Episodes
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📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/isVefNnhijI
Dima and Slava have read and now discuss "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!", a memoir by the renowned theoretical physicist Richard Feynman.
* Both Dima and Slava were impressed by style that was simple and easy going
* How true is the story is the story about Brazilian educational system? Seems legit
* Biweekly #16: Culture Map (https://biweeklycast.com/season-two/16)
* Feynman's foray into art and connecting hard science and humanities was especially interesting for Dima
* Slava was moved by Feynman's success as a musician
* Open mindset: "Make yourself available to interesting opportunities"
* Stories about "bar adventures" sound cringy in 2024
* Different attitude towards authorities in professional setting (there are no authorities) and amateur exercises (learning from those who had success)
* Trying different things and learning from them is really important
* The 99% Invisible Breakdown: The Power Broker (https://99percentinvisible.org/club/)
* Taste: My Life Through Food (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55360284-taste) by Stanley Tucci
* Cargo cult (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult) -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube (https://youtu.be/tpi7AhEabUY)
Dima and Slava discuss whether focusing on working faster can translate into improvements in the quality of the produced results and why or why not this may be the case.
* Podcast Focused (https://www.relay.fm/focused)
* Book "Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking" (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733)
* Dima's idea of "everything can be done in two weeks"
* Are fast iterations always possible?
* Is moving fast only about iterations?
* Feedback function is important for learning
* Biweekly 36: How Big Things Get Done (https://biweeklycast.com/season-two/36)
* Deliberate practice (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Practice_%28learning_method%29#Deliberate_practice) -
Missing episodes?
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Slava started a new podcast called STRATsphere Talks about all things strategizing. In this episode Dima and Slava discuss thinking behind this new endeavor and learning after launching first episodes of the new podcast.
* Follow-up
* The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_Broker)
* The 99% Invisible Power Broker Book Club (https://99percentinvisible.org/club/)
* STRATsphere Talks Podcast (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYMLJoHoUKHEWIWkkB93lsGpdql2jDtDJ)
* Differences between ongoing podcasts, like Biweekly, and limited series
* "Continuity" in podcasts
* Production: how the sausage is made
* Software for recording
* Riverside (https://riverside.fm/)
* Audio Hijack (https://rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/)
* Dynamics of recording in studio face-to-face and remotely
* Why YouTube is important for podcasts
* Feedback is sooo important for podcasters
* Hosting a solo podcast vs co-hosting -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube (https://youtu.be/DyJZfE-1RDA).
Slava wonders about planning ideal weeks and quizzes Dima about his approaches to balancing long-term and short-term and dealing with the unplanned.
* Discombobulation continues
* Slava's theme corner
* Some Bullet Journal videos
* Minimal Bullet Journal Setup (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK5VUuxGYr0)
* Simple 2024 Bullet Journal Setup (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6BU8ea-iJ0)
* Some articles from the Internet about ideal weeks
* How designing your ideal week can increase your productivity (and sanity) (https://mariepoulin.com/blog/design-your-ideal-week-increase-productivity/)
* How to Better Control Your Time by Designing Your Ideal Week (https://fullfocus.co/ideal-week/)
* Planning your ideal week (https://mikeyanderson.com/planning-your-ideal-week)
* Is something like "ideal" an acceptable terminology
* Planning for productive weeks
* Dealing with unplanned tasks and interruptions
* Weaving long-term thinking into short-term planning
* Meetings and no meetings days
* Detailed calendar planning: does it work?
* Planning multi-step activities for time efficiency -
📺 Watch [this episode on YouTube](https://youtu.be/F39xfuzM6Tw)
In the last episode recorded in 2023 Dima and Slava discuss their yearly themes and talk talk what is in cards for them in 2024.
* Biweekly 9: Themes. 2023 Edition (https://biweeklycast.com/season-two/9)
* The Theme System (https://www.themesystem.com/)
* Your Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGuFdX5guE) by CGP Grey
* Looking back at 2023 themes and laying out themes for 2024
* Themes and journaling
* Seasonal and monthly themes
* Resting meaningfully and intentionally
* Visual reminders for themes -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/x724EDJjBbg
In this unusual book club episode Dima and Slava depart from their usual business literature repertoire and discuss sci-fi novel "We Are Legion (We Are Bob)".
* Follow up
* Dima is fascinated with the word "discombobulated"
* Challenges of taking notes while on the run
* "We Are Legion (We Are Bob)" on GoodReads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32109569-we-are-legion-we-are-bob)
* Challenges of human replication, artificial intelligence, self-identification
* Slava read all the books set in the Bobiverse and Dima tries to goes where the author takes the story
* "Fuzzy Nation" by John Scalzi on GoodReads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9647532-fuzzy-nation) -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DkU497iK3dM
Dima describes his adventures into Zettelkasten and together with Slava they discuss ins and outs of note taking.
* Follow-up
* Rely on team to solve teamwork challenges
* Zettelkasten Method (https://zettelkasten.de/posts/overview/#the-introduction-to-the-zettelkasten-method)
* Niklas Luhmann (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niklas_Luhmann) published over 70 books and nearly 400 scholarly articles on variety of subjects
* Videos about Zettelkasten, Obsidian, and smart notes
* Zettelkasten Obsidian Workflow (https://youtu.be/HSTOSWOhNo4)
* How to take smart notes (https://youtu.be/5O46Rqh5zHE?si=8CRVFRE7kx5vDAp7)
* Slava uses Sidekick Notepad (https://youtu.be/vMpGWDA_ih8)
* Note taking software
* Logseq (https://logseq.com/)
* Obsidian (https://obsidian.md/)
* Notion (https://www.notion.so/)
* Book "How to Take Smart Notes" (https://www.soenkeahrens.de/en/takesmartnotes)
* Atomic note – a note that represents exactly one idea
* Literature and fleeting notes
* Biweekly 28: No Rules Rules (https://biweeklycast.com/season-two/28)
* Power of Zettelkasten is in connecting the notes
* Can the time invested into organization of the notes really pay off?
* What do organization of photos and notes have in common? -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/sZNscsoJma0
Slava talks about the experience he had facilitating co-creation of L&D course and together with Dima they brainstorm ideas for overcoming challenges Slava encountered.
* Dima once again tried to pronounce "Birmingham" correctly
* Baader-Meinhof corner: word "illustrious" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illustrious)
* L&D Mastery course (https://peoplefirst.club/courses/learning-and-development-mastery)
* Collective creativity
* Points (https://points.work/) series of events was creative
* 3 ways a problem and a team shape one another
* Assemble a team and let it find the best problem to solve
* Define a problem and then put together the best team that can solve
* Something in between
* Slava's MMFD to driving co-creation in a diverse team
* Motivation
* Meetings
* Freedom
* Deadlines
* Dima's thought pitfalls to avoid
* Do not stick to original plan (or idea) to religiously
* When evolution of the project runs into a dead end, don't be afraid to take a step or two back
* Mistakes Slava made in the process
* Over-managing the meetings not giving enough room to meaningful discussions
* Not creating convenient space for collaboration
* Lack of regular 1:1s
* Allow the team to self-organize!
* How to get the team to engage and care about the whole project
* Tuckman's stages of group development: forming–storming–norming–performing
* Developers, developers, developers! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxbJw8PrIkc)
* How to keep interest in the project going after the initial boost of enthusiasm?
* Next project: centralized or de-centralized? -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4_8Db7zVHGY
Dima and Slava sit with Viktoria Pysarenko to talk about Vita's experience of attending a transformative experience by Tony Robbins, general idea of such motivational events, and the lessons they teach us.
* Vita's Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/victoria_pysarenko_vbs/)
* What is Unleash the Power Within? (https://www.tonyrobbins.com/stories/unleash-the-power/what-is-upw/)
* Is this a training? Is this an even? Is this a "happening"?
* If Tony Robbins is a coach, how does coaching work with 12,000 people
* Physical activities to get the body and the mind in the desired state
* Effect of the crowd in the experience
* What people come for knowledge or emotional boost?
* The idea of communal experiences
* Things in common between Tony Robbins trainings, big concerts, and going to stadium for a football game
* David A. Sinclair(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_A._Sinclair), who researches aging
* Is it worth to attend such a training online? -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cT9iDgtfknA
Dima and Slava set out to discuss transparency as a potential solution to different challenges, but spend most of the time talking about compensation transparency and its challenges and benefits.
* Follow-up: do managers overdo it out of desire for everything to go smoothly?
* Focused #185: How to Be Miserable (https://www.relay.fm/focused/185)
* Compensation transparency – disclosure of employee compensation amounts, either among other employees in an organization, to owners, to government regulators, or to the public (Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compensation_transparency))
* Some articles from HBR on the topic transparency
* Research: The Complicated Effects of Pay Transparency (https://hbr.org/2023/02/research-the-complicated-effects-of-pay-transparency)
* Research: The Unintended Consequences of Pay Transparency (https://hbr.org/2022/08/research-the-unintended-consequences-of-pay-transparency)
When Transparency Backfires, and How to Prevent It (https://hbr.org/2016/07/when-transparency-backfires-and-how-to-prevent-it)
* Transitioning to transparency can be risky that starting point is messy
* Transparency on salaries and ranges would be incomplete without transparency on rules for promotions, etc
* How does transparency benefit companies?
* Is complete transparency even possible?
* How to deal with misuse of information disclosed in pursuit of transparency?
* Transparency vs brutal honesty
* Biweeklycast #13 Automating The State (https://biweeklycast.com/season-two/13)
* Next episode: book club discussion of No Rules Rules (https://www.norulesrules.com/) -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/l5YKGj6QTlA
Dima and Slava sit down to answer questions kindly crafted by ChatGPT and curated by Slava to debug his challenge of managing five projects of different shape and form.
* According to PMBOK (https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/understanding-difference-programs-versus-projects-6896) a project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique project service or result.”
* Questions Slava selected (https://biweeklycast.com/extra/chatgpt-questions-for-episode-26) for the discussion out of 50 generated by ChatGPT
* How to operate when there are 5 priorities?
"Working on a project generates more work for that project"
* Delegation is important. Thank you, Cap!
* Should manager be the safety net for the team?
* Zero Bug Bounce (https://bytelanguage.com/2018/04/10/zero-bug-bounce-zbb/)
* Make team part of the solution, not part of the problem: ask them to fix what's not working
* People become more volatile and less reliable when their country is at war
* Maslach Burnout Inventory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslach_Burnout_Inventory)
* Buffers, buffers, buffers!
* AI-generated podcasts (https://twitter.com/aisolopreneur/status/1663521127216435200) -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Cw0wQFgBiHg
Dima and Slava sit with Anna Krasilnik to talk about the method of nonviolent communication, its applicability to the real-world professional situations, and seemingly sudden popularity of NVC in some circles.
* aitiology, or etiology (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/etiology)
* Frequency illusion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion) (also known as Baader–Meinhof phenomenon)
* Nonviolent Communication (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication)
* The book about NVC: Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/71730). Dima listened to this other book (https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Nonviolent-Communication-Audiobook/B00TJO3RKI) by Marshall Rosenberg
* Feelings and Needs Reference Guide (https://nvcacademy.com/media/NVCA/learning-tools/NVCA-feelings-needs.pdf)
* Is NVC getting trendier? And why is that?
* Buying the whole method vs picking individual ideas
* Do different cultures talk about feelings differently?
* Individual psychology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_psychology)
* Biweekly 24: Courage To Be Disliked (https://biweeklycast.com/season-two/24)
* A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Beautiful_Day_in_the_Neighborhood)
* Spiral Dynamics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Dynamics)
* Dialogs in Tarantino's movies and NVC -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/lIWHGWhYq1s
Dima and Slava read the book "The Courage To Be Disliked" and discuss individual psychology and its premises, debate to apply those to "real" life, and spot some contradictions on guidelines laid out by the authors.
* The Courage To Be Disliked (https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=595) by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga
* Individual psychology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_psychology)
* Is the dialog style of the book helpful?
* Pressure to achieve and the feeling of inferiority
* "I'm ok. You are ok."
* Blue ocean [strategy] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ocean_Strategy)
* Dima's impressions from the first visit to the US
* Does community feeling go in conflict with self-reliance?
* Is it really possible not to praise and not to rebuke?
* Why systems of principles prone to exhibiting inconsistencies?
* Third courage: the courage to be normal
"Average person considers oneself smarter than an average person."
* Dima was not a great fan the naming this kind psychology "Adlerian" and Slava offers an explanation of why that may be -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/29AhIUTvv3Y
Dima brings up two topic and together with Slava they discuss how one can help to keep meetings on track as a participant and navigate complexities of working on long-term projects.
* "If I skip a day I never skip the next one. And I don't try to make up for the skipped day."
* Safety posters for London Tube: old (https://site.laboca.co.uk/TFL-Safety-Posters) and new (https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/vccp-london-andrew-hudson-tfl-illustration-070623)
* What to do when as a participant one notices that a meeting or a session takes an unwanted turn
* 4 things that can raise a flag
* discussion diverges from the agenda
* tension between two participants escalates
* slow overall progress towards the goal
* deliverable being produced has flaws
* AOB (Any other business) section in the agenda as a universal buffer for fixing meetings
* Do we expect informal leaders to intervene when things are not going right?
* How to signal to the facilitator when one notices something?
* The Eisenhower Matrix (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_management#The_Eisenhower_Method)
* Using time tracking and conscious prioritisation help to balance between urgent and important
* Protected and unscheduled time -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/q-uwt2NsTbw.
Dima and Slava follow up on the topic in the previous episode and talk about joy of missing out, slowing down, and generally changing the ways we lead our lives.
* Biweeklycast #21 with Yulia Kudina "Friends and Friendship" (https://biweeklycast.com/season-two/21)
* JOMO: The Joy of Missing Out (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-is-state-mind/201807/jomo-the-joy-missing-out) in Psychology Today
* Books by Chris Bailey
* "Hyperfocus" (https://chrisbailey.com/hyperfocus). We discussed this book in Biweeklycast #12 (https://biweeklycast.com/season-two/12)
* "How to Calm Your Mind" (https://chrisbailey.com/how-to-calm-your-mind/)
* Slava's quest for slowing down
* Dima's revelation on the Tube about triggered by irritation at people walking to slowly
* Transport for London commissioned new design for safety posters (https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/vccp-london-andrew-hudson-tfl-illustration-070623). Dima likes the previous ones (https://site.laboca.co.uk/TFL-Safety-Posters) better
* Reseting the routine to allow oneself to slow down
* Breaking away from the news addiction
* Book "The Knowing-Doing Gap" (https://jeffreypfeffer.com/books/the-knowing-doing-gap/)
* Spaceship You (https://youtu.be/snAhsXyO3Ck) by CGP Grey
* Do we treat subscriptions to self-improvement services as a tax that should automagically fix things for us?
* JOBA (joy of being aware) instead of JOMO -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MYIfV4N67sk
Dima and Slava host Karyna Koreiba (https://www.instagram.com/koreiba/) and they talk about the ways people become friends, power of small groups, and mock articles that call on us to be open.
* Donald Rumsfeld's phrase "There are unknown unknowns"(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_unknown_unknowns)
* Book "Crossing the Chasm" was written by Geoffrey W. Moore. Andy Grove (3rd CEO of Intel) wrote a book called “Only the Paranoid Survive”
* Karyna's year of friendship
* Levels of friendship: acquaintance -> casual friend -> close friend -> intimate friend
* Difference definitions of "friend" and "friendship" in different cultures
* There is a research published that suggests it takes around 200 hours with a person to form a close a relationship
* "The Art of Sunday" and "Wednesday Coffee"
"Be open. Don't be afraid."
* How Aspen format overcome insecurities we all develop as we go through life
* Going out to find new friends and reaching out to people are not always easy, but often are so worth it
* Relationships vs. networking -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube (https://youtu.be/rqMshCEMIuQ)
In this book club episode Slava falls victim to marketing, but Dima reassures him (and everyone else) that there is a lot to be learned even when you disagree with what you are reading.
* Frequency illusion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion) (also known as Baader–Meinhof phenomenon)
* More about to-don’t lists YANSS 260 – The Science of Stuck (rebroadcast) (https://youarenotsosmart.com/2023/05/29/yanss-260-how-to-escape-life-loops-deal-with-trauma-and-build-the-psychological-momentum-required-to-get-yourself-unstuck/)
* Yakaboo (https://www.yakaboo.ua/) – online book shop in Ukraine
* Untools (https://untools.co/): tools for better thinking
* The Decision Book (https://profilebooks.com/work/the-decision-book/)
* Bernoulli's Fallacy (http://cup.columbia.edu/book/bernoullis-fallacy/9780231199957)
* Model vs method
* There are unknown unknowns (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_unknown_unknowns)
* Swiss cheese model (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_cheese_model) of risk analysis
* Crossing the Chasm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm) by Geoffrey A. Moore
* Diffusion of innovations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations)
* Tuckman's stages of group development (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuckman's_stages_of_group_development) – forming–storming–norming–performing
* Bloom's taxonomy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_taxonomy) for education objectives
"All models are wrong, but some are you useful." George W. Box -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube (https://youtu.be/LziXVfbjYPM)
Dima explores an idea of to-don't list for make room for new tasks and responsibilities and Slava challenges this entire concept and thinks of more productive alternatives.
* Brief follow up on networking: apps with geo-location features like Strava (https://www.strava.com/) can help find people with similar interest in real life
* The Breakfast app (https://thebreakfast.app/)
* Focused #175 The To-Don’t List (https://www.relay.fm/focused/175)
* Dima's definition of a to-don't list: list of things that should not get on a to-do list
* Why Everyone Should Have a To-Don't List, According to This Harvard Professor (and 8 Ideas on What to Add to Yours) (https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/why-everyone-should-have-a-to-dont-list-according-to-this-harvard-professor-and-8-ideas-on-what-to-add-to-yours.html)
* I tried making a ‘to-don’t list’ instead of a to-do list. Here’s what I learned (https://www.fastcompany.com/90617576/i-tried-making-a-to-dont-list-instead-of-a-to-do-list-heres-what-i-learned)
* The state of flow (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology))
* Difficulties of expressing vague and deeply felt ideas
"It's not prioritization until it hurts"
* Pushing back on meeting requests and challenges of this process
* Slava's method: personal retrospective
* Finding an ally is a great first step towards any change, especially a big one
* How to start a movement (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbaemWIljeQ) by Derek Sivers
Next episode: book club discussion of The Decision Book (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9793361-the-decision-book). -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube (https://youtu.be/LziXVfbjYPM)
Dima and Slava discuss networking, online and offline, share their experiences and tips, and slightly ridicule an article about remote networking.
* WHO: COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency (https://www.who.int/news/item/05-05-2023-statement-on-the-fifteenth-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-pandemic)
* "Networking situation" after moving to London
* Professional networking vs personal branding
* Extreme scales of networking: broadcasting and one-to-one
* Aspen Ukraine 2020 Reunion in Virbela (https://www.virbela.com/)
* Remote Networking: 15 Ways to Connect When You’re Stuck at Home (https://collegeinfogeek.com/remote-networking/)
* Personal brand as a beacon for potential connections
* Personal brans we like
* Yulia Kudina (https://www.instagram.com/whykudina/)
* Anna Golovchenko (https://www.instagram.com/anna.golovchenko/)
* Networking at online events: be a speaker
* Communities, including online communities, are great finding meaningful relationships
* The Breakfast app (https://thebreakfast.app/)
* Slava's method of expanding professional network via reachouts
* Spectrum of interaction bandwidth on online communication
* People First Club (https://peoplefirst.club/)
* Book "Never Eat Alone" (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/227558/never-eat-alone-expanded-and-updated-by-keith-ferrazzi-and-tahl-raz/)
"Best investment of time to learn networking is networking." -
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/SiQdNaYrOQ0
Dima and Slava welcome as a guest Viacheslav Rudenko and talk about resilience, what it means to them, and how they are trying to build it as a muscle.
"Oceanman is like triathlon but without cycling and running"
* Frequency illusion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion) (also known as Baader–Meinhof phenomenon)
* Resilience – pillar for hard times
"The worst things thought could happen are not as bad as things actually happening now."
* Happiness challenge
* The Wheel of Life (https://www.thecoachingtoolscompany.com/wheel-of-life-complete-guide-everything-you-need-to-know/)
* Peer pressure and peer support
* Support and trust are two-way street
"Sometimes you do not want reflection. Sometimes you want a kind person by your side."
* When comes to support community can be both a hero and a vilan
* Smalltalk, oversharing, and manipulation - Show more
