When I was preparing an article about the visualization of one-dimensional data , I studied the minimalist approach to the construction of Edward Taffy diagrams. Minimalism is a good idea, but the name is not very good, because it does not answer the question, what should we leave at least?

Later, I thought it would be good to create an approach related to the essence that should remain after minimalism. An essence-oriented approach could be called essentialism from the English word essential (essential, essential). As it turned out, he was already invented, and even wrote a book .

After reading the book, I have a feeling of unsystematic presentation. By the last chapters, I was completely lost in quotations and examples. And it became annoying that it seemed like a book about the essence, about its revealing in one’s life, and after reading the book there is no clear and working scheme.

Well the author of the book at the end wrote that the main thing in his approach. It turned out that this is a question that needs to be asked when making any decision:

What is significant?

What is essential in the book on essentialism? A summary of the book can be read here . I will consider the book from the standpoint of the theory of decision making , and that essentialism adds to the standard approaches of choice (+ illustration, which is not in the book).

Essentialism Characteristics

What is essential we can find in the book about the essential? In fact, the author of the book, Greg McKeon, proposes a method of decision making (choice). In this case, the methodology is not considered in detail, but an emphasis is placed on some important characteristics of the decision-making process, namely:

1. Personal choice - we have the ability to independently decide how to spend our time and energy (only we often forget about this ability).
2. The presence of noise - almost everything does not matter, except for some things. We take time to identify them (“what’s the point?”).
3. The importance of compromise - no one can do everything and get everything. We must evaluate the options and discard many of them (assignments).

First of all, the book reminds us of our ability to choose. Decision making theory examines in detail exactly how to make choices, and essentialism says that we must constantly do this, discarding the irrelevant. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov formulated it this way:

It is never too early to ask yourself: am I involved in business or nothing?

Further, essentialism believes that there is a very limited set of truly important things and options.

Twenty years ago, Windows versions seemed important. My friends and I spent a lot of time discussing their features, tried different versions, compared, argued. And now I need to go into the settings of the computer in order to understand what version of Windows I have. The topic that once seemed meaningful, now has no meaning for me. At the same time, I mastered the ten-finger typing, and for many years this skill has helped me write texts, program and answer letters. This turned out to be significant.

Decision making theory is also aimed at determining and choosing the most useful, valuable, important option. Only essentialism indicates the possibility of applying a conscious choice to all areas of our life and to life in general.

The third characteristic of essentialism (the need for concessions) also follows directly from decision theory. Obviously, choosing some option that we rate as the most important or useful, we discard others. But in life in general, it is not so obvious. The very essence of the choice as a rejection of other options often eludes us.

Lawrence Johnston Peter (author of the Peter Principle) defined economics as follows:

Economics is the art of meeting unlimited needs with the help of limited resources.

Essentialism hints that this definition is false in terms of the infinite needs. We can not consume everything. We cannot work simultaneously on several computers, speak simultaneously on several telephones, live in many houses at once. Essentialism in this sense is a reaction to the glut of choice, in which the modern economy with its unlimited production drives us. A world in which our entire choice is a choice from a catalog of goods and services.

Next, we consider the very method of selecting the essential in comparison with the theory of decision making. The proposed technique consists of three steps. More precisely, the three phases of the cycle, since it is understood that this is a closed process that must be constantly repeated.

1. Explore: how to separate the most important from the useless?

The first step of the methodology is devoted to research, the search for the answer to the question "what is essential?". The author cites the example of the skills of journalists to identify the essence of the story among the disparate facts. As a recommendation for everyone, keep and re-read the diary, in the sense of the in-flight magazine (the words “journal” and “journalist” are the same root). You can draw analogies with the collection and analysis of logs .

To conduct research, written assessment of options and the search for material, you need to allocate space and time. For example, half an hour a day before bedtime, or vice versa, in the morning, describe what is planned to be done today. In project work, this can be done before the project begins. In agile software development, substantive refinement can be done at each iteration (during retrospectives).

Later in the book is a pair of auxiliary, improving the quality of decision-making recommendations: sleep a lot and allocate time for games and entertainment.

It is necessary to get enough sleep enough to get to the bottom of the essential. Lack of sleep does not lead to a significant improvement in the results of any activity, quite the contrary. What can you do in 18 hours a day, which can't be done in 15? And if you devote significant time to daytime, then you will have plenty of time to sleep, and you will not have to sit at night trying to catch up in the light of the sun. A sufficient amount of sleep in the book is described as an indicator of a good quality of life.

From my own experience, I can say for sure that when you sleep for 10 to three or four days in a row, your outlook on life changes. And if you completely abandon coffee , then a completely new outlook on life and on emerging situations of choice appears.

Cause time, fun hour

The proverb calls to devote time to business, but to fun, play, only an hour. However, we often go to extremes when we forget about the game piece. In the meantime, games allow you to relax, develop ingenuity and bring joy.

Let us return to the theory of decision making. In contrast to the multi-criteria choice, essentialism suggests using one, but absolutely clear, criterion in the selection of the essential. For the selected criterion, it is proposed to use a threshold value of not less than 0.9 (90%) of the maximum. That is, to approach as critically as possible the choice and accept only the option, about which we can say an unequivocal "yes".

At the output of the first step of the technique, we get: having slept and not forgetting about the games, in a calm atmosphere we consider many different choices. Using one clear criterion, we choose the most suitable option (90% threshold).

2. Eliminate: how to get rid of the trivial majority?

We have formulated the most significant option or several options. At the second step in the book, it is proposed to formulate the chosen variant absolutely clearly. At the same time, the wording (goal, intention, line of action) should be inspiring, and so that it is clear when we will achieve our goals.

The main thing after we have chosen our option is not to deviate from it. Indeed, having spent a lot of effort on identifying the main goal or several goals, it would be a pity to throw out all the research results. After all, we chose the most essential to implement it, is not it?

Essentialism reminds us that we cannot do everything and get everything. We have to make concessions, and essentialism calls for giving in in favor of our choice, and not to other people and their proposals. This is the essential complement of essentialism to decision-making theory.

The book points to two things that prevent us from implementing what we have planned:

• New proposals, contradicting and taking time from what we have outlined. You need to learn to elegantly reject such offers. How exactly to do this is described in the book (Chapter 11).
• The load of previous decisions that brought the wrong way. When something went wrong, you need to be able to stop in time and start anew. According to the book, the problem is in the so-called ownership effect, which makes us appreciate more than what we already have, even if it has not worked for a long time and has not been used by us.

In general, it is necessary to establish boundaries in an explicit form for others, beyond which they cannot pass, so as not to prevent you from doing the essential.

Important note. When the essential consists of several parts (directions), then these parts should be ordered (arranged). That is, in the most essential, the most essential should also be highlighted, which is in the first place. Then less significant, which is in second place, and so on.

3. Act: how to spend a minimum of effort?

Now we have a goal and time to achieve it. It remains to take and make. How exactly, there are already few really useful and specific tips in the book. The main advice repeats the basic idea of ​​essentialism. You need to ask yourself the question "what is important now ?".

You can do several things at once, but you cannot focus on several things at the same time. If we even do several things at the same time, then only one of them focuses (if there is one at all), and we do the rest automatically.

Another useful tip is to apply the theory of constraints in the part of finding and eliminating key obstacles to the goal. The idea is essentialist, and the theory of constraints has been working on its own for many years. Her echoes are many where, for example, in kanban .

Another proposed idea can also be found in the theory of constraints - this is the creation of a buffer, additional resources in case of unforeseen circumstances. For example, lay 20% more time to complete a task. This is necessary in order not to be distracted from the essential in conditions where everything is impossible to predict.

A couple more chapters of the book call for switching to essentialism through a series of small victories, and also to introduce it into the habit, the usual mode of the day. But these topics are given only a few pages, after reading which it is still not very clear how to do this. So the specific ways to introduce essentialism into life still remain on the conscience of the reader.

An illustration that is not in the book

After reading the book, I made an illustration to it, which I lacked in the book. The illustration, which in the spirit of essentialism would reflect the most significant of the approach proposed in the book. The main points that I made for myself:

• Permanent choice of essential based on one clear criterion (ranking)
• Apply a high threshold for eliminating noise (90% rule)
• The need to give up a lot of things for the sake of substantial (concessions)

The choice of the essential can be represented as a decision tree. In each node of the tree the choice is "the most essential and everything else". The tree is placed on a plane defined by two axes. Vertically, the degree of expression of our criterion is from 0 to 100%. Horizontally, our limited ability to sell (consume) selected options is also from 0 to 100%.

The area of ​​essentialism belongs to the upper left (above 90% by criterion and up to 100% by our resource). Unessentialist approach in the lower left area (up to 90% by selection criterion and up to 100% by our resource). And those options that we have chosen, but they will never be implemented, in the right area (more than 100% of our capabilities).

Thus, the transition to essentialism means moving to the left upper region of the other two.

Significant

The main theme of the book "Essentialism" is to constantly ask oneself and others: "what is essential?". This means the regular practice of choosing and implementing the best options in all spheres of life using decision theory.

The additions of essentialism to decision theory are shown in the table below: