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August 03, 2006
Words of Wisdom from the Hedonism Handbook
10 SIGNS YOU’RE IN TOO DEEP
If five or more of the following are true of you, you may be in need of a hedonistic intervention. Immediately turn off all electronic devices and lie down.
1. You no longer remember anyone’s phone number because they’re all programmed into your cell phone.
2. You instant-message people at work who are seated within 20 feet of you.
3. You make itineraries for your vacations.
4. The idea of a full week without Internet access fills you with terror.
5. You are bored at home if the television isn’t on.
6. You absolutely must watch the news every day to be sure the world isn’t ending.
7. You regularly watch sitcom reruns that you have seen countless times before.
8. You are unable to sit still and think in silence.
9. Your conversation regularly revolves around the lives of others instead of your own.
10. You buy shoes because they match your iPod.
10 SURE FIRE WAYS TO SLOW DOWN
Simple and obvious, you say? Well, of course they are. But by experimenting with these painfully simple procedures, you will be embarking on a higher journey.
1. Find a park bench; sit and observe life.
2. Lie in a hammock and stare at the stars.
3. Bob in the ocean.
4. Go for a walk without direction.
5. Read a book in complete silence.
6. Take a nap in the sun.
7. Take a bath by candlelight.
8. Sleep until you can sleep no more.
9. Extend foreplay.
10. Watch Swedish cinema.
(From The Hedonism Handbook, by Michael Flocker)
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Posted by Mike at 04:40 PM | Comments (0) |
« Keynote Address at the Better Software Conference | Main | Words of Wisdom from the Hedonism Handbook »July 13, 2006
Personal Productivity Strategies
This aricle just crossed my desk from a Cutter Consortium colleague, Dwayne Phillips. It is a thoughtful piece with a fresh look at work life in the Information Age, addressing the subject of "personal productivity" on a large IT project. It brought to mind a recent Fortune magazine article entitled "How I Work," which was about personal work habits of various bigwigs of business. I promise to dust that one out for this blog later on. Meanwhile, when it comes to the idea of coping strategies, I think this piece might give many of us pause to consider what might work for ourselves as we deal with high pressure deadlines in our day-to-day life. (For more Cutter content on "Access to the Experts", see www.cutter.com.)MATERNITY LEAVE, SURFING, AND LONG WALKS by Dwayne Phillips
I am working on a large project with a group of people on the opposite coast. I visit them once or twice a month for face-to-face discussions. On a recent visit, I learned a lot about improving productivity from some unexpected places.
The first lesson came from a female colleague named Susan. Several months ago, Susan told me that she was expecting her second child. I was happy to hear this for two reasons. First was my personal joy; this is a blessed event to be celebrated. Second was a professional reason. I believed that good things for the project would come of this. This belief came from a story related to me several years earlier by a project manager in a similar circumstance.
Susan was to take maternity leave to have her child. After the birth, she would take several months off work and then return to work half time.
My earlier colleague had told me of the many benefits of having a good employee who worked half the time and stayed at home the other half. The benefit comes because while at home, the employee is still thinking about work. The thoughts of work are not in the forefront, but somewhere in the back of the mind. He found that when the employee was physically at work, they had much better ideas and perspectives on situations at work than the people who worked full time. I was looking forward to having Susan work half time on the project and stay at home the other half. more...
Posted by Mike at 11:44 AM | Comments (0) |
« Stainless Steel Screws in My Shoulder | Main | Permissible Defects? »April 13, 2006
Speed, Slowness, and Serendipity
This photo is tells yet another chapter of the ideas that are shaping “Optimal Friction,” and my observations about life in the speed lane of high-technology.
The contraption you see me wearing here is a Donjoy Ultrasling, mated with an Aircast Cryo-cuff. It’s home for a month and a half, as I live life in the slow lane after tearing the shoulder muscle, biceps, and ligaments off the bone from my legendary fall. As readers of previous OF posts may recall, this occurred from my being in a frantic hurry to put out the trash on an icy driveway, thinking about the 9am conference call at the office that I was late for. (Sad but true: The story of my rescuing my children from a wild bear while hiking in the woods was indeed, just an elaborate cover-up.)
The Donjoy sling immobilizes the shoulder at a 90 degree angle so that the subscapularis and supraspinatus (rotator cuff) tendons heal correctly. The subscap tendon is attached to my shoulder with a double-row of Mitek stainless steel screws. The Aircast Cryo-cuff is filled with ice water, exchanged by that cooler attached to a filler tube. It’s circulated a few times a day to keep the swelling down as the soft tissue heals. I kid you not; when I walk down the street with this get-up, people stop and stare. I draw crowds - men, women and children stop what they're doing to ask me what in the world had happened.
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Posted by Mike at 11:33 AM | Comments (3) |
« I Wouldn't Be So Late If... (Part 1) | Main | 2006 QSM Software Almanac - IT Metrics Edition »March 08, 2006
I Wouldn't Be So Late If... (Part 2)
[This article is a follow-up to the February 15th blog entry entitled, "I Wouldn't Be So Late If..."]The Weiner Center for Pre-Operative Evaluation is located at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston MA. “The Brigham’s” as it’s often called, is affiliated with Harvard Medical School. It’s odd that I wound up here typing this blog article, because after my shoulder injury, my friend Digital Doc said to me, “I bet there are people in Boston who specialize in shoulder repair and sports injuries just for tennis-player-management-consultants like you.”
Sure enough, there is such a group. I found out that they existed when my colorful shoulder sling garnered the attention of an acquaintence at our local health club. She had her two children in tow and had just left the pool. “I’m a swimmer,” she said. “When I tore my supraspinatus tendon in my shoulder, I had a great doctor at the Brigham’s perform the procedure. So did David here," referring to her friend. "He tore his bicep off the bone. We’re both doing great.”
“Well,” I replied, “I’ve got both of your shoulder injuries plus more in my one shoulder. I would love a name. The surgeon here cringed when he reviewed my MRI; plus they’re backed up until mid-April.”
A few Google searches later, and I found that BWH was planning a live Internet broadcast of an arthroscopic rotator cuff repair on Thursday, March 9th at 4:30 p.m. Way cool. Laurence D. Higgins, MD, chief of Sports Medicine and chief of the Harvard Shoulder Service in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery is performing the procedure as orthopedic surgeon Scott D. Martin narrates. To view the Webcast, visit http://www.or-live.com/BrighamandWomens/1374/ more...
Posted by Mike at 11:20 AM | Comments (1) |
« Complexity Doesn't Scale | Main | I Wouldn't Be So Late If... (Part 2) »February 15, 2006
I Wouldn't Be So Late If... (Part 1)
“Omigod, what happened to you?” asked my friend Jenny when we saw each other after dropping off our 4th-graders at school yesterday. My shoulder was heavily bound with a most impressive arm sling. It was throbbing like crazy, but the attention that my fancy sling garners me everywhere in town is almost worth it. Sympathy is a neat thing – everyone pouring love and attention at you after only one brief glance.
(By the way, Jenny Michaels MD is a top psychiatrist specializing in chemical dependency. Her husband Basil is one of the best plastic surgeons in Massachusetts. If you’re alcoholic and need a face lift, they’re the ones for you.)
I replied, “I was walking in the woods with my kids, when suddenly a large bear leaped out from behind a tree! I seized it in a death-grip headlock, and punched it in the nose repeatedly while yelling for the kids to escape. The bear gave a mighty struggle and as it tossed me left and right, I wrenched my shoulder. But you should have seen how I beat up that bear!! I gave it the biggest bloody nose you ever saw!” more...
Posted by Mike at 03:46 AM | Comments (2) |
« Stan Rifkin's Wisdom Part 2 | Main | Peter O'Farrell 1946 - 2005 »December 16, 2005
Film Editing on “The Producers”
Rick Derby is an HBO award-winning documentary film producer (“Rocks With Wings”) and a senior film editor on one of the hottest Hollywood film projects of 2005, “The Producers”, starring Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, and Uma Thurman. It opens today in New York and Los Angeles.
Yesterday I had the chance to visit my good friend Rick at the Broadway offices of Sound One, one of the major players in the film industry in New York’s Times Square. What a treat. I got an up-close and in-person look at the inner workings of digital film editing and sound effects in one of the hottest of hot American industries, and one of our biggest exports. more...
Posted by Mike at 07:25 AM | Comments (0) |
« Complexity's Rising Tide | Main | Stan Rifkin's Wisdom Part 1 »December 04, 2005
Creativity, Exercise, Music, and Brain Power
I've always talked about creativity and innovation being the essence of knowledge work in high technology. It's also been my belief that creativity is almost impossible if you're depressed. In any given year, about seven percent - between 13 million and 14 million people - experience a depressive disorder, and about 97 percent of those reporting depression also report that their work, home life and relationships suffer as a result. Depression is also known to weaken the immune system, making the body more susceptible to physical illness. If creativity is an outgrowth of one's passion for life, it can surely be elusive if the passion isn't there.I just received my December issue of Dr. Andrew Weil's "Self Healing" newsletter, with the cover story being about how exercise benefits your mood. The article cites a Duke University study of 156 middle-aged and older people who experienced depression. It compared the effect of treatment with exercise alone versus using anti-depressant medication.
The long and the short of this study is that the exercise was as effective as medication. Moreover, in a follow-up study six months later, depression relapsed in 38 percent of the medication-only group, but in only 8 percent of the exercise group! more...
Posted by Mike at 12:47 PM | Comments (0) |
« Tom Demarco and Impossible Zones | Main | Partisan Perceptions and Ingo Gunther’s Globes »November 22, 2005
Fortune 500 Executives Reconsider 24/7
"Working 24/7 may seem good for companies, but it's often bad for the talent - and men finally agree. So businesses are hatching alternatives to the punishing, productivity-sapping norm." - Fortune magazine
Fascinating statistics abound from the Nov 28th cover story of Fortune magazine. A new survey of Fortune 500 male executives reveals:
84% would like job options that let them realize professional aspirations while having more time for things outside of work.
55% are willing to sacrifice income.
50% wonder if the sacrifices they've made for their careers are worth it.
73% believe that it's possible to restructure senior management jobs that would both increase productivity and make more time available for life outside the office.
87% believe that companies that enable such changes will have a competitive advantage in attracting talent.
The younger a male executive is, the more likely he is to say he cares about this. Another quote from this piece: "Men are willing to talk about these things in ways that were inconceivable less than ten years ago."
The biggest roadblock to reform: FEAR. Even though most senior-level men want better options, nearly half believe that bringing the subject up with the boss will hurt their career.
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Posted by Mike at 10:21 PM | Comments (0) |
« Yosemite Climbing | Main | In Praise of Slowness »September 23, 2005
Climbing El Capitan
Some years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Tokyo, Japan to give a 2-day workshop on software development management. It was a blast. I had a bank of interpreters that translated my talk into Japanese, which made it all the more unusual.
On the way, I had the good fortune of having United Airlines seat me in the middle of another group traveling from NYC. It was the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center. Shecky Ballantine (one of their cellists) and I struck up a great rapport. I got to go backstage at the Bunkamura Music Hall during the concert, and afterward, we all went out for sushi.
Apparently, being a world-class musician isn't just about sushi and late-night fun in Tokyo. I was surprised to hear that it can be quite grueling, with all the rehearsals and travel. In fact, it's so demanding and there is so much tension between the musicians and management, that the musicians formed a labor union. Imagine that! Seems like the general public only hears the music. Backstage it's a different story.
By far, Shecky had the most interesting method to reduce his stress and cope with the rigors of his job: In his spare time, he'd rock climb the face of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. Shecky said he tried to do this every year. It was how he kept his sanity. (For the record, El Capitan is the largest granite monolith in America, and rises over 3,593 feet from the valley floor - 3 times the height of the former World Trade Center.)
Anyone interested in trying this out?
(By the way, I spoke to another climber who regularly rappelled El Capitan. He claimed that he believed many of his fellow rock climbers were actually drug-addicted to their own adrenaline and endorphins. When he wasn't hanging by a thread at 3,000 feet, he felt depressed. Interesting...)
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Posted by Mike at 11:24 AM | Comments (0) |
« Tools Stimulating Change | Main | Climbing El Capitan »September 22, 2005
Yosemite Climbing
Here's another image of climbing in Yosemite. This is the easier part of El Capitan, not nearly as mind-boggling as the 80-plus percent that's completely vertical or reverse-pitched! more...
Posted by Mike at 11:14 AM | Comments (0) |
