Distill the Essence

I read a lot these days.

Latest articles were an Infographic on the History of the Internet – you know: that usual stuff about when it all moved from being academic to becoming consumerizeable, from being static info to becoming social and interactive. I also read a mindboggling post by Steve Sinofsky, the former president of the Windows Division at Microsoft, on Continous Productivity; and a response by Nacsa Sandor, an ICT veteran who made his MSc in Engineering and Automation in 1971(!).

Amazing to see how the Internet developped into a place of interaction, meetup, exchange and collaboration. Interesting to read the view of Sinofsky on how this interactive behaviour, constantly on the verve of newer news, influences the ongoings in virtually any business (well, probably not the plumber around the corner – though … even he could benefit from it)

Factually touching articles in a way (if such a thing – “factually touching” – ever exists). A constant flow of information guides me through the day. I read an article, proceed to the next five posts on twitter, one’s jumping me to another article, which I reject in the middle as it’s not interesting, browse my mail instead and remember that guy I pinged on facebook to exchange thoughts on another technical matter. Accidentally I find compelling stories on how this industrial revolution changes our lives, our company, our business, our daily routine – such as the mentioned.

And then?

What are we doing with these insights of so many smart people sharing their thoughts with us?

When I started writing this blog post – recalling the infographic that led me into these thoughts originally – I dig … and dig … and dig … and had a really hard time re-finding it. Information flies by us and its touchy spirit stays for a moment (if at all that long).

I sometimes find myself trapped into rapidly browsing my feed only to realize that the depth of thought I can give to one author doesn’t even last as long as to the headline of the next (or the comment of one of my friends under the last post).

I read a lot these days.

That gives broad overview, a whole lot of opinions, insights, sometimes ideas … Extracting the essence of what I read – however – sometimes needs reading less (and posting either).

Or – as Mr. Sandor puts it: “It is so easy now to come to a seemingly undeniable concensus by so large number of people that it is also much easier to make even huge mistakes in the execution.”