Rocket Science

The blog post that moved me quite a bit last week was Björn Goerke's First, they fire you up….

For me, as an information developer and a writer, this presents a perfect cohesion between beautifully laid out thoughts an a curious video.

My reply to it is that for every Solid Booster Rocket there is always the hope to become a SpaceX Reusable rocket.





[credits: spacexchannel]

Between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose

Well, sooner or later, the summer vacation is over and is time to get your hands dirty.

This transition is remarkably harder, when there are tough decisions to be made, especially involving close friends and colleagues. This, I guess is the right time to remember the first of the 7 habits:
 - Be proactive - willfully choose your path and do not let be acted upon, be "response-able".

Quite often there is the temptation to give ready answers and hope that they will stick. Similarly, quite naturally, they do not. Unless the receivers of these ideas is actually starting to
 - Dream of achieving your proposals.

Hmmm, it is an interesting relation between Stephen Covey and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Watch me presenting at Evolution of Technical Communication conference

If you happen to be in Sofia, Bulgaria on 21 June 2013, you can come and watch me present and discuss the connection between Design Thinking and the profession of information development.

Information about the conference: Agenda.

On the restrictive side of tribal behavior

Today I participated in a very indicative meeting which demonstrated that tribal behavior can restrict communication and exchange of ideas.

One of the topics discussed was how we, in our department, use one of the company-wide systems. There were many proposals and interesting ideas. What stroke me was the assumption that we should find our own workarounds and then think about the implications they will have on the system and the other users.

I pictured ourselves as members of small tribes (departments) in the vast greatness of a dessert (the company system). Even though we all fight to survive (deliver on time), we devise our own solutions and never take advantage of the economies of scale.

This made me feel sad. We are pretty strong in our knowledge of the system, but apparently quite reluctant to share that knowledge with the outside world. Behaving in the opposite direction to what Seth Godin proposes severely diminishes the chances of spreading our ideas.

Sad but True.

good at Lobbying is not equal to good at Inventing

I watched a documentary on a Viasat channel about the Wright brothers. The story describes how they have managed to achieve what others backed by $ 50,000 of government funding could not.

This brought me to the obvious conclusion that:
"Good at Lobbying is not equal to good at inventing, nevertheless it seems that good at lobbying is equal to good at spending."

Check how the government money are used by the big companies during the crisis. It will not become obvious right away. We need to wait till someone involved starts to talk. But it will be just like the Wright brothers story - somebody small, based on enthusiasm will find and implement the solution, while big spenders will charm us with their heroically futile eloquence.

Check the 18 billion in Wall Street bonuses of the top bank managers, who needed urgently government backup... I suppose that they could have lived this year without these money.

TED

This is one of the places I go, whenever I need to convince myself that life is not "all about the money".

This week they are holding their talks in California. Although currently you can view only Bill Gates, one of the other speakers is Shai Agassi. I am anticipating his talk on TED, as he really is a man of vision. What I remember from his time at SAP is his inspiring presence.

If you have the time, my advice to you is - watch it! Even if you do not fully agree with him, you can learn from the passion with which he supports his "ideas worth spreading" and makes us dream with him.

A plasticine example

Sometimes when you are making plasticine figures you need flexible joints. Sometimes you need stick joints. It depends on how you treat the plasticine. You can warm it with your hands or you can freeze it in the fridge.

People are the same. With the right approach you can either stiffen or soften them. The BIG question it to know the magic word.

THANK YOU ;- )))

Education

"We are born creative. We are then educated out of it" (Sir Ken Robinson)

I suppose that the reason to be in love with mathematics and physics is the freedom to use my "weapon of choice" to solve complex equations.

What do you think will happen if we start using the natal creativity and the gained as adults literacy to prepare for the unpredictable future? Will it be like the Toyota approach to solving problems? I suppose in personal plan it might be even better ;- )))

Coconut, Creativity, Collaboration

Coconuts are tough to crack.

I have tried to make a hole with a hammer and a nail - not quite useful. I have even considered the opportunity to hold the coconut with my legs and use my electric drill to get to the precious core.

Luckily, before embarking upon this innovative approach, I have decided to ask Google. The solution was quite easy and far less endangering my precious feet.

Now I believe that through Creativity and Collaboration we can crack even the toughest Coconuts.

Why do I Look for More Knowledge?

It is because I have a

between my (y)ears.

The Intricacies of Human Perception

"What a nice snow we have today on these gorgeously romantic stones" I thought when I saw the picture this morning.

For me it might be really snow, since it is winter outside.

It can equally be the sand dunes near Tarifa, Spain where the photo was taken there this summer by a friend of mine.

From a factual point of view this last fact is important. From an emotional one - it depends.

Ken_Robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.
My greatest fears about my education, might actually prove right.
If we are blinded by our education system, do we stand a chance to distinguish good from bad?

(Business) Process Management

I have been interested in (business) process management for many years. Even before I knew what exactly it means. For example, I was keen on managing the process of disassembling my new toys and then assembling several other new toys from the parts in a business oriented manner (having several toys for the price of one plus the craftsmanship).

However, to put a new beginning (after my master degree in BA), I decided to check this Business Process Management: The SAP Roadmap book.

At first sight, it looks quite corporate. It is also very heavy. I suppose it is from the hidden knowledge inside ;- ))) It contains some remarks about the Toyota way as well, so I expect an interesting reading.

If I manage to understand it, expect more thoughts on it

Shall I dare to believe?

I am reading the book The Toyota way. It is all about the perfect work environment in Toyota. Probably it really is so, since they are probably the mightiest car manufacturer in the world. Nevertheless, it still sounds incredible to me, especially comparing it to my experience.

I suppose that some bright day, I will find myself working in a similarly efficient organization.

Until that day come: Today -Toyota.
Tomorrow - Lexus?

First Lego League

Working with kids from an elite school over a First Lego League mission proved to be extremely stimulating. My mind went wild while solving complex mathematical issues in the breaks. Communication with them proved to be an accelerated version of my otherwise heavy workload.

Unfortunately all these positive emotions happened last year while I was one of their two mentors.

This year I only watched the presentation of the new team. Nevertheless, the memories came to life and I felt again the thrill and emotional uplift of working with motivated young people.

Let's hope it will happen again ;- )))

A creative soup

Have you ever thought of ways to heat a soup, that should not be heated in the stove or on the hotplate, for a fear of burning it?

Well, we had to think about ways to heat our potato cream soup. The first attempts (on the hotplate and in the grill) resulted in... ;- )))

However, this weekend our creativity brought us to the idea of making the soup a little bit denser. Thus being able to dilute it with hot water, whenever we need it hot.

Long live the cooking creativity!

Creativity and Play - Photo

And now...
Here is a picture of my first creativity effort.
I would like to ask you to try it yourself. It is really quite fun.
It can even relieve you from the work stress, so that you can continue helping our world get out of the crisis situation.

World Piece ;- )))

Creativity and play

Hello again ;- )))
Three days ago, I stumbled across a very interesting presentation on ted.com about creativity and play.
It made me think that lately I was hardly ever using my hands to create something material.
One day later I was already equipped with plasticine, a modeling board and a modeling knife. The first result is already available - a small phone mock up of the corporate one. Soon I will post a photo of this great masterpiece.