In a world that is becoming increasingly virtual and the manufacturing of physical objects are pure commodities. Which skills and techniques are more important for the people who earn their live using their brains ,intellectual skills and their (high paced fading) knowledge? Working harder, working smarter or something else? What is the key to being productive?
It appears that working smarter is an already worn out cliché and needs to be replaced by something else. Mike Elgan says they key is a Work Ethic 2.0 (the follow-up with the help of GTD’s fame Dave Allen follows the same path of thought) but Alan Kay seems to advocate getting back to basics with the willingness to learn through practice (should I repeat the old joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall?).
This thread on an Tim O’Reilly post discusses this specifically to programming.
But with all these discussions could be nicely summoned on a single phrase
Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy.
-- Robert Heinlein
Deja Vu , Deja Vu