@mhsutton

heart.head.work.life

Year: 2015

  • Who is telling your story?

    Who is telling your story?

    I’m reading an autobiography of George Carlin – one of my favourite comedians.  This biography is much more than an autobiography – it is more like a spending an endless evening with George sitting across from you with copious amounts of whatever your choice of poison and hearing him tell you everything. Some of it sounds pretty far fetched. But that is the how life is.

    So it got me thinking.  What if I was simply a character in a tale told in a bar by some boozy raconteur to a spellbound audience on a cold wet night someplace cold and wet?
    And if I was  – which would explain a few bizarre things that have happened in my life , not to mention being Serendipity’s play thing –  how does this story end?

    If I’m a character in a story – perhaps you are too – who is telling yours?

     

    Photo by avlxyz

  • Every kid needs to learn to use a toilet brush

    Every kid needs to learn to use a toilet brush

    I recently showed my son to use a toilet brush to clean up a mess he made.
    Of course he turned his nose up and made the face that says ‘this is a shitty job’. It is.

    Life is full of shitty jobs –  crappy things that you sometimes have to do as part of the other amazing, interesting things there are to be done.
    Some shitty jobs are cleanups of a mess you made.
    Some are cleanups of a mess that others make.
    Some  jobs are just shitty.

    However they come about – there is learning and character growth in this work. It teaches kids to be prepared to do necessary messy jobs and the humility to value all labor – even that of dealing with crappy work.

    My life’s work is to bring up my kids to care about the world and to treat everyone with respect by default. The nature of people’s labor has become a way to discriminate and in some cultures – yes you India! –  it has become institutionalized discrimination. I’m against treating people badly because of what work they do and this is a principle I teach my kids.

    Helping your kid recognize they made a mess – in my son’s case a rather unsightly cluster splatter – and supporting them to clean it up is an opportunity to help them grow. It is an invitation to  a conversation about who would do it instead and what that would mean. It is a ticket to explore the bigger idea of what it means to be in a family and the distribution of work in a unit that exists together and individual responsibility in that unit.

    When I was a kid, someone taught me to use a toilet brush and it helped me value all labor and to be prepared to do even the stinkiest work and not let that work define me as a human being.

    Photo by illustir

  • The Process Delusion

    The Process Delusion

    We do Scrum (or Kanban or SAFe or..)

    How often have you met people – usually executives and management at conferences or other spaces outside of their company and they proudly proclaim ‘we do Scrum’.
    I meet them alot – not only at conferences – on planes and more worryingly in their own companies. It’s like the Sixth Sense – only with Process.

    Then with the slightest of prodding – examining what they produce, how they produce it, who they produce it for, what feedback they get – and how often they get it, what they use the feedback for and how quickly they apply it – the delusion begins to become clear. This is what I call the Process Delusion:

    The Process Delusion is the  pretense – for whatever reason –  that you are doing something a certain way for certain benefits but there is little or no evidence that you are doing it or getting the expected benefits.

    Let me say straight off – I applaud the willingness of anyone in any organisation who tries out any process to get some improvement.

    It takes recognition that something needs to improve. So many just live with the gross imperfections – often the downright insanity – of how they work. I’ve met them. Through whatever path they came to this point, they don’t really give a crap about what they are asked to to do. They’ve arrived at a place where they gave up or never started trying to improve things for themselves or their organization. But I digress.

    So, willingness to try is wonderful. But it is – sadly – not enough.  It is like taking out gym membership. You get kudos for recognising you need to get fit and ‘well done’ for taking out the gym membership. But the real applause comes when – most importantly – you start to see actual improvements. And that takes persistence and focus.

    How does the Process Delusion play out in your team or organisation?

    Photo by Michael Gwyther-Jones

  • Love with Dead Things

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    Our walnut tree gives us lovely walnuts and dead leaves. Both are lovely in different ways.

    I actually love sweeping up the leaves, hearing them crunch underfoot and , occasionally, making art with them before they go on to the fire heap to get turned into another form of energy.

  • The Nature of Crazy

    The Nature of Crazy

    It’s 5:15 AM in Geneva and the train to the airport is getting busy.

    Amongst all the bleary eyed travelers is a  seemingly ‘normal’ individual. Rain jacketed, clean shaven and serious looking.

    He sits down in the sit adjacent to mine, makes no eye contact and proceeds to read his newspaper.

    “Blah blah Federale blah blah” he argues across from me. I look up and now we make eye contact – as in my eyes met his, but all I saw were eyeballs. There was no recognition of connection – as far as I could tell, the lights were on, but no one was home. The argument – as best as I could make it out in French – was fit for the European Parliament. It seemed to be political in nature – he mentions Vladimir Putin and makes some other political references.

    This chap was having a full blown emotional political exchange with no one in the carriage that I could see. He got increasingly agitated with his oration. I wish I understood what he was saying. More importantly, I wish I understood how his life, experience, his brain and chemical composition all aligned to bring this guy ranting out a political argument with no one in particular.

    Public Reaction

    My reaction was “this dude is crazy”. And then I caught myself  analysing both my response and the response of other nearby passengers.

    There is a moment in a public space when a member of the group in the space behaves in a way that is not considered ‘normal’. It is an awkward moment. No one wants to engage with the person – either verbally or non-verbally. We look away, we pretend they don’t exist. We hope they will stop being ‘not normal’. As it persists, gazes will find themselves and wry little smiles – acknowledging the awkwardness and recognising another who is trapped in the encounter with mental health.

    By and large,  we in European societies – East to West, North to South –  do not know how to treat mental illness. By ‘treat’ I don’t mean medicate or repair. I mean ‘relate to’. I wonder how long this has been like this. Perhaps forever?

    I’m Joe Public and so are you. What can we do differently and more humanely relate to people with mental health issues?
  • My Web Summit 2015 Experience – the really short version.

    My Web Summit 2015 Experience – the really short version.

    TL;DR

    Web Summit was a major experience.  There were a lot of people – the organisers claim 42,000 people were in attendance – and it felt it.
    If you aren’t a people person don’t go.

    If you are exhibiting, go to a busy vegetable market or car boot sale a few weeks in advance and learn to engage and trade. Otherwise you are wasting your time.
    This is exactly what it’s like.

    I personally consider The Alpha track to have been great value. Even after flights and accommodation, it worked out at about €800 per person. We made leads, tested product fit of the app with a wider audience and made some really great contacts.

    On the other hand, it is blatantly obvious that profit is a major thing for the organisers – pay very little out, bring as much as you possibly can in. Even if that means screwing people over. The debacle of the food tokens demonstrates this perfectly.

    There were some really cool exhibitors and some speakers – I tried to see all the exhibitors but only 3 really sparked my interest. There seemed to be a multitude of people doing things that were not really solving a problem or solving a known problem differently.

    If you were attracted by the quality of the ‘celebrities’ and the possibility of rubbing shoulders with successful and influential peeps – you would be out of luck – they were there but not mixing and as my speaker friend said ‘oh they are all in there, but no one is coming out – there is food there and its not so crowded’.  I don’t really blame them.

    The WIFI also classically sucked. Given the much reported problem from last year’s event, you would have expected such focus on getting that bit right. I met at least 10 alpha track cohorts negatively affected by this. Such a lack of attention to detail on a sensitive issue speaks volumes to my earlier point about profiteering. We even joked there was a lot of ‘summit’ but not enough ‘web’.

    Ultimately the organisers are awesome at what they do – marketing, data mining and building their business – whatever you as the attendee or exhibitor gets seems accidental. They deserve alot of respect for that alone.

    I personally got very little value from the talks – with such a huge range of people, I can appreciate the speakers easily going for the lowest common denominator level to pitch their talks.

    So, Web Summit – it is like the Eiffel Tower. You only really need to see it once. We won’t be going back.
    The long bit is coming in another post. Too busy, can’t complete.
  • Are Netflix and other interval collapsing platforms dangerous to your mental health?

    Are Netflix and other interval collapsing platforms dangerous to your mental health?

    I just watched the entire Daredevil season 1 on Netflix in 3 days.
    Prior to that I watched the entire Arrow series in 4 days.
    And Agents of Shield?  I polished that off in 2 days.

    Before Netflix – I got into the Sopranos box set – that was a killer.

    Earlier today, my 6 year old son and I explored the idea of being able to watch episodes of a series whenever you wanted and I explained how different his experience was to mine when I was his age – 35 years ago.

    When I was a kid, you watched an episode of something a week – at the predetermined time. When video recorders came up, you could choose to record a series but had to do that weekly at the predetermined time. You could only watch the entire series after it had been aired.

    Then came boxsets. Boxsets moved things on a bit. You could watch entire seasons that had aired a few years to a few months ago. But the interval based episode format was still the same.

    Netflix disrupts this format by making both syndicated and original content available in episodes but without the interval – you don’t have to wait at all to watch episodes in a season and only a short time for new seasons. I don’t know whether they are following the trend of the ‘NOW’ generation or leading it. Actually I don’t care.

    What I care about is the content – specifically how stories are told. Three hours of a  series of episodes is theatrically different from a three hour movie. Even my 6 year old – Ruben – understands this. Things developed to be consumed in intervals must build in enough hooks to keep you coming back every week to see how it unfolds. So there needs to be  drama, thrill and  suspense – all key emotional manipulators – in each episode – to trigger anticipation. Over the course of a week, perhaps our human system can handle such manipulation, but when you binge – as I and millions of others do – what damage does that cause to our emotional and sensory systems?

    To a large extent we have the same experience with franchises like Lord of the Rings and Avengers. The interval is longer between episodes and each episode is itself a longer show. But collapse the intervals and watch them back to back and you are in danger of seriously messing with your mind and possibly your perception of reality.

    I’m sure Netflix and others  – Amazon etc – argue this is disruption in format is about choice and in part I agree. However, I am curious to understand whether that choice is both real and actionable when the content is designed to hook.

    Do you watch Netflix or binge on boxsets – how does it affect you?

     

     

     

    Photo by CJS*64 A man with a camera

  • Do you feel appreciated, punk?!

    Do you feel appreciated, punk?!

    Computer says ‘appreciate Mike’

    Corporates are a funny bunch. There is a process for everything. Even appreciation.

    A couple of friends of mine in different companies recently celebrated significant milestones of service. An HR system notified someone to initiate an order for some official commemorative items and also sent an email to their respective managers to ‘put it on their radar’.

    The first – for 5 years of being with the same organisation – earned himself a piece of glassware. The kind that is heavy and feels and looks significant. It also looks like the kind of thing that is still sitting on a shelf of the charity shops with no obvious use to anyone.

    My other friend celebrated 15 years at a different company. There was a Friday afternoon presentation by his manager( who incidentally was 11 years old when my friend started at the company!). For such a long tenure, he received – with thanks – a voucher for £100 and a clock.

    Being a confirmed nomad and allergic to the long term effects of corporations – I would never tenure anywhere long enough to warrant anything beyond chewing gum – pre-owned chewing gum at that – so I was curious about their experience of being recipients of corporate appreciation by policy.

    It’s about the choice

    My glassware friend was somewhat at a loss about what to do with this chunk of glass. To make things worse, he Googled the manufacturer of the piece and discovered – much to his disgust – that it cost about $50.

    Now my friend lives somewhere $50 goes a fairly long way and to discover he had no choice about the way in which it was spent –  when it could have made a real difference to him as cash – left him pretty turned off.

    I made the same mistake many people make when we talk about material things – we got through a list of other material things we think could have been a better ‘gift’. Would he have preferred a $50 bottle of whisky, a contribution to a dinner with his partner or a book or who knows what.

    As I pursued a relentless list of other things he might have valued more – he put it simply

    Mike, being offered a choice is all that I wanted. To have been asked what I wanted or offered the cash

    This is when I realised the deep importance of checking in with the person you think you are appreciating – especially when you are demonstrating it with a gift.
    Offering them a choice can avoid so much negative stuff. I wonder how my friend’s non chalance about his glassware would be perceived by those responsible for the process of him getting it in the first place. My hunch tells me it would be received as ingratitude.

    What thrills me might not thrill you

    My other friend  – with his unsolicited time piece – agreed wholeheartedly about the issue of choice.

    He wouldn’t have chosen cash, but he really would have appreciated a call from the CEO. He said he feels he has contributed so much of his life to this organisation and the people he feels he is supporting have never reached out to say a personal “Thank You”. It has been company All Hands, video broadcasts and other ‘efficient’ channels. He pointed out that:

    Even the the Queen of England demonstrates personal gratitude and celebration with centenarians and  people who have been of valuable service.

    As we spoke more,  it turned out that  a simple 2 minute phone call demonstrating genuine interest by the CEO of the company would have entirely made his day! It got me wondering what the job of the CEO was. If it wasn’t about connecting with the people whose toil makes the business valuable, then what is it?

    Appreciation is double loop learning

    One of the new foundations of effective and efficient process work is double loop learning. This is where we formulate a goal,  for example

    We want to demonstrate our appreciation for long tenures of service

    Then we devise a program to reach that goal – for example:

    We will give people who have worked for 5 years a piece of crafted glassware and a funky timepiece to people who have served 15 years

    Double loop learning in this case suggests that once you have done the program,  gather learning about whether the goal should change – not simply the way you are doing it. I heard no evidence that either of these employers had either the interest nor the channels to gather the learning, let alone the intention to apply anything to their original goal.

    If either of these employers even remotely thought about Double Loop Learning, they would simply ask how the recipients of these gifts felt about what was offered, how it was offered and what might have helped them feel better appreciated. I am absolutely sure that even a tiny act of genuine inquiry would have yielded that the goal must change along the lines of:

    We want to help people who have served our organisation for years to feel appreciated for their long tenure

    Can you tell the difference?  I hope you can. If not – ask me.

    What are your experiences of corporate appreciation?

    Did it lift you up and make you feel deeply appreciated or did it leave you feeling meh?
    I’d like to hear about either and everything in between. Tweet me, comment or otherwise make your opinions known.

    Happy days.

     

  • I ❤️ Agile Testing Day Netherlands

    I ❤️ Agile Testing Day Netherlands

    I’ve just been to Agile Testing Day in the Netherlands. And I loved it.

    It’s been over two years since I last participated in any agile conference events.
    Back then I had felt underwhelmed by most things on offer. My head was in some ‘post agile’ place that I couldn’t find anything authentic enough to attend. Also, as a serial organiser/facilitator of gatherings and unconferences I also didn’t want to be involved in organising anything.

    Anyway – out of the blue –  Madeleine Griep from D&H events the organisers of the Agile Testing Days conferences contacted me to present a keynote at their Netherlands one-day event. The Agile Testing Day Netherlands is in its second year and – according to Griep  – had doubled its attendance in one year. Pretty good for a young event. The more established Agile Testing Days in Berlin is in its 7th year, runs over 3 days and enjoys attendance of 600+. So  – really good pedigree as  an event.

    I said ‘Yes’ but didn’t really know what I was going to be talking about. For me, these events are about provocative thinking, inspiration and connection. So whatever I wanted to share had to bring people a degree of all of those aspects.

    Whilst there was a significant proportion of the attendees dressed in suits and many were consultants of one form or another, there was also a large contingent of actual testing professionals whose daily lives are spent trying to make their products demonstrably better in the face of immense disrespect and organizational pressures.

    What really delighted me was that in one single day, an attendee could explore the present – tools, techniques and anecdotes of how their peers are doing things – and the future – like in Rachel Davies’ talk about testing at Unruly. Whilst at the same time they can go deep into product testing and zoom out in how they might effect change in their organisation with a keynote by Olaf Lewitz on Integral Quality

    I certainly learnt a lot by attending and was delighted to hear that my keynote was well received. Here,  for your viewing pleasure,  is the slide deck from my keynote. There is no audio but you can get the main thrust of my talk.
    If you get the opportunity please check out the Agile Testing Days conferences – either in Berlin or in the Netherlands.

    http://www.slideshare.net/mike.sutton/agile-testing-day-netherlands-2015-keynote

  • [NSFW, 18+] Dear James Ellroy, fuck you.

    [NSFW, 18+] Dear James Ellroy, fuck you.

    I like to read. I don’t get much time to read as much as I like, but I do like to read. My wife on the other loves to read and she consumes books like a marijuana’d elephant with the munchies. That is probably the only way she is like an elephant.

    It was a week after New Year’s Day. Like all the other saps in the world I made some resolutions. But I’m 40 and I don’t make fucking resolutions – except I do and I pretend like I don’t.

    One of my rare resolutions was to read more. Precisely 12 more. How easy is that – to read 12 books in 12 months? I don’t mean big chunky books, I mean the lightweight – entertain you briefly, possibly educate you a little – kind.

    In 2015,  what could I read? There are a stack of business books I could waste my time on – each telling me how fucked up the world of work is and selling their own trademarked snake oil to deaden the pain. Or I could read something entirely made up – that created alternative universes with their own rules and rituals – purporting to be unique but simply offering glimpse of humanity that we all knew – ‘A’ for invention, ‘F’ for originality.

    Instead I picked James Ellroy. You know, James Ellroy who wrote LA Confidential and the Black Dahlia. Yeah, that James Ellroy. The foul mouthed , angry at the world crime writer. And boy what a choice.

    My chosen goblet of tasty shit was American Tabloid – a seemingly innocuous 590 pages. This would be easy.I would read 30 pages a night, a few more when I’m on the road. When I was done I would toss it on the pile of mildly interesting shit I had done.

    Now, I generally don’t hero worship – so don’t start getting any ideas. But respect is due to James Ellroy. He doesn’t mince words. He grabs you by the balls and invites a fucking menagerie of America’s biggest names to tug along.

    American Tabloid is on par with the Lord of the Rings with its ability to totally suck you in and alter your perception of reality. Except Ellroy does it by bending popular  history in ways that would curl your toes. He lulls you in with an illusion of familiarity. So, many people know of Jimmy Hoffa – dodgy teamsters union leader and Mafia tangoist. But did you know Jimmy Hoffa the dog fucker? Or the inspirational John F Kennedy who  – according to Ellroy – was also a rampant fuck-any-creature-in-a-skirt spoilt , clueless joyrider.

    In American Tabloid, every major political and newsworthy figure of the 1950-1970s was part of the story – each playing their part in my mental ball tugging. From Monroe to Sinatra, from Eisenhower to Castro. The White House, The Mafia, the CIA, the FBI – including J Edgar Hoover the Voyeur!

    I won’t  tell you the premise of this caper. This caper of capers where the capers are shit scared of all the other capers. Needless to say I won’t read modern American political history the same again. For a long time to come, the spectre of James Ellroy will sit on my shoulder, commenting in his famed staccato style the relevant details of the moment. The shit no one else dare say.

    So, in the best possible taste – Fuck You James Ellroy for writing books that rewired minds, showed the scabs of humanity without saying a word more than was necessary.

    Photo by pshegubj