While there's plenty to say about other positive outcomes of mindfulness, this post is about business benefits for technology delivery: meeting milestones, keeping stakeholders happy, and delivering value to customers. Any incremental sanity is a bonus. Mindfulness helps you identify unexamined[...]
One of my favorite Netflix programs is Japanese Style Originator. A panel of Japanese celebrities views video segments on nooks and crannies of Japanese culture and tries to correctly guess the reasons for various details. The show is a delightful window into the subtleties of (for example) [...]
"If only we could break through our communication barriers." How often have you heard this phrase expressed with longing, or anger, or discouragement, in the teams and companies you have worked for? If you want to experience an unforgettable image of what breaking through barriers really [...]
I sang and taught Gregorian chant for 20 years - nearly as long as I have been working in technology. I learned a few principles that may have some relevance for technology delivery. When teaching a group class, my initial piece of advice was always the following: Sing loud enough so the [...]
On the island of Crete in ancient times, a unique form of bullfighting developed. It involved facing a charging bull and, at the last possible moment, grabbing hold of its horns and swinging up on its back (see the diagram to the left). Nikos Kazantzakis, author of Zorba the Greek and The Last [...]
In his Slideshare presentation on The Agile Method Ecosystem Agustin Villena makes the useful comment that Agile development functions much like fractal systems in nature: like the branching patterns of trees or the contours of a coastline, Agile delivery relies on a nested set of progressively [...]