Outcomes vs. Effort
Way back in last semester, Gill and I were talking about my desire to change the world and how easy it was to have your spirit broken and be disillusioned if you have a goal that large. In particular, we ran up against the problem that I'm very focused on outcomes. I think that if I have an objective to improve something about the world, then I only succeed when there is a positive change - I don't succeed just by spending some time on the problem. Of course the flip side is that it's hard to maintain a drive to address a problem if you sink time into the problem and don't have a resolution.
This way in which I tend to view things (focused on outcomes) became an issue again today in our SCOPE meeting. Basically we discovered that whereas I was focused on the outcomes (and correspondingly downtrodden when progress wasn't being made), some of the others were focused primarily on effort (though outcomes still mattered in some sense). The result of this position is that the end point matters less than than putting a good faith effort into the project for the requisite amount of time per week. It came up that some of them would not be disappointed if the project was not a "success" (whatever that means) so long as we all tried. It's interesting because in an absolute sense, this project really doesn't matter much to any of us. None of us will be programming robots or computer vision systems in our future. But strangely that lack of importance doesn't matter as much to me - it's still about getting a project done or at least doing as much as possible to get it done. I don't support the concept of any of us killing ourselves to get this project complete, but it seems like the focus on efforts over outcome can easily poison how you spend your time and energy during what time you have to work.
Anyhow, it's just an interesting destinction. I happened to talk to Allen (faculty) and Rod (dean of students) after this and posed the "are you outcomes or effort oriented?" question. Allen commented that he was evaluated on outcomes not on effort and that most of the non-academic world revolves around a focus on outcomes. Rod cited the A-team's closing line, "I love it when a plan comes together" to show his support for the value of outcomes over effort.
Yet it's still the case that an outcomes approach can be very disheartening when you don't make progress after working on something for a while...
All this is to say that this is an interesting topic and one whose blog entry was almost writing itself as I walked back to the room...
Which matters more to you?
This way in which I tend to view things (focused on outcomes) became an issue again today in our SCOPE meeting. Basically we discovered that whereas I was focused on the outcomes (and correspondingly downtrodden when progress wasn't being made), some of the others were focused primarily on effort (though outcomes still mattered in some sense). The result of this position is that the end point matters less than than putting a good faith effort into the project for the requisite amount of time per week. It came up that some of them would not be disappointed if the project was not a "success" (whatever that means) so long as we all tried. It's interesting because in an absolute sense, this project really doesn't matter much to any of us. None of us will be programming robots or computer vision systems in our future. But strangely that lack of importance doesn't matter as much to me - it's still about getting a project done or at least doing as much as possible to get it done. I don't support the concept of any of us killing ourselves to get this project complete, but it seems like the focus on efforts over outcome can easily poison how you spend your time and energy during what time you have to work.
Anyhow, it's just an interesting destinction. I happened to talk to Allen (faculty) and Rod (dean of students) after this and posed the "are you outcomes or effort oriented?" question. Allen commented that he was evaluated on outcomes not on effort and that most of the non-academic world revolves around a focus on outcomes. Rod cited the A-team's closing line, "I love it when a plan comes together" to show his support for the value of outcomes over effort.
Yet it's still the case that an outcomes approach can be very disheartening when you don't make progress after working on something for a while...
All this is to say that this is an interesting topic and one whose blog entry was almost writing itself as I walked back to the room...
Which matters more to you?
posted by Will at 2:42 AM
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