adam | Adam Fuller

The NBA’s Strategy Credit

Basketball in the bubble, Skin in the Game, and doing the “right thing” with nothing to lose

The NBA restart has been a slam dunk: competitive games, virtual fans, a fun vibe of March Madness meets Summer League, and of course the surprising, yet ultimately tragic, run by my Phoenix Suns, who closed out the season 8-0 as the only undefeated team in the bubble, and still didn’t make the playoffs.

And crucially: zero positive tests for COVID-19 among players, as of August 12, 2020.

The league’s pivot to the pandemic is even more impressive when you consider the degree of difficulty and operational complexity required to move everything to a secure “bubble” in Orlando, in the middle of a pandemic, under intense scrutiny and uncertain timelines.

But when you watch this new version of the NBA, it’s clear from tipoff that basketball in the bubble is about much more than just the game on the court.

The Biggest Bluff

Notes and excerpts from the book, The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win, by Maria Konnikova

This book opened my eyes to the interesting connections between poker and psychology, human behavior and strategic learning. My big takeaway is that learning poker can be a great way to learn about yourself.

Learning opportunity

How to design better systems for lifelong learning, in a COVID-19 world

As with many aspects of our lives, COVID-19 accelerated trends in education that have been building for years. The obvious example is the wholesale shift to online learning platforms; however the impacts don’t stop there.

The pandemic exposes flaws to traditional systems and how we think about how we learn. While the new landscape remains challenging, it also presents a golden opportunity to pivot and improve.

In this article I focus on improvements to three aspects of learning: 1) course structure, 2) feedback, and 3) the role of the teacher. I also list out some tactical ideas to help us get there. Here’s a quick outline of my main points:

Gaming the system

Thinking through questions, ideas and opportunities in video games

I don’t play video games, and I don’t know very much about the industry, but after listening to this episode of EconTalk: Josh Williams on Online Gaming, Blockchain, and Forte, I’m fascinated by the opportunities video games present.

I recommend listening to the episode all the way through, even if — especially if! — you’re like me and not all that into video games.

The discussion sparked a lot of questions and ideas for me that would be fascinating to work on, and also just fun to chew on as a thought exercise.

In this article, I list out 13 of my initial questions, ideas and takeaways. I’d welcome any feedback or additional perspectives to continue the conversation.

Breath

Notes and excerpts from the book, Breath by James Nestor

I highly, highly, highly, very, very, really, really, highly recommend the new book, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor.

I finished it earlier this week and it’s the first new book I’ve read this year — new in the sense that it was just released a couple months ago.

It’s one of those jaw-dropping, underlining nearly every page, change-your-life kind of books.