I Learnt

I have never understood abstract art.

The top shelf of books in my study has the books that have had the most impact on me or that I have enjoyed reading the most.

I read a lot of books.

Every Monday morning as part of our stand up meeting we ask a “question of the day”.

Last weekend our daughter started on the next part of her life journey.

We recently spent just under two weeks visiting Croatia and in particular the Istrian peninsular.

When interviewing a potential candidate recently I asked them the difference, in their opinion, between the way a consultant/contractor engages with a company and a full time employee.

In the Knowledge Project podcast with Adam Robinson there is an interesting observation about warnings.

When my daughter was at nursery I missed a show she was in.

I rely on RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to keep me up to speed on what is happening in the world.

I was fortunate enough to meet someone who dramatically changed my life but didn’t know it.

“A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another.”

I wonder if there are a group of people in companies that set the prices for their products that still like the concept of bartering?

I recently had to try and explain to some non-technical colleagues how part of our system works.

Imagine you wanted to send a message to a friend.

I’ve written a lot about questions, and answers.

We often equate pressure with stress and vice versa.

Nearly every technology can be used for good and bad.

Being productive is sometimes more about mind management than time management.

It is possible to see a (heat)map of all the photos you have taken in Google Photos.

“Minimum Viable Product”, or MVP, is a phrase that has become common place.

I have been to see two musicals in London in the last few months - one was the best and one was the worst I have ever seen.

In 2018, Andrew Barnes’ company, Perpetual Guardians, permanently introduced a four day week (FDW).

My daughter finishes her A Level exams today.

In most UK schools we have the concept of work experience.

Estimation is a very difficult task - depending on what is being estimated.

Could you be bold enough to delete all the meetings in your calendar?

I watched a day, well some of a day, of Ashes cricket between England and Australia in 1989.

Teachers can make a huge difference - in both a positive and a negative way.

When I am developing software I build an internal mental model of how I expect things to work.

I am not an artist and I have limited knowledge of art but I recently enjoyed a TV series and I am currently reading a book related to the subject.

My grandfather was a skilled artist - well in my eyes he was.

I came across this YouTube video with an intriguing title - “The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders”.

The simple use of the phrase “how might we” can open up design discussions and improve company mission statements.

I have mostly been working from my dad’s workshop for the last week.

Maybe it is my upbringing but I always try to be on time for things.

I have been visiting my parents in Devon recently and working from there.

I read a lot but this post is about being encouraged to stop reading.

How do you design a product that is going to be used by a lot of people?

It is easy to take things and people for granted.

We are not a family that likes to just sit on the beach.

In the book Excellent Advice for Living, Kevin Kelly identifies the importance of habits.

There is a lot of different advice when it comes to making a decision and picking a path.

It is easy to decide that you can’t do something.

Ego and the fear of how we appear to others can get in the way sometimes.

I noticed the other day that my wife’s laptop was showing seconds in the time in the taskbar but my laptop was not; a very handy feature to have.

Questions are underrated.

It is amazing how one small thing can set the tone or the culture going forward.

The butterfly effect famously states that the flapping of the wings of a butterfly somewhere in the world can impact the weather on the other side of the world - a small change can have a huge impact over time.

How do we move from solving downstream reactive problems to upstream proactive solutions?