tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83470018073081185992024-02-18T20:35:02.889-08:00Joe Fecarotta on AgileAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-65344032027217430982015-03-09T23:15:00.000-07:002015-03-09T23:15:00.823-07:00Confidence!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
How does this help with agility?<br />
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http://www.inc.com/john-brandon/8-things-super-confident-people-believe-about-themselves.html?cid=sf01001<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-26461447615384965052015-02-15T20:33:00.002-08:002015-02-16T13:36:12.927-08:00 Are You The Thorin Oakenshield of Agile Transformations? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131215170601/lotr/images/e/ec/1400193_695248260488487_320403599_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131215170601/lotr/images/e/ec/1400193_695248260488487_320403599_o.jpg" height="315" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The King Under the Mountain ....and Agile Transformations?</td></tr>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX255165772" paraeid="{407eec61-dfbb-423d-8367-fa451a94923b}{164}" paraid="1050615888" style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, Sans-Serif; font-size: 6pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="TextRun SCX181217134" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX181217134">I have formed a kinship with this dwarf, this King Under The Mountain. His journey and mine </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX181217134">throughout</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX181217134"> my coaching of various companies bear a striking resemblance. Identifying with </span><span class="SpellingError SCX181217134">Thorin</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX181217134"> came as a </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX181217134" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">surprise to me. </span><span class="TextRun SCX181217134" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span><span class="TextRun SCX181217134" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">After all, I'm a pretty happy, positive guy, and </span><span class="TextRun SCX181217134" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX181217134"> </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX181217134" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Thorin</span><span class="TextRun SCX181217134" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> is not. He</span><span class="TextRun SCX181217134" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> is a grumpy dwarf</span><span class="TextRun SCX181217134" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">, quite</span><span class="TextRun SCX181217134" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> unlikable,</span><span class="TextRun SCX181217134" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> self-important,</span><span class="TextRun SCX181217134" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> grudge-bearing, and </span><span class="TextRun SCX181217134" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">generally dour.</span></div>
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<span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">It all happened over the last few days. My son is reading through the Lord of the Rings and </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">re-watching</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> the first two Hobbit movies. As I started watching it with him I felt this strange recognition. I was identifying with </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Thorin, both good and bad, and noticed at least </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">eight</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> lessons that caused me to bond with the grumpiest of dwarves. Warning there are spoilers in here, so if you haven't seen these.....oh who am I kidding? If you haven't seen the Hobbit movies or read the books you likely won't. But you were warned so here we go - </span></span></div>
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<span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Use The Stuff Around You - </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Thorin</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> was up against a much larger opponent</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> in both size and physicality. After all, </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">o</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">rcs always outnumber their opponen</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">ts. O</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">therwise, how would they ever win considering the .02 Kill Death Ratio</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">they suffer. The equipment he was given (tools) were insufficient to take down </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Azog</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> the Defiler. So what does </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Thorin</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> do? He uses what he's got - a piece of wood and a sword off the ground</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">We A</span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">gilists</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> will pickup any little scrap to get our sprints tracked and out the door.</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> Can you say sticky notes on a white board? </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> keep the tool simple, especially in the beginning. </span></div>
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<span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Keep Y</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">our S</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">ponsor C</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">lose </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">- </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Thorin keeps</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> getting redirected. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">I</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">nitially you may think his </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">opposition to elves is just him being </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">difficult. I mean, who can hate elves? So G</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">andalf sends them on a side mission - to the ridiculous tangle of Mirkwood</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> F</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">orest. Worse yet, he has the gall to leave. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">Tell me, A</span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">gilists,</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> that you haven't seen this behavior before. Someone who claims to have your back and right at the most critical time he or she is gone, and that Agile sponsor is on his horse</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> as fast as you can say </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Shadowfax. Usually if your sponsor fades away its tough to get them back. </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">"Oh hey, yah, its nice to hear from you Thorin. Look, </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">I got a call. Set up a 1:1 with me for next week," says Executive Gandalf. </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Agilist</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> learning? </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Keep your sponsor engaged. Make sure you're doing things that he or she care about, something with a high enough priority to keep them next to you in the dark forests of your company. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6666669845581px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;">Executive Steering Committee Not Feeling so Agile</span></td></tr>
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<span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Get On the Balcony -</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> Next we find our </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">poor, intrepid dwarves are working in here trying to get through </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">M</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">i</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">rkwood</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">F</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">orest</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> (their next release or Agile achi</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">evement</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">), </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">but they get all confused and demoralized by the darkly enchanted Mirkwood Forest. They stall, having walked in circles, only then to be wrapped up by giant spiders ( project risks and pitfalls) and</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> almost at death's door. Their opponents show up, and they are basically arrested (auditors?). </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">T</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">his would be like have your project hit a bump, say fail a release and then having the an audit team coming in to "help you out", complete with "corrective action plans" and coaching so you can get back on track. Agile takeaway? </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Get someone out of the trees so they can see the forest. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Get </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">the big picture</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">If they would have gotten Bilbo up on that tree sooner, they could have gotten by those risks and delays sooner. </span><span class="EOP SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"><b> Working from home, a different office, or going to a <a href="http://www.agilealliance.org/" target="_blank">conference</a>/training </b>helps break the spell of the day-to-day and see problems in a different way. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>See The Forest - and Butterflies. </b></td></tr>
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<span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Get Out of the Way - </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">That wasn't the first time </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Thorin</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> almost got shut down by the </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Elvish</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> State. They had to sneak out of Rivendell or the whole establish</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">ment</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> ( </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Saurmon</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> the Questioning</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">, Galadriel who isn't really tuned in, and the Elf King who seems too cautious. When have we </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">not </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">seen that, dear </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Agilists</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">?) </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> The only thing Gandalf does right here is let them escape. Agile learning? </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">If you're a leader/manager, sometime the best thing you can do is </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">cover for your team while they do the Agile thing. </span><span class="EOP SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> Permitting pilots, agile training events, and<a href="http://www.scaledagileframework.com/spikes/" target="_blank"> Agile spikes </a>are examples of this kind of support. </span></div>
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<span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Keep the Big Picture in Mind </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">- By reputation the w</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">ood elves </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">are more selfish and violent than the high elves</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">, so its no surprise that Thorin isn't a big fan, and during some high level negotiations with their king he sorta blows his top and gets sent to prison. This delayed the whole journey. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> But he let his emotions get to him, which is a good </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">antipattern</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> for us </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">agilists</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> to avoid?</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Make</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> the deal. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Inste</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">ad, </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">they get thrown in prison</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">. </span><span class="EOP SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span></div>
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<span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Don't Wait -</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Eventually, </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Thorin</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> and the team finally</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> gets to the Mountain, the place that they can rightfully call their home, </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">all without Gandalf who is on some other higher priority project. Yet. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Gandalf the Grey told these little dudes "Don't go in the mountain without me" </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">Bilbo reminds </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Thorin</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> of this, who summarily tells the hobbit that </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">we don’t wait for wi</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">zards. I</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">t’s a good thing, since Gandalf had by that time gotten into so much hot water there was no way he was going to make it. Those little guys would have died of old age sitting on that hill waiting for him, and never communicated back to them that he would not be coming to their aid. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">No, Gandalf abandoned these Dwarves because another executive asked him to, namely, </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">R</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">adagast</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">. Yes, a man with bird poop on his head redirected our hapless exec</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">utive</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> to abandon his team to certain death. H</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">ow many times do you think this has played out in board rooms across America? "Well, I was supposed to be kicking </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">off </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">this agile transformation project, but </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">that bird poo guy has a point. That CMMI audit looks awfully compelling. and those agile guys, they can take down that dragon......easy....right...?" </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">The agile take away here, for me, is </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">don't wait, 'cause the Wizard isn't</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> coming. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">The training and coaching I do always f</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">rames this in words such as start fast and fail fast, Sprint 0, or something like that. The odds are that if you reach your mountain conditions won't be perfect. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> You have the key. Things aren't perfect. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Go anyway. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span><span class="EOP SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span></div>
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<span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Do Your Job - </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">The New England Patriots slogan applies here too. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Through excellent team</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> work and using their distinct talents, this cross functional team of dwarves s</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">uccessfully tossed </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Smaug</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> o</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">ut of the mountain. Unfortunately, that <b>wasn't the right mission</b>. They needed to kill the dragon, not just chase him off. We all know what happens next: </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Smaug</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> runs off, all golden and fiery, an</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">d heads off to destroy a hapless </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">nearby </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">town </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">. What's the Agile message here?<b> </b></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Well, there are two. <b> </b></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">First, <b>make sure you're really </b></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><b>executing on the priority mission</b>. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> Tight relationships with your product owners and product managers and a clean backlog is a sign your dev effort has coherence with the business. Secondly,</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">don't make it worse for the other teams<b> </b></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">by doing bad agile</b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">. The dwarves were messy - <b>they had no plan going in</b>, other than sacrificing Bilbo. They made a terrible mess of the place and spilled alot of gold in the process. Worst of all, they made a dragon mad. </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold;">Don't make the dragon mad. In Agile transformations that can be other teams or other </span><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; font-weight: bold;">management</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b> chains ( Operations? Marketing? Sales? ). </b> Find a way to <a href="http://www.scaledagileframework.com/program-portfolio-management/" target="_blank">get them on your team</a>. Otherwise, b</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">y failing to accomplish the real goal</span></span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> and not having a plan they sent the whole mission to risk. Now no one cares about you and your mountain. Bad Agile gives the framework a bad name when it fails and </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">now the d</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">ragon ( angry exec/manager) is</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> going on a rampage - I AM FIRE!</span><span class="EOP SCX255165772" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span></div>
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<span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Trust Is First </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">- T</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">horin</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> ultimately falls to the dark magic that imbu</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">ed</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> the gold ( this is why Gandalf said to wait) and becomes a tyrant. He becomes isolated, greedy, and overly protective of his turf. This I have seen too, and perhaps have exhibited it on occasion. Even a modicum of success can lead to stagnation - people </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">hanker down, stop taking risks, and worse of all stop trusting their team and mentors. My final take away is this - </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">trust your team, trust your business, trust your leadership. Trust the people who are in your camp. They want you to succeed, because they succeed too. </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> Even Gandalf eventually showed up and tried his best to save them, but it took a personal crisis to shake </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Thorin</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> back to his senses and, as you certainly know, the day is saved, but he pays a big price that he might not have had to. So, A</span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">gilists</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">, </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">be</span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> less stubborn, try to <span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">always i</span>mprove, and keep trying new things. </span><span class="EOP SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span></div>
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<span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">As I pondered this I found that I sometimes identified with others in the story beyond </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Thorin</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772"> </span><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">Oaken</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX255165772">shield</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX255165772">. </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Sometimes I was Gandalf, seeing the big picture and wondering why no one else did. Other times I was like Bilbo and wondering if I should be on this journey at all. Regardless of where I aligned myself, I realized that being all of the above at the right times is what is important. You need to be as </span><span class="TextRun SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;" xml:lang="EN-US">adaptable as a hobbit, have the clear focus and skill of a wizard, and the stubbornness of a dwarf who would be King Under the Mountain. The trick and art is all knowing when to tap into these archetypes. So, intrepid Agilists, which characters do you see yourself in? Please comment below! </span><span class="EOP SCX255165772" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20px;"> </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-25647212332112626512014-02-07T23:49:00.002-08:002014-02-07T23:49:29.828-08:00Complexity, Human Behavior, and the Seahawks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We all now in the Seattle region are soaked in the glory of the Seahawks absolutely devastating victory over the Denver Broncos. It was so bad for them, it was such an incredible blowout, that even <a href="http://www.sportsoverdose.com/video/stephen-a-broncos-got-punked-in-every-way-possible-2.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">talking heads</a> have trouble talking about it without hyperbole, resorting to the statement "The Broncos got punked".<u></u><u></u></div>
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The most interesting thing for me is the implications of this blowout victory. Namely, not only did the Broncos get punked but so did every prognosticator out there. Even I, a stalwart Hawk fan, had the Broncos up by 3, essentially agreeing with the Vegas line, until I changed my vote the day before. I remembered something about the younger team usually winning a superbowl, which swayed me at the 12th hour. However, I put the Hawks up 17-14, thinking a desparate 4th quarter field goal would be the decider.<br /><br />So wrong. Vegas was wrong too.<br /><br /> A note about Vegas. They are right - a lot. They're usually spot on with elections and other <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-thomson/how-gamblers--historys-mo_b_2011534.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">things</a>. But the more complex things are, the more they shift around under you, the more <strong>human behavior </strong>is involved – the more difficult it is to predict.<u></u><u></u></div>
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I wrote an article about this some time ago considering the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Brady" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">best draft choice ever</a>, Tom Brady. Tom Brady was a low draft choice, and all the pundits had him being a permanent backup. Bledsoe gets injured, and the next thing we know New England has 3 superbowl wins. Now that the Mighty Seahawks are among those who possess superbowl wins, I can speak of the veritable cornucopia of low draft choices we have. Short QB. A new head coach. Fifth and sixth-rounders, and even undrafted players making plays on the biggest stage known. The whole defense is known as <a href="http://www.nj.com/super-bowl/index.ssf/2014/02/super_bowl_2014_richard_sherman_revels_in_seahawks_win_with_defense_of_misfits.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">misfits</a>.<u></u><u></u></div>
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In the next few editions of this blog I'm going to be exploring complexity and prediction, and how we can tell if we're in the domain where those make sense or not, and to know upfront if all the dogged effort we put into telling the future has any prayer of making the future known to us.<u></u><u></u></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-79158827939060079412014-02-06T20:31:00.001-08:002014-02-06T20:31:25.347-08:00The 25 Best Bloggers, 2013 Edition | TIME.com<a href="http://techland.time.com/2013/08/05/the-25-best-bloggers-2013-edition/slide/sophie-sarin-djenne-djenno/">The 25 Best Bloggers, 2013 Edition | TIME.com</a>: " “One of the loveliest things about life is that it starts again every morning,” she muses in a recent entry, adding: “The best thing about the night/day arrangement is that it gives one the opportunity to reinvent oneself every day.”"<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-86775437990359793792013-06-04T00:34:00.000-07:002013-06-05T18:54:44.967-07:00How to Succeed when Your Project is in Jeopardy - Part 2 of 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last article I wrote about how being on a project that is ending, a company that might be getting acquired or going out of business, etc. It was more about the project itself - how you can see if its going down, what strategies you can use to avert or at least slow its death. Ultimately I left off about things you should be doing, training and the such, to start your new life. That's where I'm going to pick it up. </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">I recently discovered the “four A’s” of stress relief from the <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress-relief/SR00037">Mayo Clinic</a>: </span></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b style="color: #222222;">A</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">void the source of stress</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b style="color: #222222;">A</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">lter your reaction to it</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b style="color: #222222;">A</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">ccept thi</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ngs as they are or </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b style="color: #222222;">A</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">dapt by changing your expectations</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Acknowledge your team, the work, and the moment (this one is mine)</span></span></li></ul>
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This seems like a good structure to Survive a Project in Jeopardy and something as a project leader you can model and share with the team. </div>
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Avoid the stress </b>- Sometimes, especially in workaholic America, getting away for a while doesn't dawn on us as a viable strategy for survival. I used to think vacation a lie, like a mirage of fun before you have to return to work, but now I cherish the time and would like to have more of it, especially with my kids. Who knows, a good week spent hiking might put that project struggle into some perspective. </div>
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Alter your reaction</b> - A dying project can be very stressful, and like most things that are alive, a project will die. Most people on the team know its dying or at least a zombie. An example of altering your reaction: </div>
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<u><i>Current</i>: </u></div>
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<i>Disconne</i><i>cted Executive Who Drives a REALLY Nice Car and won't be affected by a downturn</i>: "We're going to cut your budget to 1/3 of its current size...good luck keeping those customers happy. Oh, and you're getting Phil's projects too because he's been laid off."</div>
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YOU</i>: " The hell you are! I'll raise a stink all over the company to stop you." </div>
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<i>ANGRY YOU:</i> (10 minutes later) to the team: "Well guys, the folks upstairs just chopped our budget. Get your boxes packed.."<br>
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<i>TEAM: *</i>cries*<br>
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Future</i>:</u><br>
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YOU: "Team we're going to have to prioritize, and delight our customer so much they'll freak out with happiness and recommend us to everyone !"<br>
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TEAM: "Yeah!"</div>
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<b>Accept What Is - </b>This is one of those things that is straight forward in words but difficult in practice. T<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-align: -webkit-auto;">he Yoda of the NBA, </span><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Phil Jackson’s</span> latest tome,the very Tolkien sounding "Eleven Rings" ends with this: “The soul of success is surrendering to what is" This is really close to Altering your reaction, the difference being that acceptance is really internal work. What you, while you're packing your boxes, feel about the situation. Its also an authenticity thing - don't lie to the team. If there are budget issues, be honest. Don't over disclose, but by all means don't hide and lie. These are people...they are Immortal Souls and we need to treat them with due respect.<br>
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One more quote, this one from one of my all time favorite books, Flow.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/38422.html" style="color: #454545; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 19px; text-decoration: none;" title="Click for further information about this quotation">People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any of us can come to being happy.</a><br>
<dd class="author" style="background-color: #f3f9ff; color: #454545; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 150px;"><div class="icons" style="float: right; padding-left: 10px;">
<a href="http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/38422.html" style="color: purple;" title="Further information about this quotation"><img alt="[info]" border="0" height="16" src="http://www.quotationspage.com/icon_info.gif" width="16"></a><a href="http://www.quotationspage.com/myquotations.php?add=38422" style="color: purple;" title="Add to Your Quotations Page"><img alt="[add]" border="0" height="16" src="http://www.quotationspage.com/icon_plus.gif" width="16"></a><a href="http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/38422.html#email" style="color: purple;" title="Email this quotation"><img alt="[mail]" border="0" height="16" src="http://www.quotationspage.com/icon_email.gif" width="16"></a><a href="http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/38422.html#note" style="color: purple;" title="Read notes about this quotation"><img alt="[note]" border="0" height="16" src="http://www.quotationspage.com/icon_note.gif" width="16"></a></div>
<b>Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi</b>, <i>Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, 1990</i></dd><br>
Yet acceptance only gets you so far..one must adapt, change expectations, and seek renaissance.<br>
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<b>Adapt and Change expectations - </b>I am carrying a belief that much of the unhappiness people's lives is due to cognitive dissonance caused by the gap between expectations and reality. We have maps in our heads about where we were supposed to live, what we were supposed to be in charge of, and what we were supposed to be driving ( have you seen the new <a href="http://www.jaguarusa.com/future-vehicles/cx75/gallery/" target="_blank">Jaguars</a>? Oh my) , etc.<br>
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Adapt to finding the joy you can attain. Create events on your calendar that you might want to go to. That writers conference...the art colony...the dance club.... You were something before this gig, and you'll likely be something after it. Take this experience and start moving forward.<br>
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If you're lucky to be leading a project, people will come to you with concerns. Help them with this effort. Help them reduce the dissonance between what they wanted their life to be and what it is.<br>
<br><br><b>Acknowledge</b> - I had to add this. Some if the best experiences I've had was where the closure was aided by a conscious acknowledgment of the hard work, the inherent goodness of collective creation, and the finality of that moment. Whether its you leaving or a teammate, it changes the project. Being mindful and saying goodbye are powerful tonic in memory creation. <br><br>
Lastly there's some resources to help. I'll give you three that I use:<br>
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1. The fear.less newsletter. Just drives directly to the issue of fear and how hundreds of super-successful people overcame it.<br>
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2. Crush It, Unstoppable and Wired Magazine - Love all three. Crush It is a book that makes me want to walk through walls. Unstoppable is great if you're trying to start a biz, and Wired. Man I love that magazine. Somehow it slakes my geek-thirst and I feel aligned again. <br>
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3. Escapism: Read that fantasy novel, go to the movies, binge watch your favorite show. Life is hard, and if you have some non-destructive habits by all means partake. Recharge those batteries. See the greatness of other people's labor and creativity . Feel their dreams through their art.<br>
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You've done all that, and now you're ready. You've recharged those batteries, the new project is on the horizon, and you have that great fishing trip scheduled. Be mindful, now that you're back in the game , of how you recovered yourself. Remember it, because this won't be the last time, and rather than see that as a negative, leverage appreciative inquiry and reframe - letting go and moving on is really life itself. Being good with that is up to you. <br>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-14764196739397472032013-03-24T20:29:00.001-07:002013-06-01T01:26:17.531-07:00How to Succeed when Your Project is in Jeopardy - Part 1 of 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
aka you are not your project</h2>
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Joe Fecarotta</div>
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In a lifetime of IT projects you are bound to be on one or more projects or even companies that fail. Projects, like companies, run out of cash, get beat in the marketplace, get starved for resources, and so on. What makes it difficult in large enterprises is that the bottom line of the company is so distant from where your desk is. Say your working a payroll system, or a the benefits website. Can you track your efforts to the bottom line? Its a challenge. Its a challenge for project management since the challenges are often beyond your control. If the company is cash strapped and it affects your resources, you have to continually replan. It usually has a few common stages: </div>
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<b>1. Unreasonable deadlines or expectations are set </b>- this is because the business is running out of cash and may need your project for cost savings or profit. They may need that doorstop to teleport small animals, when really it was only supposed to hold open the door. </div>
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<b>2. Key resources are pulled or shared</b>- its a common pattern to bunch together DBAs, Usablity, and deployment/build engineers. I get why this is done, but as a PM I still hate it. It kills the teaming and the ownership of the product that your creating when some dude 100 miles away is mindlessly running database scripts on yet another database. Its a manufacturing mindset for certain. Worse is when the deployment people aren't sitting with you or are on 10 different projects. </div>
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<b>3. Once your key resources are pulled, things will start breaking. </b>It'll take longer for your system to recover because all the folks who created it and truly understand it are gone. This will of course thrill your customers who are already setting the deadlines in #1. It won't take them long to execute #5, but not before they'res a good blood-letting via #4, the Blame Game. </div>
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<b>4. Blame game </b>- This is when the long knives start coming out. A few things might be good fall guys : </div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i><b>The Process</b> : </i> Agile usually gets the blame at larger companies. Its really new and difficult and no one really wanted to do it in the first place. At smaller ones, the fact that there was no process gets the blame. </li>
<li><b><i>The Tools</i></b>: medium to large projects typically have some sort of new technology that they're trying to implement, typically with under-trained resources and unrealistic timelines. It was exciting initially and now everyone's looking for the guy who chose this dog. </li>
<li><i><b>The People</b> : </i> Always part of the mix, since robots aren't writing code yet, who else are we going to blame? I've been caught up in this one. I told that DBA we had a deployment and he went fishing? What? That Cognos feller went to China? What?</li>
<li><i><b>Communications:</b> </i> Of course this is the fall guy for everything, since its so difficult in large systems. 'nuff said. </li>
<li><i><b>The Vendor:</b> </i>Easy target here. If the vendor or supplier wrote even one line of code its easy to bash on them. Its even better if its outsourcing since every hates that but everyone relies on it too. I love it when they say, " you know India is 12 hours away..." Was this a surprise to people <i>after </i>the contract was signed? </li>
<li><i><b>The end user/customer </b>-</i> This one is tricky since the customer is usually the one paying for it or knows them really well. IT will blame them because they asked for Mars, but really wanted the planet and not the candy bar that IT delivered. </li>
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4. <b> Your funding is pulled entirely. </b> Despite the thousands of people hours and tens of thousands of dollars in capital, it occurs to people in the midst of a proejct, usually between the apex of spending and the trough of no ROI, that they could write this system for less, or they don't need it any more. </div>
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<br />
<b>So, onto the Survival Tip #1 : Fight the Story. </b><br />
What is in common with all the items above is that there is a story that will start getting attached to your project. Project A can't deliver. Project A has troubled people. The tech Project A is using is a career dead end and the wrong tech for the project. These stories will likely start with peers on other projects in an effort to rob your project of funding. Its Darwinian but its business. <br />
To fight the story, you need to make sure where the decisions are being made. Find the gatekeepers and ensure that if your opponents are there, you're there. Think about merging with one of your competitors...after all they're just people trying to do a job, and ostensibly on the same side. Make sure you exceed the reporting needs, and do as much stats as you can. <br />
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If your successful Fighting the Story will slow the exodus of dollars from your project and people from your cause. In the next installment, I'll talk about how you as a project leader can survive personally and help your team do the same when things go from bad to worse.<br />
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- Joe</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-62808692799790796492013-03-23T21:26:00.001-07:002013-03-23T21:26:44.056-07:00ThinkingProcess<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Just so I don't have to look around for it again, I'm repeating the Kotter 8. I think Step 7, which I saw on a poster at work, is beautiful, and as I review this list I weep for my own change efforts at work. Most of the things I'm after do not get passed step 1. <br />
<br />
So perhaps my new shakeup at work, one that I was scoffing at, I can think carefully. The execs have stirred up the nest, they've got the first four checked off the list. The question for me is how do I get behind this wave to lift my little boat up? </div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">In his book "The heart of Change", Kotter identified 8 steps required to successfully deliver transformation. They are a very useful checklist, and review list through a change programme to ensure that the programme has a balance of the elements required for success. The text below are his quotes relating to each Step.</div><table style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: small; width: 800px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="style6" style="padding-left: 10px;"><span class="style5" style="color: #336699; font-size: medium; font-weight: bold;">Step 1: create a sense of urgency</span><br />
Those who are most successful at significant change begin their work by creating a sense of urgency among the relevant people. In smaller organizations, the 'relevant' are more likely to number 100 than five, in larger organizations 1,000 rather than 50.... A sense of urgency, sometimes developed by very creative means, gets people off the couch, out of a bunker, and ready to move</td></tr>
<tr><td class="style6" style="padding-left: 10px;"><span class="style5" style="color: #336699; font-size: medium; font-weight: bold;">Step 2: put together a guiding team </span><br />
With the urgency turned up, the more successful change agents pull together a guiding team with the credibility, skills, connections, reputations, and formal authority required to provide change leadership. This group learns to operate...with trust and emotional commitment.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="style6" style="padding-left: 10px;"><span class="style5" style="color: #336699; font-size: medium; font-weight: bold;">Step 3: create visions and strategies</span><br />
the guiding team creates sensible, clear, simple, uplifting visions and sets of strategies. In the less successful cases, there are only detailed plans and budgets that...are insufficient, or a vision that is not very sensible..., or a vision that is created by others and largely ignored by the guiding team."</td></tr>
<tr><td class="style6" style="padding-left: 10px;"><span class="style5" style="color: #336699; font-size: medium; font-weight: bold;">Step 4: communicate for buy in</span><br />
Communication of the vision and strategies comes next - simple, heartfelt messages sent through many unclogged channels. The goal is to induce understanding, develop a gut-level commitment, and liberate more energy from a critical mass of people. Here, deeds are often more important than words. Symbols speak loudly. Repetition is key</td></tr>
<tr><td class="style6" style="padding-left: 10px;"><span class="style5" style="color: #336699; font-size: medium; font-weight: bold;">Step 5: empower people</span><br />
In the best situations, you find a heavy dose of empowerment. Key obstacles that stop people from acting on the vision are removed. Change leaders focus on bosses who disempower, on inadequate information and information systems, and on self-confidence barriers in people's minds. The issue here is removing obstacles, not 'giving power'.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="style6" style="padding-left: 10px;"><span class="style5" style="color: #336699; font-size: medium; font-weight: bold;">Step 6: produce short-term wins</span><br />
With empowered people working on the vision, in cases of great success those people are helped to produce short-term wins. The wins are critical. They provide credibility, resources, and momentum to the overall effort</td></tr>
<tr><td class="style6" style="padding-left: 10px;"><span class="style5" style="color: #336699; font-size: medium; font-weight: bold;">Step 7: build momentum</span><br />
change leaders don't let up. Momentum builds after the first wins. Early changes are consolidated. People shrewdly choose what to tackle next, then create wave after wave of change until the vision is a reality. In less successful cases, people try to do too much at once.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="style6" style="padding-left: 10px;"><span class="style5" style="color: #336699; font-size: medium; font-weight: bold;">Step 8: nurture a new culture</span><br />
A new culture develops through consistency of successful action over a sufficient period of time. Here, appropriate promotions, skilful new employee orientation, and events that engage emotions can make a big difference. In other cases a great deal of work can be blown away by the winds of tradition in a remarkably short period of time</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://thinkingprocess.co.uk/model/deployment/Steering/kotter8.html">ThinkingProcess</a>: <br />
<br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-89353091629719848172012-11-04T23:09:00.001-08:002012-11-04T23:09:02.434-08:00Gartner: Top 10 strategic technology trends for 2013 - ComputerworldUK.comLove this line<br />
<br />
<strong style="background-color: white; color: #424343; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.399999618530273px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Strategic big data:</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #424343; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.399999618530273px;"> The concept of a single enterprise data warehouse containing all information needed for decisions is dead.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #424343; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.399999618530273px;"><br />
</span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #424343; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.399999618530273px;">I say finally!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/applications/3406773/gartner-top-10-strategic-technology-trends-for-2013/">Gartner: Top 10 strategic technology trends for 2013 - ComputerworldUK.com</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-64259930272099822492012-10-10T17:40:00.001-07:002012-10-10T17:40:58.467-07:00iMac and Steve Jobs Interesting article on Jobs. I'm obsessed with how Apple is so different from other companies, and this little blurb shows it all. I mean, no committees? Wow.<br />
<br />
-<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/blog/2012/06/man-who-came-up-with-imac-name-tells.html?page=all">Man who came up with iMac name tells what the ‘i’ stands for - Kansas City Business Journal</a>: Here are the highlights:<br />
<br />
• “Simplicity isn’t about dumbing things down,” he said — it’s about making things more elegant.<br />
<br />
• Apple’s most powerful weapon is that it is made up of a smaller group of smart people — and zero committees.<br />
<br />
• Take a cue from Jobs, and detest focus groups.<br />
<br />
• “(Jobs) could not care less what his customers wanted,” Segall said. For him, it was Apple’s job to come up with innovative products that its customers didn’t even know they would want.<br />
<br />
• Jobs rejected the notion that “businesspeople are a different type of of human,” Segall said. He advised to “think human” and speak and communicate in plain languageAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-56909806188704107242012-10-03T17:42:00.001-07:002012-10-03T17:42:09.037-07:00Annie Dillard"A schedule defends from chaos and whim."Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-65222666975418047492012-01-26T10:59:00.001-08:002012-01-26T11:00:38.588-08:00Dennis Stevens - Theory of Constraints and Big AgileHere's a great article I found on CCPM and Agile. Its a bit short.... and I still have read The Goal...but I think there's alot of synergy between agile and CCPM. <br />
--<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/09/17/theory-of-constraints-and-big-agile/">Dennis Stevens - Theory of Constraints and Big Agile</a><br />
<br />
<h2 class="title"><a href="http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/09/17/theory-of-constraints-and-big-agile/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Theory of Constraints and Big Agile">Theory of Constraints and Big Agile</a></h2>By Dennis Stevens<br />
<br />
In 1984, Eli Goldratt first published The Goal: A process of ongoing improvement. The book describes the Theory of Constraints, a method for managing systems. It is based on the concept that at any time in a system there is one (of very few) bottleneck(s) slowing down the performance of the system. Performance is measured based on three variables. Throughput measures the units delivered to the consumer of the system. Operating expense is investment into the system to ensure its operation on an ongoing basis. Inventory is investment into the system to produce.<br />
The Goal is to make more money now and in the future in order to meet the expectation of stakeholders and ensure the business continues to operate. You increase profit by combinations of increasing throughput while decreasing the ratios of operating expense and inventory against throughput. A key first step to accomplish this is to reduce inventory – or work in process. This will improve cash flow of the organization. Reducing WIP has the added benefit of exposing the bottlenecks in the system. Exposing these bottlenecks is the key to implementing POOGI (Process Of OnGoing Improvement). Goldratt provides five focusing steps to follow to help achieve the goal.<br />
<b>Five Focusing Steps</b><br />
<b><i>Identify the limited number of current constraints:</i></b> At any point, there is a single point in the system that is the current bottleneck. For example in Agile development teams, it may developer productivity or a testing person. The way that you will identify the constraint is that it is the person where work is piling up in front of them and where downstream resources are starved for work. In the figure below the constraint is B. Work can only get through B at 3 units per unit of time. Since A is more productive work will pile up in front of B and C will be starved for work.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="TheConstraint" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-268" height="113" src="http://www.dennisstevens.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/TheConstraint.jpg" title="TheConstraint" width="515" /></div>Two important concepts need to be presented here. The first is that the team of ABC can’t produce work any faster than the bottleneck, B. So the consumer is only receiving 3 per unit of time. The second really important concept is that A, B, and C don’t have to be different people, they can be state transitions of a piece of work. In an Agile team, A might be understanding the requirements, B might be develop and unit test the code, and C might be integrate and acceptance test. On an Agile team, everyone is involved in all the states, it is the work that is moving through various states.<br />
<b><i>Make sure output from the constraint is not compromised.</i></b> The second step in the five focusing steps is to recognize that the work done at the bottleneck is precious and must be exploited. So focus on making sure that none of B’s work is wasted. In our Agile example that means improving the quality of how work is communicated in the transition from A to B. It also means focusing on quality at B so that C is able to use everything produced by B. Doing this step will result in improved performance of the system.<br />
<b><i>Subordinate the system to the bottleneck</i></b>. This means slow down the work at A. While this might seem counter-intuitive B can’t work any faster than it can work. Often, manager’s focus on improving utilization rather than throughput and this focus actually exacerbates the problems. Producing more and more inputs to B creates stress on the people in the system, makes the system more difficult to manage, and increases the likelihood of waste at B. In our Agile example, A can spend more time clearly communicating what needs to be built and less time producing more detailed stories. A may consist of meetings where stories are communicated, estimated, and prioritized. On our Agile team, it is consuming time from the team that could be spent at A. So do less detailed estimating and prioritizing in each cycle. The effort is better spent at B.<br />
<b><i>Elevate the constraint.</i></b> In many organizations, when the effort is to elevate performance of a system (or team) investment is made to elevate the entire team. In our example above, that may mean adding more subject matter expert resources as well as more testing resources. But the only benefit to improving throughput of the team in our example is to increase at B. Elevating the constraint can happen through improving the capabilities at B or shifting more manpower to B. In our Agile example above, it may be better to shift one of the testing people to focus on development. Even if they are initially not as productive as the top developers, they will contribute to elevating the constraint without damaging the throughput of the team.<br />
After the system has stabilized go back to the beginning and identify the constraint. The final step is really to not let inertia become the constraint. Remember, this is POOGI – a Process Of OnGoing Improvement. You don’t go through the process once – you go through it continually.<br />
<b>Theory of Constraints and Big Agile</b><br />
This model is very interesting because if provides a thinking process for focusing efforts on the next most important problem. If our Agile team example above, if this model is not kept in mind by the team, they may spend time putting in a cool new CI environment – but unless that environment raises the constraint at B it will not result in an improvement. So it isn’t the next best place to focus. The other interesting thing about this model is that it scales up through the organization through the orders of scaling. If you haven’t read The Goal and Goldratt’s other writings you need to get this model into your thinking toolkit.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-61872968686295669262012-01-26T10:59:00.000-08:002012-01-26T10:59:56.598-08:00Dennis Stevens � Blog Archive � Theory of Constraints and Big AgileHere's a great article I found on CCPM and Agile. Its a bit short.... and I still have read The Goal...but I think there's alot of synergy between agile and CCPM. <br />--<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/09/17/theory-of-constraints-and-big-agile/">Dennis Stevens � Blog Archive � Theory of Constraints and Big Agile</a><br /><br /><h2 class="title"><a href="http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/09/17/theory-of-constraints-and-big-agile/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Theory of Constraints and Big Agile">Theory of Constraints and Big Agile</a></h2>By Dennis Stevens<br /><br /> <p>In 1984, Eli Goldratt first published The Goal: A process of ongoing improvement. The book describes the Theory of Constraints, a method for managing systems. It is based on the concept that at any time in a system there is one (of very few) bottleneck(s) slowing down the performance of the system. Performance is measured based on three variables. Throughput measures the units delivered to the consumer of the system. Operating expense is investment into the system to ensure its operation on an ongoing basis. Inventory is investment into the system to produce.</p> <p>The Goal is to make more money now and in the future in order to meet the expectation of stakeholders and ensure the business continues to operate. You increase profit by combinations of increasing throughput while decreasing the ratios of operating expense and inventory against throughput. A key first step to accomplish this is to reduce inventory – or work in process. This will improve cash flow of the organization. Reducing WIP has the added benefit of exposing the bottlenecks in the system. Exposing these bottlenecks is the key to implementing POOGI (Process Of OnGoing Improvement). Goldratt provides five focusing steps to follow to help achieve the goal.</p> <p><strong>Five Focusing Steps</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Identify the limited number of current constraints:</em></strong> At any point, there is a single point in the system that is the current bottleneck. For example in Agile development teams, it may developer productivity or a testing person. The way that you will identify the constraint is that it is the person where work is piling up in front of them and where downstream resources are starved for work. In the figure below the constraint is B. Work can only get through B at 3 units per unit of time. Since A is more productive work will pile up in front of B and C will be starved for work.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-268" title="TheConstraint" src="http://www.dennisstevens.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/TheConstraint.jpg" alt="TheConstraint" height="113" width="515" /></p> <p>Two important concepts need to be presented here. The first is that the team of ABC can’t produce work any faster than the bottleneck, B. So the consumer is only receiving 3 per unit of time. The second really important concept is that A, B, and C don’t have to be different people, they can be state transitions of a piece of work. In an Agile team, A might be understanding the requirements, B might be develop and unit test the code, and C might be integrate and acceptance test. On an Agile team, everyone is involved in all the states, it is the work that is moving through various states.</p> <p><strong><em>Make sure output from the constraint is not compromised.</em></strong> The second step in the five focusing steps is to recognize that the work done at the bottleneck is precious and must be exploited. So focus on making sure that none of B’s work is wasted. In our Agile example that means improving the quality of how work is communicated in the transition from A to B. It also means focusing on quality at B so that C is able to use everything produced by B. Doing this step will result in improved performance of the system.</p> <p><strong><em>Subordinate the system to the bottleneck</em></strong>. This means slow down the work at A. While this might seem counter-intuitive B can’t work any faster than it can work. Often, manager’s focus on improving utilization rather than throughput and this focus actually exacerbates the problems. Producing more and more inputs to B creates stress on the people in the system, makes the system more difficult to manage, and increases the likelihood of waste at B. In our Agile example, A can spend more time clearly communicating what needs to be built and less time producing more detailed stories. A may consist of meetings where stories are communicated, estimated, and prioritized. On our Agile team, it is consuming time from the team that could be spent at A. So do less detailed estimating and prioritizing in each cycle. The effort is better spent at B.</p> <p><strong><em>Elevate the constraint.</em></strong> In many organizations, when the effort is to elevate performance of a system (or team) investment is made to elevate the entire team. In our example above, that may mean adding more subject matter expert resources as well as more testing resources. But the only benefit to improving throughput of the team in our example is to increase at B. Elevating the constraint can happen through improving the capabilities at B or shifting more manpower to B. In our Agile example above, it may be better to shift one of the testing people to focus on development. Even if they are initially not as productive as the top developers, they will contribute to elevating the constraint without damaging the throughput of the team.</p> <p>After the system has stabilized go back to the beginning and identify the constraint. The final step is really to not let inertia become the constraint. Remember, this is POOGI – a Process Of OnGoing Improvement. You don’t go through the process once – you go through it continually.</p> <p><strong>Theory of Constraints and Big Agile</strong></p> <p>This model is very interesting because if provides a thinking process for focusing efforts on the next most important problem. If our Agile team example above, if this model is not kept in mind by the team, they may spend time putting in a cool new CI environment – but unless that environment raises the constraint at B it will not result in an improvement. So it isn’t the next best place to focus. The other interesting thing about this model is that it scales up through the organization through the orders of scaling. If you haven’t read The Goal and Goldratt’s other writings you need to get this model into your thinking toolkit.</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-4197822669444770772012-01-09T22:22:00.000-08:002012-01-09T22:24:00.762-08:00Making Your Culture Work with Agile, Kanban & Software Craftsmanship<a href="http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/agileculture.php#.TwvXgsujcb8.blogger">Making Your Culture Work with Agile, Kanban & Software Craftsmanship</a><div><br />
</div><div>An extraordinary article on culture and agile. I'm not sure I totally align with his analysis - I always saw kanban as a hippie version (or libertarian, whichever is less offensive) of agile. "hey dude...limit wip, pull stuff where done with it and we're cool...'? Groovy...."</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div>But I need to do more thinking about it. To me it all boils down to commitment and renewal - how do you generate commitment where this really matters to people, and two, how can you keep renewing those folks so they *continue* to care?</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
Later duuuuudes. <br />
<br />
- joe</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-76216146235985117712012-01-03T22:30:00.000-08:002012-01-03T22:33:35.621-08:00Intrinsic Commitment vs. ExtrinsicAs I look at my family work board I find myself wondering - why aren't things like, "take child to basketball practice" on there? Are the things that are on this board extrinsic or intrinsic? <br />
<br />
Lets look at this basketball thing. At some time we in our past we committed to it. What does that mean? <br />
<ul><li>We committed funds </li>
<li>We involved other people (the team) in the commitment</li>
<li>We didn't set the times ( set for us) </li>
<li>but we know its good for our children, and we're committed deeply to their well being. </li>
<li>Its fun when kids play sports </li>
</ul>I'm drawn to that last two. We can do the first two, but at the end of the day its the heart that matters. We really <b>want </b>to do something. we probably don't even need a board for it.<br />
<br />
So what's on this board, at least in part, are extraneous things, things that life could probably go on without. We won't put dinner on there, because we're intrisically motivated to do that thing. The things on the board are elective time items then? If so, does this make them less important? <br />
<br />
I think not. I would position it to say that this board is the things we want to do but have force ourselves to set the time for. They make our commitment public, they make it clear. It forms an information raditor. And for me I play the game that I "cannot finish this week without clearing that item out."<br />
<br />
One piece of leadership literature said, " eat the big frogs first." So the things you don't really want to do ," call the bank.." that's the stuff that goes on there. But Bri already has some art things on there. So she needs to be held to that commitment by someone else. Its her own priority rather than one dictated to her by parents or curriculum.<br />
<br />
Topgun hasn't gotten in there yet, nor has Julie. I'll have to push it a bit. :)<br />
<br />
-JoeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-36661020807656548062012-01-03T01:52:00.001-08:002012-01-03T01:58:54.105-08:00The Family KanbanIt was a lovely vacation I just finished with, and while I want to type about that, for this journal I would focus on one big outcome. My family has agreed, amazingly, to be part of an experiment - a bold experiment of bringing agile into my family life with greater energy. <br />
<br />
Understand – in our family my wife Julie generally runs things. She’s got the planner, she’s fabulously organized and networked, and does a great job of it. Interjecting myself into this working system is a bit scary for me, and a bit out of my “defined role”. <br />
However, there are a few things that I think I can help with. Agile, and the many roots it has in OD and systemic thinking, finds its specialty in managing goals in environments rich with change, and as any family of almost any constitution can attest, there’s a bunch of change out there. I see the labors Julie has put into planning meals, planning trips, planning schooling, planning events – its staggering.<br />
<br />
More than that, I feel that really we’re a team and as they get older (I’ve got one teenager, near to two) they need to take more ownership in the tasks and goals they want to accomplish in their young lives. <br />
And then there’s me. I’m like an uninformed CEO of my family. Julie will run things past me. Usually I nod and agree, or try to say something intelligent about whatever event we’re talking about. We get by, but I do not feel that I’ve really added much value since I don’t have the big or little pictures in my mind. I generally don’t put things on the calendar (google’s calendar has helped), but I certainly have things, and on occasion that will be a source of friction.<br />
<br />
For example: <br />
“Hey, can you be home by 5:30? I’ve got book club.” <br />
“Oh…well, I was going to meet Erik at Starbucks…”<br />
Or another…<br />
“Hey, what are we doing this weekend?” Julie asks. <br />
“….” Joe has no response.<br />
<br />
Then the space gets filled with other tasks. Eventually I realize I had other things, but I never mentioned them. So to make my role a more active role and to have the whole tribe here see what’s happening and get them to focus on things, I sold to them an experiment. I plan to use Agile and Lean software development techniques to help run the family’s goals and accomplishments.<br />
<br />
Notice how I framed that – goals and accomplishments. I do not intend to take from Julie the daily efforts of planning every action in our lives any more than I think she wants to hear about every meeting I go to. One good change technique, perhaps the core change technique, is to simply show the tool, and this tool will be focused on those things above and beyond the daily grind. Or will it? I’m not sure. <br />
Of course, as a good agilest, I have tried some of this already,. I was able to install Retrospectives into my family. We do them every 6 months, and I think they’re starting to enjoy them. It’s difficult work to look back, think about what we’ve done, and think about what we want to do. I sense that it doesn’t come easily to children.<br />
<br />
I’ve also had a bunch of sticky notes by the fridge, but they’re wrinkled from age. They’re definitely the epics, and we didn’t manage on the list other than lament the fact that we haven’t done many of them for more than a year. So it lacked commitment.<br />
<br />
My kids are cautiously agreeing to this. When I told topgun, my 12 year old, the full plan (my hopes to make this into a book or at least a talk and a white paper), he got excited. This experiment, as you will see in future posts, has been launched around a whiteboard. Everyone got their own sticky note color, and the board is just two weeks, so really, this is more of a family kanban. Perhaps that’s what I’ll call it.<br />
<br />
The journey has started. I intend on doing this for at least 6 months, and will be blogging about it often. I have no idea how to map all this. Is it Kanban, or Scrum? If the later, who is product owner? Are there user stories? Burndowns? Hours? I mean a lot of this won’t apply, right? I’m keenly aware of the differences between managing adult professionals in software and the dynamic of family.<br />
<br />
In the end I hope, as I do at work, to add value by leveraging the perspectives of a change agent and in this context, a dad and husband. :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-86995509670160585942011-11-28T18:29:00.000-08:002011-11-28T18:29:58.789-08:00Neat planning post - Re-thinking the foundations of the strategic business processA very comprehensive review of some planning models here, including the The GE–McKinsey nine-box matrix. Mine this later. :)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1757554&show=html">Emerald | Re-thinking the foundations of the strategic business process</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-19457647088990398202011-04-28T12:50:00.000-07:002011-04-28T12:50:00.470-07:00InfoQ: Craig Larman on the Challenges of Scaling Scrum to Large OrganizationsThis interview with Larman is awesome. He's so methodical and well spoken. He really runs down the value of management as overhead and that includes program managers and project managers. I get what he's saying but I'm not sure that role assault is where I would begin with an agile transformation. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.infoq.com/interviews/larman-scrum-large-organizations?subject=Project+Manager+-%3E+Scrum+Master+okay%3F&body=#view_68253">InfoQ: Craig Larman on the Challenges of Scaling Scrum to Large Organizations</a><br /><br />Having said that, I really like his bit on outsourcing, and still wonder how he gets any work with that perspective :) <br /><br />Go get'em Craig! <br /><br />-JoeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-1607296019115538332011-04-25T13:26:00.000-07:002011-04-25T13:26:16.472-07:00InfoQ: Daily Standup Tips - a RoundupA great brief on daily standups. I've struggled with this since I grow tired of routine quickly. My take aways and adds? <br />Focus on Accomplishments - love that. <br />Mix it up - make it at the coffee break..<br />Keep V1 up all day- Nice!<br /><a href="http://www.infoq.com/news/2010/01/daily-standup">InfoQ: Daily Standup Tips - a Roundup</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-40881672322306368692011-04-08T21:59:00.000-07:002011-04-08T21:59:39.078-07:00Kanban...the Lesser AgileJust read an article by Alistair Cockburn about the Taylor-ism of Software Development. I have to believe he's onto something. It seems that the whole system, starting with the Forrester researchers and reaching into the larger organizations, are reacting to the paradigm shift that Agile represents. <br />
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Kanban is an easier system. No org changes. No team bonuses. No silly commitment. No estimation. Its all about the flow.....<br />
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Seriously, I've only used Kanban at my current employer for those who cannot achieve true agility. Perhaps they don't have a good product owner. Perhaps they don't have a cross-functional team. Perhaps they're really small, or they can release whenever they want to ( read: facebook) . Then great. Just throw that stuff out there. <br />
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For me, I like the cadence and discipline an Agile process will provide teams and organizations. I like it in the middle, where the value can be released iteratively. It is possible that an enterprise could roll iterative products into a kanban to flow the release, but for me, I'll take the iteration over some nebulous flow any day. <br />
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-JFAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-24830454980156754722011-04-08T21:24:00.000-07:002011-04-08T21:24:29.233-07:00I'm speaking at Agile 2011! The Agile CafeFor those who know me I have been very busy writing for other things, but I know write with good news. I'm going to be a speaker in Salt Lake City - Agile 2011! This is my favorite convergence of all - I always learn a bunch and speaking is great practice for me. <br />
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First, a quick description of the Agile Cafe- It is simply a variation of the World Cafe. Right now I'm working on the whitepaper, which I will post here when its done, but for now here is some points: <br />
1. The Agile cafe is to gain visibility of agile in a large organization<br />
2. The AC is a way to get people to meet and talk where there would be no other reason for them to do so. <br />
3. The AC is for us to have fun at work, lighten the load, and be ourselves. To be human, and to leverage the oldest form of learning - conversation - to get us to the next level. <br />
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I'm excited to present, and excited to help others with how to set one of these up. <br />
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- JoeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-14855574430315157902011-03-23T10:18:00.000-07:002011-03-23T10:18:44.215-07:00Agile & Business: Middle Managers and Scrum<a href="http://agileconsortium.blogspot.com/2011/02/middle-managers-and-scrum.html?spref=bl">Agile & Business: Middle Managers and Scrum</a>: "In a lot of organizations I work with, we need to do a better job of explaining Scrum to the middle managers. Most of the people in the Te..."Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-69692432183364988602008-01-06T22:10:00.000-08:002011-02-25T23:44:15.523-08:00Joy, How to Make it Last<br />By Siri Carpenter, Prevention<br />Prevention<br /><br /><br />Rose Theis is the consummate amateur athlete. Some might call her a machine. At age 46, she is an Ironman triathlete, an experienced marathoner, and a year-round bicyclist—a notable feat for a resident of Madison, WI, where the winters are no joke.<br /><br />In the summer, she thinks nothing of awakening before dawn for a swim in the cool waters of Madison's Lake Monona. She isn't stopped by minor pains or by driving rains. But a school of muskies jumping upstream to spawn...a clump of magnolias spreading their flowering arms... a hot pink sunrise looming over a glassy lake—those are pleasures worth stopping for.<br /><br />Theis understands implicitly what Loyola University Chicago social psychologist Fred B. Bryant, PhD, wishes he could impart to all of us: Finding joy means opening yourself up to it. The value of taking time to appreciate positive experiences seems obvious—trite, even. Yet it's a skill that few people have mastered. The reason is simple: We're busy, and we have a lot on our minds. There'll always be other sunrises, we say to ourselves, but if we don't hit the shower soon, we'll never beat the traffic to work. Under the weight of our daily responsibilities and worries, we reflexively tune out the fleeting, spontaneous events that can happen at any time and that, if we let them, could bring us deeper joy and greater health.<br /><br />For more than 20 years, Bryant has worked to understand what he terms mindful savoring: the things we think and do to intensify or prolong positive feelings. "We all know people who are like this," Bryant says. "They're the life of the party, and they're the first people you want to turn to when something good happens. What is their gift?" Across the different cultures that Bryant has studied, women tend to possess this skill more often than do men.<br /><br />Mindful savoring doesn't only enhance our feeling of well-being, Bryant notes. It may also improve health. A substantial body of related research indicates that people with a sunnier outlook about growing older recover more quickly from illness and live longer—7 1/2 years on average, according to a large Yale University study—than people who have bleaker views. People who scored highest on a test Bryant designed that measures savoring ability also reported fewer illnesses.<br /><br />Needless to say, it's easiest to appreciate the good when fortune leans in our favor. But when we're ill or anxious or beset by tragedy, savoring positive events is all the more important. Happiness, Bryant says, broadens our perspective and helps us recognize ways to cope with adversity. "Bad things will come—we can't avoid them," he says. As many a poet has written, joy is fleeting, and elusive. "But if you know how, you can go hunting for it, and you can make it last."<br /><br />Here are 10 surefire strategies that Bryant says everyone can use to discover pleasure and satisfaction in everyday moments:<br /><br />1. Share positive feelings<br /><br />Let your children know how great it feels to spend time with them. Tell your spouse about the compliment your boss paid you. E-mail your best friend to tell her how fondly you remember the camping trip you took last year, and include a silly picture. Sharing happy memories and experiences with others—or even simply anticipating doing so—is one of the most powerful and effective ways to prolong and magnify joy, Bryant's research shows. "It helps sustain emotions that would otherwise fade," he says. Affirming connections with others, he adds, is "the glue that holds people together."<br /><br />2. Build memories<br /><br />Take mental photographs of memorable moments that you can draw on later. Recall vivid, specific events, and pinpoint what brought you joy. Do you love your red wool scarf because it's stylish and warm, or because its smell reminds you of your childhood romps in the snow? Just be careful not to overanalyze and lose the wonder of the moment. What you want, says University of Virginia social psychologist Timothy D. Wilson, PhD, is to dissect your experiences just enough to appreciate how they've helped form you and then get back to simply living them. Interjecting mystery into happy moments—reflecting on what's surprising or hard to understand about them, for example—can strengthen their power. "If you analyze special times in a way that makes them seem ordinary or predictable, then you don't necessarily get as much benefit," Wilson says.<br /><br />3. Congratulate yourself<br /><br />Take pride in a hard won accomplishment. If you spent a year sweating at the gym to reach a fitness goal, bask in your success—and share it with others. Self-congratulation doesn't come easily to everyone. "A lot of people have trouble basking in an accomplishment because they feel that they shouldn't toot their own horns or rest on their laurels," Bryant says. It's a fine line between joyous self-congratulation and shameless self-promotion, but don't worry: You'll know if you're crossing it.<br /><br />4. Fine tune your senses<br /><br />Close your eyes while you roll a square of dark chocolate over your tongue or fill your lungs with salty sea air or eavesdrop on your grandchildren's play and laughter. Shutting out some sensory stimuli while concentrating on others can heighten your enjoyment of positive experiences—particularly those that are short-lived.<br /><br /><br />5. Compare downward<br /><br />Comparing upward makes us feel deprived, but comparing downward can heighten enjoyment. Think about how things could be worse—or how things used to be worse. Just keep it light—you don't have to relive your cancer diagnosis or revel in a neighbor's misfortune. Simply take note: Is today sunnier than promised? Are you fitter than you were a year ago?<br /><br />6. Get absorbed<br /><br />Some joyful moments seem to call for conscious reflection and dissection. At other times, we savor best when we simply immerse ourselves in the present moment, without deliberate analysis or judgment. Listen to your favorite music with headphones in a dark room. Lose yourself in a novel. Set aside enough time on the weekend for your favorite hobby so you can attain a level of absorption known as the "flow" state.<br /><br />7. Fake it till you make it<br /><br />Putting on a happy face—even if you don't feel like it—actually induces greater happiness, says Bryant. So be exuberant. Don't just eat the best peach of the season—luxuriate in every lip smacking mouthful. Laugh aloud at the movies. Smile at yourself in the mirror. After all, he says, "a surefire way to kill joy is to suppress it."<br /><br />8. Seize the moment<br /><br />Some positive events come and go quickly—a surprise toast to your accomplishments at work, your daughter's sweet 16 party. It seems obvious that the more quickly a positive experience evaporates, the more difficult it is to savor. Yet paradoxically, Bryant has found, reminding ourselves that time is fleeting and joy transitory prompts us to seize positive moments while they last.<br /><br />9. Avoid killjoy thinking<br /><br />The world has enough pessimists. Short circuit negative thoughts that can only dampen enjoyment, such as self recriminations or worries about others' perceptions. When you find yourself awash in happiness, give it space to grow—don't ruminate about why you don't deserve this good thing, what could go wrong, how things could be better. Consciously make the decision to embrace joy.<br /><br />10. Say thank you<br /><br />Cultivate an "attitude of gratitude," Bryant says. Pinpoint what you're happy about—a party invitation, a patch of shade—and acknowledge its source. It's not always necessary to outwardly express gratitude, Bryant notes, but saying "thank you" to a friend, a stranger, or the universe deepens our happiness by making us more aware of it.<br /><br />Provided by PreventionAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-87794782209230178852003-10-29T15:48:00.000-08:002011-02-25T23:44:15.860-08:00<a href="http://www.artima.com/intv/perfect.html">Perfection and Simplicity</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-24843556611961092402003-10-29T15:46:00.000-08:002011-02-25T23:44:15.871-08:00<a href="http://www.artima.com/intv/perfect.html">Perfection and Simplicity</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347001807308118599.post-59807162797472125992003-10-28T15:46:00.000-08:002011-02-25T23:44:15.881-08:00<a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~rfradkin/alphapage.html">Alphapage.html - University of Maryland</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00944486203831348182noreply@blogger.com0