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I'm not sure if these are opposite ends of the spectrum. I think the article says it best, focus results in actions. But coordinating, is an action in itself.

I'm not sure if these are opposite ends of the spectrum. I think the article says it best, focus results in actions. But coordinating, is an action in itself. The act of attending an all hands meeting, or even meeting with a group of people requires focus(e.g. to be fully present in a meeting). Or to prepare for an all-hands meeting a manager has to focus and think of an agenda. I feel like focus is a supporting act for almost everything and we have a problem with balancing among too many things.

1penny42cents 5y ago
Focus (as I tried to define it) is not just "paying attention", but more like "a flow state that moves things forward". The problem is that coordinating forces us to break from that flow state in order to spread, organize, and mediate information across teammates. We can either pay attention to solving problems, or to communicating/informing/negotiating with people, but not both. The manager needs to shut off Slack in order to prep for the meeting, for example. But you're right. Focus is required to coordinate properly and coordination is required to focus properly. It's an intricate dance. The tricky part is moving between the two states in a harmonious way.
lostdog 5y ago
I split these into "doing stuff" and "talking about doing stuff" and yes, they are absolutely mutually exclusive.
- 1penny42cents 5y ago
  You nailed it with that split. Focus vs Coordination aims to be a bit less verbose, but what I really mean is "doing stuff well" vs "aligning on the stuff we should do". It's also important to emphasize that doing stuff well is much harder than doing stuff, and thus less compatible with talking and alignment. And same for the other side. We can talk all we want, but actually aligning requires intention and attention. And that coordination-attention draws energy from our execution-attention.

1penny42cents 5y ago

Focus (as I tried to define it) is not just "paying attention", but more like "a flow state that moves things forward". The problem is that coordinating forces us to break from that flow state in order to spread, organize, and mediate information across teammates. We can either pay attention to solving problems, or to communicating/informing/negotiating with people, but not both. The manager needs to shut off Slack in order to prep for the meeting, for example. But you're right. Focus is required to coordinate properly and coordination is required to focus properly. It's an intricate dance. The tricky part is moving between the two states in a harmonious way.

lostdog 5y ago

I split these into "doing stuff" and "talking about doing stuff" and yes, they are absolutely mutually exclusive.

1penny42cents 5y ago
You nailed it with that split. Focus vs Coordination aims to be a bit less verbose, but what I really mean is "doing stuff well" vs "aligning on the stuff we should do". It's also important to emphasize that doing stuff well is much harder than doing stuff, and thus less compatible with talking and alignment. And same for the other side. We can talk all we want, but actually aligning requires intention and attention. And that coordination-attention draws energy from our execution-attention.