DevOps is nothing new, the term may be new, but the ideas aren’t. Cross functional teams, limiting WIP, these aren’t new. I have books collecting dust from the mid to late 20th century describing similar organizational and management philosophies. If you think you’ve struck gold, then it’s time to check your premises. Likely you’re just riding a wave of vapid…
Degrees don’t matter
I’ve worked with many talented people that don’t have degrees and that do have degrees. When I work with someone, the first thing that comes to mind is what can we accomplish together.
Labels are self-fulfilling
Labels become self-fulfilling, self-effacing prophecies. Alice is an introvert, never let her talk to customers. So, Alice never talks to customers and thus never becomes comfortable talking to customers, and therefore reinforces the “introvert” label. John is callous, he doesn’t think much before speaking. Don’t trust him with any important decisions…
For data to matter it has to influence how you feel
Every decision is made intuitively, we don’t act based on data, we act based on how we feel. So even if you have a drawn out process to gather data, a human will have the final say based on how they feel.
Happiness is perception
You can be stubborn about how you look at the world and wait for other people to change, or you can change how you look at the world. I’ll be adding this to the list of Mindsets as “Happiness is a Choice”
You’re not rational, get over it
The one thing that holds back most humans, is that they aren’t even aware that they act based on intuition, based on how they feel. They think they are rational creatures that make calculated, thoughtful decisions. Consequently, they never develop skills to know when their intuition is out of whack. If you can hone your intuition you’ll make many more…
Being concise
I often find myself going into way too much detail. I’m a habitual pedant. One thing that helps stop me is realizing that people aren’t going to remember much of what I say. So, why bother with the details. If I can remember this, in the moment, I often find concision.
Overconfidence is oft inadequacy
Often, I hear people blame overconfidence when self-esteem is the culprit. For example, have you ever listened to someone speak, someone that goes into way too much detail? Some would suggest the presenter is trying to be a know it all. That’s nonsense. The problem is a sense of inadequacy. When you have low self-esteem, you feel like you have…
Quality is a misnomer
Quality is a misnomer. Often what we’re talking about is the status quo. Take for example a book versus an online course (video). Online courses like provided by lynda.com When it comes to books, there’s a high bar. Most books are polished. By and large devoid of typos. When it comes to videos, this is a whole new domain. There…