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Showing posts from June, 2013

Games and the Human

Why do humans play games?  Do other animals play?  What value does play create in the propagation of the genes?  Should we play more, play at work, should we play when we are old?    "The average 4 year old laughs 40 times a day;      the average 40 year old laughs 4 times a day." Here are some great videos that describe this phenomena. Why Do We Play Games?   by Vsauce    "The opposite of play is not work, it is depression."     -- Brian Sutton-Smith Stuart Brown:  Play is more than Fun.  TED.com A pioneer in research on play, Stuart Brown says humor, games, roughhousing, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults — and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age. (Recorded at Serious Play in May 2008, in Pasadena, California. Duration: 26:42.) The National Institute For Play. Patterns of Play BBC interview of Bear that plays with dogs. IDEO's David Kelly intervie

Videos on Intrinsic Motivation

I've collected a few videos that I find explain the new paradigm of the 21st century management. Punishment or Reward?  Which is more effective? by Veritasium Discusses the gambler's fallacy and regression to the mean when samples are taken from a normal population.  The importance of control groups in scientific studies. Dan Pink: The puzzle of motivation. TED Talk 2009 Dan will demonstrate that what science knows, business does not practice in the 21st century.  Watch this if you are a manager - you've been lawyered ! Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work? Dan Pink: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. RSA Animate Sir Ken Robinson  TED talk:  How to Escape Education's Death Valley Dr. Anita Williams Woolley, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory presented to alumni at Reunion 2013. Most of us are familiar with the idea of "general intelligence" in individuals, but

5 Keys to Scrum Adoption

I don't think 5 keys need to be ordered.  I've narrowed down a long list of keys, these are the ones that floated to the top.  So these are not in order of importance or steps in adoption; no, you have to do all of these at the same time. Everyone is responsible for teamwork. A culture of experimentation, reflection and learning. Define multiple rhythms - stick to the beat.  Pay attention to the syncopations. Visualize your work - all of it, and in multiple ways (task boards, diagrams, UML, reports, alarms). Get a Product Owner that wants to play ball in the Scrum mentality - or don't even start. I may expand upon the meaning of these bullet points later. What do you think is key for a new organizations Scrum adoption? See Also: ScrumProUK - Simon Morris @Simo_Morris http://scrumprouk.tumblr.com/post/52537981825/my-5-tips-for-scrum-adoption Product Owner in a Nutshell - video by Henrik Kniberg of Crisp. An Agile Adoption and Transformation Sur

A Visualization of the Creative Process

Visualizing the Creative Process  by Daniel Cook of the Lost Garden blog As I coach new developers, I've taken to scribbling out the same useful diagram for visualizing the creative process again and again on coffee-ringed napkins.  In order to limit my future abuse of culinary paper wares, I've reproduced my images in a more formal fashion in this essay.   The conversation usually starts with the following statement:  "Creativity is like a snake swallowing a series of tennis balls." And when confused looks inevitably result, I sketch some variant of this odd little picture:   read more....​ of this article by Daniel Cook of the Lost Garden blog