I’m studying Building High-Performing Teams on Coursera. These are my revision notes for weeks 1-2. Team Culture Cultural differences are at the heart of performance problems. Team culture: the formal and informal rules a group makes to solve problems and get things done Team culture is one of the biggest factors determining the collective success or … Continue reading Setting Team Foundations
Effecting Cultural Continuity and Change
I’m studying The Power of Team Culture on Coursera. These are my revision notes for week 5. Culture in Time "Cut the end of the meat" story: woman cuts the end of the meat before roasting. Didn't know why; learned from her mother mother didn't know why she did it either, she had learned it … Continue reading Effecting Cultural Continuity and Change
Team Rituals and Symbols
I’m studying The Power of Team Culture on Coursera. These are my revision notes for week 4. Burning the American Flag How do teams tap into emotions? Symbols and rituals! For example at U Penn: Carolyn Marvin (associate professor at U) burned a flag This was a previously illegal activity Intended to allow the students … Continue reading Team Rituals and Symbols
Corporations in Culture
I’m studying The Power of Team Culture on Coursera. These are my revision notes for week 3. Two Examples of Cultural Boundaries A cultural boundary is any difference in culture, such as socially acquired preconceived routines for a specific situation, between two individuals or groups or between an individual and a group Brushing teeth in … Continue reading Corporations in Culture
Why Culture Matters in Organizations
I'm studying The Power of Team Culture on Coursera. These are my revision notes for weeks 1 and 2. What are Teams? A team is any group of people that performs some collective task on which they have to work together, that is, they have to cooperate In businesses, there are many tasks that require coordination. … Continue reading Why Culture Matters in Organizations
The Great Convergence
I was looking for something to read on my commute, when I saw a tweet: @KentBeck:I *knew* The Great Convergence was going to be awesome. 3% read and it's already paid for itself. Tx @BaldwinRE Of course I had to buy it! For what is in effect an economic text book, there are some fascinating … Continue reading The Great Convergence
Changes to XTC in 2017
The 10th January 2017 XTC meetup was a very active affair. I had asked the question "What shall XTC do in 2017?". This involved a lot of talk of the history of XTC, and asking philosophical questions like "What is XTC?" and "Why would anyone come to XTC?". I had a major a-ha moment as … Continue reading Changes to XTC in 2017
Password Managers
Knowing that I'm a long way behind on my security practices, I asked some friends "What password manager do you use?" (with the proviso that I use Linux and Android at home). I've decided to give KeePass a go, but for full disclosure here's all the responses I received: ST: I like LastPass. They LastPass … Continue reading Password Managers
Charlie Stross Predicts 2017
Charlie Stross has written a series of blog posts which extrapolates current events into the next 12 months. It's a glorious imagining of the future, but I'm afraid it doesn't end well for humanity... Part 1: Things can only get better Part 2: You're only supposed to blow the doors off! Part 3: And the … Continue reading Charlie Stross Predicts 2017
XTC 2016 Retrospective
It's been about 15 months since I first volunteered to help out with the organisation of the Extreme Tuesday Club (XTC). When I first started visiting XTC around 2005, I would turn up and could pretty feel assured that someone would be there (or more often 10-20 someones), and there would be awesome conversations. At the end … Continue reading XTC 2016 Retrospective
Renaissance Developer 