Sunday, March 26, 2017

learning how to learn / Great course

"In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future" Eric Hoffer, Reflections on the Human Condition



Learning is the most important skill we can acquire to live a full and productive life in this complex, fast-paced, changing and interconnected world.
I found that the course "Learning how to learn" is a very good resource to improve our capacity for learning and to be more effective with the effort employed to learn.

The course has subtitles in different languages including Spanish, is very easy to follow and doesn't require too much effort or time.

The topics covered by the course are:
  • What is Learning?
  • Chunking
  • Procrastination and Memory
  • Renaissance Learning and Unlocking Your Potential

I truly enjoyed the lectures and the material and it helped me a lot to improve my efficiency learning new things... I also like how they introduce the "pomodoro technique" as a great tool to deal with  procrastination...

Thank to the authors, Dr. Barbara Oakley, Dr. Terrence Sejnowski and Becca Judd for this great resource...

So, enroll in the next edition Learning how to learn!!!!

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Book review: Team of Teams




Team of Teams: 

The Power of Small Groups in a Fragmented World 

General Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman, Chris Fussell 


A great book on how to generate a flexible and agile organization prepared to win in a complex world. The authors explain how they created a culture and an organization composed of a network of autonomous teams that at the same time have a shared purpose and a common context.
The most impressive thing about this book is that they described a real story of a deep transformation from a very difficult starting point:

  • A huge military task force 
  • A very solid command and control culture 
  • Several separated organizations 
  • Security risks about sharing information 

So no excuses… It can be done even in the most difficult contexts.

An indispensable book for anyone interested organizations that are adaptable, agile and prepared for this fast-paced, changing and interconnected world.

Note: An interesting podcast with one of the authors bosslevelpodcast interview McChrystal

The two pillars of agile software development




I like being agile and I can say without embarrassment that I have some experience in promoting this way of working and culture... From this experience I can say that what works in the long term is a way of working that put focuses on two things:

  • A healthy culture focused on people (collaboration, respect, team work, creativity...) 
  • Looking for quality and technical excellence (for example XP practices are a great starting point).

Too much focus on methodology without technical practices or without a lot of effort in the culture will probably end in a cargo cult agile and a failed change opportunity...

In summary, for me, from the three main points of agile (culture, methodology and practices), by default, I prefer culture and practices... A healthy culture shared among all the company, a minimal agile process and good technical practices, generate a good flow of outcomes with a sustainable pace...


By the way, this spirit fits very well with Extreme Programming (XP) and with Software craftsmanship.

Needless to say that with a good culture you can reach the rest of necessary ingredients, but it is necessary to have a clear vision of the destination and spend time and effort....

For sure, this is only my opinion and is only based on my experience, but, you know, this is my blog... :)

Sunday, March 12, 2017

interesting Talks/Podcasts (March)

From the talks I've heard / seen lately, these are the most interesting:

Development:



Culture and leadership:



In spanish: