l.p.g. - flammable gas

This recording contains explicit language and may not be appropriate for all listeners.

Don't we all love those up-front disclaimers that make the subject of their warning ever so more interesting?

The same holds here. Not that it's necessary, though. What Señor David has to say about running the 37signals business is interesting, even though there is nothing really new that hasn't been said before. By himself or others. But some things are worth repeating.

And if somebody calls BS where BS can be found, the better it is for all of us. Explicit or not.

So, go there and listen.

For those of us who can do with a little quote every now and then to keep the motivational fire burning, here is an eBook that does the job. It is full of just about 80 quotes from more or less well-known blokes and gals.



Some are good. Others are even better. And the latter even include some of the many north-american participants. Which, yes, is a surprise.

Sometimes, the meaning of a simple message highly depends on the way we look at it.

And this sometimes may just be more often than we expect.

The Smashing Magazine recently featured an article about the great idea to design something every day and doing so by means of 15 - 20 minutes daily chunks.

Basically, this sounds like a great idea. Some small action every day looks easy, manageable, and like something that could be done.

The problem is, though, that this contradicts the whole context switching costs as charmingly described by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister in Peopleware or as Paul Graham more recently did in his piece about maker's versus manager's schedule.

Of course, the underlying motivation of the smashing article still holds: practice creates experience. But don't be fooled about the real cost of real and repetitive work. It's most likely more than just a mere twenty minutes a day. But may very well be worth every every microsecond if you can keep up the pace and stick around long enough. Or to put it more simple: inspiration is sometimes just the by-product of hard work.

Let's assume you get a marshmallow and a choice: eat it now, or wait and get a second sweety as reward.

The Marshmallow Test from Igniter Media on Vimeo.

The video shows excellently that this may sound just too easy, but that it is seriously tough in reality.

It's a question worth asking again and again: take one or wait for the other? The rewards may be many. Later. They may even be many more. Even later. They may be infinite. If you wait just as long.

The sky is the limit and some future may be bright. But a marshmallow now and not later may not only taste well but also help to shine the mood up and make aiming for the whole package independently a breeze.

If you still have some free resolution left for this new-born year, consider devoting it to some reflection on Hans Rosling's forecasts on how and when the rise of China and India will result in a complete personal economic catch-up compared to some western countries:



Scary? Healthy! And great to keep the mind fit and in shape. Which isn't too bad for the resolution season.

Happy new year, everybody!

[This is part 4 in our little spare-time project series. See parts one, two, and three for some context.]

For the planning setup of our fancy little spare-time project we talked about building the basis by means of a MindMap that includes things like a vision, a backlog, releases that could be seen as Sprints, and features that could be described as user stories.

So, we are talking about Scrum, right?

Wrong.

This is no Scrum as we are talking about a simple-simple project setup. So simple that it most likely only includes you. Nobody else. Thus no distinct roles. No meetings. And not even a need for time boxes (if we opt out of teuxdeux-part three).

So, don't be mislead. Even if two things may share some terminology, they don't need to be the same. And if we don't do Scrum, we don't call it Scrum.

[This is part 3 in our little spare-time project series. See parts one and two for some context.]

The overall project plan is set and sketched out using XMind, but using Remember the Milk for planning the nitty gritty tasks that need to be done seems overly complex? Lets try out teuxdeux for a change! It's a plain and simple todo list manager. And all its simplicity doesn't just make it easy and fun to use but also asks for cleaning up the overall planning for MFSP - my fancy spare-time project.

Create an account solely for MFSP. Teuxdeux is simple. Doesn't come with tags or anything the like. If you want to stay focused and keep clutter out of your way, don't mix up MFSP's tasks with anything else, like remembering to buy some milk.

Go for one-week iterations. A new release every week? Why not! Just jam in less and it can be done. Why? Because teuxdeux focusses on five days - one week sans some weekend time.



Given all this, you basically do what we discussed last time: Take the Releases node of your MFSP MindMap and look at every single feature therein that you thought would fit into the next release. Think about it. Throw all the tasks that you can come up with and that you will need to do into teuxdeux. Distribute them as smart as you can. Or put 'em all in one day, like the last one of your week. They will be rendered red automatically in case you don't strike 'em out before that day goes by.

Make sure that no task turns red. Ever. And you're all set. Plain. Simple. Fast.

[This is part 2 in our little spare-time project series. See part one for some context.]

OK, so we are set with a MindMap of the big picture and overall plan for MFSP - my fancy spare time project. All set. All well. All fine. All not done, yet. And this is where Remember the Milk (RTM) comes in. This is a plain and simple online todo-list manager. And the best thing about it is that is not only useful for not forgetting about the milk but caring about one's spare-time project's tasks as well.

But how does it fit our MFSP task planning? As plain and simple as it gets, of course: by using some tags and two saved searches to dig everything up on demand.

Do this by going through the Releases node of your MFSP MindMap and looking at every single feature mentioned therein. Take the feature and think about what it is that needs to be done in order to get the feature all round and shiny. This is your planning session and what you do with all your hard thinking is to spend the following three tags on everything you come up with:

• .mfsp: This is a general tag applied to everything related to our fancy project. Especially helpful for those of us who use RTM for more than just this one project.


• v1.2: A version tag that directly correlates with one of the Releases sub-nodes in our MindMap. It is applied to everything that will eventually make it into some release of the application. The numbers change from planned version to planned version, of course.


• na: This is just an abbreviation for next action. Use it to tag everything that you plan to do next on every feature of a planned release. Don't forget to add this tag to another task when you cross off the current one as done.

In addition you have the following two searches defined once and for all:

• Current Release: tag:.mfsp and tag:na and status:incomplete and v1.2


• Next Actions: (status:incomplete and tag:na) or dueBefore:today or due:today

Save these searches, do some RTM clean up as recommended at Paprika Lab's RTM for GTD post, and you get the following plain and simple navigation bar to guide you through your project's tasks:



Plain. Simple. And easy! But just in case this still looks too overkill: let's see if we can find an even simpler approach in the next part of this little spare-time project series.

If you fit into any of these:

• Your day-job is so demanding that you need to work on some side-project in order to calm down and get back on track.


• Your day-job isn't filling you out so that you feel the need to start some spare-time project in order to burn your overflow energy.


• You just happen to want to try something out that jumped your mind and now wants to get a real-life test.


• You are looking for an excuse to spend your night-hours in front of a computer just as you have been doing all day long, already.

Then maybe you are just in the right mood to get up and working on some fancy little spare-time project. And to keep the motivation on a sky-like level, it may be a good idea to still do some planning, besides it all being just a low-volume, non-essential, and nobody-really-cares kind of activity. Just avoid filling paper with boring long lists if boring long list aren't the most exciting thing you've ever seen invented. Instead, try out some mind mapping. Like this:



It is a little map created using XMind for the sake of illustrating how the following four main map nodes do a fine job in providing a roadmap for your great little project:

1. Vision: This is basically a one-sentence motivation of why you are investing your valuable spare-time at all.


2. Backlog: This is a raving list of features you came up with at three o'clock in the morning while everybody else was sleeping well.


3. Releases: This is a collection of small version-labelled nodes with entries moved over from the Backlog as you plan to do and release them sometime soon.


4. Done: Move all completed releases here as soon as you throw them out the door!

Plain. Simple. Sans magic. Which is all a good thing.

Next up will be just as simple of an idea on how to plan the individual tasks that need to be done to check off the respective Release Backlog entries.

When someone comes around and asks you to name the most amazing projects of the last four decades, how many of those that jump your mind stem from your field of work, your geographic area, your general centre of interest?

Quite a few, most likely.

Now watch this video and see how broad the topic selection just may be:



And also see how narrow the general geographic focus of the examples in the video is.

Which nicely shows how tough it is to think outside the box. Even if you deliberately intent to do so.

Not so long ago, we had some Scrum slides posted on the wall here in Gasbottle County. One thing was missing there, though: some idea on handling the limited communication bandwidth to get user stories to where they need to be for a sprint: ready. Or ready-ready as a recent Scrum and CMMI paper puts it.

Here are some slides on engaging another current buzzword for this problem: Kanban.



And if you are still not getting ready-ready for done-done, your communication bandwidth may just really happen to be: too narrow. This is not a good thing. But at least good to know. Or not?

Running a Marathon is a fine idea to get some time blocked for not doing much besides running. For the average bloke it takes about four hours. Quality time to free your mind. Or just the right time to show that you are fit enough to get through the whole challenge.

But what if you aren't fit? Not because a lack of training but maybe just because you very recently happened to stumbled across some uneven ground and strained a foot?

Then it's best to simply forget about the official event and do the running independently of all the other blokes and gals. Maybe a couple of weeks later than originally planned. And maybe using something to compensate for the surrounding setting of an organised Marathon event. Like this:



Darlouwko Beach II Le Grams 09 from D_ark: 4 hours 20 minutes of a perfectly well mixed soundtrack to keep you up and running. Just the right fit for an approximate Marathon distance plus some reserve to cool down afterwards.

Thanks to Señor Tobi for the link. At least my feet feel much b etter now.

Just a while ago I talked to some friend of mine. This happens from time to time and is not inherently a bad thing. We even had a great time. If only we hadn't both been Toastmasters of some kind. Because guess what may happen when you chat along for a while, back and forth, questions come and answers go? Right: you fall into well-known patterns of little impromptu speeches. Table topics as these Toastmasters call them.

There is not much magic involved and this is how you play it: one person asks a question, possibly a surprising one. The other player gets to answer for a minute or two. No more, but also no less. No brushing off the question, no bubbling along. Whoever gets to ask a question that isn't matched with an usable answer, wins the round.

Some basic strategy to approach the game is straight forward: listen. Then breath deeply and pause before you take off with your answer. Even if you do know something to say right away. This keeps the tension up and makes you sound more organised and convincing.

The challenge is in raising the bar of the game by what you are actually saying. Toastmasters' common tip is to try to morph the question into some topic that's familiar to you. I guess that's the single one most misused hint that someone in the organisation came up with. Ever. If you don't have something to say, really don't have something to say, shut up and pay the round.

Don't use this as an easy escape, though. If you think about it, you surely do have some value to add to most questions thrown at you. Most often, it's the structure that's missing. Structure is the new gift wrap for great content, after all. And there are some structural wrapping techniques that do actually work, maybe even for Toastmasters.

Like the opponent technique. We don't call it that way because it will down your co-player at the blink of your eye. But we do so because you use opponents in the single points you bring across for answering the current question at hand. Like a problem and a solution. Something about the past, something about the future, spiced up with something about the present. Something tiny and something huge. Something black, something white. Something slow, something fast. Make up your mind and try to come up with strong opponents on the spot.

Or win the round with pep - point, example, point. Take off slowly by making some minor point that jumps your mind easily. Lift it up with an example. Round it off with the strongest point you can come up with in the little time you have. This is a very generic tool that allows you to build up to the climax as you go.

Tougher is: prep - position, reason, example, position. You'll have to think about your position on the topic of the question first. Then explain where it comes from. That's the reasoning part. Relax with an exemplary story about your background on the topic. It should ideally play well with your reasoning. In the end relax and use the power of repetition by stating your initial position again. It's stronger now.

And in the end there is of course only one golden gem to better your chances at the impromptu game: practice. Play it as often as you can. Make sure to catch a buddy with some more easy going topics at least from time to time. Use a Toastmasters club if you have one at hand. But don't get fooled into turning the answer for some table topic into something completely different that nobody asked for. You can do better.

And the next time I'm talking to someone who is with Toastmasters, I'll just keep repeating my questions if she doesn't do any better than just turning the topic upside down.

Don't we all recall The Long Tail? This saga of the real chance that we can all have a share? Eventually? If only we dip through the thousand years it takes to earn our two cents? The whole idea was born at Wired's Headquarters, by their chief wiring bloke, Señor Chris Anderson himself.

From the same keyboard stems the latest Anderson Buzz: Free - the future of a radical price. It's a whole book based on the reasoning line of just about everything being available electronically, thus stored on computers, these computers being perfect copying machines, copies actually not costing anything, and thus everything turning free.

Everything?

Maybe not. As at least some of the usual US American word artists claim. Most others complain. Grab your taste from Keven Kelly, Josh Kaufman, Malcom Gladwell, and of course Seth Godin.

As charming as the whole idea of free may seem at first, you'll basically see a repeating pattern: even free is paid for. Be it via subsidies, hidden costs, upgrades, or whatever else you may come up with by turning on your creativity.

Go and test it out yourself. Free is free in the sense that you don't have to pay for the download of the audio version of the book. You pay for it with your time and attention while you listen. It's lengthy at times, which immediately shows how free even this kind of free really is.

But maybe the tail of this tale is longer that it seems for now.