The symbolic multi-level represenation of processes or "What you do is what you get"

Let's dive now to a point of personal research...and let's begin by explaining the title of this post.

The main assumption is that our thoughts are structured around "symbols" that are represented in our brains. I will not elaborate on this further, as I am no expert on the field. (By the way, the book of Douglas Hofstadter Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid has been the primary source of influence for me to such matters).

So what is all about? Well, it is quite simple really. It is about how the structure of information and decisions in our brain evolves around hierarchical concepts, either explicitly or (as it happens most of the time) implicitly. And just to elaborate a little further: let's say you have a business to manage, with two (let's keep it simple) departments:

1. Production Department
2. Finance Department

Hmmmmm......so what do you do? Well...you begin by asking "What does the Production Department DO?" and "What does the Finance Department DO?"An answer to these questions could be:

Production Department

• Collect Raw Materials
• Assembly products in dedicated production lines
• Test the quality of the products
• Pack products and deliver them for distribution
  

Finace Department

• Manage financial inputs and outputs (cashflows)
• Analyze and determine value of company's assets (tangible and intangible)
• Prepare budget (data-based assumptions about the future financial situation of the company)
• Prepare accounting lists (income statements, balance sheet)
  etc, etc, etc.......

So, what is REALLY going on here? Can you see the hierarchical transition? The problem of business management has become a problem about production management and finance management which in turn became problems about collection of raw materials, assembly of products, testing of products, packing of products and management of financial inputs and outputs, analysis of assets, preparation of budget, preparation of accounting lists, which in turn etc, etc, etc.....

This transition goes on and on...but somewhere it HITS the bottom. It MUST, because at some stage or another some work must actually be done (or else, it would be just a transition from process to process without any actual output!). Where is this bottom?

Well, the answer is, the bottom is hit when the DESCRIPTION of a process becomes ACTIONABLE for any individual in charge of this process. This can happen in any level of the hierarchy, because people in different positions have different skills and KNOW HOW TO DO different things!

But the bottom line is still the same: it is WHAT YOU DO that matters! So why bother about all this analysis anyway?

Well, let me put it another way: what would you prefer to be, a worker in a factory or (sic!) a CEO?

Because, yeps, ultimately, what you do is what you get!

p.s. I will come back on these matters on later posts, because there is a richness of concepts to this description that I believe deserves further elaboration as well :)

Reflections About Concepts - Begining

OK!

The idea about creating a blog hanged in my mind for more than a year or so.

It is just a personal little project, a little place in the web where I can leave my own thoughts about various things of personal interest.

It is also a nice way to learn better the english language in its written form, as english is not my mother tongue (which - by the way - is greek).

Last but not least, it is a diary which can be consulted by my self again and again in the future, to observe the evolving nature of my thoughts, interests and reflections. Of course, the more feedback I will get (if any!) the better.

But, saying that, my goal was not (nor I hope will ever be) to "get noticed". I don't expect anything more from this than the mere joy of writing about what I want, whenever I want, and keep it in one place as a point of personal reference.

And this is more than enough.