Summer: The Season for Blooming

Summer is the season of light. It’s warm, vivid, and bright. The days are long. Plants blossom all around. We feel more alive than ever. Play comes naturally. We find ourselves outside more.  Summer provokes fun, exploration, and vacation. Walks, bike rides, milkshakes, and ice cream come to mind. 

During this season, the potential that we dug up during winter and planted in spring is now coming into fruition and growing. It's the ideal time to nourish projects and see them blossom.  Some of the seeds you planted are already showing in recognizable form while others are just about to sprout through the soil. Nurture and develop them for the harvest in fall when you will see the supple fruits of your labor ripening.

There are several ways to make the most of summer and thrive off the enjoyment of it’s most beautiful characteristics: 

• Wake up early and go outside to enjoy the sunrise. 
• Bring some flowers in and keep plants around your living spaces. 
• Open your windows and allow the fresh air in. 
• Pause and enjoy the richness of flowers in full bloom.
• Enjoy your playfulness and be spontaneous. 
• Take a trip to the beach... and go in the water.
• Listen to the beautiful sounds of summer while letting the sun warm your face. 

Enjoy your summer!

Metamorphosis of the Monarch

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly."- Richard Bach

One of my hobbies is to raise monarch caterpillars and protect them while they develop until they become butterflies.  The chances of a monarch caterpillar's survival is only 2% in nature.  One butterfly lies about 400 eggs and only 8 typically live to become adult butterflies.  In recent years the monarch population has drastically declined.  I enjoy helping to increase the chances of their survival.  This year I've had my largest "batch" ever with over 20 butterflies emerging during the month of June. 

The process is absolutely amazing.  Within a few weeks they grow over 2,000 times their original size and completely transform, changing to a distinctly separate organism entirely.

These caterpillars start as eggs, almost invisible to the naked eye.  I keep an eye out for any holes in the leaves of my milkweed plants.  Once I find a caterpillar, I move him into my mesh caterpillar habitat and place him on a milkweed plant that has a much greater chance of survival.  

As the caterpillars grow, they eat A LOT.  There have been many days where I had to make an emergency trip out to get more milkweed plants.  I have found that a cucumber is a good substitute for one day, in case of emergency.  They molt several times as they grow, splitting their old skin.  

Once the caterpillar is ready to form a chrysallis, they climb into a spot the believe will be the most safe and hang out there to make sure.  They then spin silk to attach and hang head-down in a "J" shape.  

About a day later, they straighten and start pulsating strongly.  They tear through their exoskeleton and expose the pupa.  It first appears as a light green milky substance.  Over the next few hours, the green darkens slightly and a beautiful gold trim appears.  You can immediately see the outline of the wings within the pupa.  

The Monarch chrysalis remains in this state for 1-2 weeks.  During this period, the entire internal contents of the caterpillar (including the muscles, digestive system, heart, and nervous system) are totally rebuilt.  They lose half of their weight due to the tremendous amount of energy it takes for this transformation.  The day before they emerge, you will notice that the color of the chrysalis darkens.  The following morning it will appear black.  It's actually clear - if you look within you can see the orange on the wings.  

That morning the Monarch will emerge.  The prior yellow, white, and black striped body has changed into a black body with white dots.  The atenna and legs are completely different as well.  The wings are folded at first.  The Monarch must hang upside down to allow fluids to surge to the end of the wings and dry.   It will take several hours for the butterfly to prepare for their first flight.  As they get ready to fly, they'll flap their wings, learning to use them.  I let them go that afternoon.  It's so beautiful to see them soar for the first time.

Monarch butterflies typically live two to six weeks.  During this time, I'll find many of them coming back to lie eggs on the same plants they were born on.  The process repeats.  The last generation of a season is born in September and October.  This generation migrates South to Mexico, where it will live for six to eight months until it's time to repeat the cycle. 

I love to see the process of change.  It's a great natural example of the change that we all go through and that is possible in each of us.  It's also amazing to see that with a little guidance and love, the chance of success is vastly higher. 

“If we could see the miracle in a single flower clearly, 
Our whole life would change.” ~Buddha

Scrum Events Best Practices

Highlights of key practices to ensure alignment across distant teams

Scrum Events create regularity and enable transparency.  Each event is clearly defined and centers around activities that facilitate inspection and adaptation. 

1.       Sprint Planning – Collaborative meeting where the Scrum Team plans the work to be performed in the next Sprint to deliver a usable increment. 

1.1.    Review the Product Backlog, discuss capacity, and forecast PBI’s

1.2.    Craft a Sprint Goal (brief, clear objective for the Sprint)

2.       Daily Scrum – Daily brief meeting for the Development Team to align on the plan for the day to meet the Sprint Goal.  

2.1.    Review the Sprint Goal

2.2.    Raise any blocking issues

2.3.    Align on plan for the day

3.       Sprint Review – Collaborative working session orchestrated by the Product Owner where the Scrum Team and Stakeholders can inspect the outcome of a Sprint and align on what to do next. 

3.1.    Demonstrate working increment

3.2.    Review the Product Backlog

3.3.    Discuss market changes, timeline, and budget

3.4.    Adapt Product Backlog, as needed

4.       Sprint Retrospective – Private meeting where only the Scrum Team can attend.  This meeting creates a virtuous cycle by reviewing the Scrum Team’s people, relationships, process, and tools to identify improvements that can be made. 

4.1.    Evaluation:

4.1.1.Did we reach our goal of the Sprint?

4.1.2.Did we release a usable increment?

4.1.3.Did we perform code reviews?

4.1.4.Did we follow architectural standards?

4.1.5.How can we improve on achieving our goals?

For more information about roles and artifacts, read the Scrum Organizational Framework.

Getting into the Mode for Optimal Performance

There is a state referred to as "flow" which describes that feeling when we are completely engaged in what we are doing.  While in this mode, we experience “energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity”._A1 Some call this “being in the zone”. 

Achieving this state can be tricky.  By understanding what conditions allow us to reach it, we can ensure that we are experiencing it regularly and maximize the amount of time we spend in it.  A flow state can be entered while performing any activity, although it’s most likely to occur when we are seeking to learn new things and challenge ourselves; when we feel the challenge will require us to stretch but is within our reach.

By getting “out of our heads” we can really have fun with this.  There is a part of the brain that self-edits which is called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (also known as the inner critic or the monkey mind).  When this part of our brain is active, it can lead to over-thinking and self-doubt.  There are periods of time when this is very useful, but there are times when it doesn’t serve us.  Shutting down this part of our brain during periods of creativity can help us reach a new level by letting us really dig into ideas and separating the limiting thoughts to a second round. 

When we can create our own perfect blend of control and surrender, we can truly get beyond ourselves.  A well-controlled environment allows us to truly surrender.  When we find this balance, we can shut down conscious processing, stop worrying about how we will be perceived, and induce altered states of consciousness where ideas blend together.  Pattern recognitions are increased and we’re hurled into the present moment.  By getting into this un-edited creative state while also experiencing the state of flow, it allows us to probe an idea in real-time with fresh thinking.  We can discover new ideas and solutions in real-time.

The best way for me to get there is to have a certain level of pressure to accomplish something but also have a window of time in which I can advance on it.  A timebox creates the excitement to play with figuring it out and helps me tap into a higher level of thinking.  Knowing this, I’ve built writing sessions into my schedule to allow me to continually explore new challenges, process thoughts in the way I enjoy most (writing), and take ownership of the final output.  During the creative sessions, I experience a sense of “plugging in”.  I feel a deeper level of awareness, see things in a new light, and realize how I want to apply these new understandings.  It’s what fills my cup.

By using this method, I am able to turn thoughts around and come up with great clarity. The more time I spend with a thought and thinking of various scenarios around it, the higher the level of genius I can bring to it.  Multiple reviews with a mix of creative and editing sessions, result in my highest quality output.

References:

·        Wikipedia - Flow (psychology)  _A1

·        Jason Silva on the Art of Charm Podcast

·        Wikipedia - Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

How to Build Writing Habits

Writing can be a pleasure but it can also be very difficult to commit to doing.  Writer's block is a real thing and is very tricky.  Over the last six months, I've found a little sweet spot with writing.

First, set yourself up with the right conditions for content to flow freely and to have fun with the process:

1. Carve out a regular window of time.  Have at least one dedicated writing session carved out every week. Pick a time that you are at peak performance.  I love weekend mornings. Most weekends I have at least one writing session during my son's nap time. I've got morning energy and creativity is high.  The limited amount of time I have helps to create a wonderful urgency that drives my creativity even more.
2. Create your canvas.  Figure out what communication method you want to have.  Do you want to use a blog, a notebook, a Word document, etc.  I use a blog so that I can collect all of my writing in one place, work on it when I want to, and be able to easily copy and paste later when I am ready to craft my blogs into a book.  Also I can consistently get some little bits of information out there while improving my writing.  Win, win, win!
3. Find your method.  Discover what steps you can take to get you in a mode where writing is easy and fun.  I always start a writing session by opening up a fresh browser screen and going to my blog to start playing.  

Then find the techniques that help get your creative juices flowing. I've got a few different modes that I switch between in each session:

• Creative Mode: For those times that I am at peak creativity, I don't edit my writing all.  I either jot down ideas on a piece of paper (my Daily Workbook) or create a new blog post.  The key is to let ideas pour out and get sloppy with them so that they just keep on coming.  I like to keep a collection of draft blog posts (I've got 34 right now!).  This helps me feel like I have a lot of options and reduces pressure on feeling forced to be creative  I always grab ideas that I have and save them as draft blog posts so I can easily play them later.
• Edit Mode:  I come back to my saved draft posts for a second review of the material on a different day.  I pick a post I feel drawn to and fill in what may have been left out and also clean up the overall message.  I then publish it on my blog ... The information being publicly available forces a different level of awareness and ownership.  That usually results in me finding new ways to improve the content. 
• Refine Mode:  Each writing session I review my most recent blog post and see if I can make any more improvements.  I always can.  I then share it on social media where it may be appropriate.  

Reading always sparks my desire to write.  Learning new things inspires me to share with others.  It creates a virtuous cycle of creativity, sharing, and fulfillment.

The Innovation Life Cycle

The Innovation Life Cycle - from Illuminate by Nancy Duarte & Patti Sanchez