Category: Uncategorized
-
Pre-rubicon Reading Material
The rubicon represents the moment of commitment to a course of actions. When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 BCE, he broke Roman law and sealed the fate of the Republic. The Rubicon was a small river marking the northern boundary of Italy, and generals were forbidden to lead their armies across it under…
-
Shouting gratitude
He was a busker, I guess, and I used to see him down by the point. Walking under the coconut palms around the boardwalk with his flat-tuned guitar which he’d seldomly strum for a few seconds before getting distracted by something. I could hear him shouting from afar, his mad belly laughs and then outbursts…
-
Team identities ⚓︎ Ship o’ Theseus ⚓︎ Siddhartha
If every member of a team was replaced, one by one, is it still the same team? The Ship of Theseus is a classic thought experiment which asks if you changed every piece of the ship, plank by plank, and if every part is replaced. Is it the same ship? Does this apply to teams? …
-
Bird spotting as relevance realisation
We went hiking through the jungles of Central America. There is a rare bird in this scene. As we emerged from jungle’s undergrowth to this raised open area, our guide immediately pointed, and said, there’s a male quetzal. I couldn’t see the bird. Even when he pointed in the direction, I still couldn’t see. He…
-
Gold
One way of thinking about beauty is that it is a signal of reverse-entropy – a moment of harmony and symmetry in an otherwise trend towards disorder. Something I was thinking about is that gold is remarkably perfect in that it doesn’t degrade over time – it remains in a perfect state. Therefore it must…
-
RC Sport Paddles Review
One of the best feelings imaginable is swimming fast – gliding through the water, cruising up and down a hotel pool after sunset, reaching with every stroke through the turquoise blue water and slicing through the glittering sunset yellow reflections, tumble-turning, pushing off the wall and cruising yet more… The performance paddles were built for…
-
Lying on the bus
I’m in a bus and there was a father and son. He caught my eye because the little bit was lying in the floor happily and kitted out in his waterproof overalls the bus reached the bus stop and the doors swooshed open. Let’s go days the father but the son doesn’t want to budge.…
-
Antifragility for Agilists
Yesterday we hosted a talk at the Global Scrum Master Summit about antifragility for Scrum Masters (or any agilists, really!), and what Scrum Masters can learn and gain from antifragilty. We first guided participants through the concept of antifragility, starting with a story about chaikhanas (Afghan tea houses and how they’re antifragile), then we looked at an example from…
-
Timeless Way of Building – An Appreciation
A remarkable force! I cannot stop thinking about this book, the passages and content contained within it! The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander Just yesterday as I was standing in the brightly lit corridor of M&S, in the refrigerated beer section, with my hand outstretched, deciding which beer to choose, my mind wandered…
-
Jira Risk Workflow
This is a basic workflow I’ve used with teams to capture risks and issues. I’ve used a issue type ‘Risk’ for things that might happen and ‘Issue’ which has already happened and that needs to be resolved. Suggested Fields (non-exhaustive) Risk titleDescription: what is current assessment and what is the riskMitigationImpact (scale 1 -5)Likelihood (scale…