Curious Content: Minimum Viable Play, Supply Chain Mysteries, & More

Welcome and thanks for joining! There's 32 of us on this first run.

So a confession: writing in public isn’t easy.

First, I have to worry about what my mother will think. She’s always supportive. But still.

Second, some readers won't be interested. They will unsubscribe. And it will hurt, but that's ok. I support aggressive unsubscribing as a part of a healthy information diet. I will probably write more about this. And other themes.

Ok, let’s get going!

Minimum Viable Play:

What's the antidote to burn out? Play.

I recently discovered @reddy2go.eth in the tweet below. He suggests taking two minutes every two hours for "minimum viable play." Some of his examples: stare at the sky; perform deep breathing; walk barefoot on the grass. Taking a break was obvious, but the play part was new to me.

It hit me a few days later that I unconsciously play. I often take 5-10 min walking breaks during the day. At some point I will walk along a curb like a balance beam. Then stop when I self-consciously conclude that it's childish. Maybe child-like should be our aim when we take breaks. (Video: 1:35 minutes)

reddy2go.eth 👹 @reddy2go life can be very challenging at times, and probably in hindsight those would be the best moments in our highlight reel but for now if it's getting to you, try this simple pointers for minimum viable play pic.twitter.com/JD3MNdP7Ph November 1st 2021 0 Retweets 35 Likes

Play doesn't require expensive equipment. Back in the day I could play this balloon game for hours. If only I knew there would be professional opportunities. Volume up for the play-by-play coverage in Spanish which is always so good.

Dan Toomey ☕️ @dhtoomey the Balloon World Cup was last week watch this space pic.twitter.com/m53mOsLm2G October 17th 2021 32,204 Retweets 180,567 Likes

Supply Chain Mysteries:

My mechanic can’t get parts. A local chef can't get a key menu ingredient. The interior designer can’t get an accurate shipping update. All are miserable. Customers are unhappy.

What’s going on with supply chains? Great insights have been coming from Ryan Petersen, CEO of Flexport, an innovative freight-forwarding unicorn. High-level summary:

I value accounts like Petersen's. He's great at telling the unfolding story via long threads and retweeting content from others. If I were a supply chain nerd, he would be one of the ten accounts in my Twitter "Supply Chain" list. I wrote an essay about how I use Twitter lists to shortcut the news.

Here's Petersen sounding the alarm. It went viral, and he was on TV the next few days.

Ryan Petersen @typesfast Yesterday I rented a boat and took the leader of one of Flexport's partners in Long Beach on a 3 hour of the port complex. Here's a thread about what I learned. October 22nd 2021 11,723 Retweets 35,027 Likes

His explanation of root causes.

Ryan Petersen @typesfast What caused all the supply chain bottlenecks? Modern finance with its obsession with "Return on Equity." October 28th 2021 2,659 Retweets 12,028 Likes

Personal observations:

1. The supply chain topic is more complex than the graphic above or any short news article can cover.
2. Spread the word. Coach the friend who complains. Why? My normally professional-speaking mechanic dropped f-bombs as he described a few customers who called him a liar. He's seen his employees called worse in online reviews. He's exhausted. He's lost money on jobs where he quotes $350 for the tire and the supplier is now selling them for $400. Employees want to quit. He's ready to quit. We all lose if this happens.
3. How to make this positive? Lower our expectations.

Something to ponder:

A photo of the Hollywood giants in the 70's. If you are over 50, you can't glide past this. If you are under 50, send this to someone who will appreciate it. It will trigger many memories.

Something to listen to:

The Everything is Alive podcast series interviews inanimate objects. Huh? Yep. And it's funny. The interview with Louis, the can of Cola, starts at 2:00. I highly recommend listening to at least the first 4-5 minutes.

That does it for this first episode.

It was good for me. Hopefully it was good for you. Comments always welcome.

If you think someone out there might enjoy it, feel free to forward it.

See you next Saturday.

- Michael

​