Acting and thinking

I while ago I was waiting for the Reading to Heathrow bus and I got chatting to a very interesting lady called Suzanne from Germany whose son also has Aspergers Syndrome. For some reason I mentioned the Buckminster Fuller quote which goes something like:

It is is easier to act your way into thinking differently than to think your way into acting differently.

She said that thinking is a frontal cortex activity which is a relatively recent part of our brain, and that acting is done by much older parts of the brain. She also said that when there is fear the frontal cortex shuts down - we act using the older parts of our brain.

The deming route to quality

is an excellent book edited by William W. Scherkenbach (isbn 1-85252-363-8). As usual I'm going to quote from a few pages:

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. [Henry Ford]

There is real waste when people are always expected to have an answer.

The operational definition of any procedure is what you get when it is carried out, not what is written down on a piece of paper.

Someone must manage by the decade.

As with any process, if you focus on the outcome, you will not be competitive. You must focus on the process.

Management works on the system, people work in the system.

All models are wrong. Some models are useful.

The questions are always more important than the answers.

Dr. Deming frequently received calls from managers imploring him to 'come, spend a day with us and do for us what you did for Japan'.

Time and again I see the benefits of using a team.

Teamwork characteristics ... cannot be determined if you interview ... one at a time.

Toyota production system - beyond large scale

is an excellent book edited by Taiichi Ohno (isbn 978-0-915299-14-0). As usual I'm going to quote from a few pages:

There is nothing very complex in the magic of Mr. Ohno's teachings. In fact, it is often confusing listening to him because he talks so simply, often just saying to look for and eliminate waste. We cannot believe it is that simple - but it is true.

Henry Ford was able to mine iron ore on a Monday and, using that very same ore, produce a car coming off the assembly line on Thursday afternoon.

In the pull method, the final process withdraws the required quantities from the preceding process at a certain time, and this procedure is repeated in reverse order up through all the earlier processes.

The principal objective of the Toyota production system was to produce many models in small quantities.

Even worse, there would be no distinction between normal and abnormal states on each assembly line.

If materials or machines are repaired without the managing supervisor's being made aware of it, improvement will never be achieved and costs will never be reduced.

There is no waste in business more terrible than overproduction.

In modern industry, harmony among people in a group, as in teamwork, is in greater demand than the art of the individual craftsman.

In a swimming relay, a swimmer cannot dive before the previous swimmer's hand touches the wall.

I feel the most important point in common between sports and work is the continuing need for practice and training.

They would have had difficulty understanding the system without seeing it in action.

A half-hearted introduction of kanban brings a hundred harms and not a single gain.

Improvement is eternal and infinite.

Airplane kanban

My JAOO (now GOTO) SAS flight home from was slightly delayed. Over the tannoy, whilst we were still on the ground at Copenhagen, the captain explained it was because of early morning fog over Heathrow. He further explained that when its foggy air traffic control increases the gap between the planes in the air as they come in to land. This reduces the capacity and so to prevent a backlog of planes circling overhead they send out delays to planes so they take off a bit later. What this amounts to is that planes leaving can't take off until they receive a pull request from where they're due to land.

It helps to know what success looks like

On a plane when the cabin crew perform their emergency demonstration they don't merely read out the information over the tannoy. No. The cabin crew stand where you can see them. They act. You see them pulling an oxygen mask towards themselves. You see them putting it over their heads. If they're good you see them slowly turning their heads side to side so you can see the elastic at the sides of their heads.

One of my entries in the book 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know is called Make the Invisible More Visible. Visibility is an important aspect of practice and learning. It relates to feedback. You evaluate feedback in the context of your intention - of what you are trying to accomplish. You need a clear idea of where you are trying to get to, of what success will look like when you get there.

Do you have any post-its?

Developers love solving a solution. Unfortunately their eagerness can get in the way of understanding the problem. When I'm with a client I sometimes ask a simple question such as "Do you have any post-its?" I'm careful not to say I want some post-its. I simply ask if they have any. I could be asking the question because I think not-having post-its is an indicator of something else - in the same way that not-having whiteboards is an indicator of something else.

Often they start searching for post-its. I politely stop them and say that I don't want any post-its - I simply want to know if they have any. My aim is to increase their own awareness of solving the solution before probleming the problem.

The gift of time

is an excellent book edited by Fiona Charles (isbn 978-0-932633-75-0). As usual I'm going to quote from a few pages:

Jerry warns us that when a system that continues to change or that is in a changing environment is subjected to a fixed set of tests, it will inevitably over-adapt to those tests, leading to a higher probability of severe or surprising failures in the field. [James Bach]

Complexity isn't an attribute; it's a relationship. [Michael Bolton]

When feedback is offered in the spirit of improving a working relationship, it's all positive. [Esther Derby]

In my experience, if you have a passion for something and want to take responsibility for making it happen you can always find an existing group, or find people around you who are willing to form a new group to get it off the ground. [Willem van den Ende]

People are relentlessly themselves. [Naomi Karten]

In experiential learning, students are fully engaged, and as a result, they determine what they learn, not the instructors or presenters. [Naomi Karten]

...problems that look technical. [James Bullock]

Both PSL and aikido teach practiced awareness of oneself, the situation, and others. [James Bullock]

Shugyo is to step onto the mat exactly when there is every excuse not to. [James Bullock]

I have become enormously skeptical of simple cause-and-effect explanations of any system behavior. [Tim Lister]

And maybe most important of all (and I've been a consultant for about thirty years now), I thank Jerry for helping me think about system dynamics and change. [Tim Lister]

In the technology industry, we spend so much time trying to control machines that we start thinking like machines. [Jonathan Kohl]

Slow motion velocity/wip game

I've noticed when teams play the velocity/wip game they tend to focus a lot of their energy on learning how to throw their dice faster. Learning to throw faster means you'll throw more 1's during your 1 minute iteration but that isn't really the point of the game. It also means that comparisons of velocity between different iterations are misleading.

Thinking about this today I suddenly thought of a two simple ways to improve the effectiveness of the velocity/wip game...

• Instead of having a 1 minute iteration have a fixed number of rolls per iteration. Eleven say.
• Do each roll in slow-motion. After each player rolls their dice, count up the 1's then slowly and calmly discuss how to play those 1's on the current board. Then make the play. Then repeat.

I tried it today (hi Michelle, Lee, Brian, Kenny, Marty, Jarlath, Gerard, Tony, and Charlie) and the difference was startling. Instead of trying to increase their velocity, the team worked on learning to play the game better. So much so that they actually forgot to measure their velocity!

I wish I'd said that

is an excellent book by Maurice Silver (isbn 1-86105-285-5). As usual I'm going to quote from a few pages:

Advice is like snow - the more softly it falls, the better it takes hold.

Don't wait for your ship to come it; swim out to it.

A stumbling block is a stepping-stone that you tripped over.

Make a point to do something each day that you don't want to do.

Error is the discipline through which we advance.

Men inevitably become indifferent to anything they do often.

There can be no economy where there is no efficiency.

When you are through changing, you're through.

Fear is like a darkroom where little doubts gets developed.

The mind grows rich from what it receives; the heart from what it gives.

It is not doing the things we like to do, but liking the things we have to do that makes life pleasant.

Do not look where you fell but where you slipped.

Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.

The instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for truth and have begun striving for ourselves.

If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.

Pragmatic thinking and learning

is an excellent book by Andy Hunt (isbn 1-934356-05-0). As usual I'm going to quote from a few pages:

Being happy broadens your thought processes.

Are you fixing the problem or fixing the blame?

Reading is ineffective compared to any sort of experiential learning.

Documenting is more important than documentation.

Learn from similarities; unlearn from differences.

Your creativity suffers on the day your under the gun and remains suppressed for the next two days as well.

Create an environment where the cost of failure is near zero.

Much of perception is based on prediction.

Every read of your memory is really a write.

Inaction is the enemy, not error.

In the brain of Jon Jagger - Deliberate practice

Here's a video (and slides) of my SkillsMatter Deliberate practice talk. This is a much extended version of the 97 Things lightning talk I did at Javazone recently. I've been known to break cameras and mirrors in the past so they wisely filmed it in very low light... :-}

JavaZone 2010: 97 Things Lightning Talk - Do more deliberate practice

Here's a video of the lightning talk - Do more deliberate practice (one of my entries in the book 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know) I did at the recent Javazone conference. It's about how deliberate practice relates to agility.

cyber-dojo video - Roman Numerals Coding Kata in Ruby

Here's a video of me demonstrating the cyber-dojo website by doing the Roman Numerals kata in Ruby.

Rethinking systems analysis and design

is an excellent book by Jerry Weinberg (isbn 0-932633-08-0). As usual I'm going to quote from a few pages:

We don't need another "movement" just now - unless it is something analogous to a bowel movement - something to flush our system clean of waste material that we've accumulated over the years.

When dealing with the unknown, it appears to be better to handle one situation at a time, examine the results obtained, and then prepare a plan for the next situation.

How to master oneself? The Eastern philosophers have always understood, but it seems the most arduous lesson for us westerners. One masters oneself by giving up the attempt. By approaching an interview with the attitude that one cannot be absolutely in control, one attains the utmost possible control.

One of the greatest divisions [of human thought] is between static and dynamic schemes, between thing and process, between noun and verb.

The architect without the stonemason is not designing cathedrals, but castles in the air.

The way things are is always fighting with the way things might be.

The rough sketch has several advantages over the precise drawing: it represents less investment in time, so we're not afraid to throw it away and try something else; its very roughness conveys important information about where we are in the design process.

The ability to decide when to stop is a feature not a failure.

90% of aggravation in programming projects comes at the end.

Accu london cyber-dojo

The London chapter of accu held a cyber-dojo last week. It was hosted by the excellent people at SkillsMatter. The group agreed to try the Roman Numerals kata with three laptops using Java and one using C#. Everyone had lots of fun. Thank you to everyone who helped to make it possible.

Existentialism and Humanism

Existentialism and humanism is an excellent book by Jean Paul Sartre (isbn 0-413-31300-X). As usual I'm going to quote from a few pages:

There is only one sin, and that's failing to believe you have a choice.

I should be without illusion and I should do what I can.

Many have but one resource to sustain them in their misery, and that is to think, "Circumstances have been against me."

What produces cowardice is the act of giving up.

I cannot obtain any truth whatsoever about myself, except through the mediation of another.

What is not possible is not to choose.

We define man only in relation to his commitments.

The content is always concrete, and therefore unpredictable; it has always been invented.

Barbel fishing on the River Wye

Caught on sweetcorn on the Whitehouse beat. What a beautiful river. And what a beautiful fish.

Two bowls

My I Ching for today was no 41 Reduction. Part of it reads:

Two bowls can be used for presentation. The two bowls must be timed appropriately: reduction of firmness and increase of flexibility have their times...

I was struck by how apt that is for software development. A reduction of firmness mirrors abstraction. But abstractions must be grounded by experience. By reality. It conjurs an image of periodically moving the work back and forth - between firmness and flexibility. It's also reminiscent of how code and its tests help to shape and form each other.

Understanding the professional programmer

is an excellent book by Jerry Weinberg (isbn 0-932633-09-9). As usual I'm going to quote from a few pages:

To be a champion kicker requires about one hundred parts motivation to every one part leg.

The professional programmer is a person who solves problems for other people - whatever that takes.

I believe that terminology eventually influences our thinking.

Health comes before all else in producing happiness.

You must begin to see change as something wonderfully rare, and worth observing. You must stop taking change for granted if you wish to master the art of productive change.

Many programmers… work in environments in which they receive essentially no real feedback embodying the consequences of what they do. Lacking no real feedback, they lack the motivation to attempt changes, and they also lack the information needed to make the correct changes.

The number-one problem of both analysts and programmers - as well as their managers - is that they assume too much. They especially assume that they know what kind of problem they're working on - that it's a puzzle and not a problem.

Brains require stimulation.

The secret key to all good writing is re-writing.

As long as the bull lives, there will be bullshit.

Lines of code is a measure of the solution and not the problem.

Speed and steering

In a previous visit to Tandberg (now part of Cisco) I happened to mention I once learned to ride a unicycle. During my latest visit to Tandberg a developer called Oivind told me he unicycled to work and asked if I would I like to try it again. It had been 25 years but I was game.

I started by moving slowly along a fairly narrow corridor - narrow enough to touch both walls. I managed to get some of the skill back but quickly reach a plateau. Oivind suggested I try riding in the open space at the end of the corridor.

With more space I could concentrate on leaning forward and riding a bit faster without worrying about crashing into a wall. Going a bit faster is important because it's hard to maintain balance moving very slowly.

With more space I could concentrate on keeping going and steering into a correction without worrying about crashing into a wall. Steering is important because there's not much point in learning to ride if you can't control where you're going.