Give a damn

I am worth about 2 dollars and a bus pass.

No, yesterday I was like a million bucks. But today I just stumbled across one of those online net worth calculators.

I'm asked to enter my liabilities, home mortgage, car loan, student loans. And then next, what are your assets? Like the value of my home, jewelry or collectibles, cash, mutual funds and then after the immensely complicated calculation I just found out that I'm worthless.

The funny thing though, the only solace that really made a dent in nursing my worthlessness with a meager offering of encouragement was the old adage: I still got my health.

Maybe your net worth is not the best test of your self-worth. Perhaps the more critical query is, what is your net health?

Tell us a little bit about your assets.
- Bonds rates the strength of your connections, with others.
- Collectibles, are you living a life of memories worth saving?
- A vehicle, how powerful or painful is your mobility?
- Life insurance, what is the total value of your contribution to humanity?
- And of course, retirement, how much good will have you paid into your IRA?

And, can't forget our liabilities.
- Student loans, how much has it cost you to learn the hard lessons about stressing?
- Oh, credit cards, are you still really just paying the minimum balance due to your behavior?
- Personal debt, how much do you owe to yourself, still, to get fixed?

Your health net score will not be a number, it will be many numbers. Cholesterol levels to reach, numbers of hours to sleep, amount of veggies to eat, a number of relaxation techniques. It will be a fitness suggestion and most importantly a personalized navigation to get behavior from location to destination, and that map, the map, that tells you what to do, that is the critical component to the assessment.

Our odds for success are changing. Our unhealthy behavior is only as good as our directions.

To simply approach change as though it is difficult, only scratches to the surface.

Change is emotional. And our ability to override our emotional resistance to change depends on our intrinsic motivation to give a damn.

The irritating know-it-all in my mirror is right. I do know better, right? I know what medical researches says about my unhealthy behaviors. I know how it feels when I make unhealthy decisions, and I know that I'm supposed to do the right thing and I finally learned what the right thing is to do, and I finally give a damn enough to get it done.

Stop forgetting your pills, you know better. Stop postponing treatments, you know better. Stop being afraid to change, you know better. Stop saying you'll start tomorrow, you know better.

To know what to do you must have the right answers. To have the right answers, you must have the right questions, the right plan and the right reasons to help you change your direction.

so, grab those reigns of responsibility for navigating your path. Embrace your power to enhance the luster of your laugh, accept your duty as sovereign leader of wellness, of your vision.

Your net health potential is limitless. The same way you network your net worth to amass your net wealth, you can net heal your net self to amass your net health, and your future can be saved.

Good decisions can be made, and your net health can increase with one thing to do, give a damn.

Leading With Humility

This post was originally published at Leading-Resources.com.

Famous leaders are often praised for their passion, assertiveness, focus and intelligence. However, when CEOs were asked to name the most important quality people desire in their leaders, they gave a surprising answer—humility. There are several reasons humility is such a major influencer in a leader’s ongoing success:

• Humble leaders take the focus off themselves. Instead of constantly speaking in “I” and “me” statements, they think in terms of “we” and “us.” This shift in focus communicates to everyone that the leader is working toward the company’s success instead of toward his or her own personal goals.
• Employees have an easier time trusting humble leaders. They believe leaders with humility will act in the best interest of others.
• Humble leaders are less likely to micromanage. Prideful leaders believe that nobody can do a job as well as they can. They control every detail, making the organization less efficient, putting more stress on themselves and fueling frustration among employees.
• Humble leaders take every opportunity to highlight the accomplishments of others. Employees are likely to work harder because they trust that their leaders won’t downplay or claim the credit for their accomplishments. Getting approval and recognition from humble leaders feels more satisfying to employees.

When you lead with humility, people will naturally gravitate toward your ideas and your vision. It’s a basic part of the trust equation: If I know that you are acting in the interest of the entire organization, and not in your own self-interest, then I will reciprocate by doing the same. The result: Better sharing of resources, less conflict between divisions and departments, and better decision making throughout. Long term, this is what builds a leadership culture, where everyone, as I like to say, “runs it like they own it.”

Even if you aren’t known for being a humble leader, it’s never too late to start practicing humility. Start with these three steps:

• A little self-deprecating humor goes a long way. When you make a mistake, let people know.
  
• Practice listening and engaging. Affirm the value of what people say, and guide discussions rather than control them. Ask questions more.
  
• Trust employees to take on more responsibility and show appreciation for their efforts. That’s a sure way to demonstrate humility.

What is the Internet of Things?

From hair brushes to scales, devices are having chips inserted into them to collect and communicate data.

In the broadest sense, the term IoT (Internet of Things) encompasses everything connected to the internet, but it is increasingly being used to define objects that "talk" to each other. "Simply, the Internet of Things is made up of devices – from simple sensors to smartphones and wearables – connected together".

By combining these connected devices with automated systems, it is possible to "gather information, analyse it and create an action" to help someone with a particular task, or learn from a process. In reality, this ranges from smart mirrors to beacons in shops and beyond.

It's about networks, it's about devices, and it's about data. IoT allows devices on closed private internet connections to communicate with each other in the same network or even with devices in a different network. It gives the opportunity for devices to communicate not only within close silos but across different networking types creating a much more connected world.

Why do connected devices need to share data?

An argument has been raised that only because something can be connected to the internet doesn't mean it should be, but each device collects data for a specific purpose that may be useful to a buyer and impact the wider economy.

Within industrial applications, sensors on product lines can increase efficiency and cut down on waste.

IoT offers us opportunity to be more efficient in how we do things, saving us time and money. It allows companies, governments and public authorities to re-think how they deliver services and produce goods.

The quality and scope of the data across the Internet of Things generates an opportunity for much more contextualised and responsive interactions with devices to create a potential for continued change.

Where does the IoT go next?

We are looking at a future in which companies will indulge in digital evolution, using IoT, AI and machine learning to rapidly evolve in a way we’ve never seen before.

At the centre of creating a vast, reliable IoT network lies one significant issue: compatible standards. Connected objects need to be able to speak to each other to transfer data and share what they are recording. If they all run on different standards, they struggle to communicate and share. 

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Standards Association lists a huge number of standards being developed and worked on for different applications. Additional needs are emerging for standardisation. If standardisation happens it will let more devices and applications be connected.

To try and tackle this issue on an enterprise scale, Microsoft has introduced its own system for IoT devices called "IoT Central". The system gives businesses a managed central platform for setting up IoT devices and Microsoft claims the system will simplify the creation of IoT networks.

Daily Scrum Myths

1 - Daily Scrum as a status report

There is a need (even if it's a small one) for the managers and even the project managers to implement command and control. This is the main reason why many companies are using the daily scrum as a status report.

This way the daily scrum looses its purpose as a team's self-organized meeting and turns to be an evaluation of how the job has been done.

The scrum guide says that the team members use the daily scrum to follow their progress regarding the sprint objective. Another important point is that the scrum master must always remind that the daily scrum belongs to the team members and is up to them to decide how they will drive it.

2 - Daily scrum as problem solver meeting

There is a reason why the daily scrum is also known as a stand up meeting: If the participants have a sit the chances of the meeting extends more than necessary raise significantly.

The scrum guide makes it clear: The daily scrum is a 15 minutes meeting for the team synchronize its activities and create a plan for the next 24 hours.

Many people mistakenly believe that the daily scrum is used for:
- Notify problems to the scrum master
- Discuss a solution for a problem that you had yesterday (that hasn't been solved yet)
- Gather team members to discuss technical issues

Just to make it clear: If you have an impeditive issue that you cannot go through by yourself than you shall ask for help in that moment. Don't wait until next meeting to ask for help ok?

3 - Daily scrum as the only opportunity to update the team's board

You've seen that already, right? The team members wait until the meeting day to move their completed tasks in the kanboard. But wait: For what reason do we have a beautifully strutted board in a place where everyone can see if it stays 23 hours and 45 minutes outdated every day?

When a task is completed move it to the "done" and move the next one to the "doing". Don't wait until the next daily scrum. It doesn't make sense. Remember the following rule: The team's board has to be always up to date. And it's a team's responsibility to keep it this way.

And how's your team's daily scrum?
The daily scrum is incredibly effective if executed right. It is simple and direct, but you need to ask yourself all the time: Do I know why I'm doing it?

To think like this may help you out to always get to the next step.

Are you too busy?

Stop with "I'm too busy"

We’re all just so “busy” these days. “Slammed” in fact. “Buried.” Desperately “trying to keep our heads above water.” "Overloaded"

Busy is a catch all term. When we say "busy," we're really trying to say something else—although what exactly that might be depends on the harried soul that's complaining:

I'm busy = I'm important

Being busy gives people a sense they're needed and important. It's also a sign that you are self-imposing these measures of self-worth by looking at quantity instead of quality of activity. Busyness does not equal productivity.

I'm busy = I'm giving you an excuse

Saying that you're busy is a handy way to outsource your responsibility to your irresponsibility. Since you're always distracted, you don't have to do anything for anybody.

I'm busy = I'm winning

To say that “I’m busier than you are” means I’m more important, or that my time is more valuable, or that I am “winning” at some never ending rat race. What you’re trying to say with these responses is: I’m busier, more in-demand, more successful.

Busyness is not a virtue, it's an error in perspective. It's easy to think that quantity of activities is quality. It allows us to avoid meaningful interactions, commitments, common courtesy, etc.

In this way, busyness functions as a kind of laziness. To combat this mentality you need to be purposeful in your actions. Set goals for your day and make some promises to yourself to be accountable for your activities.

And by all means, use your vocabulary, there are other ways to convey your priorities and availability without using the "B" word. Work smarter, not harder and enjoy your life, people interactions and activities.

 

BPM vs ERP

ERP vs BPM - Which one is the best?

A quick search for this subject on the internet and we find several discussions, some of them even very fuzzy. Because they do not know the purpose of each tool well, some people end up getting confused when it comes to choosing or opting to use. Therefore, in this article I will show the characteristics and applications of each tool.

ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning: ERP systems aim to control all the operations of a company guaranteeing the integrity and the ballast of the same. With this control it is possible to visualize information that will aid in the decision-making.

With an ERP system the company has control of everything that comes in and everything that comes out (all movement), be it merchandise, service or even finances.

Example: Having this control you can view the inventory movement of a given product in a given period. With this information the business owner can, through reports of the own ERP, have a suggestion of the ideal quantity to be purchased for this product for a future period. You can also view the company's cash flow, accounts receivable and accounts payable, reports, tax liabilities and so on. All this information will help in making decisions that will directly impact the sustainability of the company.

That is, the ERP system will actually guarantee control of the company as a whole, but for this, it depends on people feeding it correctly. The power of the ERP system will depend on the company process, which often even differs somewhat from the ERP process requiring some adaptations on both sides.

BPM - Business Process Management: Actually BPM is not really a system, but a concept. It is an adaptive management approach, developed with the purpose of designing, systematizing and facilitating organizational processes, inside and outside companies.

There are systems that have been designed to assist in BPM which are called BPMS (Business Process Management Suites / System).

BPMS systems or suites use a notation called BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation). This notation ensures that any BPMS system follows the same pattern, thus facilitating the understanding of flows and diagrams generated independent of the tool.

In summary, once the company process has been mapped to BPM, it is possible to visualize the flow of the operations and the order in which they must be executed to ensure the smooth operation of the process. Having this, it is possible to guarantee for example that people feed an ERP system in the right way at the right time.

With a BPMS it is possible to generate systems with graphical interfaces where the users responsible for each stage of the company's process should register some information assuring its execution. This information may eventually be written to or even retrieved from ERP systems.

What does the Product Owner need to know?

Many times the PO importance may be disposed In relation to other scrum actors. If that happen, the project fatally won't be successful. In this text I will give you 5 tips that will contribute to your success as Product Owner in a project.

1 - Trust is the key

The PO has the business knowledge but may not have enough technical knowledge to argue with the development team about certain issues.

Also, the development team might suggest to the PO some changes in the backlog that can accelerate the production.

In this scenario, considering that you have a pro efficient team, the best thing to do is hear their feedback and trust their judgment.

2 - The PO's job is to serve the team

The ultimate goal of development is to launch an excellent product in time. The PO should try to be available and respond as soon as possible to the team's questions.

If the team is working with 2-week (10-day work) Sprints, imagine that if there is an impediment that paralyzes work for 1 day it may mean that 10% of the time available for work has been thrown away.

3 - Users perspectives are essential

Is essential for the Product Owner to understand people that are going to use the product. The better the understanding about the end user is, better will be the product's direction, its functionalities and it's business rules. Nothing is more important than the time spent to understand the end user.

Although it seems difficult, the goal is to achieve the best balance between what you know about the product needs and what represents value for users.

4 - Sometimes the team fails

Even if the team is very productive in a successful sprint, this doesn't mean that necessarily the same thing will happen in the next sprint. The ups and downs in a development process are normal, unpredictable and can happen due to various internal or external factors.

The truth is that the fail or success of a sprint is not as important as the team capability to deliver value for the customer. So there is no reason to despair if not all the stories are approved at the end of the sprint.

Scrum teams are always trying to improve on each sprint. The Product Owner must trust the team and be aware that failure may occur because the team decided to test new techniques or set a very ambitious goal.

5 - The Product Owner and the Project Manager are different

The Product Owner must not try to carry the world in your arms. That's impossible!

The PO doesn't need to worry about schedule, resources allocation or how the team plans the sprint. His job is to define priorities and answear the team's needs.

To let the team self-organize and trust their way of work will save time and make things easier to both sides.