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You Did Most of the Work on That Project and So Did Everyone Else

The retro was polite. Everybody said it had been a team effort. Afterwards, over coffee, three people told you, separately, the same thing. Honestly, I carried that one. Each of them meant it.

  • Each person independently estimated their contribution to household chores.
  • Combined total of contributions exceeded the entire task.
  • Recognizing others' contributions alleviates perceived burden.

You Saved the Stuck Design Problem for Your Sharpest Hour and It Would Not Move

You know when you are sharpest. For you it is nine to eleven, coffee in, messages off. So that is where you put the hard thing. The design problem you had been stuck on for a week.

  • Individual struggled with design problem for a week during peak hours.
  • Solution emerged at 4:30 PM on Thursday, during off-peak hours.
  • Research suggests tackling insight problems during off-peak hours can be effective.

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