Catch 2012

Yes. That is me some time ago. Trying to fish. I don't think I ever got any fish with that rod. But, it was fun. And I tried. I am also pretty sure I used my imagination creating the most wonderful and large fishes I would catch.

Unless you try and make a real effort you don't know what you can catch.  And while "fishing" you might also have some fun and learn something.

So, go out there. Bring out that special rod of yours.  And aim for some big fishes.

What are you trying to catch next year?
Well, whatever it is - Happy Hunting in 2012.

Magic!

Today has been a playful day. Met a couple of highly interesting, creative and fun persons. We had a very good time.
Seemed we learned to know each other rather quick. And once we were on speaking terms the magic started. We played, giggled, told stories, asked questions, watched, observed - and had fun together.

Of course the fun and play ended too soon.

I would not mind another day with that Magical Team!  Just give me a shout - and I'll be there again!

Low profile

My mother came by on Christmas Eve for a brief visit. As usual she told my children how I was as a kid. Here is one of those stories:

In some sort of pre-school I impressed the teachers with my extreme knowledge about all sorts of things. We often sat on floor and a teacher showed a picture with an animal, plan, flower, insect, vehicle - well anything. I never raised my hand - but teacher sometimes asked me anyway. And every time I immediately provided the correct name of the animal or flower. Every time! Apparently teachers were impressed and reported my deep knowledge to my parents.

The trick? Well, all signs had the names of object printed below the picture and apparently I was the only kid in that class of very young people that could read! And this was apparently a well kept secret.I played along in all sorts of game - hiding th fact I could read and write.

My parents revealed I could read and write and the mystery was gone. After that my mother asked: "But why didn't you tell them you could read? And why didn't you raise your hand?"

"But, mum, don't you think we should give the other kids a chance too?"

The end.

Coolest list ever

Andrew Townley made some recommendations about interesting people he had found. (Lists were/are located at  http://atownley.org/about/ )

It was very flattering to find myself on one of the lists. Together with two persons that inspires me a lot!

The list was:

 (List is rather old. But still very flattering :-))

Details

To see a grain in a world of sand
And a wild flower in heaven
Hold your hand through infinity
Or at least an hour of eternity

(Modified version of William Blake's:
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.)

Proud

I guess all parents are proud of their kids. I know I am. Maybe my children are as amazing and fantastic as I imagine. Maybe they are *the* best.

But maybe I also love them so much that I focus on their good sides. I see the good things they do and are and pay less attention to whatever less charming aspects there might be. If we treated fellow persons as we see our kids - would they also become as amazing? Would they also make us proud?

Well, regarding my kids I don't care if my love makes me blind. They *are* still the best!

Brand loyalty

Yesterday we had expensive production creating high quality products.  The high quality created brand loyalty, i.e. the consumer would buy some brand next time as well. But,these high quality products were long lived, thus reducing number of purchases made.

Like ths upper small model in this. The harmful expensive production create (neutral) high quality products. They have (harmfully!) long lives making purchase a rare event. When a purchase is made though, the consumer will due to the brand loyalty created bu high quality pick the right product.

In the lower model we have instead cheap production creating (neutral) low quality products. Those are short lived and the consumers need to buy more products.
In the lower model you instead need to create brand loyalty some other way:

• Support
• Functionality
• Advertising
• Image
• ...

This way you will also be able to create a "need" to get next product even when product is not broken...

Shooting star

While driving, early this morning,  I saw an amazing shooting star. Immediately I wished I would see another one. Moments later my wish came true! Another shooting star.
Since the first wish came true I realized this was serious business. Therefore I spent the second wish on something more personal and valuable.

Now I just need to work hard to  make sure that the wish come true.

Challenge your knowledge

We know so much Sometime too much. We should challenge our knowledge more often. When faced with a challenge or need to take a decision - challenge the knowledge you have. And maybe the knowledge you don't have.

When you brain says you "know" something, challenge and ask "How do I know that?"

• Where did I read that?
• Who told me?
• Can it be verified?
• ...

You can also ask yourself why you know it.

• Do I only know things in special areas? Ignoring other perspectives?
• Am I part of a culture, society, religion ... encouraging this knowledge?
• Was knowledge given to me with a (hidden) agenda?
• ...

And lastly consider what knowledge you also need - but still haven't:

• Am I lazy and happy with just this knowledge?
• What perspectives am I missing?
• Where can I find the knowledge needed?
• ...

Of course there are many more questions and considerations. The fields of "knowledge", "learning", "knowledge management", etc are huge. But maybe the above three questions can make you slightly more aware of the quality (and purpose) of your knowledge?

Mexican standoff

Solutions can counteract (or solve) problems, but they can also produce other problems. And a problem can counteract (obstruct) another solution.

Here is a sort of Mexican Standoff with problems and solution. In real life you would need analysis from different perspectives and probably stakeholder analysis to deal with the situation.

(An arrow means "produces", and a 'crossed' arrow meand "counteracts". Red is harmful and green is useful.)

Common enemy

A common enemy unites. But it is also a risky setup and will drain energy from achieving the goal.

Here we have two countries A and B with a common enemy C. The red lines to C illustrated "opposed" or conflict and tension.

Country A have a goal - to achieve A(2). And of course it will get help from country B - since B also is enemy of C.  In order for this setup to hold A now have to:

• Watch the relation with C. Prepare to attach or defend.
• Continue to work with B and encourage the A-B-relation.
• and also make sure that Country C remain enemy to B

So A have to spend energy on many things in order to continue to operate (emphasized with blue):

Having an energy drains energy. But as illustrated, having a common enemy drains more energy!

You might not be able to avoid enemies - but keep them few. And to not create a setup where you rely on having "common enemy". You will waste energy and focus. And risk is always there that it will collapse into:

Here B has instead joined C. A do not have any allies - only enemies. And no help to reach the goal. Playing the game with "common enemy" can put you int the place of being the common enemy. It is a delicate balancing act.


Best setup in the above is of course:

Here A will get help from both B and C to reach the goal. And no energy is wasted at all. Maybe a sort of Utopia - but certainly the best to aim for.


Imagine also the original setup when Country D comes into play. What allies, enemies and boundaries will be created?  How much energy wil be wasted just to maintain a setup including enemies?

Summary:
- Avoid creating enemies
- If you have to have enemies: Avoid having "common enemy" (will drain extra energy!)

Small thought

Build a model and they will comment.

Ad?

So, to prove I am a person I have to type this company's name?

Is this a very subtle form of a small ad? Or just co-incidence?

TRIZ quote ... almost

"Do or do not - there is no try" (Yoda)

I wonder if G Altshuller instead would have said:

"Do and do not - there is no try"

To be able to "do and don't do" you need to solve a contradiction. And solving contradictions is a main theme of TRIZ.

(Click TRIZ to see what Wikipedia says. And you can find more about Altshuller at various sites - why not start here. )

Details II

Last post was Swedish. This addendum in English.

Details are so fun. Take this video for example "Hva gor vi nu lille du"

Pay attention to the girl at 2:15. A great detail showing a dedicated fan. A fan that has seen the band and heard the song many times. Almost too many times.

Lärande och detaljer

Detaljer är intressanta. Många gånger är det "små detaljer" som gör att jag lär mig saker och som startar lärandeprocessen. Det är de små detaljerna som skapar intresse och hunger.

Bäst är det när detaljerna är så små att de inte syns. Och att de behöver uppmärksammas för att man ska förstå hur de fungerar och hur smart det är.

På Towern i London finns det många och trånga spiraltrappor. Det är ingen slump att de skruvar sig åt det håll som de gör. De är byggda så att den som anfaller, dvs kommer nerifrån, i princip måste använda vänsterhanden för att kunna slåss. Och tvärtom blir det alltså väldigt enkelt för den som är uppe att använda högerhanden. Inget ont om vänsterhänthet, men det är betydligt vanligare att man är högerhänt och därmed bäst svingar ett svärd med den handen.

Fundera på åt vilket håll trapporna skruvar sig nästa gång. Om tanken någon gång varit att använda trappen för försvar så bör den skruva sig så att det gynnar försvararen!

En annan detalj i trapporna på Towern är att inte alla steg är lika höga. Det är också något som gör det svårare att rusa uppför trappan. Då och då är ett steg lite extra högt och - Klonk! - ramlar soldaten som inte uppfatade det höga steget.

Detaljer är ofta osynliga först, men väldigt tydliga och naturliga när man upptäckt dem.

Var uppmärksam på detaljerna. De är viktiga. Och de är ofta inbyggda och uttänkta med stor precision. Det som ser ut som slumpmässigt gjort är sällan det...

Och lyssna på de som känner till detaljer! Det kan vara guiden på turen i Towern. Eller experten i din närhet. Eller den erfarna teknikern som jobbat länge med samma sak.

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Heights

Heights are different.

When you look at something around you from ground level it does not seem very high. A chair, table, a roof - chance is high that you would be able to jump down from these. At least when you see them from below.

Now try to climb that chair or table. When you now see the height from above it (most likely) feels very different. The height is now much higher and that "jumping down" might seem less attractive.

The height might be the same, in meters counted - but your perception and ability to act is very different depending on your position.

Do the experiment. Climb your desk and see how high it is.

Taking the looong way

You cannot avoid death. But you can try to take the longer way there.

Of course you cannot fully avoid sickness, accidents, becoming a victim of something etc. But you can try.

I sure will.

I will at least never take any shortcuts to get there (death) sooner. Well, a few perhaps. I mean, life is there for you to live, right?



Death is the only thing that is certain in life. But no need to rush it there.

Remember the destination is not the goal - the journey is. Have a great journey!

1st - Share view

Not sure if it's happen a lot. But when it does it makes me sad...

Manager: "When I asked him how to deal with the problem he said he didn't know. So I told him what to do. "

This is of course bad in many ways.

(1) Expecting to get a solution (answer) immediately only works for Simple situations. If the problem or situation is Complicated or Complex we need another approach. (see Cynefin framework)

(2) The manager has also now taught the employee to treat everything as Simple. No time to waste. Everything is just Best Practice and common sense. Just do it!

We need to first figure out what domain the situation and problem belongs to. And in that process we need to see and understand how the other part and team view the situation.

-"I need to protect me from this animal!"
-"Simple. You need a weapon. Here, take this shotgun!"
-"Eh. It's an ant..."

Share the view. Build the solution.

Snygg eller bra?

Här en underlig annons som dök upp på ComputerSwedens webplats (2011-04-01). Och det är väl tur att det är 1:a april.


Kan man inte vara bra om man är snygg?

Det finns säkert en smart tanke bakom annonstexten ... eller?

Footsteps

"Don't tell me the sky is the limit when there are footsteps on the moon" (Todd L Hoefert)

Brilliant!

Catching balls or ideas

If someone catch a small ball it is easy to catch it. Just open the hand and grab it. Well, if aiming and coordination works as they should.

You can also grab another ball. Just use the other hand and grab it.

Now it becomes more tricky. To catch the third ball you have to let go of the first. Drop it. Once dropped one of your hand is free to catch the third ball. Although one ball is now on the ground.

A better way of catching the third ball (and fourth and...) is to start juggling. While juggling you can catch more balls, keep them in air and hand - and if you are skilled you will drop none. How many you can catch is a matter of your juggling skill.

To make this even better you can now start to collaborate. Use the people around you. Share the balls with them. They have hands and maybe juggling skills too. When juggling skills or hands are depleted - grow the team. As the team grows and collaboration skills increases you can catch and maintain more balls.

And now you can also be part of other people's ball catching games.

Now, lets play with ideas and balls at the same time:

1. First you need to open your hand and mind to be able to catch any ball (or idea)
2. To be able to receive and develop many ideas you need to have at least basic juggling skills. (Yes, keeping two balls without dropping any, counts as basic skills.)
3. But, to be able to really get moving you need to collaborate and share the ideas with other people. That way you can develop all the ideas you find.
4. And now you are part of other people's idea development network.


(Thanks to @redmamba and @KRCraft for making me think.)

Bla bla bla bla...

Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla... bla bla ? bla bla bla! bla bla bla

1. BLa bla bla
2. bla bla bla bla bla
3. bla bla bla

Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla.

The Hidden Process

A request I made got stuck in a "corporate process" some weeks ago. When looking into it and hunting the request I obeserved some interesting things.

The process contained several steps - each performed by different departments. And a ticket system was used to send forward and update the request.
The process was designed to do: A --> B --> C --> D --> E

But, that was designed for a slightly different setup. The requests we now made did not need to perform step D. In fact, doing step D would have negative impact. So, when submitting the request we added information about "skip D - we handle that in another way later".

When the request hit D information about how to perform D was missing. Of course, since we didn't want that step. The supplied information about ignoring step D was ignored.

Since D could not complete its step it just returned the request to C. C got confused and did the only thing they do - passed it on to D. After bouncing a few times it stopped. And neither C or D bothered more about it.

The ticket was stopped in this magical corporate workflow....

When tracking the request it turned out that every step only knew how to receive the request and how to pass it on. No step know more than previous and next. No instance saw the whole process. No instance was able to make sound decisions - take an overall approach and look at the request and process and see that it should be passed on - not to D but to E.

Having a silo based organization where workflows involved many silos can create interesting situations. Like the one above. Where the organization has become incapable of seeing the whole - and only knows how to receive and send small chunks of work.

Focus on the result and value of the process - not on the individual steps.

Putting paint on a brush and apply to a canvas a thousand times do not always create a Mona Lisa. But the chance is higher if you know what you try to paint. Instead of just doing 1000 small movements with a brush with paint.