Is it better to think fast or think slow?

Three reasons why slower response times are preferable:

1. More time to think and plan your next move.
2. Room for more creative & thoughtful decisions.
3. Freedom to work when you are most productive.

Async work gives the time to really think through decisions, consider all options, and do your best work.

Workshops help you and your team get things done.

This week is about "think fast" workshops, "think slow" async work, and "deep" work.

Let's go!

– Arthur

Three Workshop Tips

Here are three of my favorite "think fast" workshop activities.

1: Lightning Brainstorm

1. Give everyone two minutes to write down as many ideas as possible about a given topic. One idea per sticky note.
2. In silence, take 4 minutes to read each other's ideas and write down new ideas that pop up.
3. Still in silence, ask everyone to vote on their favorite idea. Set a timer if needed.
4. Take a couple of minutes to discuss the results.
5. Repeat steps 1 to 4, but then for the next steps to make the winning idea succeed.​

2: Crazy Eights

3: 1-2-4-All

1. Individual Reflection (1 min). Ask participants to silently reflect on a question or topic individually.
2. Pair Up (2 mins) Have individuals pair up to discuss and build upon each other's ideas.
3. Group Discussion (4 mins) Merge pairs to form groups of four, encouraging further discussion and synthesis of ideas.
4. All Together (Variable time) Bring everyone together to share insights and takeaways from each group, fostering a collaborative understanding of the topic.

Note: Ensure you articulate the question or challenge clearly and encourage active participation from all members. This exercise promotes diverse input and collaborative solution-building in a short time frame.

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​Two Async Examples‍

..and two of my favorite "think slow" examples.

1: Activity-based working

Here's how I create my YouTube videos:

• 🚶‍♂️ I write all my video ideas down on my mobile phone in Notion (usually, they pop up when taking a walk).
• 🪑 The script starts as bullet points (which I also jot down on my phone—usually when sitting outside during/after a walk).
• 👨‍💻 On my laptop, I transform the bullet points into a full video script (can be anywhere).
• 🖥 At my desk, I create visuals (in Keynote, Miro, or Figma) to spice up the video (from home).
• 🎥 I record the video at my desk, where my camera setup is ready to go.
• 🛋 After recording, I edit the videos on my iPad (usually on the couch, sometimes in the garden).

​
Sounds like a lot of work?

You might be surprised that this workflow saves me 4 hours for every video I make.

(And I have created 60+ videos in the last 12 months.)

That's because I took 30 minutes to design my video workflow to optimize my time, focus, and energy.

(So that's quite an ROI.)​

2: Root Cause Analysis

The key to effective problem-solving is ensuring you understand the problem you are trying to solve. Often the thing you identified first is a symptom of the root cause.

Root Cause Analysis enables teams to identify consequences and causes for problems they face.

One of the ways I use this tool:

1. Share a personal copy for each team member.
2. Ask them to fill it in before the end of next week.
3. Use the inputs as the start of a workshop to generate ideas to solve this problem.

This saves a huge amount of time during the workshop and improves quality because participants have more time to think the problem through.

​​One Question For Your Team

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed today's issue, please reply (it helps with deliverability). If you didn't you can unsubscribe via the link👇.

See you next Wednesday — Arthur​