Professional Development – 2020 – Week 22

Agile The Agile C-Suite (via Harvard Business Review) Interesting piece about how a company used Agile principles all the way to the top. It’s about striking a balance between standardizing operations and pursuing innovations. The CEO, CFO, CHRO, CIO, COO,…

An Elegant Puzzle – Part 11

This week we discussed sections 6.1 and 6.2. Section 6.1: Roles over rocket ships, and why hypergrowth is a weak predictor of personal growth It’s been the norm in tech to stay someplace for two years and move on. Jamie…

Revell F-4G Phantom II: Part 7

The seventh step in the build is the exhaust. This step took 4 hrs 37 min. Assembly For this project I purchased an airbrush with a smaller needle (0.2 vs 0.4 mm) for finer work, so I used this opportunity…

An Elegant Puzzle – Part 10

This week we discussed sections 5.3 through the end of the chapter. Section 5.3 — Make your peers your first team The ingredients necessary for a team are awareness of each other’s work, evolution from character to person, refereeing defection,…

Revell F-4G Phantom II: Part 6

The sixth step in the build is the outer wings. This step took 2 hrs 1 min. Assembly The slats are not a perfect fit. All of the diagrams in the instructions and pictures don’t give much guidance. It seems…

Professional Development – 2020 – Week 20

Career The Pandemic Has Exposed the Fallacy of the “Ideal Worker” (via Harvard Business Review) The “ideal worker” comes from the 1960s where a household has a breadwinner/homemaker couple. Having to work from home without schools and childcare available, those…

Revell F-4G Phantom II: Part 5

The fifth step in the build is the air intakes. This step took 3 hrs 49 mins. I divided the work into sections: air ramps, air intake covers, priming/painting/assembly. Air ramps I’m clueless as to why these were separate pieces,…

Professional Development – 2020 – Week 19

Agile Time Pressure Improves Productivity & Quality…Up to a Point (via Mountain Goat Software) There’s a U-shaped curve for productivity vs. pressure. Not enough pressure, and delivery is late. Too much pressure, and you’ll build something unsustainable (or burn people…

An Elegant Puzzle – Part 9

This week we discussed sections 4.8 through 5.2. 4.8 — Setting organizational direction “If you don’t supply [direction] yourself, you’ll start to feel the pull of irrelevance: Maybe no one really cares what we do? What would happen if I…