fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
6 Easy Steps to Calculate the ROI of your Robotic Process Automation Deployment
By: Maruti Techlabs
Tags: AI, Management, Roi, Process, Innovation

The advent of operational changes and alterations brought about by robotic process automation deployments have generated reactions and fears similar in many ways to the Industrial Revolution. It is inherent for people to be afraid of emerging entities that truly capable of accomplishing the same objectives as they do, day in and day out.

We’re all well aware of how RPA can ameliorate repetitive, mundane, and error-prone clerical tasks, at scale. There’s a good reason why it has received all the recent hype — it is the ROI of Robotic Process Automation.

Experts promise a return on investment anywhere from 30% to 300% in the first year.

Robotic process automation (RPA) is an incredible tool for businesses (of any size) due to its ability to increase innovation, enhance productivity, and help companies deliver a much better customer experience. RPA, in the last few years, has become a powerful automation technology used across businesses. Using software robots to communicate with business applications, it not only reduces the burden on employees but also streamlines processes.

Sounds interesting? Well, it definitely is.

But, businesses still want to be sure if an RPA solution will be worth the initial advantages it offers. There are several effective tools available today for measuring the impact of process automation, which companies can leverage to arrive at a decision, in order to implement more effectively.

However, convincing stakeholders that process automation is indeed a competitive advantage requires much more than listing the benefits of this same.

IMPORTANCE OF RPA ROI METRICS

RPA performance metrics are absolutely essential to make a convincing case for automating business processes as it offers a transparent and quantitative demonstration of its operational as well as financial impact on the business.

Proving that RPA will be instrumental in enhancing productivity, innovation, customer experience, and cost control, companies get the advantage of increasing buy-in across the enterprise while ensuring the success of their initiatives.

The process of using ROI as a benchmark can be broken down into three primary phases:

Initial phase — Before implementation, project managers can use ROI data and parameters (from other implementations) to build the case for RPA.

Interim phase — With the progress of the RPA implementation project, organizations need to understand and collect ROI data, including customer experience, as it helps in both validating initial assumptions as well as identifying areas for improvement.

Ongoing phase — As RPA technology continues to evolve, it has been applied to a growing number of business processes. Businesses should, therefore, continuously track the ROI of RPA implementation and look for more areas that could benefit from automation.
How I Decide And Execute What To Do!
By: Caia Yeung
Tags: Advice, Architecture, Process, Design, Business

Lately, I’ve been dealing with some challenging architecture design tasks, placing me in a spot where I have to make design decisions. While struggling the composition of colours and objects from Photoshop, I’ve starting to dig inside my process and trying to understand how I think to design while I work. And this process makes me realise what drives my decisions and thinking process. Here, I would like to share my experience which allows me to execute quickly on my decisions and my work.

First of all, I believe that people have to move fast. Intuitively, I am more concerned about the speed than being right in the first try. I believe that the more we try, fail and revise, the more we get better at it than spending all of our time debating, overthinking and never actually doing anything about it.

Besides that, the lack of fear of failing also allowed me to make decisions quick because I know most people don’t make decision just because they are scared to lose. And for sure I know that if we never make a decision, the potential opportunity could be a total lost in the end.

Certainly, this is my issue while I’m working as an intern. And when I have to make design decisions, it’s always better to decide, test and then react with a quick change than overwhelming with options to move forward. But heres the moral of the story: the more we do, the more we will learn and the more ease with making decisions. So I certainly trust that the more we execute and we will come out on top.
A case study of my brain [part 1]
By: Nikki Espartinez
Tags: Process, Product Design, Philosophy, Case Study, Opinion

What am I doing? Who am I doing this for? What do I want out of this? Is there a version of the future worth investing your mind, your brain and your whole work for?

Process need not be complicated. In fact, the best ones are probably the simplest and most straightforward. It has to be to leave room for surprises, for the edge cases you need to constantly be aware of. I always assume the unexpected could happen at any time.

In the book, The Black Swan, author Nassim Nicholas Taleb explores the idea of probability based on the history of the world, particularly on the patterns of human behavior. It is one of the most influential books in my life.

“Look into your own existence. Count the significant events, the technological changes, and the inventions that have taken place in our environment since you were born and compare them to what was expected before their advent. How many of them came on a schedule? Look into your own personal life, to your choice of profession, say, or meeting your mate, your exile from your country of origin, the betrayals you faced, your sudden enrichment or impoverishment. How often did these things occur according to plan?” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Probable

Product design work, or designing softwares in general, is a profession ripe of all kinds of surprises. Naturally, the creative process behind it has to be as nimble, experimental as possible without losing sight of the core principles.

When all else fails, it’s helpful to go back to the basic foundations.

This is why I started mapping how I think, how I process my work, and how I contribute to problem solving. Read more here: 🧠 👩🏽‍💻 Method to the madness
Process is not your enemy
By: Dani Wieczorek
Tags: Optimization, Performance, Process Improvement, Process, Project Management

Process should be your master guide to help you succeed.

Process is usually misinterpreted as bureaucracy. It can be seen as a factor that slows things down — an illusion created by analyzing only the immediate action — when, in fact, it can create better and higher quality end results, even in a short time period.

Human beings thrive on structure. We are creatures of habit. Even our bodies and minds function better when we have a routine.

When I think of what a routine is, I like to say it’s a repeated practice based on discipline. Doing something over and over and over gives you experience on the matter, now you have multiple times the same scenario to analyze and cross-check what it’s working, what needs improvements, and what it’s not working.

Process generates data. Data gives you learnings. Learnings are the oportunity of optimization.

By creating and implementing the right process, you will create a more functional and productive system.

The process should not have to be set in stone. It can and it should be organic and fluid. It’s also important that you implement and run the process for while, constantly observing and analyzing how it’s performing.

When analyzing the performance, don’t hesitate to identify flaws. Pretending something is working harms evolution. Flaws do not have to be perceived as failures. You can see it as a speed bump, still gets you there but takes longer.

Be open to make mistakes. Be brave to say when something is not working. Be open to see that is always a way to make things better. Befriend of process.
How to build your own board game
By: The Nobody'S Famous Podcast
Tags: How To, Board Games, Business Idea Generation, Process, Entrepreneurship

How to build your own board game

In episode 22 of ‘The Nobody’s Famous Podcast’, Mohamed Al Qadi takes us through his process into creating the first Emirati board game: Conqueror - Final Conquest. He was always fascinated by strategy games ever since the Total War series came out, however with board games, he struggled to find something that was authentic and realistic without having wizards or mages creep up mid-game. The game allows you to “Form alliances, go to war, betray your friends, bribe your enemies, feed your armies and recruit heroes to build an everlasting empire” which he believes are elements that make up a believable environment.

1. Don't be a rocket scientist. Get shit done.

According to Mohamed, there are two types of people in this world:

Over-thinkers: They want everything to be absolutely perfect in a chaotic world… it just wont happen.

They want everything to be absolutely perfect in a chaotic world… it just wont happen. Learn as they go: They take an idea and hit the ground running. They learn from their mistakes and adjust along the way — it’s always an ongoing process filled with failures.

Creating a board game requires trial and error, statistical testing and continuous feedback. Therefore assuming that you will attain perfection is nonsense.

2. Draw out your board game and make up some rules.

You wouldn't create a board game without an initial concept. Now let’s focus on how to get that concept laid out. With Mohamed Al Qadi, he sketched the Game of Thrones map and made up some rules that mimic reality which he wanted to reflect in the game.

Draw out an already existing map so you don’t waste your time working on the rules and the map simultaneously.

From there, he tested the game on himself numerous times and once he felt confident to present it, he invited different players. After every game, he would sit down with each of them and write down their honest opinions. After implementing their comments, he was pleased with the final mechanics and dynamics. Finally, he picked his theme — Rome during the third century BC, developed his characters, heroes, the historical map, the algorithm and finally tested the probabilities.

Try to go to the root cause of their suggestions… Ask “WHY?”

A player might suggest to add a timer to eliminate long decision making, or it might be that in life, especially battlefields, you have to act fast — therefore, mimicking reality.

3. Artwork & Manufacturing & Logistics

Artwork should follow once the concept is finalized and you feel confident to take it forward. As for manufacturing, unless you're an expert on analyzing the quality of the product, do proper research beforehand and understand the different quality available. For logistics, get familiar with the different charges since it easy to miss the hidden charges. Marketing, branding, and logistics should all go towards the cost of the board game.
Are you doing it right?
By: Emma Siuciak
Tags: Art, Sex, Motivation, Proces, Self Doubt

Are you doing it right?

Did this catch your eye? Well then probably, like me, you’re functioning in a state of wondering if you’re doing it right. Doing what right? Sex? (that’s what you thought of first, yeah?). And I am honestly sorry about attracting you here with a seed of doubt about your performance in bed (it’s just that I’m feeling vulnerable, being my first blog post and all…am I doing this right?). It’s okay. Really. This is a really human thing to ask. Sometimes it feels like we function alone in our own brains, in our own worlds, and fail to notice others’ doing any “messy” work — who are these shiny monsters!? But it’s normal (even as an adult) to feel like you aren’t included, that there’s a special secret and it’s being intentionally withheld from you….and the doubt arises…are you doing it right? Going through the trial and error, the baby-steps, sometimes smells funny, different, wrong?…like change. And if you’re an honest human, (I love you!) you might think- “change. ew, gross”. Even as someone who identifies as being “extroverted”, and “open” to change, (an association that a good friend asked me to question further…surely one does not mean the other), I also feel the quiet comfort of just squeezing by with what I’m used to.

Ok so, cool. You’re doing it — right? But you might not like what you see. Taking risks can be downright humiliating, and we all begin somewhere (which is a nice way to realize how small we do need to start at times), and it’s a lot less boring than not knowing. There really isn’t one way of doing it. Sex, (in case you missed the subtlety**) among the many things you can get up-to, and art (my favorite combination). Making either (or both at the same time!!) is a learning process, revelatory, messy, and always inherently worthwhile.

As I post this I cross an invisible and real, definitely scary, threshold. I hear the voice in my head, and you read it, but it’s me speaking to myself, and what i end up hearing in response. Am I doing it right?

** I say to sound aloof, so to distance myself from the people who thought of sex right away and felt disparaged, and now have been brought on an emotional rollercoaster…Is this about sex? Yes… but I was surprised too, ok? I didn’t expect it to come together so nicely.
Re: Evaluation
By: Fabian Frey
Tags: Methodology, Process, Design, Evaluation, UX

Re: Evaluation

In order to have a successful design process it is crucial to evaluate the ongoing work and also to make a big evaluation at the end of the process. There are many methods to evaluate like user tests, discussions or surveys and analytics.

In their paper “Usability Evaluation Considered Harmful (Some of the Time)” Saul Greenberg and Bill Buxton question the heavy use of usability evaluations in the design process. They mention that it could harm innovation and creativity if one starts to evaluate too early in the design process. They also mentioned that it can be hard to get meaningful test results. In our process class, we also had a lot of difficulties to reproduce results in a consistent manner. Therefore it was rather hard to validate and implement certain findings, i.e. how the instructions should be written in an understandable way. [1]

Pen and Paper evaluation [2]

In our Interaction Design Process class we focused on four core principles and found ways to evaluate and check them.We wanted our product to be DIY, it should start conversations, be appropriated by the users and it should be playful and funny. I think we achieved a lot of these goals.
3D Model Importer Challenge
By: Janet Katsnelson
Tags: Process, Maya, Virtual Reality, 3d Modeling, Blender

When you open the 3D Model Importer as it is right now, you’re first greeted by a very plain, blue 3D cube. That’s where you come in! In fact, we want that to be your 3D model instead. The winner of the 3D Model Importer Challenge will have their 3D model load as the default model in the application (used by thousands of 3D creators around the world!). In addition, the creator will be credited in both the default model loader and the Library description.

Oh and best part? If your 3D model is chosen, you will also receive a Standard Looking Glass, on us!

The theme of this challenge is: Holograms of the Future.

A small note: because the winner’s submission will be the default model for the 3D Model Importer, it should load fast. For this competition, we’re asking that models be more lightweight than the 3D Model Importer can typically handle to ensure that it loads quickly. (If you need some help with this, head on over to our 3D Model Importer Reference and Guide)

Can’t wait to see what y’all come up with!
Journey of a coach as a coaching client
By: Lopamudra Misra
Tags: Coaching, Process, Clients, Coach

Few days ago, I was in a coaching session where I was the coaching client. I was in a dilemma on a certain aspect of my life. I planned to take the help of a coach to find me a way forward. During our conversation, the coach asked me “Where do you see yourself doing 5 years hence? “. Few minutes into our conversation, I had this coaching aha moment — a moment of awakening. I would reckon that it was one of my best coaching conversations in a long time.

We have lot of articles, books on how a coach should hold a coaching conversation. I always used to wonder what happens when the tables are turned and a coach is a coaching client.

Based on my experience, I would like to share my take on this aspect.

Setting aside your coach hat -

When we are in the coaching client seat, we need to let go of our own coaching instinct. We can always coach ourselves. However, if we have come to a coach as a coaching client to find a way forward , lets just be that — coaching client.

Be your authentic self

If we want the best outcome from a coaching conversation, it is imperative that we are our authentic self , be open and candid in our conversation with the coach.

Trust the process

At times, we might be thinking in our conversation “What’s happening”? It has happened with me many a times. At that moment- letting go of our perceptions, judgement and cynicism is key. Just as we trust our doctor and the medical process and go with the flow, we need to trust the coach and the coaching process to get the best possible results.

Of course, all these happen when the coach hold the space and at the same time create a safe, trusting environment for us to reflect, think and find our way forward.

We all know that coaching is a partnership between coach and the client for the client to accomplish extraordinary results. That partnership can help produce the best of outcomes and help the client to move forward if there is a balance between the two. Mind you — if we want the coach to take us through a creative, thought provoking process, we need to give that person the space too.

I know it is not an easy process when a coach is a coaching client and I can tell you at times, my coaching instinct have come out. However the outcome has not been great.

We all need a coach in our life to move forward and this quote from Bill Gates sums it all.

What has been your experience as a coaching client ?
What is DevOps and what should I learn?
By: Aniruddha Banerjee
Tags: DevOps, Process, Culture, Learning, Ci Cd Pipeline

The most necessary and well discussed topic was, why should I learn DevOps…..

Most of the tech guys like me prefer to introduce myself as a Scrum specialist, Agile developer or maybe the latest term “Fullstack Developer”. Well, what I want to say that, all these impressive adjectives are basically referring to those who work within the periphery of DevOps.

DevOps is Dev(development) and Ops(operation), that we all know. We know that it’s a culture, but when the question arises, what should I learn, become a DevOps cultured geek, I found myself into tons of Certifications, billions of tools, trillions of methodologies. Not a joke, but if you fall under a situation like me, when Corporate pushing me to become DevOps cultured, but I feared about Exams(it’s a childhood phobia I adopted :P), rather practically implement something worthy, or at least tried it, I became aware at the end that, this someone already had achieved, I should try something new.

To study DevOps, I think, it’s better to learn the Software Engineering a bit, these terms, Scrums, Kanban, Waterfall, Agile have pretty close meaning to DevOps.

Second is Cloud..why? (Just because nowadays the only effective space is Cloud, where your data, code is safe, and your client has to pay only their services are running?)..no I guess, it’s a trend and you have to learn Capex and Opex to realize the scenario, that what happens for an entrepreneur running a business and the application they own. No worry, go slow.

Now it comes to a beautiful term, which practically took many of nights. I was trying to figure out, whether my application design is having CICD or not? Well, now my life becomes a bit cooler, as tools are limited (well my verse here nowadays only a few tools are only adopted by Corporate industry, you obviously defy the same). I learnt some crazy things like Jenkins, Chef, Puppet, SonarQube, and I was feeling better.

And the story ended guys. It’s about the end of my DevOps learning era when one of my colleagues suggested about Containerization, I understood, I have far to go. It’s effective, as many of your environments should exist only during runtime. I started learning Docker. What to do?

Well, as of now, ending the topic. I thought I can give more info on DevOps, but I want to make my post concise, maybe later on a day, I again write up something useful.

Anyway if you feel till now I was too abstract, let’s discuss.

#devops #cicd #learning #tools #culture
Best Process?
Tags: Writing, Practice, Whatever Goes, Process, Best

So what is my best process when I need to write something for class, or have a deadline, and I have absolutely no idea, motivation, or focus? Nothing folks. Okay, I lied, I may have a mental breakdown, maybe jump around my room, or sometimes sit in the scolding hot water when I shower, and hope something magically comes to me. You may think I am joking, and trust me I wish I was because that is pathetic. Unfortunately I am not…yes I know it is sad, but it’s the truth.

There are times where you brain is just like, Uhm no, and you deal with it. Then, there are times where your brain is like, I am ready baby! I mean to each their own. I feel my process is best for me because it works. It may not seem like the most efficient, but it works. I also just go through my week in hopes something will happen and I can write about it. It reminds me of those family members who don’t have lives so they basically watch yours as if it were a tv show, and gossip about your decision's to the whole family. That’s what I do, well sort of. All I know is that my process for writing is kind of fuzzy, and uncertain. Yet, I still make it work, so all in all I feel that is all that matters. I cannot argue it is the best because it’s not, so do not try to take my head off about other processes that are better okay? I think that it is best for me. Thank you have a wonderfully chaotic day like me, or night. Either way see ya.
Jenkins Build Numbers
By: Venkat Jk
Tags: Jenkins

Build Numbers

This script will change the next build number that Jenkins uses for a particular job. If we are using build numbers as part of the version number for tagging images to nexus this may be useful in following scenarios.

Changing existing Jenkinsfile has reset the number of builds ran under that job and now builds are failing because the “git tag already exists”. Setting the build number helps avoid duplicate version numbers or failures.

New job was created to handle an existing process and you want it to continue from where the old one left off.

To set the next build number of the job run the following in the Script Console which can be found under Manage Jenkins

def job = Jenkins.instance.getItemByFullName(“folderName/my-pipeline-job”)

job.nextBuildNumber = 1 //for example

job.save()

For example you might have a scenario in Jenkins where builds numbers have been reset but the latest build is tagged with a version of 1.0.30. If you run a build where the build number is 1 then the image will get tagged with 1.0.1. However this will fail as the tag likely already exists. Therefore you will want to set the build number to 31 using the above script so the next build tags the image as 1.0.31. Build numbers will continue to increment from the number you have set.
Setup Jenkins Using Docker Tutorial
By: Abhinav Narra
Tags: Docker, Jenkins, Jenkinsfile, Jenkins Pipeline

Jenkins is a free and open source automation server. Jenkins helps to automate the non-human part of the software development process, with continuous integration and facilitating technical aspects of continuous delivery. It is a server-based system that runs in servlet containers such as Apache Tomcat

Docker is a set of platform as a service products that use OS-level virtualization to deliver software in packages called containers. Containers are isolated from one another and bundle their own software, libraries and configuration files; they can communicate with each other through well-defined channels

In this tutorial we are going to install jenkins by using docker.

Make sure Docker is installed on your machine(MAC)

Install docker on mac

Use the following Docker commands to pull the jenkins image from docker hub.

docker pull jenkins:alpine

Now Run the container out of the image pulled earlier using the following command

docker run -d -p 18080:8080 — name myjenkins jenkins:alpine

in the above command

-d flag to run the image as background

-p flag to specify the port

— name flag to specify the name for the container

jenkins:alpine is the name of the image pulled from docker hub in the earlier step

The output of the above command is following

You can persist the data using docker volumes:

Docker volumes will bind mount the data from the local machine to the remote server

It can be done using the following command

docker run -d -p 18080:8080 — name myjenkins -v <you_local_docker_path>:<remote_server_path> jenkins:alpine

Great! now you have setup the jenkins server on your local machine.

the next step is to grab the admin password for the jenkins

it can be found by the following command

docker logs <conainer_id>

Grab the Administrator password and paste above now you are all set to go and use the jenkins server for scheduling jobs.

In the next tutorial will know how to automate all the above steps using a docker-compose file

If you have any questions please feel free to write abhinav.narraa@gmail.com
Jenkins with Docker
By: Cipta Ageung Mahdiar
Tags: Docker, Jenkins, Installation

This tutorial is can help developer or devops for manage deployment with docker architecture.

Pull jenkins lts via docker :

docker pull jenkins/jenkins:lts

Create network for jenkins :

docker network create jenkins-net

Run jenkins with docker run :

docker run -u root -d -p 8080:8080 -p 50001:50001 -e JENKINS_SLAVE_AGENT_PORT=50001 -e PLUGINS_FORCE_UPGRADE=true -e TRY_UPGRADE_IF_NO_MARKER=true -v jenkins-volume:/var/jenkins_home -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v $(which docker):$(which docker) — network jenkins-net — name jenkins jenkins/jenkins:lts

You can forward jenkins port, example you need jenkins is running with port 49001 :

docker run -u root -d -p 49001:8080 -p 50001:50001 -e JENKINS_SLAVE_AGENT_PORT=50001 -e PLUGINS_FORCE_UPGRADE=true -e TRY_UPGRADE_IF_NO_MARKER=true -v jenkins-volume:/var/jenkins_home -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v $(which docker):$(which docker) — network jenkins-net — name jenkins jenkins/jenkins:lts

Checking ip jenkins with command :

docker inspect jenkins

You can see ip address jenkins, example output :

“Networks”: {

“jenkins-net”: {

“IPAMConfig”: null,

“Links”: null,

“Aliases”: [

“1ba699c4273e”

],

“NetworkID”: “75ab5620daffd569d731e1bc5e91dd4c0079ccb87175aea09be1bd8428bfaf14”,

“EndpointID”: “569a8c924919ddfaf043c216a5e70644c5742d00c33c7a3c1f529a87d7ab076d”,

“Gateway”: “172.19.0.1”,

“IPAddress”: “172.19.0.2”,

“IPPrefixLen”: 16,

“IPv6Gateway”: “”,

“GlobalIPv6Address”: “”,

“GlobalIPv6PrefixLen”: 0,

“MacAddress”: “02:42:ac:13:00:02”,

“DriverOpts”: null

}

}

You can access jenkins via browser with url :

172.19.0.1:49001 or localhost:49001

In first installation, you need key to insert on page, you can open container jenkins and get key with step :

docker exec -it jenkins bash cat /var/jenkins_home/secrets/initialAdminPassword

After you insert key, you can install suggest plugin first on jenkins page.

Next step you can setup user account login jenkins.

Thanks.
Automate the import of Openshift Secrets to Jenkins
By: Jonathan Dionne
Tags: Jenkins, Code, Groovy, Openshift, Continious Integration

I would like to share my experience on a challenge that I encountered when I had to mount a Jenkins instance inside Openshift via minishift. To allow Jenkins to communicate with GitHub, for example.

First attempt

Research

While doing some research on the internet, I came across the idea of ​​using environment variables to pass my Openshift Secrets towards my Jenkins instance.

Evaluation

The idea did not appeal to me since it would be enough for someone who was ill-intentioned to try to print all the environment variables in the console in order to read my various passwords… I thought that even there, it would be necessary that the person have access to modify the configuration of my pods… Considering the security around our Openshift configuration, I opted for this solution.

Discovery

I quickly discovered on the beautiful Jenkins system page, the complete list of environment variable values ​​…

The second attempt is the good one

Research

While doing some more research, I discovered some extensions allowing the synchronization between the secrets and the “credentials” of Jenkins. The idea seems excellent, but unfortunately because of security constraints out of my control I can’t and I’m not able, allowed do the installation of said extensions.

Evaluation

Because we can’t do the installation of extensions inside Jenkins, I decided to go with a nice little script that will be launched at the start of Jenkins via the folder init.groovy.d .

The script we talked about

So I came to the creation of a script that will search through the Openshift console to retrieve all “secret” objects that have been labeled with jenkins=true . The script will create a new credential entry in Jenkins each time it encounters a “secret” with that label. In addition, I took the opportunity to manage the description of my new “credentials” directly at the “secret” by adding this label jenkins-description=A-Simple-Description .

How it work

To use this script you will need to add the following two labels on your secrets: jenkins=true and jenkins-description=A-Simple-Description . To allow the script to determine the type of Credentials to create in Jenkins, you will need to name your fields contained in your secrets, this way:

Credential Jenkins of type “Username and Password” :

Secret of type: opaque , Named: username

Secret of type: opaque , Named: password

Credential Jenkins type “SecretText” :

Secret of type: opaque , Named: token

Conclusion

This solution is not flawless of course, but it offers a simple, effective and discreet way to import your Openshift Secrets into Jenkins. There is room for improvement and I will be happy to add those from your feedbacks and from my next discoveries!

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Don’t forget us!
By: Wfp West Africa
Tags: Crisis, Central African Republic, Humanitarian

Don’t forget us!

More than 15,000 people fled their homes following violent clashes between two rival groups in Birao, a town in the northeastern corner of CAR just next to the border with Sudan. As the World Food Programme (WFP) was not present on the ground, the organization immediately deployed an intervention team to provide emergency food assistance to the destitute women, children, and men who recently escaped their homes.

Fatimé Tidjani is one of the millions of people who received WFP food assistance in Birao, northern CAR. WFP/Bruno Djoyo

Written by Bruno Djoyo

Upon arrival, I met Fatimé Tidjani, one of the thousands of people who received food assistance. “Thank you dearly for these biscuits my grandsons are eating, look how happy they are”, says a woman sitting next to me, as I photograph children enjoying the high energy biscuits that WFP just distributed.

As I tour the site, I get to know more about Fatimé, a courageous woman, who tries to stay positive, despite living in a site where her wounded neighbors die in silence. She takes me to her home, and on the way, she tells me that she lost her husband during the gory events that shook CAR in 2012. Since then, the country has been suffering from a succession of violence that has contributed to the ongoing crises. This conflict has caused the death of thousands of innocent civilians and has left most of the population to fall into poverty.

On the way to Fatimé’s place of residence. WFP/Bruno Djoyo

Unfortunately for her, the ongoing clashes over the past two weeks in Birao remind her of the previous pain she suffered, and the previous loved ones she lost.

We cross the overflowing wastewater and Fatimé points to a makeshift house, “welcome home” she announces. Surrounded by dirty water and mosquitos, Fatimé takes me inside, where I observe the unwashed pots and pans, and the dirty clothes spread across the floor.

The dirty water around Fatimé’s house. WFP/Bruno Djoyo

“When I see my grandkids scarfing down the cookies, I can understand that for them, it is not just a biscuit, but food,” says this brave mother who gave birth to a total of 10 children, 5 girls, and 5 boys. “Actually, I have only 4 boys left as one of them died during the war,” she says.

With a sorry look on my face, I watch her grandchildren sitting on the floor eating the WFP biscuits, and I know that they will at least get their necessary daily caloric intake. As the children play and chat, I ask Fatimé to translate for me what her grandkids are telling her. “They ask me where these cookies come from”, she says. I reply proudly, “from WFP.”
What Coronavirus Could Mean for the Global Economy
By: Bcg Henderson Institute
Tags: Crisis, Economy, Strategy, Coronavirus, Macroeconomics

by Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak, Martin Reeves, Paul Swartz

Having largely ignored Covid-19 as it spread across China, global financial markets reacted strongly last week when the virus spread to Europe and the Middle East, stoking fears of a global pandemic. Since then, Covid-19 risks have been priced so aggressively across various asset classes that some fear a recession in the global economy may be a foregone conclusion.

In our conversations, business leaders are asking whether the market drawdown truly signals a recession, how bad a Covid-19 recession would be, what the scenarios are for growth and recovery, and whether there will be any lasting structural impact from the unfolding crisis.

In truth, projections and indices won’t answer these questions. Hardly reliable in the calmest of times, a GDP forecast is dubious when the virus trajectory is unknowable, as are the effectiveness of containment efforts, and consumers’ and firms’ reactions. There is no single number that credibly captures or foresees Covid-19’s economic impact.

Instead, we must take a careful look at market signals across asset classes, recession and recovery patterns, as well as the history of epidemics and shocks, to glean insights into the path ahead.

Continue reading on HBR.org

(Editor’s Note, March 6): This piece has been updated to reflect the subtypes of the historic flu outbreaks.)
How to live according to true, natural necessities?!
By: Zsolt Hermann
Tags: Crisis, Humanity, Consumerism, Society, Education

Question from the Internet:

“Is every human being entitled to the standard of living enjoyed by the average American? If you say 'no’, give a concrete logical justification for your answer.”

This is not about entitlement. It is about whether it is necessary for everybody - even the average American - to live like an average American?

The lifestyle people pursue in Western societies is completely disconnected from true, modern, healthy, natural necessities. Our lifestyle is dictated by “aggregate demand”, by a completely artificial and harmful consumerist paradigm, which is now collapsing as it is incompatible with Nature’s balanced, integrated system and its strict, unbreakable laws.

Gradually the pandemic and subsequent crisis will remove all the excesses, non-essential production and consumption until gradually we will recognize what our true necessities and the available resources are.

We can hasten and facilitate this process by proactively, consciously learning the Natural laws that sustain the balance and homeostasis without which life and optimal development is impossible.

We can also learn how to build “Nature-like”, altruistic, mutually responsible and mutually complementing interconnections between people and nations, which - through the achieved similarity - will give us access to Nature’s template, blueprints, and such resources we didn’t even dream about before.

Then - especially when we create societies that follow Nature’s balanced blueprints - everybody will have everything they exactly need, while they will all also do everything they can towards the well-being of the whole collective.

We will switch our Western lifestyle - with its excessive, unnecessary hoarding, unserviceable debt, ruthless competition, depression, substance abuse and aimless, brainless “circus and bread entertainment” - to a perfect, purposeful, healthy, peaceful and fair natural lifestyle.

https://youtu.be/zf1CkP7GM8E
The most important social issue affecting us through cause/effect, problem/solution process
By: Zsolt Hermann
Tags: Crisis, Humanity, Survival, Integration, Education

Question from the Internet:

“What is a social issue topic that is really happening today using the cause-effect and problem-solution type of structure?”

The most important social issue topic that affects everything through cause-effect, problem-solution is the following:

We are all born inherently egocentric, individualistic, selfish, thus we don’t trust each other and we fight, compete exclusively, trying to succeed, survive at each other’s expense.

So we are unable to build sustainable, positive, mutually responsible, mutually complementing interconnections, cooperation with each other.

As a result we can’t assess and solve our mounting global problems that require global decision making and coordinated action.

Thus our collective Human existence is in danger right now, as we are helplessly sleepwalking towards an unprecedented global meltdown that could be triggered at any time from multiple issues in multiple locations.

Unless…

We find a way and the necessary, purposeful and highly practical method that can teach us how to build the crucially important, life-saving global coordination, cooperation above and despite everything that separates, rejects people and nations from each other.

https://youtu.be/P1mY0hV5tRo
Planning a System of Transformation
Tags: Agile, Agile Methodology, Change Management, Business Strategy, Executive Coaching

Recorded By Dave Prior

When it comes to Agile Transformation, every organization has to deal with things in the system that are blocking them from developing an Agile System of Delivery. Impediments to Transformation exist at many levels: organizations, architectural, cultural, etc. Many of these impediments are common across companies and can be known and planned for ahead of time. In LeadingAgile’s approach, there are 3 Things that are necessary for an organization to be capable of an Agile approach. Those 3 Things are stable teams, a well-formed backlog, and the ability to deliver a working tested increment of product on a regular basis. Anything that gets in the way of these 3 Things must be addressed as part of the Transformation.

In this episode of SoundNotes, LeadingAgile Founder and CEO, Mike Cottmeyer, and Dave Prior discuss what a System of Transformation, some of the more common impediments to Agile Transformation, and ways to cope with those impediments.

Contacting Mike Cottmeyer

If you’d like to contact Mike you can reach him at:

Contacting Dave Prior

If you’d like to contact Dave you can reach him at:

If you have a question you’d like to submit for an upcoming podcast, please send them to dave.prior@leadingagile.com

And if you’re interested in taking one of our upcoming Certified ScrumMaster or Certified Scrum Product Owner classes, you can find all the details at https://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/
Agile Teams: How is your Standup?
By: Brett Fitzgerald
Tags: Software Development, Agile, Agile Methodology, Scrum, Daily Stand Up

We all know the routine. We’re supposed to do daily standups as a team. We’re supposed to say what we did yesterday, what we’re doing today, and what blockers we have. It’s a great status update for our Scrum Master / Project Manager, and it’s something we have to do. It shouldn’t be a surprise that a standup based on those concepts will be viewed as an inconvenience and eventually fall apart. We need to base our standups on something else.

The Format is not the Goal

Adhering to the “What did you do yesterday, what are you going to do today, and do you have any blockers” format is there to serve the sprint goal. If you don’t have a sprint goal, then you cannot connect your responses back to that goal. What comes out in the absence of a sprint goal is a group of people giving individual updates about their individual tasks. Nobody cares what anyone else says (except maybe a Product Owner, Scrum Master, or Project Manager), and that is felt by all the members of the team. Instead, if each person has a clear concept of the goal of the sprint and a strong sense of being on a team, it changes the engagement of the standup. It’s no longer the feeling of “I have to say I’m doing to justify my existence here” and it becomes “Here’s how I’m contributing to accomplishing our shared goal.” These are very different mindsets

Switching Up the Format

Scrum purists will argue that you shouldn’t switch the format of the Three Questions, and only attack the underlying issue in a stale standup. Sure, in a healthy, high-performing team, the three questions should suffice. But occasionally you may need to throw some variety into the mix, to help illuminate the underlying issue. To get straight to the basics, simply ask each person what they are doing to help move the goal forward. This allows open dialog that is focussed around the unifying goal. Also, it makes it very clear when someone says “I had work come in sideways, so I didn’t really move us toward the goal.” That’s a great response! The scrum master should be all over that!

Another good method is to walk the cards. Starting with the card closest to “Done”, go through each card and ask what it would take to get it to done. Come up with a plan to get those close-to-the-finish line cards to Done, and attack it as a team. This takes away from the sprint goal a little bit, but you can draw a strong line back to the goal by identifying how each card completed helps the goal.

It’s common for teams to not see value in standups. Frequently, this is because they have never been shown the value or the team is drifting from being goal-focused to being format-focused. Take the time to align your team around the goal each morning.
How to Discover Your Personal Brand Style
Tags: Marketing, Storytelling, Social Media, Personal Branding, Branding

Identifying your personal brand style is the first step in creating and curating a cohesive brand on social media. There are many ways to find ideas and visual inspiration (here at UNUM, we love perusing Pinterest), but it’s important to keep in mind the following to ensure that your brand identity is authentically you!

Step 1: Dig Deep

Ask yourself the following questions and keep them in mind while curating all your content to maintain a cohesive brand aesthetic.

How to Create a Cohesive Brand Aesthetic

What are your goals? What is your mission and purpose for your brand? Do you want to educate? Inspire? Inform? Entertain? Sell?

How do you want to present yourself? Based on your previously determined goals, how do you as a brand want to be presented to the rest of the world?

What is your unique value proposition? What do you bring to the table? What separates you from all the rest? What do you have to offer your audience and how do you differentiate from others like you?

What do you envision your personal brand looking like? How would you describe your individual personality? What words come to mind when thinking about yourself and how you want to be seen by others? Is there a particular theme or aesthetic that you feel speaks true to you? Whatever you choose, be sure to remain AUTHENTIC! People appreciate authenticity; it’s not only endearing, but it’s often hard to come by.

Who are your clients/fans/followers/etc.? Why do/should they follow you? This is perhaps the most important question you think about.

Let’s say your goal is to inspire your audience with travel ideas and experiences. You want to present yourself as being adventurous, wanderlust, and carefree. You’re different from all the others because your job as a writer enables you to work remotely and traveling is one of the many ways you find inspiration. As a result, your followers are most likely going to be travel enthusiasts and dreamers who look to you for inspiration as to where to go next. That means they probably won’t care about what hair products you use (unless it’s part of your ‘travel kit’) and don’t want to see random posts of you at the movies. Basically, our point is: keep in mind who your audience is and what kinds of things they actually want to see.

Step 2: Refine

Taking into consideration your answers to the previous questions, now try and put yourself in your audience’s shoes:

What do you want them to think when they look at your profile and feed? What kind of image do you want to portray?

Will your audience view you/your account the way you intend to be seen? Is the message you want to send clear and easy to comprehend? If not, what can you do/change to ensure you’re seen the way you want to be seen?

Is your newfound personal brand easy to follow across all platforms?

Are you able to carry your newfound brand style and aesthetic across all of your online platforms and offerings (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, portfolio(s), website(s), etc.)?

Step 3: Storytell

It’s your story, time to share it.
#6 The beginner’s guide to SEO
By: Eo Ipso Comms
Tags: Personal Branding, SEO, Marketing, Search Engine Marketing

Read the article or click here for a video summary by Oliver Aust, CEO of Eo Ipso Communications

The aim of a search engine is to help you find the most relevant and accurate information as quickly as possible. To rank at the top, you need to establish yourself as the most trusted source of that information. In an increasingly digital world, search engine optimisation (SEO) is one of the most effective ways to enhance your reputation and personal brand.

Given the increasing public prominence of businesses, more and more people are looking for information about the people behind the brand name. Familiarity with the fundamentals of SEO can help you direct people to the specific information you want others to find. It can also be highly profitable. Research has found that SEO provides almost 20 times more traffic opportunity than pay-per-click advertising.

So how do you make SEO work for your business? Some tips we recommend include:

Using basic SEO tools like Ahrefs and Serpstat to ensure that your digital content ranks highly in online searches.

Researching the words or phrases that your target audience most often searches. There are many free online tools that can carry out keyword searches, such as Wordtracker or Soovle. Then, optimising your content by including these keywords in the places where they fit best.

Building your own personal website to show a portfolio of your work and brand.

Buying the Google Adwords for your name and linking it back to your website or your page on the company website.

By no means is the following an exhaustive list of SEO techniques but these are easy immediately actionable steps anyone can take to stand out in search results.

For a more detailed explanation, listen to our podcast episode with SEO expert, Chelsea Blacker, the founder and former Managing Director of Re:Signal, a London-based leading SEO and content marketing agency.

This article was originally published as part of Eo Ipso’s CEO Playbook newsletter. For weekly updates, videos, podcast episodes and more, subscribe now.

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