#38 Ali Almossawi: Thinking in Algorithms
This episode features Ali Almossawi, author and Apple engineer, discussing his unique book writing format, note-taking process, and daily routines. He emphasizes the importance of time awareness and reflects on the costs and benefits of social media sharing. The conversation also explores empathy in algorithmic thinking.
Deep Dive Analysis
11 Topic Outline
Shifting Mediums: Website to Book Publishing
Audience Expectations and Creator Dynamics
Project Lifecycle and Diminishing Returns
Exploring Empathy in a New Book Project
Connecting Algorithmic Thinking and Empathy
Defining and Teaching Empathy
The Importance of Time and Daily Routines
Ali's Note-Taking and Idea Tracking Process
Algorithms, Personal Data, and Serendipity
The Cost-Benefit of Social Media Sharing
A Philosophical Question: Changing Your Mind
3 Key Concepts
Medium's Impact on Audience
The format through which content is delivered, such as a website versus a physical book, significantly alters audience expectations and interaction dynamics. A website often implies an ongoing, collaborative project, while a book is typically perceived as a final, complete work, influencing how creators approach their content.
Empathy in Design and Coding
Empathy extends beyond personal interactions to technical fields like design and coding, where it manifests as considering the user's perspective, potential struggles, and ease of use when developing products or systems. This involves recognizing the audience's needs and designing with their experience in mind.
Respect for Time
Viewing time as a finite and valuable resource is a foundational habit. This involves being acutely aware of how daily hours are spent and making conscious decisions to align activities, even during routine moments like commutes, with one's short-term and long-term goals.
6 Questions Answered
Changing the medium shifts audience expectations; a website often implies a work-in-progress with potential for contributions, while a book is typically seen as a final, cumulative effort, altering the dynamic between creator and audience.
Empathy is relevant in fields like design and coding, where considering the user's perspective and potential struggles with a product or system is a manifestation of empathetic thinking, leading to more user-friendly creations.
A profound habit is having respect for time, recognizing it as a finite resource, and consciously deciding how to spend each hour to align with one's goals and priorities.
Carrying a physical notebook and regularly reviewing older notes can be effective, as past ideas that didn't make sense at the time might gain new relevance with a change in context or circumstances.
While sharing on platforms like Instagram or Twitter offers benefits such as likes, retweets, and connections, it comes at the cost of privacy and potentially losing serendipity as algorithms tailor content based on past preferences.
A valuable question to ask oneself or others is, 'What's one thing that you changed your mind about this past week?' as changing one's mind can be challenging due to thoughts often becoming intertwined with identity.
16 Actionable Insights
1. Respect Finite Time
Be cognizant of time as a finite resource, understanding how much time is in the day and how it’s spent. This awareness is hugely important for making conscious decisions about how to allocate your time before it’s too late.
2. Reflect on Mindset Changes
Regularly ask yourself what one thing you changed your mind about recently (e.g., today or this past week). This practice helps separate your identity from your thoughts and encourages intellectual flexibility.
3. Evaluate Online Sharing Costs
Consciously decide if the benefits of sharing personal information on social media platforms are worth the associated costs to your privacy. This helps you determine your comfort level and strategy for managing your online presence.
4. Recognize Diminishing Returns
Identify the point where a project yields diminishing returns and be willing to move on to new endeavors. This prevents over-investing time and resources into a project that has peaked its effectiveness.
5. Optimize Commute Time
Make conscious decisions about how to use your commute time, considering what activity (e.g., audiobook, observation, reflection) will be most effective for that day. This ensures you leverage otherwise passive time to advance your goals or well-being.
6. Focus Observations on Goals
Direct your observations and thinking towards your current short-term goals, even during seemingly mundane activities like commuting. This helps you gather relevant insights and maintain focus on your objectives.
7. Carry and Use a Notebook
Carry a physical notebook and prefer writing in it over a computer to capture thoughts and observations. This provides a dedicated space for ideation and reflection.
8. Regularly Review Old Notes
Periodically review your older notes, as ideas that didn’t make sense previously might gain new relevance due to changed context or circumstances. This allows you to leverage past insights and connect disparate thoughts.
9. Consider Medium’s Impact
Understand that the medium through which you present information (e.g., website vs. book) significantly changes the audience, their expectations, and how they interact with your work. Account for this when planning communication or creative projects.
10. Adopt Open Source for Books
For creative projects like books, consider maintaining an open-source online version alongside a print version. This allows for continuous contributions and improvements from the audience, treating the artifact as a work in progress.
11. Teach Complex Topics Creatively
When teaching complex or abstract concepts like empathy, consider using formats that appear simple (e.g., children’s book style) but are designed for adults. This approach can make difficult ideas more accessible and engaging.
12. Combine Illustrations and Prose
For effective communication and engagement, combine illustrations with prose and consider the physical packaging of your product. This multi-modal approach can reach a wider audience and enhance the message.
13. Prioritize Professional Online Sharing
If you prefer a less public online presence, focus on sharing content related to your projects and outputs rather than personal details. This allows you to engage professionally without constantly being in the spotlight.
14. Work in Solitude, Then Present
Adopt a work style where you spend significant time (e.g., a year) working on a project in private before presenting it publicly. This allows for deep focus and refinement, followed by feedback and improvement.
15. Recognize Unseen in Empathy
Define empathy as recognizing people and things that are not always easily seen, acknowledged, or are in the background. This broader understanding encourages a more comprehensive and compassionate perspective.
16. Question Algorithm Inputs
When encountering content generated by an algorithm, question what inputs were used to create it and how those inputs were selected. This critical thinking helps you understand the biases and limitations of algorithmic outputs.
5 Key Quotes
I didn't realize that by shifting the medium from a website to a book that the audience would change for that project and the expectations would change and all of a sudden the connections with people were different.
Ali Almossawi
I think that's part of empathy is kind of recognizing people and things that are not always easily recognizable or seen or acknowledged.
Ali Almossawi
Time respect for times is hugely important because once you, um, I mean, it's, it's a finite resource and we don't realize it sometimes until it's too late.
Ali Almossawi
I much prefer, uh, you know, spending a year working on something in the dark and then kind of presenting it after that and then seeing how it's, uh, perceived and, uh, how we can improve it and then going back for another year and then working on something else and then coming back.
Ali Almossawi
What's one thing that you changed your, your mind about, uh, today or this past week.
Ali Almossawi
2 Protocols
Ali Almossawi's Idea Tracking and Review Process
Ali Almossawi- Carry a physical notebook for writing down thoughts and observations.
- Prefer writing in the notebook over a computer.
- Regularly review older notes.
- Observe how past ideas, which might not have made sense initially, gain new form or applicability due to changes in context or circumstances.
Ali Almossawi's Commute Time Optimization
Ali Almossawi- Recognize the finite nature of time, especially during commutes.
- Make conscious decisions about how to use that time (e.g., audiobooks, observation, focused thinking).
- Align activities with current short-term goals (e.g., thinking about a new project).
- Observe surroundings and interactions to gather insights relevant to the goal.