This tool supposedly invented to help people share what they are doing with friends has become one huge fest of shameless self promotion, a true 21st century global vanity fair. This self promotion seems to be centered on one thing: being “cool”. Maybe it’s the people I follow but in many of the tweets (that are not re-tweets and links) I see a disproportionate amount of words like “great”, “awesome”, “exciting”, “kick ass” and – of course – “cool”. All those messages paint an image that is reflecting our current culture as we already see it through mass media’s twisted lens: everyone is doing something exciting on groundbreaking projects in fancy offices of superb companies, then “chills out” at chic clubs or doing some “crazy” activities. Then goes back again to their “cool” work. Everyone is young, physically attractive, smart and interesting. Everything is “cool”.

This image is not new. It has been the backdrop for most advertising for decades, as vendors promised people entry into the paradise on Earth if they buy a pack of coffee or a fancy car. The change here is that before it was just the advertisers pushing this type of BS out in paid slots and now it is the masses trying to market themselves, their jobs, their lives – and in that and through that live up to the ideal they all try to follow and seem to subscribe to: the un-holy grail of coolness.

The desire to follow this ideal – or anti-ideal rather – is not new, too. Ever since mass media – and especially all-persuasive moving images coming from TV screens – started to push this unreal model of life people wanted to live up to it. But before masses could only buy products advertised and try to imitate the behavior and look of the “stars”. Now they can join the band and broadcast their own version of the “brave new world”. On Twitter. And Facebook. And possibly other sites like it.

In this sense the “social media” both reflect the state of society and amplify the trends that shape it.

I hope this is just a shinny facade people put up there and deep inside they realize life is so much deeper and more meaningful. But some are so good at advertising I start to suspect they believe it.

The last episode covers the FOWA conference we both attended that I have blogged about last week.

It dawned on me today that most of the time we are not thinking, we are merely processing incoming information, in most cases redirecting it somewhere else. For example I get an e-mail and I decide what to do with it, then I send it to someone from our team with a short comment. Or I read a bit of news and I decide to share it on Twitter – copy, paste and it’s done. Or I might decide to share it with friends via e-mail. Or maybe even write something about it.

All this activity – even though it happens in the mind – is not thinking, but processing – reacting to outside stimuli coming in. Thinking is a much deeper thing, which takes time and concentration. Those, in turn, usually require relatively large chunks of time without interruptions from new stimuli firing up the whole processing scheme. Those chunks of time seem to be harder and harder to get these days.

Let me explain.

As anyone who did anything close to meditation will tell you it takes time for the mind to settle – that is for the frantic activity of thought to subdue enough for the mind to regain some clarity. Only then one can do something with it – meditate or pray – or think. That time varies but for me – as for most people – it is somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes. This is – to be clear – not the time needed to think of something, but to get ready to start to think. Then you need some more time to think of anything that has any deeper meaning, sense or value.

But today’s world is full of buzz and staying fully connected all the time hurts this process immensely. The worst is of course when one sits at a computer connected to Internet – then this whole thought-killing processing not only has endless supply of data fueling it, but also can grow and expand to consume all mental energy. For example, an e-mail might contain a word you don’t know, you search the web, find a Wikipedia page on it, read it, in it find 4 more interesting links, open those, read some of them, find new links, then another e-mail comes, then phone rings, then someone types in Skype chat, you read, reply, turn back to e-mail, then someone comes in to your room to ask a question – bam! two hours have passed and you don’t how!

Sounds familiar? Seems today many struggle with exactly this. Huge overload of incoming data and interruptions that doesn’t ever allow mind to even begin to settle. This is why many people get their best ideas now while traveling, because it is usually when their thought process has a chance to go on uninterrupted longer. But portable Internet devices (like the iPhone) and cell phones do all they can to ensure we stay connected even while on the move – and keep on processing.

One more thing worth noting here is that processing is quite pleasurable – you get the feeling you feed info to your brain, and for some of us – me included – this is way way more addictive than any other pleasure. Our advantage is our mind, our edge is our ability to process quick, we win by knowing things sooner and better than others so we get high on sucking info – but we must not forget to stop and think sometimes.

Processing is not inherently evil – it gives us the data we need to come up with ideas or solutions or serve as inspiration. However, to make any use of this data we take in all day we must learn to switch all the incoming lines off – and think. Realizing what you do most of time is not thinking even though it looks similar goes a long way towards consciously finding chunks of time our minds need to think.

Did my talk in the morning – it went reasonably well, did get some very good questions at the end. I think I could improve it now also after what I learned at another talk on the same subject. That talk itself wasn’t very inspiring but the discussion with other participants was very good and informative. Many companies now are thinking how to sell agile software development services, especially how to sway clients away from the fixed bid culture that is doing them no good. Another common problem is how to formulate “agile contracts” – that is contracts that are helping form this kind of relationship. I think we have pretty good standard agreement and model now, but I did pick up a few nice ideas from others that we could possibly use.

Jeff Sutherland had a very interesting lecture on “super-performing teams” that got me thinking seriously on how we could improve the way we measure our productivity. The thing he is saying – and many others have been for some time – that you can achieve more productivity while at the same time cutting the number of hours worked. Seems like impossibility, but from my own experience in agile I know this is true. I just wonder whether we did all we could in that area.

This was also my first time I could see Ken Schwaber in person. In the video from his talk at Google he comes across as a drill sergeant in civilian clothes – when you actually talk to the guy it turns out he is much nicer a person than that. Same with Jeff Sutherland, who also has this kind of military-”warrior”-like appearance – but at least Jeff was actually in the USAF once.

I’m overall positively surprised by the whole event, it will probably be much more valuable for me than Agile Development Practices was a year ago. I think I’ll seriously consider skipping this year edition of it.

A reminder how much can be achieved with simple means and lots of creative ingenuity.

Here are some pictures from the post-wedding photo session.

Interestingly, I’m not sure Dilbert ever referred to Scrum directly but even so people think he must have – so they look for it. Also, this shows that people want to find an image, not a text. Texts are boring, you have to concentrate (which is hard) and think sometimes (which is even harder). Images are much much easier. Which is, probably, why Dilbert brings so many visitors to my page who come for only one thing: the link to the comic strip (BTW: It was wrong, I just fixed it).

It very well might be that while we have much developed since then technologically as a culture we – Europeans – have rather declined. The turn of the 19th and 20th century was, I think, the golden age of our culture – even though the first seeds of the catastrophic 20th century were there already. Good that at least we have those images to remind us of times when right meant right and wrong meant wrong.

Putting the political dimension aside those predictions seem to be based on solid economical theories. In fact, opponents of the Keynesian economy have predicted exactly this kind of thing to happen for years. Just no one believed it will really happen, because said opponents (Hayek, Friedman, von Mises) have been saying that for such a long time people got used to it. But maybe the mechanisms involved required a long time to produce results we are about to see.

And here comes the startling analogy that occurred to me today: same thing happened with “real communism” in the Soviet Union – no one really believed it can fall apart within our lifetime, especially leading sovietologists. May it be so that Western-style socialism will collapse like communism – just a few decades later, because it is – after all – more efficient then communism?

This is so because usually getting to a conference involves travel and traveling has always induced high quality thinking in my brain. I don’t know why, but I find the whole experience of moving very inspiring. No matter if this is by plane, train or car my mental gears spin faster. This is a creative time also because this is usually a when I can’t use my computer, I’m not answering phone calls and generally I have less distractions.

In any case I’m finding out, that without a few hours of travel every month I’m deprived of some of my quality thinking time I used to have.

But the conference experience doesn’t end there – it also gives me time to actually listen to people talking about subjects of interest with full concentration. And ask them questions. Not possible with some interesting lectures available on Google Video and other sites. First, because it is surprisingly hard to find a free hour within a day to listen to them. Second, because there is no interaction.

Finally, on a conference I get usually a few hours of very good work on my computer in the evening. Again, precisely for the reason outlined above – less distractions.

Seems like I have to cut down distractions to move faster, the problem is that Internet is just one huge distraction. And with a laptop and Wi-Fi it is almost everywhere now.

That’s what I’m thinking on when I’m not talking to clients and preparing a series of webcasts about our work methods.

Take Internet for example – most of the protocols that make it what it is are beautifully simple, concentrated on their purpose, describable in a new sentences. In fact, it takes no more than 20 minutes to explain to any computer-literatre lay-user all they need to know to understand why the Net works.

Opposite is also true. Complex visions, ideas requiring lengthy, vague explanations are crap more frequently than not.

It also applies to business. Success comes to those focused on a simple goal, not to those who want to catch all the birds at the same time and completely change the face of the planet. Simple ideas, ambitious goals and hard work are the step stones on the path to achievement.

I thank my father for teaching me to be always suspicious of ideas that can’t be told in a few words, brief and simple.

But putting allegories aside – in a startup I think it is the moment when it is not obvious anymore to everyone what their collective purpose it. It is the moment when business looses touch with reality and forgets about the basic product or service it provides turning its attention in a disproportional way to add-ons. It is the moment when the internal communication fails and the management team ceases to be just that – a team.

As I wrote already: communication is a crucial element here. In a startup it is, I think, always good at the beginning, when it is a small group of founders and first hires. Once a company develops past certain size – and especially if it becomes spread geographically – a dedicated, careful effort is necessary to prevent it from deteriorating.

Lack of this effort can be dangerous.

The biggest benefit is, I think, a noticeable improvement in communication. Now I really do know every day where the team is, what was accomplished, what wasn’t, what’s in their way – and what chances we have to deliver on our promises. I don’t need any reports now. Even between the Daily Scrums I can always open the ScrumWorks and see what has changed. I hope the team feels the same way about it.

This improvement led me to see even more how much the whole management team could also benefit from better communication. A weekly scrum meeting could do wonders for a bunch of people, who spend most of their time traveling around the region, doing various things and not talking to each other.

Good, frequent communication in a team is necessary. Even more so in a dispersed one. But unless all those involved are from similar backgrounds, age groups etc. – and on top of that like each other – such a communication won’t appear on its own. It has to be cleverly fostered within a team. Scrum gives an excellent, simple tool to do so – the Daily Scrum meeting.

They are a couple that is together for a mere couple of months, yet they behave like if they have been together always. I’ve known both independently for some time, and I have to say that I had to consciously remind myself that they were not together just a year ago. Even for me – a mere observer – it was palpably obvious that this is the way things were supposed to be. The strength of their feeling was even more admirable because they not only recognized their Simple Story of Encounter, they overcame their fears and turned their lives around completely to be together. And they were not only aware of their fears, they were talking about them, completely at ease – not paralyzed by them, rather mobilized to prevail over them – together.

Their union did one more thing, which I could see since I’ve known them before – it has blown away many other limitations that were blocking their minds before. Now they boldly move to realize their shared dreams in other areas of life, and suddenly it turns out that all the limits, all the impossibilities were only in their minds. Through the light of their love they now see the world as it really is: full of possibilities and potential.

I wish them all the luck in their ambitious plans for the future, though I’m sure I don’t have to wish them happiness. It is with them already and most probably always will.

I live on this world for some time, I did see many couples in different stages of their relationships, I know some who are happily together years after – but I’ve never ever seen anything like those two. It was like seeing an authentic Van Gogh and realizing the difference between the original and a reproduction. It was like seeing the light.

And when I was a kid the moment I liked most was on the first or second day of Christmas when my parents were usually visiting someone in the evening. I was then left alone at home. I was just sitting by the tree with all lights on, reading books, watching some TV or listening to the radio. I liked those moments.

Now when I look at it as an adult I think it is a bit sad an image – lonely kid by the christmas tree. But, it’s still a good memory.

And that is all,
and yet that is so much.
Isn’t it beautiful? Isn’t it precious?

I took some pictures and it was then when it struck me, that five men dinning together is a sad sight indeed. All of those present should be at this hour with their wives and families. One of the guys has two kids – they get to see him on weekends. If everything goes well.

I was missing the woman I love that night. I wonder why they don’t? Or maybe they do? If it works out for us I don’t want to lead this kind of life. It probably looks exciting on the outside, but in all reality it is just tiring and lonely. I can get tired, I can work hard, but want to be close to the one I love every day – not just on some weekends. And if I ever will be a father I will do everything to give my kids the attention they deserve and spend quality time with them.

There is nothing that is worth being a “weekend husband” or “weekend father”. No business is worth it. And surely no job – work for someone else’s business – is worth it. I think it might be better to be a bit poorer but loved and happy than rich and lonely or in a cold, detached relationship. Isn’t loving and being loved all that ultimately matters?

First, the airport – big, modern, well organized. I think it is nicer than Vienna actually. It was the first time I’ve flown there, previous visits were always by car or (once) train.

Then the city itself. What I visited was a very modern office district and the charming old town. Clean cars on clean streets. People dressed normally, smiling and laughing.

Then, Bucarest, where I am now. Frantic beat of the city with its traffic and everyone seemingly moving swiftly about his business. Romanian style these days seems to be that everything is new and more is being built. We slept at a hotel, which was built last summer and from my room’s window I could see another construction site. Yes, the construction quality of this building left a bit to be desired, but the service was good and breakfast selection quite satisfying. And to think that when I was here in August the building was just being constructed.

Along the way to the airport I saw an overpass being constructed. Again, when I was here in August there was nothing there – now pylons are already erected. At this speed by next March the whole thing will be completed.

I have to say that somehow I really do like Bucarest, I like coming here (even though I’m not sure if the local office is as glad to see me as I’m to be here). But it’s again a different world than the Czech capital.

Now I’m waiting for the plane to fly to Iasi, a town close to Moldovian border in the north. I wonder how such a place will look like and whether provincial Romania is as likable as its capital.

Let’s just hope Ukrainians will manage to pull themselves out of poverty within few decades.

The airport building is small and reminded me of a small railroad station. Whole passport and customs control crew was women in uniform (and with heavy makeup). Passport control was serious, questions were asked for example what is my name (clearly written in the passport and on an immigration form). Then my luggage was X-rayed, then they sold me health insurance for 5 euro and finally I was finally shaking hands with our country manager here.

Since then I have seen a bit of the city while driving through it from my hotel in the center to the outskirts where the office is. Overall Lviv must have been a very beautiful city before up until the Soviet invasion in 1939. The center is picturesque, but in rather bad shape. Many buildings are in need of renovation, but there is lots of nice 19th century architecture in the city center. The belt of ugly apartment block neighborhoods outside of the city is absolutely hideous. So are the industrial quarters – most buildings in appalling state.

To complete the picture add to that people who don’t look friendly and hectic traffic composed of dirty cars with no respect whatsoever for pedestrians. However, I have to admit women are nice around here. Judging by the girls from the office they are also more feminine, gentle in their behavior. But most of them wear rather heavy, old fashioned makeup. And some have distinctly Russian features, which for me ruins the attraction some. Still, I’ve seen at least as many nice blondes here as in Cracow.

All in all it is definitely not a place I would like to visit as a tourist, without the protective shell of our office here. They drive me and the team from Switzerland around, escort us everywhere and make sure we don’t clash with the Ukrainian reality.

And that is pretty harsh. For example: most of the city has no running water all the time. Supposedly the water system was not upgraded since fifties and can’t cope with the load. So, they solve the problem by switching the supply from one neighborhood to another every few hours. People also complained about inadequate heating in their homes – something that might be serious in the region with rather cold winters. With average monthly income around $200, half of which is spent on rent life of an average Ukrainian is spent struggling to make the ends meet.

Having said all that – if the Ukrainians will be lucky and will develop their economy and state then in twenty years it might be a great city again.

For the most of the last week I was ill. I hope I did recoup already, because looking ahead my calendar is just travels all the way until 18th of December. I just worry how my organism would cope with it, because October wasn’t very encouraging. I got ill twice. And this time my travels would include Ukraine – known for the tuberculosis epidemic. If I wrote that I’m looking forward to it I would lie.

First I (naively) inquired at the information desk. A polite lady told me with disarming honesty that “it will be very hard to find something like zis” and that except for airline lounges there is no such thing as a business center or something similar. Finally, after checking all the corners in the departure hall C I found a single electrical socket on a pillar behind a trash can. Probably the only one in the whole hall. I suspect it was left there so that cleaning crews can connect their vacuum cleaners. A passing-by fellow computer user told me it’s one of three such sockets in the whole airport.

In short: shame. They should finally notice people have laptops now when they travel. And look to the examples of places like Munich or Zurich. In Zurich they even have a special corner for laptop owners with tables and power sockets. That’s world-class. Unlike FraPort.

From now on I’ll communicate clearly that if I’m given a field to run then two conditions have to be met. First, said field has to be well defined. No fuzzy buzzwords, just concrete, clear definition of what I’m supposed to do and what I’m responsible for.

But secondly, and more importantly, I have to have the authority over the field of responsibility. That means that my decisions must be final within that field unless my superior doesn’t agree with them. That also means that others have to follow what I say and I must have some real tools to motivate them to do so (like influence over their earnings, bonuses or ability to fire them).

Otherwise the only thing I can count on is voluntary cooperation, which simply doesn’t work in most cases. And there are people running in different directions doing different things, sometimes without me even knowing about it even though I theoretically should. This leads only to frustration, which in turn leads to some unpleasant e-mails and conversations. And that doesn’t help anyone – and certainly it doesn’t help the job that has to be done.

Of course such clear communication might be risky sometimes, but I think it’s better to risk not being given the job than failing at it. And having responsibility without authority is a clear recipe for failure.

The lift stopped with a thud about 5 feet above the first floor. After 10 minutes the two female receptionists managed to open the external door but the internal door did open only for about 4-5 inches (10cm) and then was stuck. And so was I. After some effort to restart the lift (they brought me a key which I tried on a lock on the control panel with no effect) they called for the OTIS service. They brought me a panini and a cup of tea and suggested some alcohol. I don’t drink alone in the elevators, so I declined their kind offer.

I did take out my PB, did some work on the presentation for tomorrow, ate my supper and chatted with receptionist who came to check on me from time to time. (Why didn’t she get stuck with me? ) After half an hour a team of three technicians appeared, looking very serious in their OTIS overalls with all kinds of tools on their belts and walkie-talkies. They tried to reset the lift, but it didn’t work. In the end they had to manually raise the elevator up one floor so that I could go out.

All in all it was rather funny. Supposedly it’s the first time someone got stuck in a lift here. It’s quite possible, since the hotel is just 2 years old. It had to be me . I was laughing and joking with the hotel staff all the time. At the end the manager came to shake my hand and that was really funny, because he had such a serious look on his face I really had to restrain myself from laughing at him.

Nevertheless, it’s the first time I ate panini and worked on a presentation inside a lift.