CitconWiki - User contributions [en]

Dark Chocolate tasting

2024-05-30T12:58:57Z

Thayward:

= Dark Chocolate tasting =

Facilitator: Željko Filipin


== Premise ==

Provided were 4 samples of chocolate of differing cocoa content: - 50% - 70% - 85% - 95%


=== Instructions ===

Željko explained that the order in which you taste each affects the perception of sweetness. Starting with 95%, if you follow up with 85% it would taste much sweeter than if you tried 85% first. It was noted that it is important to let the chocolate melt, rather than to chew it.


=== Attendee experience ===

<blockquote>“I couldn’t believe how sweet the 85% was after trying the 95% first. Normally I avoid anything greater than 70%” ''Tim Hayward (who probably eats too much chocolate)''
</blockquote>

Dark Chocolate tasting

2024-05-30T12:57:38Z

Thayward:

= Dark Chocolate tasting =

Facilitator: Željko Filipin


== Premise ==

Provided were 4 samples of chocolate of differing cocoa content: - 50% - 70% - 85% - 95%


=== Instructions ===

Željko explained that the order in which you taste each affects the perception of sweetness. Starting with 95%, if you follow up with 85% it would taste much sweeter than if you tried 85% first. It was noted that it is important to let the chocolate melt, rather than to chew it.


=== Attendee experience ===

<blockquote>“I couldn’t believe how sweet the 85% was after trying the 95% first. Normally I avoid anything greater than 70%1” ''Tim Hayward (who probably eats too much chocolate)''
</blockquote>

Dark Chocolate tasting

2024-05-30T12:56:44Z

Thayward: Created page with " = Dark Chocolate tasting = Facilitator: Željko Filipin <div class="figure"> File:https://citcon.slack.com/files/U1122PVV1/F075T..."

= Dark Chocolate tasting =

Facilitator: Željko Filipin

<div class="figure">

[[File:https://citcon.slack.com/files/U1122PVV1/F075T1UQM24/img_20240525_163120.jpg|Image of 4 dark chocolate samples(50%, 70%, 85%, 95%)]]

</div>

== Premise ==

Provided were 4 samples of chocolate of differing cocoa content: - 50% - 70% - 85% - 95%


=== Instructions ===

Željko explained that the order in which you taste each affects the perception of sweetness. Starting with 95%, if you follow up with 85% it would taste much sweeter than if you tried 85% first. It was noted that it is important to let the chocolate melt, rather than to chew it.


=== Attendee experience ===

<blockquote>“I couldn’t believe how sweet the 85% was after trying the 95% first. Normally I avoid anything greater than 70%1” ''Tim Hayward (who probably eats too much chocolate)''
</blockquote>

Hyperactive Hive Mind

2024-05-28T14:06:32Z

Thayward:

Chocolate was provided - thanks Željko

Hyperactive Hive Mind
:: Term coined by Carl Newport - books come highly recommended.

== Problem ==
* Company of a few hundred people - like to communicate. Could spend 8hrs reading email, slack, meetings, coffee machine talk. Volume of communication so big that 8hrs later, feels like nothing happened.
* Overwhelmed with pseudo-productivity.
* Is this a problem? (Most hands up)

== Ideas ==
* [https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/inbox-zero Inbox zero]
* Use decline meeting button. No agenda, no attender.
* Rule of two feet?
* Calendar blocked out for focussed work. Mute notifications.
* No-meeting Fridays, for example.
* Focus on the area of business you affect. Everything else doesn't matter.
* Only check slack, email at certain times of day.
* Do Not Disturb flag on monitor.
* Tick Tick (task tool)
* Written agreement as rules of engagement (e.g check emails only twice a day. If urgent, call etc).
* "If you're good enough at your job, you have autonomy" Carl Newport (applies to teenagers too)
* Digital Minimalism: Social interaction takes over (slack, email, social) - avoid that. It kills focus.
* Focus time - turn off all slack, email, text notifications. Anything serious: call.
* 90 minutes focus time. Followed by 5-15 minute break repeat up to 4 hours per day.
* Recharge/shutdown at the end of the day.
* It takes a conscious effort to avoid.
* Time zone differences actually help (e.g 6 hour difference). Only 2 hours overlap for meetings/communication.
* We perhaps have more power to arrange our working day than we think.

== Questions/thoughts ==
* It is easy to fire off a quick question when it is not super important as instant messaging is so cheap - does this set a bad example? Should I stop it?
* Inbox Zero creates more stress - 6-digit unread emails make it easier not to notice!
* Are you looking to achieve local optimisation at the expense of global optimisation?
:: Correct the balance of team/department vs individual (push back) - personal optimisation are good for all (personal, team, organisation).
* How can we solve the hyperactivity part without affecting the (very important) hivemind? For example, losing focus to help someone could save them 4 hours of time vs the 30 minutes lost focus in doing so - this could be beneficial.

Hyperactive Hive Mind

2024-05-28T14:01:01Z

Thayward:

Chocolate was provided - thanks Željko
Hyperactive Hive Mind
:: Term coined by Carl Newport - books come highly recommended.

== Problem ==
* Company of a few hundred people - like to communicate. Could spend 8hrs reading email, slack, meetings, coffee machine talk. Volume of communication so big that 8hrs later, feels like nothing happened.
* Overwhelmed with pseudo-productivity.
* Is this a problem? (Most hands up)

== Ideas ==
* [https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/inbox-zero Inbox zero]
* Use decline meeting button. No agenda, no attender.
* Rule of two feet?
* Calendar blocked out for focussed work. Mute notifications.
* No-meeting Fridays, for example.
* Focus on the area of business you affect. Everything else doesn't matter.
* Only check slack, email at certain times of day.
* Do Not Disturb flag on monitor.
* Tick Tick (task tool)
* Written agreement as rules of engagement (e.g check emails only twice a day. If urgent, call etc).
* "If you're good enough at your job, you have autonomy" Carl Newport (applies to teenagers too)
* Digital Minimalism: Social interaction takes over (slack, email, social) - avoid that. It kills focus.
* Focus time - turn off all slack, email, text notifications. Anything serious: call.
* 90 minutes focus time. Followed by 5-15 minute break repeat up to 4 hours per day.
* Recharge/shutdown at the end of the day.
* It takes a conscious effort to avoid.
* Time zone differences actually help (e.g 6 hour difference). Only 2 hours overlap for meetings/communication.
* We perhaps have more power to arrange our working day than we think.

== Questions/thoughts ==
* It is easy to fire off a quick question when it is not super important as instant messaging is so cheap - does this set a bad example? Should I stop it?
* Inbox Zero creates more stress - 6-digit unread emails make it easier not to notice!
* Are you looking to achieve local optimisation at the expense of global optimisation?
:: Correct the balance of team/department vs individual (push back) - personal optimisation are good for all (personal, team, organisation).
* How can we solve the hyperactivity part without affecting the (very important) hivemind? For example, losing focus to help someone could save them 4 hours of time vs the 30 minutes lost focus in doing so - this could be beneficial.

Failure stories that became success or not (QA, DevOps, ...)

2024-05-28T13:19:37Z

Thayward: Sharing a story from Success to Failure

= Journey from failure to success =
Three stages of the journey described, from v1.0 to v3.0

=== V1.0 ===
* Started new job
* Day 3 - noticed no log of test cases. No one knew what they were doing. Not even starting from nothing - starting from -5!.
* No DevOps, no DB team. Most infrastructure on AWS. All manual (testing, deployment)
* 1 monolithic app (no microservices)
* Deployment - all manual processes. 3-4 hrs.
* Step-by-step written down -> reduced downtime.
* Move from excel for test cases
* Project lasts 6 months - 1yr
* 6 people. 0 to 5000 test cases in 1.5 years. (manual)
** someone mentioned coverage is more important than quantity
* Talked about automation for 1 year but didn't have time.
* QA team was always referred to as a '''bottleneck''' - got the sense that this was derogatory.

=== V2.0 ===
* Introduced Infrastructure as code. This took deployment time down from 3 hours to 5-10mins for deployment
* Moved from monolith to microservices
* Introduced Jenkins
* Matrix of compatibility for product components

Someone asked if replaced one problem with another?
** Yes, but the problem was smaller and better!

=== V3.0 ===

* Containerised apps
* zero downtime
* devops -> platform engineering
* Jenkins -> Argo
* Deliver faster, more reliable
* Product owner doesn't care how frequently deployed (1/month, 1/week, 5/day etc.)- as long as a project is delivered in 1 year for example

=== Additional info ===
* The journey from v1.0 to v3.0 took 6 years
* Asked if any advice for a department to move them from v1.0 to v3.0:
** Befriend someone in top management to push ideas faster
** Remove those with high performance, low loyalty from the company - '''Low performance and loyal is preferable.'''

Hyperactive Hive Mind

2024-05-25T21:31:33Z

Thayward:

Chocolate was provided - thanks Željko
Hyperactive Hive Mind
:: Term coined by Carl Newport - books come highly recommended.

== Problem ==
* Company of a few hundred people - like to communicate. Could spend 8hrs reading email, slack, meetings, coffee machine talk. Volume of communication so big that 8hrs later, feels like nothing happened.
* Overwhelmed with pseudo-productivity.
* Is this a problem? (Most hands up)

== Ideas ==
* [https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/inbox-zero Inbox zero]
* Use decline meeting button. No agenda, no attender.
* Rule of two feet?
* Calendar blocked out for focussed work. Mute notifications.
* No-meeting Fridays, for example.
* Focus on the area of business you affect. Everything else doesn't matter.
* Only check slack, email at certain times of day.
* Do Not Disturb flag on monitor.
* Tick Tick (task tool)
* Written agreement as rules of engagement (e.g check emails only twice a day. If urgent, call etc).
* "If you're good enough at your job, you have autonomy" Carl Newport (applies to teenagers too)
* Digital Minimalism: Social interaction takes over (slack, email, social) - avoid that. It kills focus.
* Focus time - turn off all slack, email, text notifications. Anything serious: call.
* 90 minutes focus time. Followed by 5-15 minute break repeat up to 4 hours per day.
* Recharge/shutdown at the end of the day.
* It takes a conscious effort to avoid.
* Time zone differences actually help (e.g 6 hour difference). Only 2 hours overlap for meetings/communication.
* We perhaps have more power to arrange our working day than we think.

== Questions/thoughts ==
* It is easy to fire off a quick question when it is not super important as instant messaging is so cheap - does this set a bad example? Should I stop it?
* Inbox 0 creates more stress - 6 digit emails make it easier not to notice!
* Are you looking to achieve local optimisation at the expense of global optimisation?
:: Correct the balance of team/department vs individual (push back) - personal optimisation are good for all (personal, team, organisation).
* How can we solve the hyperactivity part without affecting the (very important) hivemind? For example, losing focus to help someone could save them 4 hours of time vs the 30 minutes lost focus in doing so - this could be beneficial.

Hyperactive Hive Mind

2024-05-25T21:29:02Z

Thayward: Discussion around the issue of Hyperactive Hive Mind

Chocolate was provided - thanks Zeljko

Hyperactive Hive Mind
:: Term coined by Carl Newport - books come highly recommended.

== Problem ==
* Company of a few hundred people - like to communicate. Could spend 8hrs reading email, slack, meetings, coffee machine talk. Volume of communication so big that 8hrs later, feels like nothing happened.
* Overwhelmed with pseudo-productivity.
* Is this a problem? (Most hands up)

== Ideas ==
* [https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/inbox-zero Inbox zero]
* Use decline meeting button. No agenda, no attender.
* Rule of two feet?
* Calendar blocked out for focussed work. Mute notifications.
* No-meeting Fridays, for example.
* Focus on the area of business you affect. Everything else doesn't matter.
* Only check slack, email at certain times of day.
* Do Not Disturb flag on monitor.
* Tick Tick (task tool)
* Written agreement as rules of engagement (e.g check emails only twice a day. If urgent, call etc).
* "If you're good enough at your job, you have autonomy" Carl Newport (applies to teenagers too)
* Digital Minimalism: Social interaction takes over (slack, email, social) - avoid that. It kills focus.
* Focus time - turn off all slack, email, text notifications. Anything serious: call.
* 90 minutes focus time. Followed by 5-15 minute break repeat up to 4 hours per day.
* Recharge/shutdown at the end of the day.
* It takes a conscious effort to avoid.
* Time zone differences actually help (e.g 6 hour difference). Only 2 hours overlap for meetings/communication.
* We perhaps have more power to arrange our working day than we think.

== Questions/thoughts ==
* It is easy to fire off a quick question when it is not super important as instant messaging is so cheap - does this set a bad example? Should I stop it?
* Inbox 0 creates more stress - 6 digit emails make it easier not to notice!
* Are you looking to achieve local optimisation at the expense of global optimisation?
:: Correct the balance of team/department vs individual (push back) - personal optimisation are good for all (personal, team, organisation).
* How can we solve the hyperactivity part without affecting the (very important) hivemind? For example, losing focus to help someone could save them 4 hours of time vs the 30 minutes lost focus in doing so - this could be beneficial.