Seinfeld calendar

I first heard about the “Seinfeld Calendar” idea many years ago on someone’s personal  blog and although it looked like a great idea, and I even considered a start up idea around it, I never really fully put it into practice myself.

A recent article on Lifehacker called How Seinfeld’s Productivity Secret Fixed My Procrastination Problem rekindled my interest and this month I am going to give it a proper go.

I have printed out my calendars, I have gotten my black markers and seeing the joy I am getting from crossing out my first 2 boxes today, I am thinking this is going to work. I will report back later.

The 4 goals I am tracking are:

1. Meditate
2. Master Greek
3. Write
4. Code

Wish me luck.

Hack Days

Last week we had our third internal hack day at STC Europe and I am still buzzing from the excitement. For those of you that are not familiar with the concept, hack day “is an event where developers, designers and people with ideas gather to build ‘cool stuff‘”.

I have been organising them at STC Europe since I first joined (after some gentle prodding by Ian Hegerty) and I have found them to be extremely fun and valuable.

Therefore, in this post, I want to share with you some of the learnings & benefits of organising Hack Days and to gently prod you in return to start your own hack days within your organisation or team.

Are you going as fast as you can?

What surprises anyone participating for the first time in a hack day, or attending the demo session, is how much can be created by very small teams – from idea to implementation in 48 hours – while so many traditional software project don’t produce anything over much longer time periods with much more managerial care and oversight. For me, having worked for bigger companies in the last 5 years or so, it is a good reminder of how lethal start ups can be: when you have a highly motivated team that fully buys into an idea,  combined with a strict deadline that forces a team to focus on the essence of the product, not much is impossible.

Although by its very nature, a 48h sprint will be faster than a normal development cycle, and hackers will take many shortcuts, hack days can illustrate shortcomings in your normal systems and processes. For example, are your release management systems causing too much overhead? Are you giving developers enough ownership of feature development to be fully engaged? Is planning becoming a drag instead of a tool? It can also be a call to arms for your leadership team: how can we bring the same energy, agility and excitement to our day-to-day work? Even if you are no longer a start up.

Your team may be better than you know

Remember that quiet guy in the corner that never seemed that interested. He will blow you away with something truly cool. This is not a Hollywood movie. Believe me: Hack Days will allow team members to demonstrate talents, skill sets and great ideas that they themselves may not even known they had. This opens up many new opportunities and improvements for how you structure the team, products or features you go after as a company but also makes for much happier team members.

Joint experiences & adventures make for stronger teams

Surviving release cycles together may create team bonds over time, but hack days will do that for you in much shorter time and will do so cross-team, maybe even cross-office. Hack day is basically one big rush: come up with a cool idea (buzz), find like-minded people (buzz), implement it together – quickly (buzz), demo it for your peers & management team (buzz). All lubricated by pizza, beer and doughnuts. In 48 hours. It’s like a road trip but geekier. You will create bonds, you will make friendships and you will gain respect for your peers.

Great invention ROI

I love this recent tweet from Kent Beck: “once i thought all my ideas were gold, then i realized most of them were crap, then i learned i had to try them to find which were which”. You can try to research if new products and features will work via a variety of means but nothing will demonstrate if an idea will work or not faster than a working prototype. And you will get many of them via hack days, far outweighing the cost of the 2 developer days.

And don’t forget about the ideas. Nothing like a nice mix of backgrounds and experiences to come up with new cool ideas… Much better than a blue sky thinking offsite with similar people just waiting for the open bar in the evening.

It’s fun

Finally, it’s fun. You are likely in the technology business because you love to create. Hack Day is it – close to its purest.

What are you waiting for?

How many things out there are fun, create better teams and have great ROI?

Go for it!

Standards

An idea of one of my favourite authors, David Allen, that really resonates with me is that you often only become aware of your standards or principles when they are violated.

His example is that of dirty mugs around the house. Some people cannot stand to have even one dirty mug lying around while others would not even notice it until they no longer have a clean mug to drink out off. Where it becomes interesting of course is when these two types of people start living together…

Recently, I have become more and more aware of how standards also strongly impact the performance and cohesiveness of a team. Personally, I take a a lot of pride in building great teams and frankly I think I often succeed but there were also the occasional teams that – although not necessarily under-performing – never really felt like they clicked.

Analysing this a bit closer, when I felt that a team really clicked, it was often due to the fact that we were aligned on these standards or the team had higher standards than I had. For example, as a PM, I feel strongly about shipping often and early, be always ready well in time for deadlines if time allows, bring a sense of urgency to project execution, avoid victim mentality, ship things that make an impact for the user (please fill out other clichees). In parallel, when a team did not click, it was often due to the fact that these standards were not shared. Team members may have felt more comfortable with shipping at the last minute or not care so much about making an impact to the user rather than doing something that is interesting or fun.

Now an interesting question is: should you demand your team to live up to your standards?

You could argue that as long as they provide acceptable performance to the business there is no need to force your team to adopt your standards.

I myself had a case where IMHO my manager has impossibly high standards and I certainly felt uncomfortable being dragged there as I could not see the point of them.

On the flip side, I have had managers that have changed my standards and they have proven me a great service. As we all know, a small change in standards (be it extra effort, or networking) can be the difference between good work & great work, and between decent ROI and splendid ROI. And I am forever grateful to them for pushing me there (although, at first, often begrudgingly so).

I guess the key is just to be more very self-aware and analytical of your standards: are these standards clearly linked to success and will I do my team a service by pushing them there or are they just personal preference? Or, alternatively, do I want to be part of a team that do not share my standards?

Beginner’s Mind

After having been in the Web Search game for a while now, I start to notice more and more signs of professional deformation.

Major world events happen and my first reaction is to check the search results page for fresh content or the presence (or not) of certain features. You think about likely trending queries, or how it will affect referrals.

Glancing over the ethical questions the above raises, as a program/product manager, you also always tend to get to a point of expertise (or familiarity with the domain) when you notice that you don’t look at the product any more as a normal user would, let alone a beginning user.

It may be unavoidable but it is not inescapable and I have found that simple awareness of the problem matters a lot.

In that context, I have always loved the Zen or martial arts concept of Shoshin or the Beginner’s Mind which conceptualizes the problem and solution so much more elegantly.

It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would.

Or you may know this famous line:

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.

That said, maybe it is not so bad to not be a true beginner any more as the following quote from the Dalai Lama probably resonates as strongly with me as the concept of Shoshin:

Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly

In any case, I think I will take some time off from my normal routine for a day or two of just pure creative indulgence and see if after all these years, I can still clear my pre-conceptions about Web Search and come up with some interesting ideas without regurgitating the old.

Wish me luck.

A different kind of productive

As we decided not to travel home for Christmas, I have had lots of free time during the holidays. It is an interesting feeling. Normally during a typical work week, you struggle to find an hour or two of free time where you still have energy to actually do something and here are hours and hours of free time staring at you. And then my mind starts chirping away: well, dude, you wanted that free time for ever…here it is… how are you going to use it?

Good question, my beloved but babbling mind. How do you use holidays where you are not travelling or attending family functions? Do you just chill and let the days glide by? Do you catch up on email or work projects you have been delaying for ever? Or something else?

Aside of a rigid schedule of midday naps, I have tried to come up with some worthwhile activities that don’t fit into small timeslots in a busy week. Here is what I came up with:

• Read a book cover to cover in a day. Yes, you can make good progress on a book in smaller time chunks (especially when you are a commuter like I am) but there is nothing like some really dedicated quiet time to tackle an interesting book in one day with undivided attention and taking notes while you go along. In my case, I read Seth Godin’s Linchpin as I have been a fan of his blog for some time now.
• Trying out new software and websites. I am a typical geek and could spend oceans of time here all year long if I let myself. Well, I indulged myself during the holidays. My first selection was Axure RP Pro which is UX mock up tool. Main reason is my longstanding jealousy of the skills of User Experience Designers.  I want them too! I am also watching video tutorials on FileMaker Pro as well as recently signed up for Quora which is an interesting new competitor for Yahoo! Answers.
• Learn something new just for fun. I bought a game of Go ages ago but never really played it much. Well, there are some really great software versions now where you can learn the game by yourself. I use Many Faces of Go 12. Very difficult game but intriguing.
• Get your financials & taxes straight. Moving jobs and countries can make your financial picture quite muddled. Lots of free time takes away a lot of excuses to actually update your personal financial “dashboard” and make sure you won’t get a call from the tax man any time soon.
• Watch a whole season of a TV series you missed but everyone is raving about. When I launched my first “solo” product in my career (ExtraTerm, now known as MultiTerm Extract), I bought a season of 24 on DVD and just watched it until I passed out. I still love to do that (except for the passing out, I am getting older). Currently, I am watching “Rome”.
• Review your GTD system & do a really in-depth weekly review. As many of you know, I am a big fan of GTD and it is great to have a large chunk of time to maintain & review your entire system: try out new software, get your inbox to zero, get all your projects pristine and take a look again at all your levels of horizon.
• Cook something new. I tend to get stuck doing the same recipes over and over again. The holidays is a great time to find some new recipes and try some new things without having to rush (except on the main holidays itself where you want proven success).

Well, that is all I can think of. How do you use big blocks of free time? I still have some days left on my holidays so any other activities you would recommend?

Pomodoro Technique – Timer Magic

What is it?

First of all, what is the Pomodoro technique? In short, it is a time management technique developed by Francesco Cirillo in 1992 as he was looking for a better, more productive way to study. You can download his well-written book for free from his website as well as all the templates you need to put the system into practice.

I have been using the Pomodoro Technique for a couple of years now and thought I’d share some experiences. Please note that I only use certain pieces from the methodology in combination with my GTD system so please consult the book or the website for a full overview.

How does it work?

At the core of the technique is a kitchen timer. You set a timer for 25 minutes and work on one task uninterrupted during that time. Then you have a 5 minute break. 25 minutes of work on one task. Break.

If you succeed in staying focused on one task for 25 minutes, you have succesfully completed a “Pomodoro” (a name that comes from a tomato shaped timer). If you get interrupted or switch to another task during that time, the pomodoro doesn’t count. And basically you challenge yourself every day to complete as many pomodoros per day as you can.

At the start of the day, you fill out your “To Do Today“. In short, you decide what are your Most Important Tasks of the day and how many pomodoros you will invest today per task to complete them. E.g. write blog article 1 pomodoro. Prep Brown Bag 2 pomodoros. Again, goal is to complete all of your scheduled tasks with hopefully accurate predicted estimates as to the number of pomodoros.

What gear do I use?

As a timer, I use Focus Booster. And I use the template from the official site for my “To Do Today”.

How does this combine with my GTD system?

I still maintain a full list of all my projects and next actions as to the GTD system. At the start of the day, I just move projects and tasks from it to my To Do Today list so I stay focused on what is most important or urgent for that day.

Why would you bother?

Well I have found the benefits to be numerous.

• Quality of work: I am a big email addict and will check my phone or email constantly which can be highly distracting and is hardly the right environment for high quality work. Challenging myself to stay focused on a task for 25 minute has greatly increased the quality of my work.
• Productivity: With a timer staring back at you, you start to challenge yourself to complete a task as quickly as possible. All of a sudden your deadline isn’t your next meeting or lunch but the timer ticking, making you very aware of the time you spent and how you are spending it. Am I really doing the essential things to complete this task?
• ROI proof your time: You may want to do a task if it takes half an hour but not if it takes 2 hours as the ROI just isn’t there. By using the timer, you can make a commitment beforehand that you will only spend half an hour on your blog article. In many cases, 80% of the results can be attained quite quickly. Do you really want to spend another pomodoro to fill out the remaining 20%?
• Planning: By using this technique, you become much better at estimating how long you take for a certain task. This helps you to avoid taking on too many tasks and/or to know if you can only do P0 for a project by its deadline or if there is time to tackle some P1s or P2s.

Please try it out and let me know how it works for you! Oh yes, and this blog article took 1 pomodoro.

Brainstorming trick: write your announcement email at project definition stage

As a program manager, I have the pleasure of writing announcement emails to the organization when features go live and I recently had the chance to do this when Autosuggest went live in France (of which I am very proud).

One of the things I have used over the last couple of years is to write, or at least imagine, the announcement email when I start a project. What do you want to be true about the project when it is done? What would amazing success look like? What would you want your boss to say, the press, your peers, the users?

It is a great exercise to use when brainstorming ideas, features, goals for your roadmap.

I actually used this again today in two highly productive sessions. I am sure some people found / will find it hokey but give it a go. It works.

Let your team play

Continuing on the theme of my earlier post of “cranking widgets”, is micromanagement and the fear to avoid mistakes at all costs creating a reactive, dumb-downed team?

Phil Jackson, coach of the LA Lakers, is notorious for not calling time outs when his team is in trouble. He feels it is more important for the team to develop calm under pressure and learn to work through adversity together as a team, rather than give them an easy “out” by calling a time out.

I feel this has a lot of merit for a software team as well. Don’t interfere every time anything goes wrong. Don’t manage every play / task. Let the team play, learn and work together.

The team will never be as good as it can be if you want to control every play and every situation.

Mind mapping to the rescue

I have been using mind mapping for the last 10 years or so and it has proven an invaluable tool for me and a huge productivity booster.

I thought the concept of mind mapping was well-known to most but as I have been consistently getting questions and comments from people on the topic, I thought I’d share some of the details.

Software

The most often asked question in relation to mind mapping is “what is the name of the software that I am using”? (Surprising isn’t it when you are working in the tech world…) Well, it is Mindjet MindManager (www.mindjet.com). You can download a free trail version from their site (30 days). There are also free open source versions available such as FreeMind but I have always used Mindjet’s software. Luckily I have always been able to convince my managers to get me a copy.

How I use it

To be honest, I basically use it for anything that I have to organize my thoughts on but the main scenarios are the following:

Brainstorming

• One of the quickest ways to get ideas out in an external form.
• Unparalleled flexibility to move “thoughts” around and structure them differently creating new associations and insights.
• And unlike a white board it is much easier to create a clean copy for people to take away. Pictures of white boards are just not the same.

Agendas

As a program/product manager, my life consists of a lot of meetings and mind maps are an ideal way to structure them. Where I find them most useful is for my 1x1s. I have a mindmap for each of my 1x1s and as topics occur to me throughout the week I add them to mindmap. When it is then time for the meeting, I print the map out and with one glance it is clear what I need to discuss. It is also great for taking notes during the meeting.

Summarization

I often keep the program open when in meetings, webcast or even when reading business books. One look at the resulting mind map and a lot of the details come flooding back.

Writing

Especially useful for drafts for my product specifications. I move the main outline of a traditional product specification into the mind map and just let my thoughts go from there on, noting action items in a different part of the tree as they occur to me. I typically pretty much have a draft right there and transferring them to the more traditional format of a Word doc is then hardly any work at all as you already have  a clear structure and much of your thinking is already done.

Decisions

Often when I am struggling with a decision, it is because my thoughts are clouded by emotion or there are certain aspects that I am not yet clear on (although I may not necessarily realize that as it is all whirling through my head). Pouring all my thoughts into an external form allows me to distance myself for it and make more accurate analyses on what needs to be done next for me to make a decision.

Anyway, give it a go. Unless you are naturally a linear thinker, you will love it.

Widget cranking

For those who know me a bit, know that I am a fan of the Getting Things Done methodology. One of the key analogies that its creator, David Allen, uses to explain (part of) the methodology is that of “cranking widgets”.

It basically makes the point that, typically earlier on in your career, you probably had clear tasks to do when coming to work that was just like “cranking widgets” and how easy and fun it was. In fact, you might leave with more energy at the end of the day then at the start as you felt so amazingly productive.

However, as you climb up the corporate ladder, all your projects and responsibilities tend to become more amorphous blobs of stuff which can make your work quite overwhelming and unfulfilling.

Therefore, he recommends you turn that “stuff” back into “widgets” by making decisions about the next action you are going to take on any of your projects and make it so clear, distinct and immediately actionable that it is like “cranking a widget”.

I fully buy into this and I have been using this for a while as a means to personal productivity. However, be careful how you apply this when it comes to delegation, or as a style of program management.

Too often I have seen a program manager personally break down a project in small widgets and just ask every team member to execute their widget, checking up continually on every widget’s progress and see that as their job.

I have to admit, many people like this style as it is clear what they need to do and when they are done and they don’t need to think of anything else (i.e. the widget cranking job as to my earlier point). And, of course, I am not immune to its appeal either … as it easy. However, I always knew in the back of my mind that I could be offering more to the project if there was room for it and expected to provide it.

The reason you break down your work into widgets is so you can free up your mind for more creative & courageous work.

Especially in the software field, it is so critical that your whole team is thinking along in every step of the process and all work together to make the goal happen. They may see opportunities for quicker delivery by using a different approach or by cooperation with other teams. Or, realize that cranking your widget on schedule may be less important than taking some more time to help another team as this is your chance to build up a stronger relationship for when you need them later on in the project.

By all means, provide the widgets (or better have the team collectively define the widgets) but don’t lose your team’s collective intelligence in the process.