Scrum and Happiness Research
In contrast to conventional economic theories, in which utility is solely modeled as a good (like money) and people base their decisions on rationality alone, happiness research introduces another...
View ArticleWhen Hollywood went Agile by accident
In the 1960s, the traditional Hollywood concept no longer seemed to work, mainly this was due to the advent of television. Why see the latest John Wayne movie in a theatre when there is "Bonanza" at...
View ArticleThe 100 Thing Challenge
Recently I've read a lot about minimalism. One meme within this memeplex that particularly stuck with me was the 100 thing challenge. The objective of this challenge is to limit the number of personal...
View ArticleHappy Hour Is 9 To 5 (Alexander Kjerulf)
The concept of happiness at work deeply resonates in me. That's why I was curious to discover "Happy Hour Is 9 to 5" by Alexander Kjerulf, who labels himself Chief Happiness Officer. He argues that...
View ArticleHappiness (Bruno S. Frey)
Bruno Frey is a professor of Economics at the University of Zurich, and this book, subtitled "A revolution in economics", compiles the results of several papers he (co-)authored. In a nutshell, he...
View ArticleManagement 3.0 (2011, Jurgen Appelo)
There has been a lot of buzz around Jurgen Appelo's book Management 3.0 lately. Subtitled "Leading Agile Developers, Developing Agile Leaders", Appelo introduces a model for agile management, applying...
View ArticleAgile traffic - All's well that honks well
In October I've spent about 24 hours on the roads of Jakarta. At first I was annoyed, as the traffic was seemingly not moving at all, but slowly I myself was deeply moved by the subtle, graceful and...
View ArticleA home cinema for minimalists
In our home there is no TV. We have thrown it out about five years ago and didn't regret it. But there is one aspect I miss: watching films. We used to watch films on the computer screen, but since...
View ArticleDistributed Scrum
Last night I listened to the latest episode of Software Engineering Radio, "Distributed Scrum", with Rini van Solingen. Having worked on open source projects and having mentored in Google Summer of...
View ArticleWhat is sustainable pace?
Sustainable Pace is an essential part of both Extreme Programming and the Agile Manifesto. In contrast to aspects like Test-Driven Development or Continuous Integration, Sustainable Pace is less known,...
View ArticleOrganize for Complexity
The first time I came along the distinction between "complex" and "complicated" was in Jurgen Appelo's Management 3.0: The difference is that the outcome of complicated systems is still predictable,...
View ArticleConsciousness - A very short introduction
Having been inspired by the book "The Meme Machine" in the past, I was happy to find out its author Susan Blackmore had also written a book on consciousness, a subject I wanted to learn more about....
View ArticleArt is Therapy
When you go to a museum, they have a very clear idea about how art should be experienced: You follow a pre-defined route through several anti-septic rooms, and take a short glimpse on far too many...
View ArticleA Rembrandt in your living-room
When you find yourself strolling along the Amstel river in Amsterdam, make sure to peek through the windows of the rather unremarkable building at Amstel 218: They have an original Rembrandt painting...
View ArticleZen and the Art of Consciousness
You may have read my review of Susan Blackmore's book "Consciousness - a very short introduction". As I'm keen on getting a better idea about the purpose of meditation, I was delighted she had written...
View ArticleWatch my talk on Gunter Dueck and the Omnisophie trilogy
Unfortunately Gunter Dueck is not as well known outside of Germany as he should be: He is a math professor gone entrepreneur, with a focus on ethics, sustainability and innovation, and author of dozens...
View ArticleSchwarmdumm (Gunter Dueck, 2015) - Swarm Stupidity
Win my physical copy of the book by tweeting about this article, just retweet this tweet. I will draw a winner on Wednesday, March 11th and send the book to the winner free of charge! The winner has...
View ArticleRefuse to choose (Barbara Sher, 2015)
Barbara Sher is a career coach with a focus on goal achievement. She has coined the term scanner for a certain personality type. A scanner is a person with an unusually wide range of interests and...
View ArticleBeing Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (Atul Gawande, 2014)
"Being Mortal" is a book by surgeon Atul Gawande about the modern experience of mortality. Triggered by the death of his father and enriched with his vast medical experience, he reminds us that the...
View ArticleThanktuary - the stress-free social network
(This is something I wanted to build a few years ago. Unfortunately it never materialized. I still think it's a cool idea!) What's wrong with Facebook, Twitter, etc? Thanktuary appreciates the value...
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