One of the most touted benefits of Agile/SCRUM is “visibility” from the top down — what is happening and when (reminds me of 1984, but that is another post).
Visibility is relative, a foggy morning you can’t see as well as on a clear day – simple stupid right ?
So the next question is — what provides clear visibility in a Agile/SCRUM project?
Integrity.
People run around saying what is “in” integrity or has “no” integrity …. but rarely do people talk about what integrity is.
In defining anything you first define what it is not.
Integrity is not :
→ ethical
→ right or wrong
→ religious
→ good or bad
→ moral
→ perfection
→ judgments
→ assessments
Integrity can be very simple:
→ Doing what you said you would do – no matter what
→ Doing what you know to do (even without being asked)
→ Creating an empowering context (always)
→ Being in communication the minuet you know when something is not happening
So how does this make Agile run? Things can work without integrity; whole countries are run without integrity. But it is to what level can they be run. If we were to put a made-up number on our own integrity of 50% and looked at what was accomplish by being at 50% — the possibilities would be ENDLESS to what can be achieved if operated at 100% !
Now one thing to keep in mind is – integrity is never 100% perfect. It is like pet hair — If you have ever had a pet you know that no matter how many times or how expensive your vacuum is, there is always some hair somewhere.
We can look at our burn down charts, increase our ability to estimate, have better planning sessions… do “more, better, different” AKA spinning wheels in mud, or look at what Agile is actually being run off of.
Is it just me or have there been a ton of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) reference on TV as of late? There was a 30 second sound bit on Big Baby episode of House on 1/26/09 about half way through, and it was not the first time for House. On American Idol @ Salt Lake City there was a 2-minuet segment on a golden ticket winner who has Multiple Sclerosis. The best thing is they are referencing positive things! I love it.
When I was first diagnosed all I could find was references of people in wheelchairs, canes, and who needed help to cross the street – UGH.
It is time teach people a little bit about what MS is. Yeah you can look it up online and know that Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). What people tend not know is that – it comes and goes – you relapse and cannot walk, it goes into remission and your up and about like nothing happened (within reason) and from day to day you really do not know how you will be.
I get excited when Multiple Sclerosis is referenced in a positive light in mainstream media. When you hear things like “I may MS, but MS does not have me” it inspires me. It reminds me that on the days when I cannot say one grammatically correct sentence and feel like I have not slept in a week, I may have MS, but it sure as hell ain’t got me!
I don’t claim to be a music aficionado – but I LUV Blue October; something about the lead singer’s voice is intoxicating.
Here is their latest VDO for the Single “Dirt Room”
While cleaning out an old hard-drive I came across some fine art photographs. Now that I am 100% digital I often forget the experience of film; there was something romantic, something basic, clean, and classic. Or maybe I miss the darkroom, where I could spend 12 hours getting the perfect tone on a print. Here is just a small sample of Black & Whites I did while studying at the Corcoran. From memory theses were done with my favorite ISO50 in studio, with one key light .
Now that my blog is up and running I am faced with what plug-ins and widgets to use? There are millions to choose from and I literally could spend days scrolling through them all.
If you cannot tell I love twitter. Tweeting allows me to stay in touch with friends, co-workers, and most importantly industry peers. I can see what is going on between meetings, blog posts, and the daily grind. Also with all the things that I do in a day a bite of 140 characters of information is easy for me to get through. The correlate side of twitter is people can get to know you as a business persona and as person. Lets face it people know what is authentic or a load of crap (aka spam). Really it is about engaging your followers. To engage you have to be engaging and authentic!
First you have to use twitter effectively on your blog; here is how you can
The 5 ways:
Add a “Follow me button“, there are tons of graphics out there and with a simple cut and paste you can have a nice button. How to add a follow me button:
→ Find a button you like. Take a look at Siah Design
→ Add that button you your site, preferably in at the top right of the page
→ Very important, link it to your twitter profile the “a href” link should look like http://twitter.com/YourProfileName ← change to your name
Show your recent tweets, you can show your latest tweet to the last 100. With a few lines of code
→ Customize your settings, have fun with your tweet introduction, maybe something like: “Awesome post at”, “Did you see”, “Hot off the press”
→ Try placing the button at the top and bottom of the posts for maximum exposure
Add a twitter feed for your blog. It reads your rss feeds and automatically tweets your latest posts. Lets face it is one less thing to do when you post Sign up
It’s been 2+ years and I have learned a lot on what to do and more on what not to do when it comes to my multiple sclerosis. I am out to cure myself . When I tell people there is a wide range of reactions; from very positive to the disbelief. All in all what else am I going to do? Just live with it? I do that already – I have no choice but to live with it. I do have a choice in how I live with it. I live with it with passion, humility, and adventure. Really you never know what your new symptoms will bring you – why not have fun with them.
When my left eye stopped seeing in color, that turned into a great experiment on color and black&white photography. When being more than 5 minuets away from a bathroom was a bad idea I turned into a directory of public restrooms and a cleanliness rating system. When my toes went numb I started learning yoga and now can independently move each toe and feel them! When getting hot had obvious side effects at the gym, I joined the water aerobics class. When I could not make it though an 8 hour work day I found out the magic sleep number is 10 and now I have a bed time. It’s all a learning process and seeing what you are committed to. I ask myself all the time; “Am I committed to being sick with MS? OR am I committed to living well with MS?” I tend to pick the latter.
So I have been doing tons of reading … tons of doctors… tons of experiments… and tests. I used to hate needles and blood, now it is no different than ordering a cup of coffee and a scone at Starbucks.
I take my daily shot of Copaxone. I did the Swank diet – which cuts out all fat (an tasty foods). I did feel more clear minded but twice as tired. I also cut coffee down to 12oz a day; from being a coffee addict and would could drink a few pots a day. Cutting out dairy made a big difference in being tired. Recently I have been taking Kiefer Culture a dietary drink to promote your immune system and the added benefit to being less hungry. Vitamin D and tanning gets an extra spring in my step.
After two years I have had days where I forget about it – where I am just me. I no longer wake up in the morning and take a inventory of what parts of the body can still move and what is numb. I just get out of bed into the shower and start the day.
One thing I have found is there are a thousand opinions on what to do, hundreds of books and really it comes down to what feels right for you. I am not about to dismiss the guy who says eating 15oz of seafood a day keeps his MS away, but I am not about to jump on his band wagon either and go off my meds. I have learned to listen to my carvings – I am crazy for carrot juice and spinach juice, I sleep when I need to and refuse to feel guilty about it, and I limit my late working nights. I also take time to read about other with MS @ msworld.org and www.faceofms.org as it helps to know I am not the the only one.
Dis-PLACE-ment a photographic installation, was presented in the 2nd year BFA photography show at the Corcoran.
The piece explors the feeling of falling. The viewer is foreced to look up to view the piece at aerial photographs of a figure on the ground that makes subtle movements with each passing photograph/frame.
This is a 38 foot long piece with eight photographs each with a sister mirror pieces to allow the still images to have a moving counter-part. The long installation ran the length of the White Walls gallery. Watch the Video
