. In hindsight, it is so much more visible.

]]> By: Wikinomics » Blog Archive » Guest Blogger Venkatesh Rao on Innovation Everywhere as Reverse Surge Capacity http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-1065 Wikinomics » Blog Archive » Guest Blogger Venkatesh Rao on Innovation Everywhere as Reverse Surge Capacity Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:06:13 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-1065 [...] interplay of strategy, doctrine, tactics and operations in a modern enterprise, and understand the art of opportunism – a key skill in the 2.0 world. You need to understand and learn to play the changing game of [...] [...] interplay of strategy, doctrine, tactics and operations in a modern enterprise, and understand the art of opportunism – a key skill in the 2.0 world. You need to understand and learn to play the changing game of [...]

]]> By: Venkat http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-539 Venkat Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:07:02 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-539 Hi Navin: Good points. I've definitely seen scenario 1 play out a couple of times at least. There is a delicate balance between getting enough buy-in to enable ideas and getting so much that you get a godawful mess that attempts to satisfy everybody. My approach has been to develop a very right-brained sense of the "conceptual integrity" of anything I am trying to promote and then work hard on consensus building, but work equally hard to gatekeep out anything that messes with the integrity of the concept too much. Interesting that you differ on #6. I wouldn't say what you are trying to do is modest. Quitting a day job to go full-speed on an idea you believe in quite a phenomenal opportunistic commitment of the Kipling-ian variety, and I am going to predict, from my observations of other entrepreneurs (you became one this morning whether you admit it or not), that the thing is going to take over your life beyond 9-6. So it would be an extended burst of energy :) If you manage to pull off your "modest" job-quit-worthy ambition on a 9-6 balanced schedule, hats off... I'll be trying to ferret out your secret! But yes, I guess there is a romantic side to me that does get attracted to world-changing ideas, but I am pragmatic enough to maintain a portfolio with some modest ones too... let's see if any of them work out. Hi Navin: Good points. I’ve definitely seen scenario 1 play out a couple of times at least. There is a delicate balance between getting enough buy-in to enable ideas and getting so much that you get a godawful mess that attempts to satisfy everybody. My approach has been to develop a very right-brained sense of the “conceptual integrity” of anything I am trying to promote and then work hard on consensus building, but work equally hard to gatekeep out anything that messes with the integrity of the concept too much.

Interesting that you differ on #6. I wouldn’t say what you are trying to do is modest. Quitting a day job to go full-speed on an idea you believe in quite a phenomenal opportunistic commitment of the Kipling-ian variety, and I am going to predict, from my observations of other entrepreneurs (you became one this morning whether you admit it or not), that the thing is going to take over your life beyond 9-6. So it would be an extended burst of energy :)

If you manage to pull off your “modest” job-quit-worthy ambition on a 9-6 balanced schedule, hats off… I’ll be trying to ferret out your secret!

But yes, I guess there is a romantic side to me that does get attracted to world-changing ideas, but I am pragmatic enough to maintain a portfolio with some modest ones too… let’s see if any of them work out.

]]> By: Navin Kabra http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-538 Navin Kabra Mon, 10 Dec 2007 05:41:04 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-538 Hi Venkat, I generally agree with most of what you have written and feel that many people would benefit from pursuing this kind of opportunism. Working in a "large company", a lot of the people I see around me fall into one of two categories: 1. The focused executers: they focus on doing their "job", and plan everything, and execute it well, and do reasonably well in their jobs. If they get a new idea, they go around with proposals getting appropriate permissions/buy-ins from the powers that be and more often than not end up dropping their best ideas due to lack of support. These guys need to do more of #1, #2 and #3 from your list. 2. The dreamers: these get all kinds of crazy ideas and get passionate about the ideas. What is missing is steps #5 and #6. They rarely act upon any of their ideas with anything more than a cursory, short-lived effort. However, the part that I don't necessarily agree with, is #6. I think that you can achieve substantial things even without all-consuming bursts; i.e. without giving up on the work-life balance, without sacrificing the relationships. In fact, I'm putting my time where my mouth is - I just quit my job to pursue some of these opportunities (starting today in fact!) , but I intend to confine my bursts to a 9am-to-6pm time-frame. To be sure, there still are bursts. And it is really, _really_ difficult to drag myself away from the computer at 6pm when it's time to go home during one of these times. But the energy is back again at 9 the next morning. I intend to find out if it works. It is likely that you and I differ in our idea of what constitutes a substantial achievement. (I got the same feeling while reading your post on <a href="http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/11/14/how-to-be-an-idea-person/" rel="nofollow">How to be an Idea Person</a>. I felt that you were far too negative about the possibility of idea people achieving success.) Basically, I am not interested in coming up with, and successfully executing, the next world-changing idea. I would be happy with more modest achievements. And those, I contend, require less of an effort than you seem to be implying. Hi Venkat,
I generally agree with most of what you have written and feel that many people would benefit from pursuing this kind of opportunism. Working in a “large company”, a lot of the people I see around me fall into one of two categories:
1. The focused executers: they focus on doing their “job”, and plan everything, and execute it well, and do reasonably well in their jobs. If they get a new idea, they go around with proposals getting appropriate permissions/buy-ins from the powers that be and more often than not end up dropping their best ideas due to lack of support. These guys need to do more of #1, #2 and #3 from your list.
2. The dreamers: these get all kinds of crazy ideas and get passionate about the ideas. What is missing is steps #5 and #6. They rarely act upon any of their ideas with anything more than a cursory, short-lived effort.

However, the part that I don’t necessarily agree with, is #6. I think that you can achieve substantial things even without all-consuming bursts; i.e. without giving up on the work-life balance, without sacrificing the relationships. In fact, I’m putting my time where my mouth is – I just quit my job to pursue some of these opportunities (starting today in fact!) , but I intend to confine my bursts to a 9am-to-6pm time-frame. To be sure, there still are bursts. And it is really, _really_ difficult to drag myself away from the computer at 6pm when it’s time to go home during one of these times. But the energy is back again at 9 the next morning. I intend to find out if it works.

It is likely that you and I differ in our idea of what constitutes a substantial achievement. (I got the same feeling while reading your post on How to be an Idea Person. I felt that you were far too negative about the possibility of idea people achieving success.) Basically, I am not interested in coming up with, and successfully executing, the next world-changing idea. I would be happy with more modest achievements. And those, I contend, require less of an effort than you seem to be implying.

]]> By: Venkat http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-534 Venkat Sat, 08 Dec 2007 23:09:36 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-534 Hi Rob: I agree that most good managers do adopt this approach; the question really is what proportion of managers are good :). Thanks for the refs. I was also thinking more of opportunism in individual decision-making about personal work than about managerial decision making about others. But yes, the approach is particularly visible in management roles. A -- I do agree with portfolio comment. Pure opportunism will lead to chaos as surely as pure proceduralism will lead to a grinding, rusty halt. Hi Rob: I agree that most good managers do adopt this approach; the question really is what proportion of managers are good :) . Thanks for the refs. I was also thinking more of opportunism in individual decision-making about personal work than about managerial decision making about others. But yes, the approach is particularly visible in management roles.

A — I do agree with portfolio comment. Pure opportunism will lead to chaos as surely as pure proceduralism will lead to a grinding, rusty halt.

]]> By: A http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-533 A Sat, 08 Dec 2007 05:36:04 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-533 Interesting post! You should also check out Marc Andreessen's post on 'Luck' that touches on similar things: http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/08/luck-and-the-en.html I don't have much to add except that it perhaps works best as a portfolio strategy. (for repeatable low-return parts of life e.g. bills, groceries, TPS reports, use procedural etc.). Pure opportunism applied across all facets in life probably devolves to chaos. Interesting post! You should also check out Marc Andreessen’s post on ‘Luck’ that touches on similar things: http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/08/luck-and-the-en.html

I don’t have much to add except that it perhaps works best as a portfolio strategy. (for repeatable low-return parts of life e.g. bills, groceries, TPS reports, use procedural etc.). Pure opportunism applied across all facets in life probably devolves to chaos.

]]> By: Rob Meredith http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-529 Rob Meredith Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:35:48 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/12/05/the-fine-art-of-opportunism/#comment-529 Hi Venkat, I reckon you'll find that most good managers do, in fact, adopt an opportunistic decision-making style. They may rationalise it after the fact, putting it into one of the other three categories, but I think most managers have a list of things on their mind that they're keeping an eye on/looking out for a potential solution for/a way around. It's actually quite similar to the findings of Mintzburg's and Kotter's diary studies of managerial work in the 70s and 80s, especially Kotter's idea of agenda setting. If you haven't read them, they're a great read: Kotter, J.P. (1999) "What effective General Managers really do" Harvard Business Review, March-April, v77:2 Mintzberg, H. (1975) "Manager's job: folklore and fact" Harvard business Review v53:4 July - August p49-61 Cheers, Rob. Hi Venkat,

I reckon you’ll find that most good managers do, in fact, adopt an opportunistic decision-making style. They may rationalise it after the fact, putting it into one of the other three categories, but I think most managers have a list of things on their mind that they’re keeping an eye on/looking out for a potential solution for/a way around.

It’s actually quite similar to the findings of Mintzburg’s and Kotter’s diary studies of managerial work in the 70s and 80s, especially Kotter’s idea of agenda setting.

If you haven’t read them, they’re a great read:

Kotter, J.P. (1999) “What effective General Managers really do” Harvard Business Review, March-April, v77:2

Mintzberg, H. (1975) “Manager’s job: folklore and fact” Harvard business Review v53:4 July – August p49-61

Cheers,

Rob.

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