[02-Jun-23] About empathy and more ...

Can We Walk in Another Person’s Shoes?


“When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That’s when you can get more creative in solving problems.” -- Stephen Covey


In the last couple of days several issues happened that could have been managed better with a little bit more empathy and imagination to be somebody else - for creative problem solving.


Our current government is a coalition of three parties and all together are lacking a base level of empathy in the meantime. Too much discussion and battling, not really solution oriented and the population started to complain month ago.


At work a decision has been finally taken after a long time of negotiation and now the community is split in two camps. The one is happy that all stays unchanged and we keep going as before. The other camp that was driving for a disruption, something new, scale-able and reliable, will now get a lot of pushback as money, time and resources are limited.


Finally an issue in the project that could have been avoided with a little bit more communication between the team members and a higher level of empathy - walking some time in the shoes of a team member and taking a different perspective. As this did not happen, we had an escalation and did clean up the mess today, could have been avoided. Maybe next time.


Enjoy your weekend and go for a walk.


  • Video: Teamwork motivational video
  • Video: How Elon Musk Would Run YOUR Business mit Joe Justice — Hands-on Agile EXTRA
  • TheNewHappy: Look within
  • Artificial intelligence is transforming our world — it is on all of us to make sure that it goes well

  • Comparing Population Pyramids Around the World

  • Finland is on track to meet some of the world's most ambitious carbon neutrality targets. This is how it has done it

  • The Definitive Guide to Scrum PDF

  • How to Create a Culture of Change Acceptance

  • Roberto Ferraro: Measure the right thing

  • Olina Glindevi: THE COACH vs THE MENTOR

[30-May-23] Some cartoons to review ...

Check this out, no additional explanation required

[29-May-23] Having good conversations

Had some free time for testing Wordpress today


Once again a great sketchnote from Tanmay Vora today. More details about the Creative Commons license mentioned in the top left of the picture, see at CC BY-NC-ND.


Besides the Website Builder that I am currently using for my BLOG on the new website hosting platform from ONE.com, I could also use Wordpress offered by them as alternative and maybe better to run a BLOG? To be confirmed.


As I do not have enough time right now, to easily switch between the two environments, I started with a test environment some weeks ago. See Wordpress-BLOG-Test. I am still far away from being an expert, but started with some easy and obvious functionality. The long list of available plug-ins is very helpful to come to a pretty professional environment quickly, with respect to security, quality and maintenance.


One of the advantages I see already is that Wordpress offers a unique URL for each BLOG post, similar to the setup of my previous hosting company. Want to give it a try? See [29-May-23] The Six Leadership Styles by Daniel Goleman for example. Thanks in advance for checking, as I did install a visitor counter plug-in today, more traffic might be realized quickly? We will see, looking forward to your interest :-)


  • FREE resources to use, to master AI if you want to succeed in the next years

[28-May-23] The week 21-2023 summary

Two more 4-day-work weeks are coming up


Tomorrow is Whit Monday and on Thursday 08 -Jun-23 we will have Corpus Christi, two more public holidays in Germany and two more 4-day-work weeks.


After 93 years (1930) Germany did play against Canada in the Ice Hockey World Championship final again today. They lost the game 5:2, but did win a medal for the first time after 70 years (1953). Well done and congratulations, a great team effort and success.


I will be enjoying the day off tomorrow.


  • The 10 Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (26-May-23)

  • How to effectively use the concept of Fluid Scrum Teams in SAFe

  • Video: How to Not Procrastinate Under Pressure
  • ABC of a People-First Organizational Culture

  • The world's first ever AI ballet will soon be in theatres

  • How to Learn Anything with the Feynman Technique


"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool." -- Richard P. Feynman, American - Physicist May 11, 1918 - February 15, 1988

[27-May-23] The final was a disaster

German soccer league final was not at all thrilling


The final decision about the champion did happen in the 89th minute of 90 minutes on the last game day of 34 days. Bayern Munich did win the 11th consecutive title today, because Borussia Dortmund was not able to win at home, how painful. In the end it is just a game, who cares?


Maybe for most of the people, but not for the Executive Board of Bayern Munich, the dismissed two of their leading managers directly after the game finished. They just do not know, what deep respect for people means, even when the performance was not as expected. I just stop mentioning it ...


Much better was the German Ice Hockey team in the half-final of the World Championship in Finland against the USA today. 4:3 after overtime for Germany, now we play in the final tomorrow afternoon. A great success, respect.

[26-May-23] About gamification ...

How to best train people and teams? 


Due to the latest updates of our Agile SAFe framework - SAFe 6.0 is a comprehensive update from version 5.1 and includes many new and advanced practices alongside a new Big Picture (BP) and terminology updates - some training might be useful?


"The gamification theory in education is that learners learn best when they are also having fun. Not only this – they also learn best when they have goals, targets and achievements to reach for, of course in a way the learner still perceives as fun."


Our idea was to combine a necessary refresh of the agile roles, what was required anyway as the proper common understanding of roles & responsibilities is key for success, with an introduction to the latest changes in SAFe. We approached it top down, starting with the management team and later on with all Scrum Masters and Product Owners. Every workshop finished with a quiz, just to check how successful the session was for the participants.


Next step is to do a train-the-trainer approach for all our agile teams, hosted by the Product Owner (PO) and/or Scrum Master (SM). My proposal was to use a little bit of gamification at the beginning of the sessions and start with the quiz this time. I think a good idea to check the current level of understanding in the teams and a "smart" way of making knowledge gaps transparent for everybody quickly. When you know, what you do not know it will be much easier to motivate people to learn something new and refresh their existing knowledge base.


I finished a 1st version of the quiz today. Now we will do some testing, adjustments and final approval to go ahead with the PO & SM team. I will keep you posted.

  • Human-centred Learning: Pedagogy for the AI age

  • How investing in big science benefits industrial innovation

  • We spoke to 12 small business leaders about the keys to their success – this is what they told us

Finally only one night left before the German soccer league has the most thrilling final ever, or maybe in the last 15 years.


"The joy of sport is its unpredictability. There are the favorites, the perennial winners, but there is also a place for the underdogs – the dreamers.

But for too many years such against-the-odds romance has been absent from Germany’s Bundesliga, with Bayern Munich winning a record 10 consecutive league titles to rid the championship of any surprises in the last decade.

In fact, the last season Bayern didn’t win the championship was the 2011/12 campaign, when now Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp guided Borussia Dortmund to the title."

[25-May-23] Some happiness ...

Even when it is difficult in the current times, try to be a little bit more positive :-)


Tough times ask for new approaches, why not some more happiness? Give it a try. 


Busy times and no real time for more text today, but pictures will do as alternative, for sure.


  • Are You Drowning in Email? 3 Strategies for Dealing with the Deluge

  • Incidental Comics: Squeeze the Day

  • Frank Sonnenberg: How to Spot a Two-Faced Hypocrite
  • 16 Ways to calm yourself when life is getting tough

  • Tina Turner, ‘Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ whose triumphant career made her world-famous, dies at 83

  • Video: “In Norway that means you’re doing really good!” (a lot of fun for happiness, worth watching)
  • The Skill Will Matrix

  • Three Levels of Resistance

[23-May-23] Just start it ...

Make the best use of the power you have in yourself


We are not like butterflies, but have the potential to change ourselves in us. Easy for skills, just unlearn what you know and learn something new. Much more difficult for attitude, this takes time and effort, sometimes not possible at all.


In any case personal change only works, when you see a benefit for yourself in changing. It can be an intrinsic or extrinsic motivator, who cares, but you need to see it first. And surprise, surprise your persistence energy will normally be much higher than the energy to get in motion. Nobody said it is easy ...


And when you finally come into motion, other people might be blocking you?


  • The Tallest Poppy - How the workforce is cutting ambitious women down.

  • Comic Agile: #243 – No Budget for Quality
  • SMART HELP – 7 QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE HELPING

  • How Recruiting Has Changed in the Past 20 Years, According to 5 Talent Leaders

  • AhaSlides is a platform to help you make interactive presentations

  • Achieving climate goals and renewable targets first requires solving the storage conundrum

  • ERIK DE BOS: The Agile Maturity Assessment

  • Why Your Boss Lacks Emotional Intelligence

[22-May-23] Monday about generations

Forget about generations, it is all about your personal change or evolution ...


As mentioned yesterday I did hear back already today from the NextGenLab team and was invited for the Reverse Mentoring Kick-off meeting mid June 2023. It could have been luck, or I was just one of the few Baby Boomers interested in the concept, who cares. In the end I am in and looking forward to the upcoming activities.


Selective Attention - Is the process of directing our awareness to relevant stimuli while ignoring irrelevant stimuli in the environment.


Works well for the Generation topic and me in the moment. I found the Employee Evolution picture today and two TED talks that perfectly fit as well. When you properly look at the picture you will quickly realize that it is all about circumstances and personal willingness to change or to start an evolution for change. It has nothing to do with the generation you might be belonging to!!


  • The compelling reason why the financial sector must invest in boosting Earth's biodiversity

  • Why Mastering AI Is Key to Job Security, Says One Recruiting Leader

[21-May-23] My week 20-2023 highlights

You had a lot of pictures to select from ...


Besides all the days we had to celebrate during the last week and a wide variety of pictures to select from, also some helpful frameworks like the SWOT analysis and De Bono's Thinking Hats.


The next week will be 5 working days and starts with our Sprint 3 Demo on Monday, then 6 weeks are over already and we have another 4 weeks to go, to reach our goal for the current 3 month period. The 6th two weeks period is reserved for innovation, knowledge sharing, training and some exploration activities besides the next 2-day planning phase.


After the coming week we have two more weeks with just 4 working days, as Whit Monday (29-May-23) and Corpus Christi (08-Jun-23) are public holidays in Germany. The May/June period is really great every year.


  • How four-day-week trials are working out in the UK

  • Gen Z is bringing the optimism on gender equity. Companies need to keep up


Maybe next week I hear already back from the NextGenLab team that offered the reverse mentoring program for all generations. We will see. My BLOG hosting company managed to fix the daily visitor counter, now it is just 2 hours behind the current time, what is perfectly fine for me.


Have a great, interesting and surprising week:


  • From Conformity to Growth: Why Culture Fitness Prevails Over Culture Fit

  • The 10 Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (19-May-23)

  • Sketchplanations: Writing has power. Power grows through repetition. And repetition, should you reuse the last words of a sentence at the start of the next, is called anadiplosis.
  • "Companies that solely focus on competition will ultimately die. Those that focus on value creation will thrive." -- Edward de Bono

[20-May-23] Celebration Days ...

International Day for Biological Diversity 2023


  • 20-May-23: World Bee Day
  • 22-May-23: Biological Diversity 2023

[19-May-23] Strength and weakness ...

How to improve and where to focus your effort?


Good picture from The New Happy newsletter today. I did share some useful links related to Tools and Newsletters via the Interesting Links section in the menu above. I will add further helpful content there when available.


Interested in your strength and weakness? Ask your family, a friend or colleague for feedback and a list of your blind spots. If this is not your preferred way of approaching it, try a SWOT analysis - "SWOT analysis is a great way to effectively evaluate a person, campaign, strategy or product". Give it a try.


With your result, what is next? You can ignore the outcome and stay in your comfort zone, completely up to you and perfectly fine. Or you can try to work further on your strength and improve it to the next level - e.g. from Superwoman to Superwoman 2.0 - why not?

Finally you can select one of your weakness, I am sure there is more than one, and improve it over time. To lift up your base level of skills and capabilities further.  The choice is yours, BUT ...

  • Video: 3 Rights Every Scrum Master Needs to Succeed

  • unFIX: Jurgen’s Checklist for Workshop Organizers

  • The changing role of libraries, according to a professor for children and youth services

  • World Bee Day: Analysing bees' remarkable abilities in learning and decision-making

[18-May-23] Father’s Day in Germany

Looking forward to a bridge day tomorrow


Today is a public holiday in Germany, Ascension Day, the same day we celebrate Father's Day here. Different than in the USA where it is happening on the third Sunday in June. 


When we have a public holiday on a Thursday a lot of people take Friday off - the bridge day, to enjoy a long weekend. This means not a lot of people in the office/homeoffice tomorrow, only our colleagues in other countries like India for example. I will be working and enjoy a quiet day.


On Tuesday our NextGenLab participants (a group of Gen Z employees) did organize a BrownBag Lunch to share some details about their done and planned activities. One of their ideas for the near future is to do a Reverse Mentoring program. Gen Z members are mentoring other generations to share some of their perspectives and insights, for the benefit of both sides. On Tuesday they were still searching for volunteers to participate in the program. I used the opportunity to fill in their questionnaire to apply for the program. Will be interesting to see, who gets selected in the end. Maybe I am lucky?

Will definitely be fun and an interesting interaction, given the fact that my two younger daughters are Gen Z as well.


  • WHEN YOU LOSE YOURSELF

  • Agile Coaching Growth Wheel

  • The very small Feelings Thesaurus
  • Video: Kent Beck On AGILE vs WATERFALL
  • How plastic credits could tackle the social impacts of climate change

  • 47 Habits of Highly Successful Employees

  • Why the VP of Microsoft Teams says meetings are bankrupting our time and energy

[16-May-23] More pictures and links ...

A quick post to proceed this week


Besides Growth and Customer we selected Simplification as one of our main focus areas for this fiscal year. An easy way to do this is to say NO more often and to reduce the number of options you have before the final decision. Sounds smart, but requires some mindset change.


The daily visitor counter of my BLOG hosting company is still improving. When I checked the counter today it was just missing the last 5 hours, much better than 5 days before.

  • The Playbook for Navigating Uncertainty

  • 90 books to further your agile learning today

  • pwc publication: Empower to transform

[15-May-23] Some pictures and links ...

A quick post to start this week


Enjoy the power of pictures and some interesting links, just in case you are interested and have some spare time available?


  • ‘The Power Is Inside of You’ – Jon Gordon, Jade Gordon & Doug Conant on How to Use Positive Leadership to Make a Difference

  • How to help Scrum Teams embrace self-management

  • How banana waste upcycling is kick-starting Uganda’s circular economy

  • 12 Things Every Type A Person Wishes You Knew

  • The One Simple Tactic Recruiters Can Use to Find Great Candidates — and Boost Internal Mobility

[14-May-23] The week 19-2023 summary

Generations, #Spirit and Performance ...


Quick recap of the European Song Contest from yesterday evening. Another year another last place for Germany. The song was much better than the final position, but we have to accept the result and add the experience to our collection of failures. Looking closer into the many

rumors and conspiracies around the German outcome will not make a change, so we better focus on a different strategy for a future success.


Another 4-day work week is coming up as next Thursday is Ascension Day, a public holiday in Germany (week 20). Week 21 is a 5-day work week and then we have week 22 and 23 with 4 work days again. The last public holidays before the long break until 03-Oct-23.


Yesterday I did spend some time to look into the capabilities and functionality of Wordpress that could be the alternative for BLOG writing offered by my website hosting company? The challenge and/or opportunity is to find the right balance between the available  functionality and, what is really necessary to write easily and quickly. See my current test results, just starting ...


Have a great next week:


  • Video: 5 Tips to Break Your Addiction To Negative Thinking
  • Video: Oldest Languages in the World
  • Video: All Winners of the Eurovision Song Contest 1956-2023
  • Video: Coca-Cola® Masterpiece (advertisement)
  • Visualized: The Daily Routines of Famous Creatives

  • The 10 Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week   (12-May-23)

  • A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a business, project, or individual

  • Comic Agile: #236 – The Mental Load (Mother’s Day Special)

[13-May-23] A busy Saturday ...

What to do when you have several options available?


Just in case you do not know all the brands listed for Gen Z don't worry, Fashion and Candy in the list of another 8 Apps.


Today is the Japan-Day Duesseldorf/NRW 2023 for example. An interesting program during the whole day and a Japanese fireworks in the late evening. 


400 Japanese companies based in Duesseldorf
After isolated Japanese “scouts” started coming to Duesseldorf as of 1952, the trading firm of Mitsubishi was listed in the local Commercial Register in 1954. The trading house of Okura & Co. followed in 1957. The Japanese community grew – slowly at first, but then very quickly – keeping time with Japan’s international commercial success. Today the Japanese community in Duesseldorf is the third-largest in Europe after London and Paris. Around 8,400 Japanese nationals live in the Duesseldorf city area alone, with some 14,800 in North Rhine-Westphalia as a whole. Almost 620 Japanese companies are operating in NRW, around 400 of them in the state capital itself. Japanese companies in North Rhine-Westphalia employ more than 52,600 people (as in 2020).


Also today is the Spring ball at our dance school, but we decided not to go there. The lazy monkey on the one shoulder did win against the motivation monkey on the other shoulder. It sometimes happens. 

Finally the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest tonight, this time in Liverpool as the event could not take place in the Ukraine, the 2022 winner  country. One daughter will be at the Spring ball the other one will be watching the song contest with us, really a cult event for committed

fans. As long as the band representing Germany is not ending up on the last place, we will all be happy. We have a long history of last places in the past years.

[12-May-23] The 9-Box Performance Grid

Copy and Transfer existing and established models


Critique of the 9 box grid
Although the 9 box grid provides a clear way of managing talent and performance, it is not undisputed.

Its biggest shortcoming is arguably its connection to traditional performance management, characterized by a once-a-year, subjective rating by one’s manager. Many companies, including Accenture and Deloitte, have moved away from annual performance reviews, opting for continuous feedback instead. This provides more opportunities to improve performance as well as more data points to accurately assess performance. We highly recommend measuring performance using as many objective data points as possible.


  • What is the 9-Box Performance Grid?

  • The 9 Box Grid: A Practitioner’s Guide

  • What Is The 9-Box Grid Model? 9-Box Grid Model In A Nutshell


In a meeting of our project TRIFECTA (Product Management, Release Train Engineer and System Architect) today we discussed the proper recognition of high performers in the team as well as how to support the team members struggling or needing some outside help.


As two of the three Trifecta members are baby boomers we have experience with the 9-Box Performance Grid from e.g. previous companies, asssignments or projects. In our new roles we are not only heading the project, we are also responsible and kind of the role models for an agile mindset.


Our solution is easy and obvious for and engineer, reuse: Copy an existing and well established model, take the valid critique above serious and transfer the idea into our new agile environment. Instead of one supervisor doing the review once per year, we are asking the whole team to do an assessment of all team members, voluntary and anonymous. This will definitely guarantee many objective data points and hopefully will lead us to a common perspective in the 9-box Grid by team. We will see and are for sure supporting the idea of self-managed and self-responsible teams.


  • 20 DANGEROUS TRAPS INTELLIGENT LEADERS STUMBLE INTO BY ACCIDENT

  • Fairphone introducing the Fairbuds XL Headphones
  • Video: Smoking Kills! Very funny!
  • Video: Why Microsoft tested Underwater data centers?


[11-May-23] #Spirit Day today

Four days per year we have one day off for training


Today we had our first #Spirit Day in the fiscal year that just started on 01-Apr-23. One full day for learning in the whole company. We had a lot of different topics and information sessions to choose from, no meetings and daily tasks to be taken care of.


After a small project status call in the morning, also a kind of learning about the progress we are making :-) , the next two session were about writing text that somebody else wants to read and our new glas fiber strategy. Then I did watch some Youtube videos of the OMR Festival 2023.


I did close my day with an Agile role workshop hosted by our SAFe Practice Consultants (SPCs). Besides the roles descripton and responsibilities, we did also cover the changes coming with the new SAFe 6.0 framework. A great learning experience, very interactive and with an open discussion about issues we are facing in the moment. A quiz with 10 questions to verify the learning did close the session. Right answers and the speed to answer did drive the number of points you could collect.


Fun fact - I think I was the only participant without a SAFe certification, but finished the quiz on the first place. That made my day for sure :-)

Between the different learning sessions during my day I did also share some "5-minute learning" bites to my colleagues, team members and audience. Some examples:


  • Back by popular demand: Google Cloud products in 4 words or less (2022 edition)

  • Python Quizzes and Learning Paths
  • The art of leading in the AI age


As a main topic today was working agile and an agile transformation, some related articles, more or less:




[10-May-23] Are You Living the Life ...

Some insights into different topics.


I am still in contact with the ONE.COM support team. They are working on fixing the daily visitor counter, in the moment still two days behind the current day. But for the loading performance of the start page the feedback is not good so far. The current environment is not really sufficient for a BLOG, but I am looking into their Wordpress functionality as alternative solution. We will see.


The picture today is taken from a Frank Sonnenberg post - Are You Living the Life That You’re Meant to Live?


Some more interesting links for today:


  • Management 3.0: Team Agreement Canvas
  • Grant Snider: 12 Rules for Creativity
  • Mojo: The Programming Language for AI That Is Up To 35000x Faster Than Python

  • The GROWTH Model of Coaching by Kenneth Acha

  • 4 SIMPLE QUESTIONS TO CLARIFY COMPLEX CHALLENGES

  • A brief history of tech skepticism

  • Is fungi the most underused resource in the fight against climate change?

  • COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency. Here's what it means


"Each generation supposes that the world was simpler for the one before it." -- Eleanor Roosevelt, taken from Top 36 Quotes About Generation Z

[08-May-23] Gen Z and Baby Boomer ...

Some insights into the different generations


Baby Boomers consist of people born from 1946-1964—making them 56-74 years old as of 2020. Baby Boomers were given the name due to a surge in births during the economic boom after World War II. While they didn’t grow up with technology like Gen Z, they are catching up. Even though more than half, 68%, of the generation own a smartphone, they are more likely to be accessing the internet using a desktop or laptop.


Gen Z is made up of anyone born in 1997 and later. As of 2020, they include people ages 23 and under. Older Gen Zs are starting to make purchasing decisions on their own. Gen Z is now the largest generation, making up more than 90 million people.


As ADSHARK is from North Dakota, United States all data above are related to the US population! Interested in global 2023 data, check the United Nations World Population Dashboard for example?

To make it more specific, I was born in 1962 (a baby boomer) and my two younger daughters are from 2000 and 2003 (both Generation [Gen] Z, year range of 1997–2012).


The Gen Z is now entering more and more the workforce, not only as Interns like most of my applicants, but also as employees. Just lately some of our Gen Z employees founded a NextGenLab to get heard and take action. They had a day with most of our Senior Leadership team members and are strong in marketing their ideas via the internal communication channels.


In my opinion a great opportunity for us in two ways. 1st to better understand their opinion about and needs for the company products, as they are not only entering the workfoce, but also the customer base. And 2nd to balance the upcoming exodus of the Baby Boomer generation and workforce into retirement, e.g. I have another 6 years to go.


Time enough for the required knowledge transfer, regular experience exchange and some mentoring and coaching in both directions. We are short with talents and skilled workers already, the only solution is to train, grow and develop the existing community. Let's start better sooner than later.


The better we will be in doing these transfer activities and the more we talk about it, the easier we can attract new talents from the outside, also a necessary strategy to think about and start quickly.


  • Sketchplanations: Feedback fear
  • Investment into plastics circularity can help us reach our climate goals faster

  • Video: Teamwork and Leadership || Motivational short Animation
  • 5 Ways Smart People Beat Stress

  • Here Are the 2023 LinkedIn Top Companies

  • The Dark Side of Scrum is quicker, easier and more seductive... but it's not Scrum as defined in The Scrum Guide

  • Video: Love, Death & Robots Mars Elon Musk


[07-May-23] My week 18-2023 highlights

Back from the ADDI factory tour


The factory tour was great fun and we learned a lot about the company.


"Since 1829, addi has been producing exclusively at the Altena site in Germany. The company is managed in the 6th generation by the owner family. In addition, addi has been involved in local social projects for many years and supports many associations and institutions. addi stands for openness and transparency. Buy “Made in Germany” and help us to continue to act in a socially responsible manner in the sense of sustainability."


30% coverage of the German market, customers in 59 countries and 93% of all products Made in Germany, most of the material from regional suppliers. This and many more information was shared in the opening session. Afterwards we did take a 90 minutes factory tour, the staff did work on a Saturday only for the visitors.   


Interesting and unexpected to see that it takes 25 steps to manufacture a knitting needle. High quality is the main focus and in order to guarantee this they are always looking for new talents with sensitive fingers. They find a lot in other professions, like hair dresser, baker or pastry cooks. 


A great weekend with a nice hotel and food in the Sauerland region.


  • The 10 Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week   (05-May-23)

  • How to assess your organisation’s digital maturity, honestly

  • Goodbye ChatGPT: These (New) AI Tools Will Leave You Speechless


[05-May-23] Welcome from Altena 

Tomorrow we will do the ADDI factory tour


Thanks to Leadership Freak Dan Rockwell for his Blog post and pictures today.


We left early at home to get to Altena in time. After a nice dinner we will get prepared to start the ADDI factory tour tomorrow morning at 09.00 AM. Our hotel is close to the factory in walking distance.


First stop after checkin and on a short walk around the hotel was a wool shop on the other side of the street. The owner is also famous for her Youtube channel, so we had a short fan-moment, just joking :-)


Have a great weekend, we will definitely have fun ...


  • Why did renewables become so cheap so fast?

  • AI Content Detector False Positives – Accused Of Using Chat GPT Or Other AI?

  • How the pandemic has influenced our happiness at work

  • The Power of Mindset: How Curiosity And Humility Can Drive Career Success

  • 5 Leadership lessons from Ted Lasso


[04-May-23] May the 4th be with you 

Happy Star Wars Day!


Interesting, what kind of holidays are referenced to one single day. Besides the obvious Star Wars Day on May 4th I found 26 other entries. There might be many more? World Password Day and

National Candied Orange Peel Day are two great examples.

 

The coffee meeting with the CEO and the HR lead was very interesting yesterday. Possibly the group of participants was a little bit too large to get into a real discussion, but we covered several topics and could get some rare insights into the thinking process of our leadership team. A really great opportunity.


Today I had the "opposite" meeting with 4 of our Interns for a coffee chat in the Tower Cafe. Also a great experience and really interesting perspectives about a lot of topics, business and none business. With people from France, Africa, Germany and India at the same table, it is easy to find discussion points. Sports, food, cooking, religion and Haribo are only a few examples. More to come ...


We also had the official announcement of the so called "PI Champion" in one of our project teams today. The best junior team member selected by the Product Owner and Scrum Master based on proposals of the team for the last three month project phase. We did run this as a Proof of Concept for this idea, to motivate and recognize the good work of our younger and fairly new team members. To get them up to speed quickly. It did work out pretty well and the selected team members were really happy, but did not have a thank you speech prepared. Maybe next time? The test will proceed in this team and we think about promoting the idea in other teams as well. 


Finally some words about our new Architecture 2.0 approach. We had a technical framework in place, to transport files from our on premise environment into the Google Cloud (GCP). We started roughly two years ago and did setup a new environment from scratch, based on open source and cloud technologies. During the last ~24 month the environment did grow, we made mistakes and learned a lot, changed directions and the scope, and adjusted the capabilities over time. In the meantime it is working well, but we were sure that more is possible.


So we defined the Architecture 2.0 approach. Come up with a fast, simple, standardized, fully automated, scalable and reliable solution that uses latest technology and does, what the existing solution is already doing. But keeping the mistakes and learning from the last two years in mind by reducing the scope to the least necessary. We selected the best guys from all involved teams supporting the end-to-end solution and gave them the ownership to come up with something new in the least possible time, the faster the better. As we wanted to replace the existing solution as quickly as possible.


The self-organized and -managed team did take on this task bravely and came up with useful parts of the solution faster than expected. Really great teamwork and spirit, to get something done together, for the benefit of the whole project. Counts for the experts in the dedicated small task force team, as well as all the other team members who made the move of the experts possible, by standing in for their previous assignments. Nobody dropped a ball, well done TEAM!!


  • Frank Sonnenberg: 99 Ways to Be More Selfless
  • ‘The Godfather of A.I.’ Leaves Google and Warns of Danger Ahead

  • Your Employees Are Already Using Generative AI: Here Are Guidelines to Help Them Use It Responsibly


[02-May-23] Own your personal time  ... 

Don't let the thieves take YOUR responsibility !!


My webhosting company is still struggling with getting the daily visitors right. So far they are just 4 days late. The history statistic for year, month and parts of the week are fine, but no daily information is available. They are not giving up, what is the good news of the day.


Another 6 month seem to be over, because today we did get the link for the two times per year employee survey. As always voluntary and anonymous participation. Interesting scenario in an International company. The competition for highest percentage of participants per country is on now and we will see several reminders to be part of the final result.


After the previous survey we had already a discussion about the possible south-north incline in results. The more you come to northern countries the lower are the positive votes. On average Germans will not vote higher than a 4 on a 1 - 5 scale, because there is always room for improvement.


I was most wondering about a question related to the activities after the last survey. "Did you realize that different teams and/or groups of managers did take action? Yes/No" - Yes there were some activities, but did they really make a change to the positive? This should have been the question in my opinion.


  • 5 Takeaways from LinkedIn’s New Global Talent Trends Report

  • Do the recent banking disruptions make recession more likely? Chief economists explain

  • Future of jobs 2023: These are the most in-demand skills now - and beyond

  • 20 UNEXPECTED FIRSTS THAT MAKE AVERAGE LEADERS REMARKABLE


[01-May-23] About future jobs ... 

Some insights from the WEF and Visual Capitalist


The Musical visit today was great, very close to the Dirty Dancing film, good music, dancing and acting on a very small stage. A lot of fun for the whole family.


With respect to the future jobs topic of today, you can have a look at:


  • World Economic Forum: The Future of Jobs Report 2023
  • Visual Capitalist: Which Jobs Will Be Most Impacted by ChatGPT?


Interesting details and Infographics summarizing great content. Besides that not a lot happened during the public holiday today. Going back to work tomorrow and looking forward to the promising topics for the rest of this week. Have a great time ...


  • Video: TO-DO LIST FORMULA by Damon Zahariades | Core Message
  • Video: Making Lego Car CROSS Gaps
  • Video: Making Lego Car CLIMB Obstacles
  • Dr. Travis Bradberry: What Makes A Leader?

  • THE STATE OF ORGANIZATIONS 2023 REPORT | MCKINSEY & COMPANY

  • What Motivates Employees Today? Recognition, Growth and Fun!

  • 20 jobs that GPT-4 will replace as per written by GPT-4


[30-Apr-23] The week 17-2023 summary

Looking forward to a really interesting next week


Highlight of the week was the 2-day offsite workshop, great location, food, content and outcome. Could be the start of a longer coaching of the new team that just came together last week?


The next week will be even better, a 4-day workweek, starting with a public holiday tomorrow on 01-May-23:


  • 20 ESSENTIAL 4-DAY WORKWEEK STATISTICS [2023]: BENEFITS + REVENUE

  • Four-Day Workweek: Everything You Should Know


We will be enjoying the Dirty Dancing Musical that is currently on tour in Duesseldorf. Then on Wednesday the already mentioned coffee talk with our CEO and the head of HR. Might be a good opportunity to discuss some burning topics from an employee perspective?


On Friday I will be leaving early as we have to be in time for the addi factory tour on Saturday morning 09.00 AM. It was a birthday present for my wife two years ago, but could not happen so far due to COVID-19 restrictions. 


addi respectively the company Selter as a successful family business in the middle of the green heart of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Sauerland. Here innovation meets tradition. In our valley in Altena, we produce knitting needles and crochet hooks of the highest quality with the brand name “addi” in the 6th generation and ship them to customers in 59 different countries.


Interesting for my wife and her knitting & crochet hobby and for me as mechanical engineer, to see the factory process and their facility in Germany. Will be a fun week for sure.


  • The 9 to 5 Workday is Dead. Here's What to Do Instead

  • Are Developers Needed in the Age of AI?

  • Understand ‘Microstress,’ Say No to Being ‘Voluntold,’ and More – The Leadership That Works Newsletter

  • Feeling Overwhelmed at Work? These 16 Tips Can Help

  • The 10 Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (28-Apr-23)

  • Video: Do You Struggle With Focus? Practice These 3 Easy Habits
  • Video: Agile Epic, User Story, and Feature: Do Names Matter?
  • Video: Flying DJI Avata through the Porsche Museum
  • Which countries are leading the way with hydrogen?

  • “Sometimes to learn you need to unlearn.”

  • The history of #AI


[29-Apr-23] A rainy day?

Stop moving around responsibility

Picture left

Picture middle

Picture right

We had an interesting situation in the German soccer league yesterday. The referee made a mistake, as he committed today, and did not give a penalty kick. The game ended 1:1 and the team that wants to win the league this year lost two points.


In the last ten years always the same team did win and nearly 10% of the inhabitants in Germany did not see another team at the top during their lifetime so far. This year it could be different as the top team from the previous years is struggling. There are 34 games every season and you can get 3 points for every game you win. So enough time and opportunities to win the league when you are pretty consistent in delivering your performance, what the team from yesterday is not doing by the way!!


In the end everybody is complaining about the referee today and the one mistake he made, and not the team that did not play good enough to win the game without needing the penalty kick. And nobody knows, if the penalty kick would have been a goal in the end.


So as in the last 10 years all other teams in the league are making too much mistakes and are not playing consistently enough to get a new team on the top. Might happen again this season? Stop complaining about referees and play as good as possible and necessary to win the cup --> Keep Going, Keep Growing or Play in the Puddles! as written on the pictures.


  • Visualizing the Biomass of All the World’s Mammals

  • How Agile 2 Supports the New AI

[28-Apr-23] Start stepping out ...

Back from the 2-day offsite workshop


Based on the feedback I got and my personal impression as host, I would say the workshop was a success. The first day was all about team building and leaving the comfort zone. The second day about understanding the strength and weakness of the two teams coming together, some first common ground and ideas, and finally to agree first common steps that make sense in the current situation. More to come ...


Another step on my way to become a "Feel-Good Manager" not as part of HR, but directly out of the same department with all required insights to be of help. Makes a lot of sense in the current situation, where another reorganization and general change is just around the corner. "When I feel good, all around me will be feeling good as well" is my slogan and an extension of my Release Train Engineer (RTE) assignment to the next level, as far as I see it.


Next Monday is a public holiday in Germany (01-May-23, May Day), a good start of the week. Then on Wednesday the opportunity for a coffee meeting with our CEO, our head of HR and 20+ colleagues. Looking forward to it and might be a chance to address the Feel-Good Manager idea?


  • Agile Product Manifesto

  • Why is Agile Coaching ‘More’ than Knowing The Process?

  • Fairphone's 2022 Impact Report

  • How Smart is ChatGPT?

  • Grant Snider: How to Make Poetry Comics
  • Frank Sonnenberg: What Turns Customers Off?
  • Charted: There are more mobile phones than people in the world

  • 7 Learning and Talent Leaders Share the Best Career Advice They’ve Ever Received


[25-Apr-23] Result of the MENTI survey

Only two people did participate in 2 weeks :-(


Not a really great participation, but it was voluntary and nevertheless

I will provide some ideas related to the mentioned topics below:


Coaching

  • Top 20 Business Coaches in the World

  • 13 Best Business Coaches to Follow in 2023

Mentoring

  • We’re Huge Fans of Online Mentoring Platforms (So We Made a List of 26 of Them)

  • Mentoring Trends We’re Seeing In 2023: From The CEO’s Desk

Leadership

Agile

  • 70 Best Agile Blogs and Websites

  • Best 16 Agile Tools For Project Management In 2023

Workshop formats

  • Check Out These 11 Creative Workshop Ideas

  • How to Design and Run a Successful Workshop

Surprises

  • Mapped: The State of Democracy Around the World

  • TED Talk: My journey to thank all the people responsible for my morning coffee
  • Bravely: Learning That Lasts
  • Leadership Freak: THE #1 QUALITY OF LEADERS WHO INSPIRE US


There is so much more related to all the proposed topics, I just made a quick selection for YOU today.


Due to the 2-day offsite workshop starting tomorrow, I will be back on Friday. Have fun and try checking some of the links above, if you have a little bit spare time available.

[24-Apr-23] Quick Monday post ...

About Essential Thinking and more


Finished the Sprint-1 Demo today with some technical issues. Even with preparation something can go wrong and it did today. Next time we will be better. One day to go for the offsite workshop, most parts are covered in the meantime.


And you have still one day to share your feedback, see the MENTI link in the headline, thanks in advance for participating.


  • 5 QUESTIONS THAT TRIGGER POSITIVE THINKING

  • Global ocean surface temperatures reach a record high, and the other nature and climate news you need to read this week

  • Here's why making phone calls can be great for young people's wellbeing

  • Why You Need Sponsors (Not Just Mentors)—and How to Find Them

  • 3 new and emerging jobs you can get hired for this year


[23-Apr-23] My week 16-2023 highlights

World Book and Copyright Day today


"World Book and Copyright Day is a celebration to promote the enjoyment of books and reading. Each year, on 23 April, celebrations take place all over the world to recognize the scope of books - a link between the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across cultures. On this occasion, UNESCO and the international organizations representing the three major sectors of the book industry - publishers, booksellers and libraries, select the World Book Capital for a year to maintain, through its own initiatives, the impetus of the Day’s celebrations."


  • Gen Zers are bookworms but say they're shunning e-books because of eye strain, digital detoxing and their love for libraries

  • 52 books that everyone should read in 2023


Just in case you had no time or motivation yet to participate in my voluntary and anonymous feedback collection, there are still 2 days left. Please use the link https://www.menti.com/27ksa3j43s to share your opinion and ideas, thanks a lot in advance.


Tomorrow we have the Sprint-1 demo of our current 3-month project phase, not a lot to show yet, but always a good opportunity to stay in contact with the customers and stakeholders. And to gather some early feedback in the current phase.


Besides that 2 days left to finish my concept sheet with the detailed timing of each activity for the 2-day offsite workshop starting on Wednesday. Really looking forward to it.


Wish you a creative and successful week with some learning experience.


  • "Starting a company is like jumping off a cliff and assembling the plane on the way down." -- Reid Hoffman

  • Global EV Production: BYD Surpasses Tesla

  • The 10 Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (21-Apr-23)

  • The Future Of Computing: Supercloud And Sky Computing

  • Video: The largest cities in the world(1950-2023)
  • Video: Largest Population In The World 1950 - 2023
  • How to Encourage Employees to Break the Rules:
    What drives workplace rule-breaking and when it’s worth encouraging it by GUSTAVO RAZZETTI


“Reading an hour a day is only 4% of your day. But that 4% will put you at the top of your field within 10 years. Find the time.” – Patrick Bet-David, taken from 41 Fearless Patrick Bet-David Quotes That’ll Motivate You


“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.” -- Maya Angelou, taken from The 100 Best Quotes About Reading

[22-Apr-23] 53rd anniversary ...

First Earth Day was April 22, 1970


"The first Earth Day in 1970 mobilized millions of Americans from all walks of life, giving birth to a broad new movement to protect the planet. On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans — 10% of the U.S. population at the time — took to streets, college campuses and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance and demand a new way forward. The first Earth Day is credited with launching the modern environmental movement. Earth Day is now recognized as the planet’s largest civic event each year."


What drives us - the keys to our motivation is a perfect fit to my MOTIVATION workshop from Wednesday.



Have a great weekend.


  • Barry Humphries, Australian comedian best known for alter-ego Dame Edna Everage, dies aged 89

  • Grant Snider: Liftoff (National Poetry Month, Week 3)
  • The power of "How Can"


[21-Apr-23] RAPID UNSCHEDULED DISASSEMBLY??

IT TURNS OUT SPACEX BLEW UP STARSHIP ON PURPOSE


My phrase of the week is definitely "Rapid Unscheduled Disassemply". In the agile mindset - fail fast, fail often as long as you learn something out of it - SpaceX had a great time until 4 minutes after lift off and a perfect learning experience. A lot of sensors did collect data and the next time it will be better, for sure. A quite expensive MVP I would say - "(MVP) is a concept from Lean Startup that stresses the impact of learning in new product development. Eric Ries, defined an MVP as that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort." - a little bit like a crash test with a real Bugatti Veyron for $1.9 Million, painful but it needs to happen.


The MOTIVATION workshop on Wednesday was great and the team had a surprising learning experience I would say - a challenge to change. The outcome was very helpful and can be implemented easily in the coming weeks. 


Today the concept and content of the two day offsite workshop for next week was approved by my customer, just one small change could be added in 5 minutes. Will be fun and I am really looking forward to it. A lot of reuse from previous workshops combined with some new stuff - copy and transfer - good when you have a growing portfolio of activities that you can easily combine for new requirements.


After feedback from the support team I could switch the Start page of my BLOG back to the small Welcome page that starts much faster than this page. Hopefully they could gather enough data - like SpaceX this week - to improve the environment for the next launch :-), we will see and experience shortly? 


Just in case you did not have the chance and time yet to participate in my feedback collection via MENTI https://www.menti.com/27ksa3j43s please do so NOW or in the coming days, would be very much appreciated, to come up with topics that you are interested in or that make you happy? So far we have e.g. mentoring, coaching, workshop formats, leadership and agile as proposals, but only from two participants in the survey :-( from around 100 vistors daily not a lot!! A little bit more would be great - participation is anonymous - don't worry.


  • Many of us cannot imagine our lives without the Internet. But the technology is still young; only 60% of the world’s population was online in 2020.

  • Sahil Bloom: The OODA Loop, Identity to Actions, & More
  • WHEN DEVELOPMENT WORKS AND WHEN TO LET THEM GO

  • Paraphrase Plagiarism Checker – Is Quillbot Plagiarism?

  • 4 TOOLS FOR SELF-REFLECTION EVERY LEADER NEEDS

  • Frank Sonnenberg: Nobody Can Do This, Except You
  • Listen & Learn with these 12 Agile Podcasts

  • Our Brain Typically Overlooks This Brilliant Problem-Solving Strategy

  • Recalibrating assumptions on AI

  • Dependencies Make Us Better

  • Video: Starship short film
  • Video: The Inside Story of ChatGPT’s Astonishing Potential | Greg Brockman | TED
  • Video: Gems - Museum
  • Video: World’s First Rocket-Free Kinetic Space Launch | Future Space Tech 2021 | Futuristic
  • Video: Definition of Done vs Acceptance Criteria
  • Video: Wisdoms of the Day IG


Some lines out of the video:


"Imagine what the world would be like if we decided to share and exchange in more powerful first experiences. Would we feel more loved? Would we feel more connected? Would we feel more brave? Most importantly, would we feel more human? Each and every one of us has so much to experience if we allow ourselves the gift of another powerful first experience."

[18-Apr-23] Learning is worth it ...

There is no way around lifelong learning


For a short period of time I had to switch the Start Page of my BLOG back to the initial BLOG 2.0 page, to give the technical support team time to measure the real performance and loading times. The daily visitor counter is still having issues, but some improvement is already visible.


At work I did get a new laptop today after 5 years, as the old hardware was not compatible with the new Windows 11 operating system anymore. I am not a Windows or Mac fan, because I am more into Linux. But in a work environment Windows is still the standard, so you just have to get used to it and learn about the changes. The Windows logo is now in the middle of the menu bar and not on the left side anymore. Hopefully this UX (User experience) adjustment was not too expensive :-) The rest of the look and feel is getting closer to a Mac is what I heard from a colleague, who cares.


The best thing was a super smooth transition between the two laptops, thanks a lot to the support team, just login and waiting for the initial profile load and setup. Then I could proceed with my work as before, with double the memory and much more power now, a good day.


Tomorrow is the MOTIVATION workshop with a team of 13 people and the concept for the 2-day offsite event next week is nearly finished. One of the ideas will be Speed Feedback. At the end of Day-1 the 6 participants will have the opportunity to give each other feedback for one minute each. So 5-times giving and getting feedback will be a very good learning experience and a good preparation for Day-2. What did go well and what could be improved? What do the others know or did realize during the day that is not known to the individual? Will be an interesting approach, let's see.


  • Artificial Intelligence (AI): Technology Mind Map - Infographic

  • These outdated mindsets and regulations are holding back urban mobility: Experts

  • 10 SURPRISING JOB INTERVIEW QUESTIONS THAT IDENTIFY THE RIGHT PEOPLE

  • Building Your Own Agile Team Maturity Assessment

  • The 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞 provides a roadmap for how we can continually adapt, grow, and evolve.


"The Johari window is an exercise that helps you gain a better understanding of yourself and how others see you. It was created by psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in 1955 as part of their work on group dynamics. Fun fact: “Johari” is a combination of their first names."

[17-Apr-23] A picture, a quote, some links

Quick start into week 16-2023



[16-Apr-23] The week 15-2023 summary

About AI and many more topics ...


I mentioned my BLOG post from yesterday on LinkedIn and did even create a dedicated post there with major parts of the content. And I referenced Dr. Miriam Meckel, who did also participate in the TV discussion about AI.


The next three days I will be at our Campus in Duesseldorf, Monday to onboard a new Intern, Tuesday to get a new laptop (the old one was not Windows11 compliant) and on Wednesday to host another Motivation workshop. Besides that the preparation for the 2 day offsite workshop in 2 weeks is ongoing. The main topics are clear, but the details need to be worked out and a proper timing is still required.


  • The 10 Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (14-Apr-23)

  • Grant Snider: Simplicity, Lightness, Insight
  • TED Talk: How to speak so that people want to listen
  • Mapped: The Ancient Seven Wonders of the World

  • The 12 Biggest AI Mistakes You Must Avoid

  • Liberate SAFe's Agile Release Trains with outcome-oriented goals

  • Video: 7 Micro-Habits That Will Completely Change Your Life in a Year
  • Here's why ChatGPT raises issues of trust

  • Gallup: Mentors Aren't Enough: What Women Need to Advance


[15-Apr-23] AI-thinking ...

Do we need a nomenclature and new words for AI?


Last Thursday there was a TV discussion about AI and the transition that we are already in or that is ahead of us. It covered e.g. topics like AI ethics, general control initiatives/processes/institutions, personal data protection, Watermarks for AI generated videos, pictures or text,

where do we stand technically and what can be expected in the near future?


The also from Elon Musk supported initiative - Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter from 22-Mar-23 - was part of the discussion as well. Musk wants to pause AI development for 6 month, but why? Because he has so much insights into the current technology development progress, or he wants to catch up with other AI leaders?


A guy who plans to connect brains with computers (Neuralink), develops software for self-driving cars (Autopilot) and is working on the Tesla Bot to manufacture his cars much faster, definitely has the insights. And he did found a new artificial intelligence company called X.AI on 09-Mar-23 - really interesting, especially the timing. But let's believe in the positive of people before the opposite can be confirmed.


The most interesting part of the discussion was the topic, if AI is able to think or not?


THINKING: "the process of forming an opinion or idea about something, or the opinions or ideas formed by this process"


To avoid the discussion or philosophical exchange, if any AI system is able to think or not, what might be really difficult to proof by the way, it could be easily solved by using a different nomenclature or words?


A useful analogy might be the naming issues/conflicts of vegetarian or vegan sausages, burgers or bacon? Why should something that looks like a sausage or has the form of a sausage, but is out of e.g. pea protein, be called sausage? Only because the marketing department is not smart enough to find new names or the customers are so used to the "old" names that a change or transition is not possible or takes too long? As a side note I did ask ChatGPT to help:


"I plan to do a marketing campaign for a vegan sausage and I am looking for product names. Can you please propose 20 appropriate names, the words sausage, vegan, veggie and meat are not allowed? Some fantasy names would be great." - here examples:


  1. Herb & Spice Links

  2. Savory Bites

  3. Plant Delights

  4. Nature's Bangers

  5. Zesty Sticks

  6. Faux Franks

  7. Garden Grinds

  8. Vitality Bites

  9. Bold Bites

  10. Flavor Fusions

  11. Pure Energy Links

  12. Earthy Snackables

  13. Wholesome Bites

  14. ...


Some are not so bad ...


Back to the new names idea. As Apple starts everything with "i" and Elon Musk with "X", why not using "AI"? Like proposed in the headline - AI-thinking. This would give some clarity and could manage expectations, kind of a Watermark? Something to think about ...


"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." -- Albert Einstein, German - Physicist March 14, 1879 - April 18, 1955


Please share some feedback via the MENTI link in the headline, would be really great and very much appreciated. All voluntary and anonymous, thanks a lot in advance !!

[14-Apr-23] Pictures only day ...

Related to more or less Management topics


  • Which countries' students are getting most involved in STEM?
  • 4 QUESTIONS THAT ACCELERATE PERFORMANCE TODAY


[13-Apr-23] About slow progress?

ChatGPT versus Originality.AI


As planned I did try the AI Content Detector and Plagiarism Checker today. The first impression was really good, GREEN background for Original text (written by me) and RED background for AI generated text by ChatGPT. Thanks to Jon for giving me free access to the tool, pretty interesting technology.


The Plagiarism check works really well, assuming the webpage is known, mine was not in the used search index yet. Some more development is still required for mixed text with Original and AI parts, but slow progress is better than no progress!! 

  • Better together: Let’s start getting ecosystems right.

  • Scotland to launch the world's first self-driving commuter bus fleet

  • Owning houseplants can boost your mental health – here’s how to pick the right one

  • The Most In-Demand Jobs Right Now (13-Apr-23)

  • AutoGPTs could Transform the World At the Speed of A.I.

  • Why Scrum (or Agile)? Poster

  • Escape the speed trap: 5 metrics that outrun velocity

[12-Apr-23] Some minor adjustments

Further improvement of my BLOG environment


Same message as yesterday - The daily visitor counter of my web hosting company is still not working properly - their technical team is working on it, we will see how fast this solves the problem?


In the discussion with the service agent I mentioned the slow loading speed of the start page and he proposed GTmetrix to find improvement ideas. By connecting the new Welcome page to my web address the GTmetrix Grade improved from F to B in the meantime. Same for the SEO score, no complaints about the slow speed anymore.


2nd change is to add a new counter on the Welcome page, just to double check the clicks, as the daily visitor count is still not working. And then the request to ask for YOUR opinion and ideas in the coming 14 days, just use the MENTI link in the headline or here. Thanks a lot in advance any feedback is very much appreciated.


The picture today is like a Venn Diagram - "Venn diagrams are diagrams used to visually depict sets, relationships between sets, and operations on sets. The Venn diagram shows the relationship among sets using circles and the area they cover concerning each other.

A Venn diagram, also known as a set diagram, depicts several set operations like set intersection, set union, and set difference. We may also use it to represent subsets of a set."


90 years ago Montserrat Caballé was born, "a Spanish operatic soprano, admired for her versatility and phrasing and for her performances in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, Gaetano Donizetti, and Richard Strauss." You might know her from the opening song of the Barcelona Olympics together with Freddie Mercury? She died Oct-2018.


61 years ago my Scottish friend was born, he is celebrating his birthday today, congratulations and party on.


In the coming days I will have a look into the capabilities of Originality.AI - "by far the most accurate AI (Chat GPT, GPT-2, GPT-3, GPT-4, Bard and ONLY Paraphrase Detection (quillbot)) Content Detection tool on the market."


  • Exploring the Future of Skill-based Organisations

  • Try creating your own personal SWOT for career development or at your team level

  • These book summaries will save you 1000+ hours of reading

  • Frank Sonnenberg: What Would You Give Up to Get What You Want?
  • Ageling on Agile: A great new Fluid Scrum Teams use case

  • The Evolution Of AI: Transforming The World One Algorithm At A Time


[11-Apr-23] More about words ..

It is just a matter of the right perspective, or not?


The daily visitor counter of my web hosting company is still not working properly, but I learned today that I am not the only one who realized it. Hopefully it gets fixed quickly?


I have seen the Comic Agile cartoon today and it did perfectly fit to my post from yesterday about "the power of words". This time the word is PROJECT and the meaning of it according to PMI (Project Management Institute) versus the Scrum Guide.


PMI: "All projects are a temporary effort to create value through a unique product, service or result. All projects have a beginning and an end. They have a team, a budget, a schedule and a set of expectations the team needs to meet. Each project is unique and differs from routine operations—the ongoing activities of an organization—because projects reach a conclusion once the goal is achieved."


Scrum Guide: "Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems. Scrum employs an iterative, incremental approach to optimize predictability and to control risk. Scrum engages groups of people who collectively have all the skills and expertise to do the work and share or acquire such skills as needed. Scrum combines four formal events for inspection and adaptation within a containing event, the Sprint. These events work because they implement the empirical Scrum pillars of transparency, inspection, and adaptation."


Similar words and similar content I would say and the same is mentioned in the cartoon. The difference is more an ideological one and the responsibility of the team doing the work - in the PMI Waterfall world they have their line management taking care - in the Scrum Agile world the teams are self-managed, -organized and -responsible, what makes a big difference. 


With my 4 years experience in the Agile world and 26 years in the Waterfall world before, I clearly see advantages for the self-managed teams and their motivation, only issues is the line management that is loosing more and more control / responsibility, without any proper replacement for it. Taking over an agile role could be a great way out, but this requires a personal change, what is not so easy to do.


Maybe the new Management 3.0 practice - Connection Circles - could be a good approach to get some clarity for the necessary change, just give it a try?


I selected the VALUES picture today, because I will be using the topic personal and team values in one of my coming workshops. Interested to find out your personal values?


  • The Ultimate List of Core Values And How To Find Yours

  • The Ultimate List of 400 Personal Values (PDF)


[10-Apr-23] About the power of words

Spending more time during the introduction will save you a lot of time along the process of usage


"We cannot control the way people interpret our ideas or thoughts, but we can control the words and tones we choose to convey them. Peace is built on understanding, and wars are built on misunderstandings. Never underestimate the power of a single word, and never recklessly throw around words. One wrong word, or misinterpreted word, can change the meaning of an entire sentence - and even start a war. And one right word, or one kind word, can grant you the heavens and open doors." -- Suzy Kassem


As you can see on the Tanmay Vora picture, to make the difference clear between e.g. the words CHANGE and TRANSFORMATION, you have to spend some time and effort that is really worth it to avoid any misunderstanding or misinterpretation later on. Especially in international teams and work environments with a lot of none native speakers (English for example) you will quickly realize that team members will translate words into their own language to better understand and grasp the meaning. 


As you can see from the example links below, there is a lot of help already available, purely focusing on English as the language. Now assume you have 3 - 4 different languages in a team, how many possibilities you will have to misunderstand each other? A lot!! So spending quality time on agreeing on a common understanding in the team is really necessary to be successful:


  • WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? Many words are often used interchangeably, even when they have distinct meanings

  • DiffSense - compare and contrast word meanings

  • What is the Difference Between ...

  • SYNONYMS FOR difference - Thesaurus / difference


"agreeing on a common understanding" is a little bit like Planning Poker


"an agile estimating and planning technique that is consensus based. To start a poker planning session, the product owner or customer reads one of their user stories or describes a feature to the estimators.

The estimators discuss the feature, asking questions of the product owner as needed. When the feature has been fully discussed, each estimator privately selects one card to represent his or her estimate. All cards are then revealed at the same time. If all estimators selected the same value, that becomes the estimate."


Same value is similar to a common understanding - a prerequisite to be successful together as one team.


Today the hosting environment is working smoothly, no bank holiday - lucky me. I have a service ticket open as the daily visitors have not been counted on 4 days in one week and the loading of the first page should be much faster. My SEO tool is complaining about this one.


  • Change management toolkit tips tools and techniques PDF

  • 100 Best Quotes of All Time

  • 9 Skills You Should Learn That Pay Dividends Forever

  • The Intersection Of AI And Human Creativity: Can Machines Really Be Creative?

  • The PI Planning is SAFe's best idea

  • Amazon declares War on ETL

  • Expand Your Technical Knowledge in 2023 with these Must-Read books


[09-Apr-23] My week 14-2023 highlights 

Easter week and holidays ...


Easter Sunday and the best possible movie on TV - Life of Brian - from Monty Python. Possibly not the preferred movie of the church, but a great learning experience of British humor and if you like to get a Latin lesson.


Next film after this is Monty Python and the Holy Grail (from 1975), an even more special kind of humor.


My website hoster seems to have a technical issues today, on Sunday. So I will finish the post quickly, have a great next week.


  • The 10 Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (07-Apr-23)

  • See the Key Findings From the Gartner 2023 Board of Directors Survey

  • Sailing towards the twin transition: How shipping can use digital to decarbonize

  • 100 AI tools which make your task easy and everyday life easy


[08-Apr-23] About Pablo Picasso

50 years ago Pablo Picasso died in 1973


"Probably Picasso's most famous work, Guernica is certainly his most powerful political statement, painted as an immediate reaction to the Nazi's devastating casual bombing practice on the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War."


A great artist with an interesting journey during his private and "business" life. Have a great Easter time.


  • 7 eye-opening Japanese concepts that will transform your life


[07-Apr-23] Welcome to my BLOG ...

Quick introduction to manage expectations


Today is Good Friday a bank holiday in Gemany and a lot of other countries, even the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is closed. Means for me some days off, as next Monday is a bank holiday in Germany as well and then I have 3 more days holiday. Well deserved after two pretty busy weeks. The planning for the next 3 month project phase did go smoothly and we closed it with a Team Building session yesterday.


We had face-to-face sessions at 4 different locations in 3 different countries and the rest of the team did participate online. Not everybody lives close enough to a company location, to get their easily for a one day get-together. The team members who did come together at one location had a lot of fun and I am pretty sure this was not the last time to close a planning phase with a team event.


As I made some small marketing for my personal BLOG yesterday during the team event and my daughter is spreading the info about the existance of my BLOG with her friends lately, I am just using the opportunity to welcome some new readers today. As I am a strong believer of treating new and existing customers in the same way, also a warm welcome message to my one-time, many-time and every-time readers. Your support is very much appreciated every day!! 


I did write my first BLOG post on 04-Jul-2016, some excerpts below: 


  • Why now? After nearly 10 years working for my company I took the opportunity for a voluntary leave, as I needed a change and was not happy anymore with the current situation as IT Manager. I am in Garden Leave now, having suffcient time to look for new opportunities and to RethinkAndFocus. A Blog or Online
    Diary looks like a good idea to share my thoughts regularly and to describe, what is happening during my current journey in a central place?

  • To be very clear at the end of this introduction. I am doing this for me and not for money. The links and references I am using are there to support my thoughts and arguments and not for any sponsoring or advertising purposes.


So in summary my personal journal with a lot of diverse, interesting and fun content, with details as far as I am searching for it. Looking for  more? You can download all my BLOG posts since 2016 as eBOOKs from my Downloads page for FREE. You are welcome ...


The Teambuilding session yesterday had two focus points. A Personality Type overview for the whole team and to come up with an Elevator Pitch for our project. A lot of fun and time to leave the personal comfort zone. We used the 16Personalities test, great effort-outcome ratio, and a lot of details and supporting material are available. More personality test:


  • The 23 Best Personality Tests In Ranking Order (2023 Update)

  • 14 Free Personality Tests That’ll Help You Figure Yourself Out

  • 12 Free Personality Tests You Can Take Online Today

  • Or on "My new business", just scroll down a little bit


We had a 70+ % return rate in the team, could cover all 16 Personality Types in the team and were pretty in line with the country profiles. A great outcome and team spirit!!


  • Video: Behind the Screens | The Dark Side of the Smartphone Industry | Fairphone
  • DISAPPOINTMENT – NAVIGATING A DELIGHTFUL PAST

  • TED Talk: What will the dream car of the future be like?
  • If you open a meeting with icebreakers, end with these wrap-up equivalents for better closure

  • Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2023

  • 3 ways cities can promote new, greener mobility services

  • Do You Understand the Impact of Your Leadership?

  • Accelerating performance in a winner-takes-most world

  • Here's why making phone calls can be great for young people's wellbeing


“Your real personality identity is not an option, it is the foundation for your happiness and health.” -- Diana Dentinger

[05-Apr-23] Some helpful pictures ...

Check it out and follow the links behind the pictures


- Frank Sonnenberg: Are You Selfless or Selfish?

- Gartner: How Executives Can Drive Business Resilience, Growth and Profits in 2023

[04-Apr-23] Setting the right focus

"Coach the Person, Not the Problem."

 

Was the comment of Geraldine GAUTHIER in her post that used the iceberg picture and analogy. The whole picture with the topics above and below the water line are a great fit for the workshop that I did agree to host last Monday. It will be a 2-day offsite session end of Apr-23 with part of the senior management team. The 1st day is going to be very personal, about e.g. personal maps, values, motivation and team building. On the 2nd day we will be working on the upcoming transformation and what needs to happen until 2025 - focus areas will be customer, people, simplification and growth. I am just preparing the concept and content, a combination of reusing parts of my previous workshops and some new topics/ideas - copy and transfer - one of my beliefs.


"Manage the system, not the people" is the Agile Leadership guideline from Management 3.0 - check out more of their practices. Preparing the right environment to work and giving people the chance and a lot of different opportunities, to find their own way and to grow beyond expectations - that is what we are looking for in 2023.


  • COULD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LAUNCH MISSILES – I ASKED CHATGPT

  • COMPLETE THESE 10 SENTENCES BEFORE SEEKING RECOMMENDATIONS

  • The New Happy: When you feel lost
  • Video: THE CREATIVE ACT by Rick Rubin | Core Message
  • Video: Charlie Chaplin Modern Times Roller Skating Scene VFX
  • 3 Powerful Ways To Stay Positive

  • 3 REASONS PEOPLE FOLLOW YOU

Source Youtube: Monkey and dog crossing river


Two more interesting videos to look at:


  • Video: The Power Of Teamwork - Funny Animation
  • Video: How To Perform Above Average

[02-Apr-23] The week 13-2023 summary

About Coaching versus Mentoring ...

 

I have seen the video on LinkedIn today with the headline "See how Coaching can help you break your mental barriers". As the difference between Coaching and Mentoring is not easy to define and understand, here the try to explain it from the article referenced above.


"Whether this individual takes support from a coach or a mentor, depends on many things. If you need to discover the journey from Point A to Point B by exploring yourself, then you should choose a coach. Choose a mentor if you want instructions and lessons from previous experiences." I think the monkey behaves like a dog coach in the video as both discover the journey over the river, with the monkey in the lead. What do you think?


The coming week has just 4 working days, as next Friday is a bank holiday in Germany (Good Friday). The same with Easter Monday on 10-Apr-23. Until then four busy days left with the two new Interns arriving tomorrow and the next 3 month project phase starting with two days planning and the team building session and come-together on Thursday. Get ready to rumble ...


  • The 10 Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (31-Mar-23)

  • Here are 8 ways the world can tackle water scarcity

  • 6G Is Coming: What Will Be The Business Impact?

  • Who spends the longest time in retirement?

  • The Finnish Secret to Happiness? Knowing When You Have Enough.

[01-Apr-23] April Fools' Day

The power of pictures for simple story telling ... 

 

Simon Sinek's Golden Circle TED talk is one of my all time favorites. He is using three simple circles to explain a lot of interesting topics and connections. Always good to see again.


  • TED Talk: The secret to giving great feedback
  • TED Talk: Build a tower, build a team
  • TED Talk: Stories of photographing monumental people -- from Michelle Obama to Stephen Hawking
  • TED Ideas: Quiz: Are you an extrovert, introvert or ambivert?


Changing one letter can mean a lot as in the Malcom X quote, the benefits of reading of books could be applied to Blogs as well, why not? And the Emojis for Engineers picture might be a little bit too harsh, but we understand humor and are able to change over time. I have "The project is finished" face very often.

  • How to Build a Data-Driven Company: The Ultimate Guide

  • Navigating the VUCA World with the 5Ks of Japanese Manufacturing

  • Manufacturing is the most targeted sector by cyberattacks. Here's why increased security matters

[31-Mar-23] Change can happen, just do it ...

For every 5 reasons not to change, give 2 reasons to change!!

 

Be the change you want to see. Be a change agent and become a role model. "Large-scale change can only occur when massive numbers of people rally around a common opportunity. At an individual level, they must want to actively contribute. Collectively, they must be unified in the pursuit of achieving the goal together." from The 8 Steps for Leading Change by John Kotter

"It's very difficult to innovate without requiring people to do something different. And whenever you require people to do something different, you're talking about change." -- John P. Kotter, American - Educator Born: February 25, 1947

 

Everything is well prepared for the 2 planning days next week. We have enough content for three month work and our kick-off presentation is nearly finished. Only the homework for the Team Building session needs some more speed as the response rate is below 50% so far. In order to have a statistical relevant result my target is 75% or more. But as the participation is voluntary, too much pressure will not help. Regular daily reminders have to be the solution until next week Wednesday, we will see.


In the last two days I could agree to host two new workshops for April. The Motivation Driver workshop again for a whole department and a new workshop for 2 days off-site that will be discussed in more details on Monday. With my portfolio of workshop content I am ready to fill 2 days by reusing existing content in combination with some new ideas, depending on the requirements of my customer. More to come ...


  • Leading the Five-Generation Workforce – The Leadership That Works Newsletter

  • Grant Snider: Creative Wisdom
  • Video: Seven Mistakes You'll Definitely Make as a Product Owner
  • What is green steel and why does the world need more of it?

  • WHY WE OVERCOMPLICATE THINGS

  • 4 REASONS WE MAKE DUMB DECISIONS AND 7 WAYS TO MAKE SMART DECISIONS

  • Gartner: 4 Emerging Technologies You Need to Know About

  • Ecosystems for the rest of us

  • Thriving in the AI Revolution: Eight Essential Insights for Navigating the ChatGPT Era

  • Why smart siting of renewable energy is crucial for people and planet

  • Huge Group Calls for Temporary Pause on AI More Advanced Than GPT-4


Have a great and relaxing weekend.

[29-Mar-23] Some historical data

From 7 to 69 to even more years ...

 

Great achievement and a really sustainable approach taken by Fairphone. The operating system was updated for 7 years, the phone hardware is still supported and you can buy spare parts for the modular system. Really a role model.


Yesterday the Belgian team did win against the German soccer team for the 1st time after 69 years. A great success for Belgium and their team that is in a positive flow in the moment anyway. For the German team the already difficult situation is getting even worse. A lot to be done until the UEFA EURO 2024 starts in Germany on 14-Jun-2024.


Finally the visit of King Charles III in Germany today. I wanted to check, when the last British King did visit Germany, but was not really successful. His mother was just too long the Queen.


  • Sahil Bloom: The Personal Quarterly Review
  • All you need to know about Python: Real Python Tutorials
  • An interesting approach to hiring talent: SOLITA - Join a community of diverse talent who embrace each others’ (im)perfections
  • A COMEDY MAKES PFIZER’S CHIEF CORPORATE AFFAIRS OFFICER FEEL ALONE

  • Are You Honorable or Afraid of Getting Caught?

  • AI And You: How ChatGPT Can Take Your Career To The Next Level

[28-Mar-23] The change topic again

Helpful hints to make a change ...

 

As everything is more or less related to change it is an ongoing topic to write about.


Yesterday we had our System Demo to finish the current 3 month project phase. A really good overview of the work we have done, presenting our end-to-end solution in a combined demo of several teams. We are getting better in delivering the committed work and in improving our tools and way of working in parallel. Going forward it needs to be even more simple, standardized, fast and scalable.


A way to do this is to question/change the status quo, automate as much as possible and involve all required parties as early as possible. Especially the necessary change is causing some issues and areas of fear. People start to get concerned that we are sawing the branch that they are still sitting on. The 4 practices on the picture will be helping a lot going forward with this change.


The Germany wide strike yesterday was not leading to the expected chaos as a lot of people did adapt as needed. No public/private transport by plane, train and bus was not at all leading to the traffic jams that everybody was forecasting before. People stayed at home, thanks to the COVID-19 experiences from the last two years, or used the remaining transport systems besides their own cars - e.g. bikes, taxis or e-scooter. As every employee is responsible to come to the office in time, they had not a lot of choice. yesterday Hopefully the next negotiations between the unions and companies will lead to results shortly, we had enough strikes this year already.


  • Where are Clean Energy Technologies Manufactured?

  • TED Playlist: Best practices for business innovation
  • Collaboration Superpowers: Virtual Team Celebrations

  • The New Happy: Feeling overwhelmed
  • Video: World's first robot that rides a bike!
  • Video: 7 Mistakes Every Scrum Master Makes, And What to Do About Them
  • Use AI to Your Advantage by Harnessing These Skills and Capabilities

  • 9 Signs You're A Highly Sensitive Person

  • Action on clean hydrogen is needed to deliver net-zero by 2050. Here's how

[26-Mar-23] My week 12-2023 highlights

Some more comments to the videos from yesterday

 

The Steal like an Artist video very well supports my personal belief that "Stealing with Pride" and "Copy and Transfer" is not just a minor proof of the laziness of engineers, but also an appreciation of the work of other people. Using their great work and idea as basis for reuse or a new development is a high level of valuation. Think about it.


Spending the 1hour and 6 minutes on the Leadership and Purpose video with Simon Sinek is really worth it. Yes you can do a lot in one hour, but this video is full of great ideas, story telling, real life examples and a basis for further learning and investigation. Great stuff!! Some related material to check out:


  • Four Seasons People page
  • THE VISION OF FOUR SEASONS

  • The 5 Practices of the The Infinite Game
  • Barry-Wehmiller Guiding Principles of Leadership
  • Barry-Wehmiller Launching our Cultural Journey
  • Bob Chapman, CEO and Chairman at Barry-Wehmiller Companies, Inc


“Everyone wants to contribute. Trust them. Leaders are everywhere. Find them. Some people are on a mission. Celebrate them. Others wish things were different. Listen to them. Everybody matters. Show them.” – Bob Chapman


Had a busy last week and the coming week will be even more busy. We start with the System Demo tomorrow, the presentation of our project results from the last 10 weeks. A lot of good stuff to show to our stakeholders and as great motivation for the coming three month. Tuesday the workshop with the homework, the team is expected to come up with a slogan or logo for their project. Will be interesting to see, how the different personality types will handle this.


On Tuesday we will be starting with our Innovation, Knowledge Sharing and Learning phase, always happening in the last two weeks of a 3-month project phase, we call it IP-Sprint. For the rest of the week we will be preparing the next planning phase starting 04-Apr-23. Much to do ...


  • Grant Snider: The Two Types of Stories: Expanded Edition

  • Chat GPT-4: The AI-Powered Best Friend We've Always Dreamed Of?

  • Sketchplanations: What drives us: autonomy, mastery, purpose
  • 20 Steps to Achieving Anything by Daryl Daughtry, Publisher

  • 8 Top Tips to Boost Your Learning (Infograph)

  • Video: MindSpring Presents: "Everybody Matters" by Bob Chapman


“Management is about telling people what to do, and leadership is about allowing people to do what they’re capable of doing.” – Bob Chapman, taken from 25 Inspirational Business Process Improvement Quotes

[25-Mar-23] Gordon Moore, Intel Co-Founder, Dies at 94

What Is Moore's Law? Moore's Law states that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years.

 

Have a great weekend ...

Source Youtube: Steal Like An Artist: Austin Kleon at TEDxKC

Source Youtube: The Evolution of Leadership and Purpose | Full Speech

[24-Mar-23] Getting ready for the fun?

Give an Hour for Earth by spending 60 minutes doing something - anything - positive for our planet.

 

"Earth Hour 2023 to rally more people than ever to join the Biggest Hour for Earth" on 25-Mar-2023 at 08.30 PM your local time.


After a two days break back to the blogging fun. Sometimes you just need to focus on something else to refresh your mind. A lot of good stories and links came up during this time, a small collection for you today.


During table tennis training yesterday I did play against a much younger team member, I assume the age difference was 40+ years? Experience and overview beats youth and speed. Exactly the same, what I experience when I play against our oldest player who is 80+. You can run as fast as you want when you are always too late and the other player takes advantage of your weak points. Something the younger player had to accept as well in the end after losing two sets and the game. Next time is a new chance ...


Yesterday I had a coffee break with three of our Interns. A really interesting come-together, one coming from Vietnam, from India and Zimbabwe. All students in Germany, even speaking German, respect. These kind of meetings are great for cultural awareness, we had an interesting discussion about Easter, what it is and how to celebrate it. Next month we have three new starters from Germany, France and Cameroon to extend the already very diverse community. Looking forward to it.


Do you remember your school times and how you handled making your homework? I am confident it has nothing to do with skills, but is mainly driven by your attitude!! For the next two workshops I did ask the participants to prepare a small homework, just doing a personality test, as we will use the results during the session. After several reminders there are still people who are not aware, their listening or reading skills need some updates, and the majority of the rest is just waiting until the last minute. You can still do it on the day of the workshop, in the bus or before the lesson like in school, you could make something up or just copy the result of a colleague? 10 - 40 years after they finished school and nothing really changed, must be attitude. With the result of their personality test they might understand better why? We will see next Tuesday.


  • The New Happy: Whatever happens, be kind to yourself
  • Video: Storytelling Through Characters at Disney Parks I SXSW 2023
  • Ten great illustrations on #personaldevelopment and #growth

  • 7 WAYS TO MEET THE NEED TO FEEL SEEN, HEARD, AND UNDERSTOOD

  • Frank Sonnenberg: Terrible Role Models Make Great Teachers

  • Video: He's The Best Teacher Ever , Teacher of Life Lessons

  • The Top 4 Examples Of How ChatGPT Can Be Used In Telecom

  • 3 WAYS TO BRING YOUR BEST SELF

  • How vertical farms could boost food production in India

  • Scott Ambler: The time to fight back against artificial intelligence is now
  • How many steps a day do we really need to take? Here are the facts

  • Here's how to get older adults exercising

  • The 10 Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (24-Mar-23)

[21-Mar-23] The Lots Of Socks Campaign

Getting people talking on World Down Syndrome Day, 21 March

 

"World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD), 21 March, is a global awareness day which has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012. The date for WDSD being the 21st day of the 3rd month, was selected to signify the uniqueness of the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome which causes Down syndrome."


See two impressive lists of successful people:


  • 10 Inspiring Famous People with Down Syndrome (2023)

  • 10 Of The Most Successful People With Down Syndrome (2019)


"I always say I am Pablo Pineda and that I have Down’s syndrome. There is a big difference between 'having' and 'being.' 'Being' can crush you down and 'having' shows it is only one feature." – Pablo Pineda, the first European with DS to graduate with a university degree - taken from 21 Quotes from Extraordinary Individuals with Down Syndrome


  • Verbal to Visual video: The Map of Emotions

  • Jason Sudeikis and ‘Ted Lasso’ cast meet with Biden for mental health discussion

  • 3 WAYS DOGS AND PEOPLE RISE

  • 5 Reasons Why Most Attempts to Create a Coaching Culture Fail

  • 3 strategies that can future-proof the global food system

  • Comic Agile: #234 – SAFe Flow
  • Video: Two 2-minute Rules to Beat Procrastination (in 2 minutes)


"People with Down syndrome can do anything. They just do it at their own pace. Give them a chance, and you will be rewarded beyond your greatest expectations." -- Madeline Stuart, taken from Madeline Stuart Quotes

[20-Mar-23] Interesting reports ... 

World Happiness and Climate Change 2023

 

"The World Happiness Report research leverages six key factors to help explain variation in self-reported levels of happiness across the world: social support, income, health, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption. Governments are increasingly using this analysis to orient policies towards happiness.

Finland remains in the top position for the sixth year in a row. Lithuania is the only new country in the top twenty, up more than 30 places since 2017. War-torn Afghanistan and Lebanon remain the two unhappiest countries in the survey, with average life evaluations more than five points lower (on a scale running from 0 to 10) than in the ten happiest countries."


  • 166 pages World Happiness Report 2023 as PDF


"The IPCC prepares comprehensive Assessment Reports about knowledge on climate change, its causes, potential impacts and response options. The IPCC also produces Special Reports, which are an assessment on a specific issue and Methodology Reports, which provide practical guidelines for the preparation of greenhouse gas inventories."


  • AR6 Synthesis Report - Climate Change 2023

  • Are you a micromanager? Or do you just work for one? 5 ways to tell

  • 10 Bad Habits You Must Eliminate from Your Daily Routine

  • Everything you need to know about hydrogen in the clean energy transition

  • Achieving climate goals and renewable targets first requires solving the storage conundrum

Source Youtube: TRACTION by Gino Wickman | Core Message

Source Youtube: Where To Start When You’ve Procrastinated On Your Goals For Too Long

[19-Mar-23] The week 11-2023 summary 

The last winter week is finally over ...

 

For Meteorologist spring time started 01-Mar-23 according to the calendar it is tomorrow, the weather does already know and the temperatures go up. Time for gardening, we did start with first activities yesterday.


Just in case you are interested in all my BLOG posts from 2023 until 17-Mar-23 as PDF file in the moment, have a look on the Downloads page. The small eBOOK is available there.


Next week is kind of "the calm before the storm" week, a lot of preparation tasks for two workhops, our final system demo, 5 days innovation & training activities and the planning for our next 3 month project period. Hosting the workshops will be a lot of learning for the participants and fun for me, looking forward to it.


  • GPT-4 Is Here: Unleashing the Power of Multimodal AI and Redefining the Future of Communication

  • The 10 Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (17-Mar-23)

  • How Africa’s new Free Trade Area will turbocharge the continent’s agriculture industry

  • Affordable childcare is possible — and access to it would benefit us all

  • Gartner: 12 Essential Skills for Agile Developers
  • 5 months ago, I asked 70 LinkedIn creators: "What is the ONE book that most impacted your career?


Have a great next week ...

More details about Usain Bolt

[18-Mar-23] From square to circle ...

More geometric figures to explain content

 

After a discussion with my wife we came to the conclusion that a circle or several circles could be a good approach to explain and present content as well. We are not the first ones :-)


Some examples on the picture and as link below:


  • 10+ Types of Diagrams and How to Choose the Right One

  • Free Venn diagram maker
  • What is the DISC Model?


I like the Venn Diagram a lot, you just have to find the right text in the different fields to give it some content and value.


"There's this famous observation that I totally believe: Great startup ideas are the ones that lie in the intersection of the Venn diagram of 'is a good idea' and 'looks like a bad idea.' So you want most people to think it's a bad idea and thus not compete with you until you get giant. But for it to secretly be good." -- Sam Altman


Two years ago from today I was still on my old BLOG hosting website and the counter did show 500,000 overall readers. Just a small anniversary today. With my switch to the new hosting website and provider on 08-Dec-22 the counter was at 1,109,000. Since then there is no real counter anymore and I have to rely on their Website analytics information. The last month total visits number was 2,915. No idea how the old counter and the new way of counting visitors match? But as I have no possibility to influence it, why bother about the topic anymore?


According to the analytics I had 12,085 total visits since 08-Dec-22.


"You can create value with breakthrough innovation, incremental refinement, or complex coordination. Great companies often do two of these. The very best companies do all three." -- Sam Altman, taken from 200 Sam Altman Quotes

[17-Mar-23] Triangle and Square ...

Geometric figures to explain content

 

There are many triangles used to explain topics and priority setting alternatives. Besides the Success one, there is also the Iron Triangle or sometimes called the Golden Triangle of Project Management for example.


Today we have seen a first review of our new technical solution architecture, the 2.0 version of our status quo. Two more weeks to see the 1st MVP. Everybody is looking towards it, as we are on a really good track. Our challenge will be to put the green dot in the right place on the square that I came up with today. Reliability will be key as well as quality, but the new solution has to be fast and simple as well. The faster the better, as we need to scale up the daily/weekly delivery pretty fast.


And, not so easy for developers during their process, in the end the solution has to be operated by another team with less expertise. So it should be simple to maintain and reliable to reduce the effort of the new team taking over the responsibility in the future. Some more discussion might be needed, to agree the priorities and properly place the dot. Will keep you posted.


  • LET GO – 4 REMEDIES FOR EXHAUSTED CONTROL FREAKS

  • A Simple Guide to The (New) ChatGPT API with Python

  • Tokyo wants to build a future-proof city. Here’s how

  • Between Minds: Thought Leader vs Do Leader Source: Mindset and JESS3

  • How CFOs further value creation by leading on sustainability

  • Actions the best CEOs are taking in 2023

[15-Mar-23] New and old ideas?

A variety of links and pictures today

 

Google search was launched 1997, 26 years ago so easy for a lot of parents to be older than Google. On the kids side age has a different perspective, all people above 20 are old when they are around 10+.


A new release of the Scale Agile Framework version 6.0 came out today. See What’s New in SAFe 6.0


  • Why skills development is vital for shipping’s green transition

  • Hiring in 2023: How Talent Leaders Are Navigating a Changing Market

  • Do You Want to Be Heard or Understood?

  • Sahil Bloom: Unlocking the Power of Simplicity
  • What is ‘dark data’ and how is it adding to all of our carbon footprints?

  • 7 LIGHT-WEIGHT LEADERSHIP PRACTICES THAT DELIVER HEAVY-WEIGHT RESULTS

  • Management 3.0: How to Manage Time: Tips for Effective Time Management
  • Investing in Automated Hyperintelligence or Hyperintelligent AI, or how to win the global AI race

  • Personal user manuals - The approach you never knew you needed

  • Decision-Making: The 10-10-10 Method

Source Youtube: Little Girl Leads Horse || ViralHog

[14-Mar-23] Some fun facts ...

Findings of the day, be surprised

 

This was the quote related to the video, found on LinkedIn today:

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” —John Maxwell


My immediate interpretation was - who has the line/leash has the say - and my wife's comment even better - now I do understand why your line managers want to stay in their role/positions :-)


In the next Team Building workshop after the Planning phase of our project, we will be closer looking into the Personality Types we have in our project and teams. I will be using the 16Personalities test that is also featured in My new business page. The test results are distributed in 4 different roles (Analysts, Diplomats, Sentinels and Explorers), each with 4 different types. We will just be counting the number of people per role and type, to keep their personal privacy. Even the participation in the test is voluntary, no pressure. On the picture some details and the known distribution by the countries represented in our project - Brazil, Germany, India and Portugal. Will be interesting to find out the details.

[13-Mar-23] And the Oscar goes to ...

“Dream big, dreams do come true. Ladies, never let anyone tell you you are past your prime. This is history in the making.” -- Michelle Yeoh with the award for best performance by an actress in a leading role

 

A great night with a lot of surprises and interesting stories. 4 Oscars for a German film, actress in leading and supporting role over age 60, and

Ke Huy Quan who did appear in an India Jones film as kid for the first time and did not play in any film for 20 years, wins the actor in a supporting role Oscar - respect and congratulations to all.


  • Jamie Lee Curtis wins her first Oscar

  • Green buildings can reduce city temperatures by up to 2°C, study shows

  • Dr. Travis Bradberry: 8 Great Tricks for Reading People’s Body Language

  • Say Goodbye to ChatGPT: Here Are New AI Tools That Will Blow Your Mind


A new week started ...

[12-Mar-23] My week 10-2023 highlights

Agile roles, comic pages and courage ...

 

One more comic page today that offers a lot of good content and easy to understand visuals - Wisdom Made Easy. The picture today shows how far we are already into 2023, week 10 of 52. 19% of this year is already gone could be time for a 1st review.


Business wise we delivered a great milestone at the beginning of the year, I did already host three workshops, another reorganization is in progress and I did send an initial heads up for the 3rd D&A Meetup scheduled for 26-Sep-23. The earlier the better, to have everybody aligned and supporting.


In private life we e.g. have a new family member, the daughter of my nephew, some admin tasks have already been taken care of, had a great short holiday and the studies of my daughters are making good progress. Looking forward to the next 10 weeks.


Tomorrow we start with the Sprint-4 Demo and then get ready to finish the current 3-month project period, with closing the open tasks, preparing our innovation & training days and organizing the next planning cycle. As outcome of the last team building workshop we are preparing local come-together opportunities in India, Portugal and Germany. As we cannot be together in the same place this is the only alternative for now.


Asking questions is my strong advice to all Interns during their Onboarding, as on the picture the answers are sometimes a surprise.


  • EMOTIONS WHEEL FEELINGS WHEEL EMOTION CHART

  • Transform your Life: Think, Do, Be
  • The Best Examples of What You Can Do With ChatGPT


Have a great start into a productive and interesting week.

[11-Mar-23] Interesting perspectives

Pictures with a short explanation

 

Digital Transformation: The Ultimate Guide (one of many explanations)

Game Theory In Psychology: Examples And Strategies


What Is a Flow State And How to Get Into Flow


  • Virtual reality is finally ready to revolutionize education

  • Your Resume - Will Not Be Read by a Human First

  • Video: Masih Alinejad's Toast at the 2023 TIME Women of the Year Gala

Steven Kotler is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective.

Source Youtube: Purl | Pixar SparkShorts

  • Reuse systems: in search of a vision for tackling plastic pollution

  • Charted: Global Energy Consumption by Source, and Carbon Emissions (1900-2021)

  • Algae-powered computing: Scientists create reliable and renewable biological photovoltaic cell

  • Where does Europe's electricity come from?

  • Beyond ChatGPT: 14 Mind-blowing AI Tools Everyone Should Be Trying Out Now

[10-Mar-23] More about courage

There is much more to find about this topic

 

The Purl video is not only a good example to support the Women's Day this week, it goes for a lot of diversity topics. Being different is difficult and stressful, but there are many opportunities for change, as you will see. Be strong, authentic and look for support.


  • The cost of ambition: new research finds almost 90 per cent of women worldwide are penalized and undermined because of their achievements at work

  • Midlife career change doesn’t have to be a crisis: Time to debunk 4 career change myths

The popular surviving bonsai from Hiroshima is priceless, not only because of its age, but also because its branches and trunk were able to survive the brutal devastation caused by the nuclear bomb. It is a small tree, a Japanese white pine, approximately two feet high, with a stout trunk, short strong needles, green and yellow in color, planted in the year 1625.


The age of the tree is really unbelievable and that in a more or less artificial environment. Great work of the gardeners taking care of it.


  • Dairy vs. plant-based milk: what are the environmental impacts?

  • Five key findings from the 2022 UN Population Prospects


My next two workshops will be around Personality Tests and to prepare an Elevator Pitch based on a predefined template (WHO, WHY, WHAT, HOW). Knowing their personality types, the participants will be able to  work on the template in their preferred style or to go outside of their comfort zone to try something new and show some courage. We will see, who is doing what? Stay tuned for more insights and results.


Have a great weekend.

[09-Mar-23] Having courage

Being authentic and different ...

 

In my list of helpful comic pages two days ago I did forget to mention The New Happy, see their Be You picture today. They are always offering great analogies between their pictures, mainly made out of dots and squares, and a supporting text. Get their newsletter ...


contrarian: a person who takes a contrary position or attitude
specifically : an investor who buys shares of stock when most others are selling and sells when others are buying


You need courage to do this, but it can be very beneficial in the end. It is the same in a discussion or meeting, when all participants have the same opinion, you can just talk about the weather :-), if not there can be a lot of fun and results in the end.


courage: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty


Yesterday and Today I have seen several articles about courage and still had the Be You picture in my backlog for future posts. Today I will combine it all: 


  • Leaders, March Towards Courage

  • How to Get Started with Skills-Based Hiring

  • HOW TO CLARIFY AND SHARE YOUR ASPIRATIONS FOR THE WAY PEOPLE TREAT EACH OTHER AT WORK

  • Do you have the courage of your convictions?

  • It Can Be Lonely to Stand Up for What’s Right

  • TED Playlist: How fearless women lead
  • The Ultimate Guide to Workplace Flexibility

[07-Mar-23] Fun comics to think about

It possibly happened to you already?

 

Here a quick list of comic pages that I am using regularly to look at:



Give it a try and have some fun ...


"When you talk to people smarter than you, it enhances your intelligence. I do things with people I like who are smart. It's not complicated." -- from How Shaquille O'Neal Made Himself Bigger Than Ever--as a Founder and Investor


  • These are some of the surprising benefits of a four day working week 

  • Mapped: Asia’s Biggest Sources of Electricity by Country

  • Space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock honoured with her own Barbie doll

  • Fairphone 2 gets its final software update, seven years after original release

  • Women in business, with Danuta Gray

  • 3 ESSENTIAL CULTURE RULES ALL LEADERS MUST APPLY

  • pwc - Risk: See it, share it, sort it

  • Video: If Ever There Is a Tomorrow...... #motivation
  • Video: Saltwater Powered Light and Electric Power

[06-Mar-23] Get clarity about roles

Scrum Master and Product Owner working together

 

When you read the Scrum Guide or any other helpful documentation around the AGILE topic, you will easily get the theory clear, but what does this mean in your daily work?


People take a training to hopefully understand e.g. Scrum and their role in this framework. All bring their personality, attitude, experience and expertise from past projects and assignments. With this backpack of capabilities they start their new agile role. And when they are willing to follow the Cycle of Growth to Unlearn - Relearn - Change (see picture), all should be fine, but this is not the reality.


Different kind of personalities with different previous roles, now in new agile roles are working together as good as possible, but never perfect and by the books or guides out there. Ongoing training, re-training and awareness sessions could help to improve, but these are not the standards. And the involved individuals have to be willing to change from their old roles to new ones, what is not always successful.


And I did not even talk about the line management that decides who is taking which role and what to do in it. As long as we are working in hybrid environments - established organizations in an agile transformation that is not finished yet - roles and responsibilities are not 100% clear and subject to interpretation, what is causing issues. Sometimes more sometimes less.


“…the agile movement in software is part of a larger movement towards more humane and dynamic workplaces in the 21st century.” -- Rowan Bunning from 10 Quotes Related to the Agile Methodology To Get You Inspired


  • Which countries have the most gender-equal parliaments?

  • How to Revamp Your Company’s Meeting Culture

  • 13 Things Science Says Will Make You Much Happier

  • 20 Free Newsletters That Will Drastically Improve Your Life

Source Youtube: STOLEN FOCUS by Johann Hari | Core Message

Source Youtube: The Art of Improvement - 10 Questions You Need To Ask Yourself Constantly

[05-Mar-23] The week 09-2023 summary

Great customer loyalty workshop, more to come ...

 

The workshop had been delivered on Tuesday and the summary from all departments last Friday was promising. Now we just have to make an improvement plan and deliver it quickly. Any further change will help.


Another workshop is already planned, I will host the Motivation Driver workshop again for a whole department. To combine some learning and teambuilding.


In the coming week the portfolio management team will decide about priorities and focus topics for the next three month project period that will start after Easter on 11-Apr-23. Still a lot to be prepared, a good story line for the teams about the coming objectives, helping them to finish the current 3 month period and getting ready for the next one. We start tomorrow.


  • Video: Watch Tesla Reveal Walking Optimus Robot (Investor Day 2023)
  • Video: NEW WORLD RECORD | Men’s Pole Vault | Mondo Duplantis, 6.22m (20ft 5in)!
  • The 10 Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (03-Mar-23)

  • GPT-4 Is Coming – What We Know So Far

  • Ocean treaty: Historic agreement reached after decade of talks

  • 9 Questions That Should Be in Every Employee Engagement Survey

  • The promise and challenges of sustainable travel products

  • International Women's Day 08-Mar-2023

[04-Mar-23] Transformations ...

Speaking the same language with your customer

 

You should never underestimate the power of words and speaking the same language with your customers. Assuming you are offering agile services and your customer is a beginner in this environment? 


Then you have two issues:


  1. All agile keywords and phrases are in English and a difficulty for none native speakers, like e.g. German customers
  2. Beginners do not understand, what you are talking about as expert, so you need to find a common ground and this has to be defined by the customer


Strip down your agile language to the customer level and find a good match between the customers's and your vocabulary. Give it a try ...

  • Welcome to the Agile Guide by Wrike

  • How the TransPod System beats the Profitability of High-Speed Rail

  • CIRCULAR ECONOMY: Zero waste guide

  • 6 Trends Leaders Need to Navigate This Year

  • Grant Snider Comics: Overwhelmed

  • Gary Straughan video: Can You Really STOP Estimating? + FREE Cheat Sheet

  • THE POWER OF VALUES-BASED DECISIONS

  • 4 TOOLS TO KEEP MEETINGS ON TRACK

  • LinkedIn 2023 Most In-Demand Skills: Learn the skills companies need most

[03-Mar-23] Connecting the dots

Use the same approach for different areas

 

When I write a new BLOG post, I copy the old one and adjust the date first, to keep the overall format and page layout in sync. I just realized that my last post had 29-Feb-23 as date, it is now 01-Mar-23 :-) Next check is always the Mobile Phone formatting, text with date goes before the 1st picture!!


I did add a new link on my Interesting Links page - What is Tall Poppy Syndrome? - interesting Infographic and read.


The six Ms of strategy on the picture do fit to other areas as well. For example people applying for a new job in a new company:


  • When you are applying for a job, you bring your experience, expertise, skills and attitude as products and services
  • Your customer is your potential new employer
  • What you can bring to the table needs to fit to the expectations of your customer
  • Do not underestimate the cost of hiring versus the revenue you could generate for the employer
  • Your purpose and the purpose of the company you apply for need to match on a high level (e.g. 75+ %), to make both sides happy 
  • The market and company situation and their willigness to change old thinking processes and ways of working will impact your application experience. Something you cannot really influence


Not so far away I would say.


The consolidation of the customer loyalty workshop results today did show a lot of commonalities in the different departments:


  • The need for action versus why should the change work this time?
  • Everybody has painful stories, what is not working well and in parallel many ideas how to improve or change
  • Customer centricity and being driven by financials might cause conflicts at the beginning, but should be in sync later on
  • Lower results in customer loyalty from the employee survey could mean a more realistic and less biased view of the situation?
  • Listening to the dicussion today, the six Ms could also fit well for this topic? What do you think?

[01-Mar-23] Customer Loyalty again

Quick summary of the workshop and more ...

 

Finally yesterday we had the Customer Loyalty workshop that was mandatory for all departments. The public transport strike had minor impact and as I had the data/opinion collection parts prepared for a hybrid setup, we could easily support two team members on the phone. In the end even the people in the room did use the online data collection possibilities, much easier for me to consolidate the results and less paper handling and waste.


We collected, what people SAY, THINK and FEEL about our company. In two rounds we shared our personal opinion and what we hear from friends and social media. A good collection of information and due to different sources from 13 participants, pretty accurate I would say.


Next step will be a consolidation from all department workshops for our CFO. Hopefully the results will be used to initiate a customer centricity initiative and mindset, there is definitely room for improvement. As the idea of my adjusted workshop was to combine the required data collection with a learning experience, the Empathy test was very much appreciated. Some people were surprised about the questions and even more about their result. 


In alignment with the Customer Loyalty workshop I started to read a new book that came out the first time in 1993, 30 years ago.


  • The only thing that bothers is the customer by Edgar K. Geffroy


The German title is "Das Einzige, was stört, ist der Kunde: Clienting ersetzt Marketing" An interesting journey back in time, a lot of stuff is pretty new (back in 1993), some stuff is really visionary, and surprise, surprise still valid in 2023. What did we do in the last 30 years, not really focusing on customers I would say. And especially Germany is not famous for customer service and orientation --> The only thing that bothers is the customer ...


In 1993 there was no Google search, Social Media and iPhone yet, crazy times.


  • Watch The Incredible 70-Year Evolution Of The Cell Phone

  • From the garage to the Googleplex

  • The Evolution of Social Media: How Did It Begin, and Where Could It Go Next?

[28-Feb-23] Picture Tuesday

Found interesting pictures with reference material

 

  • ConantLeadership: Why the Best Leaders Share Responsibility – The Leadership That Works Newsletter
  • 4 WAYS TO PROCRASTINATE SUCCESSFULLY

[27-Feb-23] Data traffic in Germany

About an interesting article today ...

 

Taken from ntv article today: "More than half of the data traffic in Germany takes place on websites of five companies. For years, mobile communications companies have been demanding that Internet giants such as Google, Netflix and Meta share the costs - and they're getting a hearing in the political arena.

Mobile providers are calling more forcefully for large online services to pay for the use of their networks. Every day, 55 percent of data traffic is generated by just five companies, said the head of telecoms group Orange, Christel Heydemann. This costs European telecommunications companies around 15 billion euros a year, she said." Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)


A really big number and the mobile providers want a fair share of it. Not really a surprise and a smart way to increase revenue. But you better do not underestimate the reaction of the big five companies. They might be faster to find alternatives for their traffic than the service providers get their share of the costs via politics or in court? More to come ...


I have a new sub-page since today, see Interesting Links for details.


  • Global social media statistics research summary 2023

  • 3 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE PRACTICES FOR BUSY LEADERS

  • 7 Leader Mistakes That Make Everyone Miserable

  • Video: THE COACHING HABIT by Michael Bungay Stanier | Core Message

[26-Feb-23] My week 08-2023 highlights

Quick recap of two topics from last week

 

It took some time to find the right source of the picture, but in the end I came to - Amazing Sculptures Show People Carving Their Ideal Figures Into Their Own Bodies - and even selected another picture of the ones available. For me it has nothing to do with body shaming or e.g. curvy models versus six packs, it is just a great analogy for the potential that everybody has below the surface, you just have to develop and grow it.


With the right attitude and skills you can do everything, if you have a certificate proofing it or not. I did get some feedback about my 22-Feb-23 post about certificates. I am not at all questioning people having a certificate that finally proves longtime experience or well developed expertise. As I always say "Other people need to see you as their role model, then you deserve this title. You cannot just take it on your own!!" Same with certificates, what you are doing should be fitting with the idea of the certificate and you should be filling the related role. The more the better.


I am getting concerned, when people are not covering the full scope of work and responsibility behind their certificate, or when the certificate does not at all fit to their personality type (find a lot of different personality tests on My new business page). For example not everybody should be or could be a good Agile Coach. With a low Empathy level or more interest in facts & figures than people, you better go for a Mentoring and not a Coaching assignment. My 2 cents ...


Most agile coaches should be called agile mentors, but this is a different story :-)


My planned Customer Loyalty workshop on Tuesday will be influenced by the strike in Duesseldorf, either via public transport restrictions or the airport that is impacted as well. We will see in 2 days.


  • The 10 Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (24-Feb-23)

  • The Top 10 In-Demand Skills For 2030

  • Sketchplanations: Without data you're just another person with an opinion

[25-Feb-23] To learn something?

How to learn new skills, T- or V-Shaped?

 

Quickly sharing some related content, have a great weekend !!


  • The Big Mac Index: A Measure of Purchasing Power Parity & Burger Inflation

  • How V-shaped are you and your people? And how will you let them grow as V-shaped employees?

  • 6 things people do around the world to slow down

[24-Feb-23] Transformations

How we change ...

 

Some changes were required to be compliant with the SEO guidelines on my BLOG platform. I did update the My new business and Beratung & Coaching pages. New URL, some clean-up and adjustments on both sites. Besides that I had to search for a broken link, it took some time to find it in the 12-Dec-22 post. Now all is fine until further notice.


I am doing my BLOG for fun and interested readers and not for money or top SEO rankings, so I do not have to be perfect. And the hosting platform is it not either, as all posts since 08-Dec-22 are part of one long text now and there are no unique URLs per post anymore. Exactly the explanation that I gave to an interested marketing guy today, who wanted to place some articles or links on my BLOG for small money. We will see, if he is still fine after my explanation and how this opportunity will go on?


Next Tuesday I will have the Customer Loyalty workshop at our location with 16 team members. Should be fine as all is prepared right now. Only issues is another strike of the public transport system in Duesseldorf. The union wants to put a lot of pressure on the next negotiation round with the employers. We will see how many more rounds and strikes are required to come to a final agreement?


  • Ranked: Biotoxins in Nature, by Lethal Dose

  • 5 SIMPLE WAYS TO PRACTICE BEING PRESENT EVEN BUSY LEADERS CAN TRY

  • What does it mean for a species to be at risk of extinction?

  • Global economic inequality: what matters most for your living conditions is not who you are, but where you are

  • 4 WAYS TO DO LESS AND GET MORE DONE TODAY

  • 5 Simple Habits That Will Make You a More Successful Talent Leader

[22-Feb-23] About certificates

What does a certificate mean and who has the benefit of it?

 

A busy day after one week holiday today. Some activities needed to be initiated for the coming days and people waited for some feedback and reaction from my side. All covered, so I can go on holiday in the future again :-)


Last week we had an internal SAFe training for some of our Product Owners, hosted by an internal trainer. Every participant gets the opportunity to do a certification at the end. You have to pass 80% of the exam questions to get the certificate that is valid for one year and needs to be renewed then.


The process makes sense for our trainers - Certified SAFe® Program Consultants (SPC) - as they need to host a number of trainings during a year to keep their certification. For people taking the training I have a different perspective.


In the worst case you just have to answer 80% of the questions correctly and get the certificate for one year. After one year you renew and get the certificate again and so on. It only proves you could answer the questions when required, but does not say anything about your experience working on the job.

In the best case you can easily answer the questions based on your day-to-day experience working in agile environments and renew the certificate as this is the process defined by Scaled Agile.


The challenge is on the employer side, when they try to select experts based on the certificates they provided and have no real process in place, to verify the expertise that is required behind the agile roles they are searching for. It is easy to write something in a CV, but much more difficult to properly check it by employers. Having people already with the expertise you are looking for might be helpful to check new joiners or let the team decide, we are in an agile world. So proven expertise and experience beats certificates, no surprise.


  • Mapped: Unemployment Forecasts, by Country in 2023

  • Grant Snider: Tour de Frustration
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  • TED Talk: What baby boomers can learn from millennials at work -- and vice versa
  • Video: What Are The Top 10 Limitations Of ChatGPT?
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  • Here's how documenting your eating habits can promote healthy eating

  • Frank Sonnenberg: Good Times Build Confidence…Bad Times Build Character
  • Pawel Huryn: PM Books
  • 12+ Free Resources to Get Started in People Analytics

  • Video: The Best Examples Of What You Can Do With ChatGPT

[20-Feb-23] A quick start into the week

Shrove Monday procession again after two years

 

The procession in Cologne had the 200th anniversary and JACQUES TILLY could show his 2023 motto wagons again after a two year break, due to COVID-19 and the Ukraine war start last year.

  • Video: The Best Examples Of What You Can Do With Chat GPT
  • Video: What We Should Have Learned in School But Never Did
  • Video: THE EXPECTATION EFFECT by David Robson | Core Message
  • 12 Lessons You Learn or Regret Forever

[19-Feb-23] The week 07-2023 summary

My holiday week is nearly over

 

On the picture the Railway Station in Zandvoort, a city at the beach with a lot of history and the Formula 1 circuit as mentioned yesterday.


A combination of different buildings and holiday region styles together in one location, not really my style, but it seems to be really attractive for tourists and visitors of the Formula 1 race, once per year.


Tomorrow we go home, to have one more day off before I go back to work on Wednesday.


Have a great and surprising week.


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  • As more electric vehicles hit the road, our charging habits must change - here’s why

  • Everything you need to know about hydrogen in the clean energy transition

  • Cities aren't designed for women. Here's what's needed next

[18-Feb-23] Famous Haarlem people

A lot of painters on the list I shared yesterday ...

 

The picture is called - De Tuin (The Garden), 1893 by JACOBUS VAN LOOY. He is one of several painters on the list of famous people who were born in Haarlem, the city close to our holiday location. More details in the following article, just in case you need more details - 4 Surprising Facts About Haarlem in the Dutch Golden Age.


Today we made a nice walk at the beach and even the sun came out, but it was still windy and not really warm. Nothing to be concerned about with the right clothes and shoes.


Windy, low temperatures and cold water, I could feel it through my

rubber boots, but perfect conditions for Kite Surfers, we have seen a lot of them. Really a high-speed sport and a good fit to the Circuit Zandvoort - HOME OF THE FORMULA 1 HEINEKEN DUTCH GRAND PRIX - that is close by.

The Excel sheet overview is taken from the Website statistics provided by my Blog hosting company today. In total 9,203 visitors since 08-Dec-22, the start date on the new platform. Visitors are coming from 90 different countries, really interesting distribution around the globe.


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