(2012-03-13) Rao Routine But Cannot Be Automated Tasks

Venkatesh Rao on Routine But Cannot Be Automated Tasks (To-Do List, Habit-s). Trivial meta-content means it is not hard to plan or schedule this stuff, or figure out and create the necessary enabling pre-conditions. Non-trivial content means the actual work is hard and cannot be automated. Blogging is an example for me... Besides blogging and book-keeping, other activities in this bucket include working out, healthy eating, relationship maintenance activities like calling your parents regularly, professional networking, clearing your inbox and cleaning your home... How important is it to solve Rb Cb A problems? It depends on whether costs or consequences accumulate faster (think of the consequences of missing your schedule as lost revenue; the analogy is quite close). That’s the Tempo Book angle: there is a rhythm to Rb Cb A problems involving costs and consequences... There are five basic ways to solve Rb Cb A problems... If none of these easy strategies (the first 4) is available, you have to take the difficult way out: Habit formation.

He notes how many of these come up in a One Man Show, and how hard OutSourcing them (one of his first 4 approaches above) is.