We can be two different kinds of WIP.

As people, we sometimes say a thing we’re working on, but haven’t finished, is a Work in Process.  Sometimes we even describe ourselves as a Work in Process.  This is generally meant as a good thing:  we’re in the midst of growth and evolution to a new state.  There’s good work left to be done.  For others, for ourselves, for our outcomes.

Usually, in production, we prefer to minimize WIP inventory.  Too much WIP is wasteful, clogs up processes, masks quality issues.  On balance, this kind of WIP is not a good thing.

People can be WIP in the pejorative inventory sense too, like when we’re in a traffic jam.  Or when we’re lingering over dinner, in a restaurant that would like to seat the next party.  When we’re subject to processing by apps, when we’re over-nudged by aggressive websites, we may become ‘units of work,’ more than the conscious agents who are WIP in the first, positive sense.

A lot has been written about over-distraction, about attention hijacking by apps in particular.  I’m not down on apps per se, but I am not a fan of app and smartphone fugue states.  

One antidote to this is embracing boredom.  I find it rather tedious, for example, working out on elliptical machines.  But I stopped watching TV while doing it, because I found I was missing out on some good ideas that only come when my attention is free…or I’m ’bored,’ if you prefer.  I don’t love waiting in lines either.  Like not at all.  Part of my NYC upbringing, I suppose.  But I make an effort to look around, people watch, chat with the next person in line, even when we both have to wear a mask.  

When we’re bored, we find new things.  Because we can, because we must.  

If we pay attention, we can choose to be active WIP, not passive WIP.  

And when we do this, we create a space of possibility.

-Chris