fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Da série… faz sentido?
Tags: Negocios, Tecnología, Transformação Digital, Organizational Culture, Digital Business

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
The Art of Communication is Dead
By: Vasu J
Tags: Information Technology, Communication Skills, Inspiration, People Skills, Organizational Culture

Photo by Akson on Unsplash

The 3 Pillars — PEOPLE, PROCESS, AND TECHNOLOGY

Why is everyone struggling with communication in their everyday life?

The death of communication is near with everyone from individuals to organizations who are blind to it have failed to comprehend the seriousness. How often do we hear that the top class organizations and institutes are functioning like a well-oiled machine but hear about gaps in their communication models. The spectrum of this challenge varies from “not so serious” to “train-wreck”.

Having worked in Fortune 500 companies to a Startup to a Mid Size Organization, the communication model is that “baby” to be fed well along the day to keep it running and working. This always falls short among different departments and employees working for the organization across the globe.

Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash

People, Process and Technology are interdependent on each other where people come up with a process which comprises of the technology. The technology built needs to communicated from top-down across length and breadth through the organization which mostly fails to happen. A new process implemented for a service would most likely take weeks to months for employees to train and retrain but within that time gap, a new process to overwrite the just recently established one is brought into the picture. This is where most of the confusion and decoupling happens between the 3 pillars — People, Process, and Technology.

What is not happening here is the communication which is the driver for the service. The organization might be successful from the outside but it is a crumbling mountain with a failed state inside. The dead communication is only going to implode the company in the long run if there is absolutely no dialogue within departments and teams on the agenda of the new process. Companies recognize the How and What but most often fail on the Why and it is an absolute must to know the Why first?

Here is an amazing talk by Simon Sinek on the START with the WHY
Culture Turns Strategy Into A Smoothie: The Meaning #1
By: Jeffery Beckham Jr.
Tags: Nonprofit, Meaningful Work, Leadership, Organizational Culture, Vuca World

I’m a huge fan of affirmations. It’s my top love language so I give them and I like to receive them. I have found them to be an essential tool, when used intentionally with staff, to set the culture and boost morale. This Monday’s affirmation is, “I ask for and do meaningful, wonderful, and rewarding work.”

When I was a freshman in college, I had the opportunity to intern at International Trucks. Before my first day, my father told me my grandfather worked there, 40 years before my first day, when the company was called International Harvester. I felt an enormous sense of pride working there. The connection to my grandfather’s legacy provided a boost of pride. Knowing he worked in the manufacturing plant and that I was now working in the corporate office spoke to his legacy and the generational investment he made in my father’s education that trickled down to me. It made my work, even as an intern, that much more meaningful. It also taught me a lesson; I perform at my best when I find meaning in my work. Why do you do the work you do? What do you find most rewarding? As we think about working amid so many challenges, I encourage you to find your answers to these questions. It can fuel you to perform.

The painting posted below is called Heartfelt Waves. I painted it to represent this crazy balancing act we are all doing as we ride the waves of the VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world.

Heartfelt Waves By: Jeff Beckham (2020) Acrylic on Canvas

Jeff Beckham is a speaker, community leader, and artist who serves as Interim CEO of Chicago Scholars a non profit that serves over 4,000 first generation college students in Chicago, Illinois.
Episode 026 — Avoid the Comfort in the Default
By: Michael Martino
Tags: Business Transformation, Organizational Culture, Digital Transformation

Episode 026 — Avoid the Comfort in the Default

Why is it that so many people and organizations are in a rush to get “back to normal”, or what normal was before COVID? I get the return to normalcy, but what about all the advances we’ve made in that short period of time, particularly around remote working? Get the Vince and Mike take on the matter in this episode of the Business (Not) As Usual podcast.
How Self Awareness Can Help Organisational Leaders Boost Productivity
By: Charis Raji
Tags: Organizational Culture, Organisation, Workplace Culture, Workplace, Productivity

Self-awareness is the conscious knowledge of one’s character and feelings. It’s the ability to focus on you and also on your actions, thoughts and emotions if they do or don’t align with your standards (internal and external)

According to Dr Tasha Eurich, an organizational psychologist, researcher and a New York best-selling author stated in a Forbes article that 95 percent of people believe they are self-aware.

Meanwhile, in reality, only 10% to 15% merit the “self-aware” badge. Dr Tacha and her team carried out 10 separate pieces of research with 5000 participants.

Findings show that when employees are self-aware, they can identify who they are and why they work the way they do. Using this information, leaders can then play to their strength while understanding their areas of developmental opportunity.
The Standard Corporate Diversity Playbook Will Not Solve Inequity
By: United Minds
Tags: Organizational Change, Organizational Culture, Workplace Diversity, Diversity And Inclusion, Workplace Culture

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
3 Ways to Measure Company Culture
By: Jessy Santana
Tags: Organizational Change, Inclusion, Organizational Culture, Diversity And Inclusion, Inclusion And Belonging

and Solutions to do Something about it!

Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com

Have you ever wondered these three things…

The truth is…You might have a culture problem.

I know. I’ve been there.

I’ve worked at companies that didn’t value their employees and we had a serious turnover problem, I’m talking people quitting in the middle of the night kind of turnover!

Things like nepotism, quid pro quo and retaliation are culture killers for most companies and even if you are big enough to keep your head above water for a while. It will catch up with you. It’s only a matter of when, not if.

For many companies, a complete overhaul doesn’t make sense and it can be costly but there are small changes that can help.

Solutions that Matter

1. If change is needed

and it probably is…

Don’t make the change on your own. Have employees know that change is coming and how it might affect them before the change is implemented and whenever appropriate have them be a part of the change.

Make sure everyone understands the culture you are building and adjust otherwise. From onboarding to exit interview, the message shouldn’t be muddled. Everyone should know exactly what the mission of the company is and what it means for their individual position.

Tony Hseih, who recently passed away, a tragic loss for his family and the future of Downtown Las Vegas, was a big fan of change. He even wrote about it in his book, “ Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.”
Vacunas contra la COVID-19. ¿Qué falta y cuál será su impacto en nuestras organizaciones?
By: Oscar Córdoba
Tags: Vaccines, Organizational Culture, Covid 19, Management

in Strategy for the Rest of Us
The basics of solid product planning
Tags: Product Management, Organizational Culture, Goal Setting, Management, Data Science

There are only three basic techniques of approach product planning.

They cover almost all the key scenarios. Clearly, between them, they have several variations and branches but the high-level concepts are almost invariable unless you are doing something completely off the reservation(which I recommend you do if possible!)

Top down

This starts at the C-level. Goals are set. Expectations with investors are set. The CEO/CFO might direct the company for a 30% growth in the top line. Note this is very different from a 30% in net revenue, much less net income. Net revenue is net of traffic acquisition costs, broker fees etc. depending on your business, so be specific here. This immediately translates into team level goals. If you are an ops heavy startup you’ll need to ask

How does the world look like, at 30% more gross revenue? Whats my current GR/HC? Can this be extrapolated? Can I assume I have this budget? What else will need to be true? Would product need to ship some enhancements for this to work

At this point you need to start planning beyond your team. But as Andy Grove said

“As a middle manager, you are in effect a chief executive of an organization yourself… As a micro CEO, you can improve your own and your group’s performance and productivity, whether or not the rest of the company follows suit.”

Bottom up

This is based on solid UXR.

You build hypothesis on where you see the market going, or ideally, where do you want to take it?

At a startup I led product at, we experimented with video cameras on cars to generate foot traffic street-level insights. We ran this past media buyers in NYC and elsewhere to get their point of view. This takes time and more than that commitment.

But there are simpler forms of bottom up planning too

You could simply state foundational product improvements you want to make You could talk about existing commitments to customers or experiments you want to run All of these are different from top-down but, they need to have metrics tied to them that leadership can get behind, else getting funded will be hard and it’ll be an uphill battle

One thing to note here is you can still use solid UXR (whether its surveys or customer interviews to shape the narrative, and ideally shape your own assumptions)

Course correction

This is the wild card.

Market trends change New competitors emerge, with novel business models Regulations change , leaving you with no options

You need to reflect this in your roadmap, knowing this will always be a wild card.

Use data science as your friend here. The more data you use the better your decisions will be in each of the three cases
Myth #5 — Change is about communicating what our new values or beliefs are
By: Michael Leckie
Tags: Organizational Change, Leadership, Organization, Leadership Development, Organizational Culture

This is part of a continuing series on the Five Myths of Organizational Change.

The Five Myths of Organizational Change — Myth #5 — Change is about communicating what our new values or beliefs are

Lastly, and most critically, we have gotten this wrong for far too long. Beliefs don’t change behaviors, behaviors change beliefs. First, think of the last time you truly changed a belief. Oh sure, you may have learned something that surprised you or even gave you new evidence that shifted your immediate thinking — but was this a true belief, something that has worked for you time and time again? Or was it something new you were not actually that attached to? The only way to change beliefs is by behaving in a new way first — behaving as if something else might be true and then seeing what happens.When we try on new behaviors, and the results that they produce don’t fit our beliefs, two key things happen

One — our beliefs come out of the shadows and begin to take form

Two — we start to see the cracks in those beliefs because we have experienced the disconnect, not because someone told us our beliefs were off, but because we experienced it ourselves!

We have to stop the propaganda campaigns about new values and beliefs, they change nothing (except increasing the belief that nothing has really changed). We have to start behaving differently. Change does not start after the horses have left the barn. The most effective change happens in the design of the change, in an inclusive process, in a robust dialogue. And it starts long before decisions are made. Otherwise our Change and Transformation experts simply become the propaganda leaders for decisions already made. Jason Stanley in his book How Propaganda Works, states that propaganda is part of the mechanism “by which people become deceived about how best to realize their goals, and hence deceived from seeing what is in their own best interests.” Can it work? Sadly, yes. Do people see through it in time. Also, yes. And then they feel that they have been manipulated. Not a great recipe for trust. Not a lasting recipe for change.

In our increasingly complex and technology-driven world, and you can’t do it alone.

Based upon almost two decades of partnership with the groundbreaking work of Michael Bungay Stanier and his approach to coach-like leadership, U help you think through the most difficult of times and gain an advantage by accelerating, and augmenting, your growth as a 21st century leader. Here’s more on my Executive Coaching for Change program.

Look forward to hearing from you,

Michael

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On not using product and design to solve organizational problems
Tags: Organizational Culture, Management, Technology, Business

This a terrible pattern. Product is paid to solve business problems.

Go after segments, drive research, develop solutions that generate revenue or at least, product market fit.

In many companies though, a lack of proper org structure (hierarchies, roles, team management etc.) result in severe communication problems.

These communication problems manifest, seemingly, as product problems(one could and should argue a PM’s job is to prevent this, but this isn’t a regular comms problem, this is an outcome of situations mandated by a CxO). An example of this is ‘exec meetings’ that a CFO or CRO or CPO might call for with a ‘limited group’ of people where broad strategic ‘decisions’ are made and roadmaps are implicitly set. Well, since Engineering or Research aren’t a part of these (since they are small groups at early stages) this naturally results in a complete 0-buy-in situation. This is a terrible pattern , and one all too easy even with (especially with?) the ‘right intentions’

A business problem -> org problem -> comms problem -> product problem -> design problem. This will stress your teams to no end.

Worse, they’ll not have a place to surface this (few can write to their CEO and say ‘enough’ — I have, but then, I took a risk and it paid off)

When in reality, a business problem -> product and thats it. This is how the best companies work.

Take this to heart. Having experienced this often and frequently enough, I can say this is a real productivity killer. And a silent one.

So why single out ‘BigCo’ VPs? Generally they tend to bring this pattern from their large Co experience and retro fit to startups. It does not work. Startups need way more agility and responsiveness to market trends than large companies do where delicate power structures are perhaps more front and center.

Building companies is hard, because building teams that function at scale is hard. Don’t make it harder, avoid this ‘unforced error’ else it’ll turn into a self goal.
Next business culture is everybody is CEO
By: Leo Passanai
Tags: Organizational Change, Entrepreneurship, Organizational Culture, Business

A college student that following his passion in the limited environment and respect in value, not wealth.
Myth #3 — Change is organizational
By: Michael Leckie
Tags: Organizational Change, Michael Leckie, Leadership Coaching, Leadership Development, Organizational Culture

This is part of a continuing series on the Five Myths of Organizational Change.

The Five Myths of Organizational Change — Myth #3 — Change is organizational

You’ve heard the old tale of the Emperor’s new clothes? The Emperor, who spends lavishly on his clothing, is convinced by swindlers that they make amazing clothes that are invisible to the stupid or incompetent. As they weave, no one sees anything, but no one wants to be seen as stupid, so they all act as if they see amazing clothing being made. Finally, the Emperor gets “dressed” and goes out among the people to show off his new clothes. Everyone oohs and aahs and pretends he is wearing clothing until an innocent child yells out, “But, he’s just naked!” at which point all start to see it and begin laughing and mocking.

Why do I start here with an old Danish folk tale? It is because I want to make this next point very clearly. Organizations don’t exist. They are the Emperor’s new clothes of modern life and, particularly, of change and transformation. Sure, organization is a handy term. And they do exist on paper for legal reasons. They also appear solid as great big buildings with logos on them but, remove the people, and do you still have an organization or an empty shell? COVID has made this abundantly clear. Without the people there is nothing.

And this is not a precious argument or semantics. No, an organization is simply a group of people with (hopefully) a shared goal or purpose and some shared values or ways of working. And if we continue to look at organizations as a singular thing, not approaching them from the perspective of the individuals in them, we will continue to fail. When we approach change as an organizational problem, we try to solve the problem with new directives, policies, buildings, work environments, logos, whatever. But this is not change, this is the appearance of change — without individual change nothing happens.

Change is person by person, one at a time, until you have a critical mass of people behaving differently until they share different beliefs. In the last post in this series I will address how we do this specifically.

I love helping my client create a space where they not only preserve, but make much more powerful, crucial thinking time. Learn more about how we can work together.

As always, I welcome your questions and feedback. Just hit reply and I’ll be there.

Michael

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A culture that I would want to build in my organization
By: Milan Filo
Tags: Organizational Culture

A culture is something that is day-to-day, and it should not be exploited just in recruitment pitches. I believe that organizational culture defines a jointly shared description of an organization from within. It is also a sum of values and rituals which serve as an adhesive to integrate the members of the organization. If I were to incorporate a culture in my organization, I would foster a culture that prioritizes creativity and imagination. I would make sure to foster an environment that facilitates the exercise of these values. Furthermore, I would make sure that inclusivity is enforced. Whether it be diversity in terms of background, demographics, experiences, way of thinking, and experience, teams should be composed of people from all walks of life. Afterall, organizational culture drives ethical behavior and I would want my organizational culture to be as utopic as possible. I would want to create a culture that is shared by employees and that drives people forward to be more productive, compassionate, and hopeful.

There are times when there are violations to culture, such as abuse of power or when staff is excluded from the decision-making and thinking processes thereby limiting potential to change.
Top Core Values for Building a Successful Organizational Culture
By: Siddharth Kumaran
Tags: Leadership, Organizational Culture, Business

This article is written for UC Berkeley’s IEOR 171: Technology Firm Leadership (Fall 2020) class.

From having done a couple of internships in the past in domains ranging from finance to tech, I have experienced some different company culture styles. Based on my former experience from working at these places, I believe the top 5 core values that help guide a successful organizational culture are:

Passion Collaboration Transparency Bias for Action Meritocracy

Fundamentally, passion is the glue that brings and holds a culture together. Emphasizing that shared vision and objective is what enables people to come together to collectively solve a problem or accomplish a mission. By understanding this shared passion, collaboration, then, enables these people to work more effectively and efficiently; it’s the understanding that no one person can do it all. For successful collaboration, an organization should embrace a culture of transparency as it fosters trust amongst people. Next, having a bias for action (a personal favorite from when I interned at Amazon) is the idea of taking calculated risks and taking action more quickly. When an organization is growing, it is important to maintain speed and avoid stasis. Encouraging people to take these calculated risks more boldly helps maintain that speed. Finally, meritocracy awards people based on their impact and not on their tenure. People should never feel they can’t make an impact just because they don’t have a big enough leadership title. Meritocracy ensures that everyone can make a big change and get rewarded for it.

Some redlines to avoid within a company culture are closed-mindedness, prestige, and exclusion. A culture of closed-mindedness prevents an organization from growing and enables competition to quickly take over. Additionally, nothing good comes with having prestige or ego. This results in infighting and comparison among people and people will start working to fuel their own ego rather than working towards the organization’s mission. Finally, a culture of exclusion doesn't enable creativity. It is through the diversity of people’s background, experiences, and skills that result in innovation and growth.
Challenges of being an In-house UX Design Team of one.
By: Bruno De Oliveira Júlio
Tags: In House Design, Consultant, UX, Organizational Culture, Freelancing

In my career as a UX Designer I had the chance to work both as an external Consultant or Freelancer as well as an In-house Designer.

These are some of my hard-learned lessons of my experience of being an in-house Designer. And I say “hard-learned” because I didn’t had anyone giving me some tips, neither did I thought this would have such a different set of challenges.

As an In-House UX Designer

You will touch on way less projects. Most probably you will be full-time on just one product or a family of products.

You will be confined to one Industry. Unless you work for a global corporation with multiple divisions active in different Industry segments and you give support across those divisions.

You will spend more time on engaging with other people to support you on your goals, then actually hands-on Designing.

A big chunk of your time will also be spent on internal processes, such as appraisal programs, internal training, corporate meetings and town-halls, and many other that are typical of large organizations.

Doing User Research is very difficult and you will spend time at first explaining why you need to do Research in the real world, and after that you will spend even more time at planning and preparing that activity.

You will have to do more education on UX and how to be human-centric to people around you.

Get ready to have a boss who doesn’t quite get what is UX Design, Design Thinking, etc. Be patient, humble and transparent about the steps that the process encompasses and what goals you expect to achieve on each of those steps.

Being the only Designer on your organization

As you are lonely on your position, your views, opinions and decisions will be challenged more often and easily. Others don’t see anyone else saying the same thing or deciding the same way as you.

Because of this you will always be in disadvantage, as you will be compared to peers with other functions: Engineers, Marketers, Finance, etc. Most of them will claim to have worked with UX Designers in the past, but when you dig a bit more you find out they weren’t UX Designers, at all. With some exceptions, of course.

You don’t find a Designer/creative culture around you, and you will have to make an effort to fit in the existing culture. You’re on your own, pal!

The last one

I know I’ll raise some discussions, but I thought I’d put it here nevertheless if career opportunities for different positions, or a leadership position is what you’re looking for.
แกะวิชา Organization Management จากตำราสามก๊ก
By: Phornthz Note
Tags: People, People Management, Organization Management, Organizational Culture, สามก๊ก

in Strategy for the Rest of Us
¿Cómo Identificar y Cuánto Cuesta un Empleado Tóxico?
By: Akiba Blog
Tags: Enterpreneurship, Toxic Relationships, Employee Engagement, Organizational Culture, Productivity

in Strategy for the Rest of Us
I’m not saying ‘strategy’ anymore. Here’s why.
By: Andrew Hyams
Tags: Consulting, Strategy, Jobs, Project Management, Organizational Culture

I’m breaking up with strategy. The word, that is.

Play this game: count how many times this word ‘strategy’ is said at work. It’s a lot.

Now count how many times it was necessary, or added something to someone’s point. It’s not a lot.

‘Strategy’ is a smokescreen — a virtue signal. It’s lost any meaning it once had.

The issue isn’t people using it incorrectly as such (although that definitely happens, often). It’s more that it’s superfluous — the word rarely does anything in a sentence.

If that wasn’t enough, it’s also exclusionary — intimidating, even. It builds the speaker and their work up, and puts something or someone down, free of the need for evidence. Because it’s used nebulously, others naturally don’t understand and assume that’s on them.

‘I don’t know how to do strategy’, multiple meeting attendees think wrongly, but never aloud. ‘What does he mean by strategy?’, all the most able colleagues question themselves, mistaking it as a sign of their own failure, not his.

Maybe if we hadn’t committed collective violence against this word, we could learn to use it responsibly. But we have, and I think we’re past the point of no return. So it’s a blanket ban for me.

I just think I’ll be better understood without it.

The dictionary says strategy means ‘a plan to do a thing’. From now on, I’m going to say that instead.

And I’m binning ‘strategic’ too. It’s even worse. Be honest: we use it to mean ’good’, plain and simple.

Out with ‘strategic plan’ and ‘strategic objectives’. In with ‘plan’ and ‘objectives’.

As a campaigns and digital consultant, my new abstinence might be tricky. No word is more obvious to reach for in a pitch or scoping call.

But if it makes me more succinct, projects better defined, and clients still hit their goals, that can only be okay, right?

Well, I’m going to find out.

I’m throwing off this linguistic crutch, starting now.

Join me.
That should of said, “I am never board” 😭😭😭😭 ( I am word blind sometimes.)
By: Lennie Varvarides
Tags: Poem, Corrections, Poetry, Feedback, Appreciation

That should of said, “I am never board” 😭😭😭😭 ( I am word blind sometimes.) You know I’m a fan. 💜💜
I can relate to so many of the lines in this poem. 💜💜💜
By: Lennie Varvarides
Tags: Poem, Self-awareness, Growth, Feedback, Meditation

I can relate to so many of the lines in this poem. 💜💜💜
Reflecting on Amal totkay
By: Danyal Khan
Tags: Amal, Reflecting On Amal Totkay, Ask Help, Creating New Habits, Feedback

I went through the amal totkay read it and even I try applying these and it works as all the five is more than better. The totkay are,

Self talk

Create new habits

Get out of your comfort zone

Ask people help

Fake it till you make it

All these are best at their own actually I found these for the first time and I thing these are going to be a change favtors for me.

TAKEAWAY

The main thing which I remember is that all these totkay urge you to have a growth mindset, to grow at any stage and keep learning.

Favorite tips

My favorite tips are,

1.Ask people help

It is all about feedback and the help from the people who knows you well and are sincere enough to give you honest feedback for your improvement.

2. Self talk

It helps you know your limits and helps you to improve in areas you need to be improved.

Acting already

I have started acting on the tip of self talking as we are the ones who knows our innerself and can evaluate the situation. Now I tell me myself where I need improvement and what can I do..

Steps that one can take to develop growth mindset from today

We all can develop a growth mindset by creating new habits and by dealing with feedback in a good manners by not taking it personal.

New habits will help us learn new things and it will help us be a person who learns continously and have hunger for new experiences.

Sincere Feedback show us the real picture and point out the loopholes. So by welcoming the feedback and thanking people who present this gift us will help us develop the growth mindset.
This poem reminded me of all the letters and poems I never sent off or shared.
By: Lennie Varvarides
Tags: Creative Writing, Critical Thinking, Poetry, Feedback, Regret

This poem reminded me of all the letters and poems I never sent off or shared. I’m of course, paying for it now, because I refused to cooperate. Love the simplicity of this one.
I love reading your work. Effortless poetry at work here. 👏👏👏
By: Lennie Varvarides
Tags: Critical Thinking, Poetry, Feedback, Love, Appreciation

in The Bazaar of the Bizarre
Consume, consumption, capitalism… your poem was a prompt for one of mine. 🙏
By: Lennie Varvarides
Tags: Consumerism, Critical Thinking, Poets On Medium, Poetry, Feedback

Consume, consumption, capitalism… your poem was a prompt for one of mine. 🙏
So many favourites
By: Lennie Varvarides
Tags: Creativity, Poet, Poetry, Feedback, Poems On Medium

in Go Into The Story
訊號與系統 — 交大修課心得
Tags: Nctu, Electronics Engineering, Course, 交大, Feedback

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
電子學(二) — 交大修課心得
Tags: Nctu, Electronics Engineering, Course, 交大, Feedback

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
3 things Tivoli taught me about feedback
By: Stine Nørgaard Olesen
Tags: Feedback

Recently I visited the world famous Tivoli Gardens in the center of Copenhagen. Every time I go there, I discover something new — and this time was no different. I usually go there to enjoy the amazing seasonal decorations. Or try some of all the fun rides. This time it was however the gaming area that awoke the competitive attention in me.

I decided to try out the ‘climbing bears’ where you get 20 shots to hit as many bears as you can. And I was on fire! I fired the gun, and hit the target every time! Every shot — right on target — points for every shot… Or so I thought!

While the counter sure enough was counting for each time I fired the gun… it wasn’t points… but amounts of shots it showed. So while I thought I had 20/20, the reality was 0/20! I didn’t even realize I wasn’t doing it right. Nothing indicated it. Until the guy next to me started shooting — and the bears made a sound and was blinking when he hit them… 20 shots, 20 sounds — 20 blinking bears! I quietly left the booth with a depressed state of mind after going from ecstatic joy to huge disappointment in 20 sec. — the amount of time it took the guy next to me to hit the 20 bears and to puncture my self-image of me as mastering a natural talent for hitting the target.

My job as scrum master is sometimes impacting my personal life to a big extend as well. That happened in this case also. So I started to reflect on what just happened:

- I had no acceptance criteria

- I only had one metric to look at

- I had no feedback

Acceptance criteria helps preventing you from surprises and unexpected results.

Use more than one metric — as in this case I only had ‘amount of shots’ which I erroneously mixed up with points!

Get early feedback so you can ‘fail fast’ — analyze and adapt, and try again, and have higher chance of better performance and being successful, as failing fast doesn’t mean you are failing — but rather that you are open for improving your skills.

Without feedback there’s no evolution — and it’s important to seek it –don’t deny yourself the opportunities to do better. Not asking for feedback may protect you for negative input — but it also keeps you in an artificial belief that you are ‘spot on’ 😉

I will now go and get a bunch of coins and go back to Tivoli with the goal of hitting at least 1 bear out of 20 shots having all of the above in mind! :)
I fell into this!
By: Lennie Varvarides
Tags: Critique, Critical Thinking, Poetry, Feedback, Appreciation

in The Bazaar of the Bizarre
Our Voices
By: Viccy Adams
Tags: Our Voices, Team Lit Blog, Prose Writers, Emerging Writers, Feedback

“The world needs your voice: your voice adds a richness that we need in the times we are in.” Douglas Stuart, author of Booker Prize winning debut novel, Shuggie Bain

image credit Creative Scotland

Applications are now open for Round 1 of Our Voices: a development programme for emerging prose writers (closing 12 February 2021), with a second round opening for applications in May 2021.

Why should I apply?

Feedback at the right time can be vital in helping you understand the strengths of your writing, how to structure your first book and the steps you can to take to edit and improve it for future publication.

Tell me more…

The programme is a partnership between Creative Scotland and the Association of Scottish Literary Agents (ASLA) and aims to support 40 unpublished writers from currently underrepresented communities in the literary sector to develop their first book-length works of fiction or creative non-fiction.

Writers will receive written feedback on the first three chapters of a work in progress from a member of ASLA, and a 30 minute one-to-one session to discuss the feedback and demystify offer advice on navigating the publishing industry on the phone or by Zoom (access support available).

Is this right for me?

You should be based in Scotland and should not published or self-published a novel or narrative non-fiction book (e.g. biography or memoir), or be currently represented by a literary agent.

Applications are particularly welcome from unpublished writers who identify as disabled, LGBTQ+, care experienced, BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic), and/or from a low-income household.

How do I apply?

Online! Once you’ve registered for an account, your application can be saved and returned to rather than needing to be completed in one go.

You don’t include any writing samples with the application: there are 6 short questions about you and your book — to help you pitch it — and anyone not successful in Round 1 is eligible to apply again in Round 2.

Please read the guidelines before starting your application for full details on eligibility and timelines.

I still have questions!

Get in touch with Literature Officer Viccy Adams viccy.adams@creativescotland.com with any questions about the programme.
Medium research panel
By: Tom Fenske
Tags: Reading, Writing, Médium, Design Research, Feedback

Have you opted in for Medium’s research panel yet?

Recently, Laura Carroll has published an article in The Official Medium Blog stating how you can join their newly founded research panel. I already did, and I think you should too. To make the Medium experience a better one for everybody, the organization has to rely on user feedback. As the platform has to please both writers and readers, I suppose they’ll need a lot of it.

It’s straightforward: You have to fill out a signup form answering some questions about your Medium usage. They will then contact you when a fitting study is pending, and you decide whether you want to participate. If you take place, there are also virtual meetings planned with Medium team members. Afterward, you’ll receive a cash card as compensation.
KR-
Tags: Self-awareness, Personal Growth, Mindset, Inspiration, Feedback

KR-

I am grateful for both your guidance and your kind words.

When I first discovered my mistake I was like “oh sh*t” and then, after my heart slowed down and my brain began to function again, I realized this was more of an “ahaaaa” moment.

My first thought was ok, I’ll just delete the article, then I realized the significance of the situation and rationally processed my options.

The answer was simple. Edit, apologize for my ignorance, rectify the wrong, create a learning opportunity, express my gratitude for the process, resubmit the article, keep moving forward!

The mantra I close my all articles with is:

Keep Pedaling, Keep Going, Keep Growing!

Advance Confidently!

And so I will…

Thank You! I am #Grateful
I love the May each poem is a small individual fragment, of the whole.
By: Lennie Varvarides
Tags: Writing, Critical Thinking, Poetry, Feedback, Appreciation

I love the May each poem is a small individual fragment, of the whole.
Great advice!
By: Larry Cornett
Tags: Honesty, Feedback, Communication, Criticism

Great advice! I’ve finally learned to ask myself, “Is this going to help them or hurt them?” before responding.

We all want feedback and most of us can handle constructive criticism. But, sometimes the words that come out do more harm than good.

It’s better to wait until you can share your thoughts in an honest AND helpful way.
A moment of leadership #3
By: Olena Bachynska
Tags: Leadership, Feedback, Hard Conversations

The internet is full of stories about how important is the feedback culture, how 360 feedback is helping organisations to foster more learning and self development among employees. One thing I have noticed it is so easy to give compliments/praise and it is far from being easy to give useful constructive feedback. This is valid for leaders as well. Although the cultural aspect plays a big role here, like in Germany no critics received, means a huge praise for what you do at work, there is still a fact that leaders tend to avoid the tough conversation. Yes, critical feedback is a tough conversation. There are many ways how to make it bad and how to screw it up. Though my short though intense career I have seen way too many leaders that wanna be liked that leads to avoidance of hard conversations, word salad, indirect hints that are hard to read. Leadership is not about how much people like you, not only, it is about how much they respect and accept you as leader. Ability to deliver critical feedback is a core aspect of respect. In the wold of tech, where one faces multicultural environment, avoiding critical feedback can lead to dangerous consequences. Tell the truth, tell what are your observations and what you want employees to improve as early as you can! One doesn’t need to be rude, but one has to find clear, understandable language to deliver the right message. Do not cut bonuses and later claim it was a company decisions, do not cut promotions and say or the “whatever” committee decided so. Stand behind your words and do not shift responsibility on the company, your boss, whoever boss. Pick up simple words to say the truth. Your team is not stupid, they will smell rotten regardless how you put, so it is better to save your face and be pro-active and manage expectations upfront. Do the hard conversation with as much empathy and as much clarity as you can give and be honest to your employees and yourself.

Reading list:
You’re welcome, Franco. 😃
By: Erin Singh
Tags: Life, Reader, Feedback, Scuzzbucket, Humor

Freelance writer and illustrator covering everything bar the kitchen sink.
The Underrated Book That Improved My Career
By: Leah Campbell
Tags: Book Recommendations, Entrepreneur, Product Management, Feedback, Startup Lessons

It’s that time of the year again where everyone posts a list of the highly-rated books they read over the past 12 months. I live for these lists not only because I love to read, but I love to further my career and professional success. However, I have noticed that every article I came across containing book suggestions for business and tech are home to around the same 10 titles over and over again. While I am sure this is a testament to the quality of those books, I always notice that my favorite title is missing: The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick.

The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick

My mentor gifted me this book when I was starting my career in Product Management and it became one of the most valuable pieces of literature I consumed over the past few years. Regardless of your job title, if you are speaking to customers, you should read this book — period.

It helps you talk to customers.

Yeah, yeah, you may think this is a no-brainer because you don’t have a hard time carrying on a conversation or building trust but I am here to tell you that it’s not enough. Interpersonal communication is complicated. The way you ask for and receive information today is likely misleading and is therefore poorly affecting your product. Fitzpatrick explains how common questions and phrasing lead customers to the same affirming answer, regardless of their true feelings. This book really helped me phrase my questions in a different way to help me get to the customer’s true thoughts and opinions.

After reading this book, I took the time to rewrite my test scripts and customer interview questions. After putting this into practice and building a habit around it, it has become second nature to ask non-leading questions on the fly and spot leading questions a mile away. This book greatly improved my ability to obtain quality feedback and then directly translate that into building more valuable products for our userbase.

Whether you an an entrepreneur who is trying to validate a product idea, a UX engineer getting feedback on designs, a Product Manager who is trying to define pain points, or any person who is customer-facing, this book will change how you talk to your customers so you can gain far more genuine feedback and build higher quality products.
The Paradox and Instability of Our Preferences
By: Victoria Ichizli-Bartels
Tags: Ambition, Self-awareness, Writing, Mindfulness, Feedback

One of my recent articles, as some also before, got a lot of feedback. I was both glad about it but also confused.

The thought, “I wish they didn’t,” started circling in my head each time a like or a response appeared in various places where I shared the story.

It was interesting to observe it because when I wrote it, and even before that — when I had the idea for it — I hoped many would like it and let me know about that.

But when they did, my preferences seemed to flip to the opposite of my initial wish.

Some people might recognize an impostor syndrome in such thought processes and behavior. For me, it felt simply and utterly confusing.

Looking at it as an anthropologist would — non-judgmentally — helped tremendously.

Writing about it here, too! Thank you for reading and thus helping me.

I hope this little story will help you when your preferences seemingly decide to flip to the opposite of your wish or dream.
You’re welcome. Thank you for letting me know you love my humorous writing.
By: Erin Singh
Tags: Poem, Writing, Humour, Feedback, Love

Love your humor and this gave me a real smile. Thank you

63 1
20대, 2020년도 회고
Tags: 2020, Feedback, 회고, 개발자

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
KR-
Tags: Integrity, Honor, Values, Feedback, Writing Advice

KR-

I hope now that I have edited my story, you will find it both valuable and appropriate.

Also, since I don’t fully understand the Medium platform yet, if you could share how to reply to private comments, I would be eternally grateful.

Thanks for giving me a chance to demonstrate who I am as both a writer and a human being.

I am #Grateful!

Sincerely,

Bobby Kountz, Writer and Author
Creative Director in experience design, games and VR at MLB and Artist, Idealist, Tinkerer, Hacker and Doer — Zander Reyna
By: Sally Lee
Tags: Reflections, Feedback, Virtual Reality

Zander Reyna

This week’s guest was Zander and we were able to experience our remote classroom inside Mozilla hubs! Although it took a few attempts to resolve the technical difficulties, we all successfully listened to Zander’s presentation on his own work. One of my favorite parts of his presentation was a drawing of how the design process works. As you can see in the picture below, the creative process involved a lot of hurdles in the middle and especially for the virtual reality creation process. Our team could resonate with this part the most because we faced a variety of obstacles starting from sharing a file, working in the same unity environment, converting it into the right file and etc. I think a lot of the other students could relate to this as well while going through their own creative process and it was interesting to see how Zander explained his experience in the industry. His virtual reality game for the MLB looked advanced and I could see a lot of potentials for it!

Ladder part of the class, his feedback for our Calicollector project was extremely helpful. He raised some very good, thoughtful questions which made us shift a lot of directions for some of our visuals and experiences. “How do cats actually perceive the world?” “Are the movements imitating how cats actually move?” “How do users know they are a cat in the game?” and a lot of questions regarding the accessibility of VR (dizziness, nausea when playing because there is a lot of jumping around in our game). His feedback and support for our project motivated us to think further about the user's experience!