I’m gathering my data from this past year to prepare for my strategy for next year. I gather quantitative data about books, workshops, talks, and more. I assess my feelings as I finished my various work—the qualitative data. And, I note what I didn’t do. I gather this data every quarter. I actually note what […]
How Often Do You Reflect? Read More »
I’ve been pushing myself to get the second book of the Modern Management Made Easy triad ready for my technical reviewers. I found a ton of little problems and then I realized I had several big problems. I needed to redesign—and rewrite—the first and last chapters. This happens to me a lot when I write
How Do You Feel When You Achieve a Significant Milestone? Read More »
You might have heard the apocryphal story about a landscape architect and shortcuts. The architect doesn’t put sidewalks or trails in a large green space. Instead, he waits for a year as walk across the space. He then puts the sidewalks/trails where the people walk. I am not quite ancient-history-years-old. I have never seen this
When Does a Shortcut Make Sense? Read More »
I was on vacation last week, in Eilat Israel, a tourist destination. Because it’s a tourist town, you can see a lot of street art. On my walk this past Saturday (Shabbat) morning, I heard loud music with a great drumbeat. My first reaction was, “How loud! On Shabbat!” Then, I turned the corner and
When Are You Willing to Practice in Public? Read More »
I love to learn. When I learn, I reflect on what I know and refine how I can use my knowledge to change something. I love to learn about how people work—and don’t work together. I love to learn how to make things easier for people at work. I love to learn about all aspects
How Do You Create Your Learning Opportunities? Read More »
There’s a lot in my life I can control. I can control what I eat, and often when I eat it. I can control when I go to bed at night, even if I can’t control my occasional insomnia. I can control what I choose to do with my time: which projects to start and
How Much or Little Can You Control? Read More »
A friend attempted to offer me a compliment the other day. She didn’t mean to. She said, “You’re a natural writer. It comes so easy to you.” I said, “Thank you for thinking so. That means I’m writing well. But I have worked for 20 years to become a ‘natural’ writer.” She meant well. But,
What Are You “Natural” At? Read More »
Perseverance, the idea of grit, fascinates me. Every time I finish a (damn*) book, I experience relief and happiness. Relief that it is finally over—that’s the “damn” part. Happiness because I finished. Read that word, finish, in neon-blinking capital letters with fireworks. That’s how it feels to me. Damn*: Finishing a book is a slog
How Do You Build Grit? Read More »
Universities choose high school seniors in a crazy game of selection. Publishers choose a select few books to publish. I’m shepherding chosen experience reports for the big agile conference in the summer where a program team chose a limited number of reports. Instead of “being chosen,” why not choose ourselves? Last week, I spoke with
When Do You Choose Yourself? Read More »
A comment on When Do You Make Time to Think? got me thinking about books. I am a big, big reader. On vacation, I can easily read two, sometimes three books a day. Not on vacation, I only read a couple of books a week. I skim much of the non-fiction, so maybe I actually
Do You Have Rules for Reading? Read More »