Towards better ...

Well, that was interesting. Tragic. Heartbreaking. Painful. Difficult.

Have more people ever been happier to see a year go away? Our attitude doesn’t have to be driven by the outside world, but most times it is. The outside world provokes, persists and insists on changing the story we choose to tell ourselves.

And one reason we invented the calendar was to keep the outside world at bay as we keep track of promises and so decide what to do next, –to respond politely instead of to react without thought.

For those of you keeping track, 2021 is the product of the prime numbers 43 and 47. If you were looking for a reason to be optimistic, that’s as good as any.

I remain convinced that this pandemic will end in 2021 — we will win, but life after victory will not be a simple resumption of life as it was. Big cities, big crowds, restaurants, and bars will be much less a part of life than before. Now that businesses have figured out how to decentralise, they'll stay that way; nobody will want to keep paying big city rents.

Thanks to family, relatives and friends for caring!

Here’s to health, justice and peace of mind as we choose an attitude of possibility and resilience for 2021.

Agile in kürzform

Ich verstehe heute besser, was Agilität in der Programmierung

bedeutet, und zwar mache ich das seit Beginn meiner Programmierkarriere. Bring etwas zum Laufen, probier es aus, lern' etwas daraus, geh' vielleicht in eine andere Richtung, aber prüf' ständig wie es beim Benutzer ankommt und ändere entsprechend. "Listen to your users".

Prof. Anton Frick, von dem ich Anfang der 80er Jahre bei Hengstler Gleitzeit viel gelernt habe, hat auf diese Weise gearbeitet. Ich habe PersInfo DOS nach diesen Prinzipien erstellt. Alles, was perbit in den Jahren 1983-1996 entwickelt hat, wurde auf diese Weise entwickelt. Jetzt, da ich besser verstehe was Agilität eigentlich ist, könnte ich alle Bücher und die gesamten Artikel die es darüber gibt, in ein paar Worte fassen, die den Unterschied erklären.

Ich habe in Dublin auf eine Anti-Agile-Entwicklung in einem Unternehmen gestoßen, in dem die Software mithilfe von schriftliche Spezifikationen entwickelt wurde. Die Philosophie war, das Ganze von vornherein zu entwerfen und Teile des Projekts an verschiedene Gruppen von Programmierern weiterzugeben, die nie die vollständige Spezifikation sahen, sodass niemand wusste richtig, woran sie arbeiteten. Das Unternehmen ging sehr schnell Pleite. Die Programmierer bildete den Kern eines anderen Unternehmens, das ebenfalls seine Geschäftstätigkeit aufgab, jedes Mal, weil das Produkt die Kundenerwartungen weit verfehlt hat.

Go Outside

Before you make a big decision, go for a walk around the block.

• If it’s raining out, take the dog for a run.
• End the meeting a few minutes early and go for a stroll with the team.
• Instead of an afternoon snack, consider some sunshine.

The less convenient, the more it pays. A hard habit to create, but definitely worth it. When in doubt, go outside. Especially when it’s inconvenient.

Rugby World Cup Final

Faf de Klerk

England versus South Africa on Saturday and my choice in advance for "man of the match".

The Springboks' route to the World Cup final has been characterised by the strength of their hulking forwards and dominant physical displays.

But directing the Bok brutes around the pitch in both attack and defence has been Faf de Klerk, the blond-locked, box-kicking number nine (Scrum half).

Footage of De Klerk going nose to nose with Wales lock Jake Ball, who stands 25cm taller than him, went viral on social media during the match.

"We're great friends. It was just a nice moment between us," joked De Klerk afterwards. A case of the 'smallest guy on the pitch' leading the fight. In a South Africa side packed with giants, it is the 5ft 7in scrum-half who stands out.

HR Cloud Systems Germany 2020

Source -Roland Berger, Umsätze in Milliarden.

Vertical software solutions that focus on one area in the HR value chain are on the rise. These can be connected without too much difficulty to other applications via APIs.

Their considerable advantages compared to HR suites:

• a user-friendly interface and a user experience that animates employees to also make use of the system in their everyday work life
• they are more easily adapted to meet the needs of the company
• they can penetrate more deeply and substantially into the functional areas and respond to new demands
• in addition, they guarantee user-friendly access due to one-time-only single-sign-on log-in features.

For Silke after Heidelberg

The dance of the possible!

“Nobody tells people who are beginners, and I really wish someone had told this to me… all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste.… there’s a gap… for the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good…. It’s not that great.… It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good.

But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you…. A lot of people never get past this phase.… they quit.

And the thing I would say to you with all my heart is that most everybody I know who does interesting creative work, they went through a phase of years [of this]…. Everybody goes through that…. And the most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work… it’s only by actually going through a volume of work that you are actually going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions.”

-Ira Glass, host of This American Life, explaines how these skill gaps work against us.

Helping Others

“What do you want me to do for you?”  Mark 10:51

Isn’t it easy to do something for someone? Isn’t it easy to know what we should do and to do it? Surely, it’s a simple matter of getting in to a situation and getting on with the task? It’s simple – isn’t it?

Jesus did things differently. If people are to assume rights and responsibilities for themselves they must have the dignity and the power to do so; sometimes they need to be pushed into realizing they are grown ups, able to decide and act for themselves. Bartimaeus has been a man who was powerless, a man without dignity; a blind man who sat at the roadside despised by passers-by who would have seen his blindness as a curse from God.

Jesus could have just thought, “I know what Bartimaeus wants”, but He knows the importance of human dignity, He knows the importance of a sense that we are responsible for our own decisions. How can we fully respond to him unless we have a sense that we have the power and the independence to do so? How can we be grown up if we are not prepared to think and to do things for ourselves?

Watch what Jesus does in the story. Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.'”

Why does Jesus not just go to where Bartimaeus is sitting? Or if he does not wish to walk over to him, why does he not just say, “Tell him he’s healed”?

He gives Bartimaeus the opportunity to do something for himself and he challenges him to let go of his security. “Throwing his cloak aside,” Bartimaeus gets up, he acts in response to the call, but there is more to it than that. The cloak has been Bartimaeus’ shelter; it has been his home through all those many days at the roadside; it has been his protection against those who would have done him violence. Bartimaeus lets go of the very thing that was literally his comfort blanket and he goes to meet with Jesus. Bartimaeus is not compelled nor is he carried by anyone, he stands on his own two feet; Jesus meets him as an independent person with his own dignity.

Even then, Jesus does not impose a solution. He does not say, “I know what you need, I’m going to do it for you.” He asks Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” He allows Bartimaeus responsibility for that decision; it is probably the first time in his life that Bartimaeus has made a choice. Of course, the answer is obvious, but what is important is that it’s Bartimaeus’ answer, it’s him deciding for himself. “Rabbi, I want to see.”

Then look at the conclusion of the story, Jesus recognizes that Bartimaeus has been a partner in the process. Jesus doesn’t say, “I have healed you,”, he says to Bartimaeus, “Go, your faith has healed you.”

It is through the partnership between them that Bartimaeus’ life is changed. Note the order of things: Jesus calls, Bartimaeus responds; Jesus asks, Bartimaeus responds. Then, when Bartimaeus has been treated as a person of dignity and independence, the change comes: “Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.”

Jesus understood what was needed for human beings to grow, to become independent, to take responsibility for their own lives, to become the people they have the potential to be. It is a lesson that applies as much in our own society and economy as it does in distant corners of Africa.

“What do you want me to do for you?” and each person deserves the dignity to be able to answer.
-Rev. Ian Poulton.

Should you give up?

There are people who have read far more books than you have, and you will certainly never catch up. Your website began with lousy traffic statistics, in fact, they all do. Should you even bother?

The course you’re doing –you’re a few lessons behind the leaders. Time to call it quits?

Quitting merely because you’re behind is a trap, a form of hiding that feels safe, but isn’t. The math is simple: whatever you switch to because you quit is another place you’re going to be behind as well.

It’s not a race, it’s a journey. And the team that scores first doesn’t always win.

The Bannister Method

Roger Bannister did something in 1954 that many people had said was impossible.

He ran a mile in less than four minutes.

The thing is, he didn't accomplish this by running a mile as fast as he could.

He did it by setting out to run a mile in one second faster than four minutes. Bannister analyzed the run, stride by stride. He knew how long each split needed to be. He had colleagues work in a relay, pacing him on each and every section of the mile.

He did something impossible, but he did it by creating a series of possible steps.

It's easy to get hung up on, "as possible." As fast, as big, as much, as cheap, as small... 

The Bannister Method is to obsess about "enough" instead.

Roger Bannister passed away at the age of 88 on Sunday 4th March, 2018.

BBC Radio in 2012, Sir Roger Bannister speaks to Eleanor Oldroyd about the day he became the first man to run a mile under four minutes.
(25 Minutes).

Inch by Inch

Motivation for all in 2018, "Any Given Sunday" with good old AL!



Starts off with "I don't know what to say...", like most of my speeches.

I gave this speech to my dog and he turned into a wolf!
Now what are you gonna do!

Been done before

What percentage of the work you do each day is work where the process (the 'right answer') is known? Jobs where you replicate a process instead of inventing one...

The place where we can create the most value is when we do a job where exploration and a new solution is what's needed. Not routine, but exploration. Which means we're doing something that's not been done before, something that might not work. 

This isn't something to avoid, it's the work we need to seek out.
-Seth Godin again.

Neil Diamond, 50 Year Anniversary

SAP Arena, Samstag 16.09. Neil Diamond nahm die 7000 Zuschauer mit auf eine Reise in die Vergangenheit, dorthin, wo die Erinnerung an die eigene Jugend wohnt, fest eingebettet in nostalgische Videoaufnahmen. 26 Stücke inklusive Zugaben präsentierte er mit seiner virtuosen elfköpfigen Band.

Angefangen hat er 1966 in New York mit seiner ersten Komposition "Solitary Man". Er hat so viele Welthits geschrieben, dass die Qualität von "Solitary Man" in den Hintergrund trat. Es ist nichts weniger als ein amerikanisches Liederbuch: "Cherry, Cherry", "I'm A Believer", "Cracklin' Rosie", "Sweet Caroline", "Beautiful Noise", "Holly Holy", "Red Red Wine" "Song Sung Blue" und natürlich das grandiose "I Am ... I Said". Alle Stücke sind auf "Hot August Night" verewigt, und er hat sie auch in dieser Mannheimer Samstagnacht gespielt.

Rund 130 Millionen Platten hat er verkauft, damit zählt er zu den erfolgreichsten Musikern des Planeten. 37 Top-10-Singles, 16 Top-10-Alben, Grammys, Golden Globes und andere Ehrungen.

Wie hier so auch in Mannheim die Höhepunkt (So good, So good.....):

Make Change Happen

By Newt Gingrich.

I learned these principles from working with President Reagan on dramatic change in the 1980s and then leading the Contract with America with its deep changes (welfare reform, the only four balanced budgets in your lifetime, the largest capital gains tax cut in history, etc.) The principles I learned working with Reagan and applied as Speaker seem to be universal for those who would enact deep, profound changes.

They are:

1. The “normal” will try to convince the leader to be “reasonable”.
2. Solving symptoms feels satisfying and is an easy substitute for solving the real, underlying problems.
3. The urgent drives out the important.

President-elect Trump should get up every day and begin by looking at his own campaign promises. He owes his presidency to the people who believed in him, not to the courtiers and schmoozers who had contempt for him as candidate but adore him now that he is going to be president. “Reasonableness” will be the death of Trumpism. The very essence of the Trump candidacy was a willingness to set out new policies, new goals, and new toughness that was “unreasonable” to Washington but made perfect sense to millions of Americans. President Trump should “unreasonably” insist on draining the swamp and changing policies. This is why he was elected.

Second, there will be so many symptoms of problems that a president could satisfyingly spend every day focusing on little problems that require little solutions. While that approach will yield many small satisfactions, however, it will not produce the profound changes that are needed. Peter Drucker warned of this tendency to allow surface symptoms to attract our attention. In The Effective Executive (a book every Trump appointee should be required to read), Drucker wrote that great leaders look below the symptom to find the real problem. 

President-elect Trump and his senior team have to acquire the habit of asking of every situation “Is this a symptom, or a problem?” If it is symptom, they must take some time to look for the real underlying problem. When they solve that problem they will have solved orders of magnitude more symptoms.

Third, Washington is a city in which the urgent drives out the important. Senator Jesse Helms first taught me this. He saw me on the street one day early in my career and said, “Young man, remember that this is a city in which the urgent drives out the important. Your job is to get up every morning, place the important at the center of your desk, and work on it until the urgent overwhelms it.”

As I thought about Helms’s rule and watched President Reagan, I realized he had developed an antelope-and-chipmunk theory of leading. Lions know that they cannot afford to hunt chipmunks because even if they capture them, they will starve to death. Lions have to hunt antelopes and zebras.

President Reagan was a lion. He wanted to accomplish big things. He knew that meant he could not get bogged down by tiny problems (chipmunks). President Reagan got up every morning and reminded himself of his three antelopes: defeat the Soviet Union, grow the American economy, and renew American civic culture so we would be proud to be American again. When President Reagan entered the oval office, chipmunks would come running in. Some federal chipmunks can be $10 billion or more. Reagan would listen patiently and say “You are a fine chipmunk! Have you met my chief of staff?” Jim Baker became the largest chipmunk collector in the world.

Focus is a choice

The runner who is concentrating on how much his left toe hurts will be left in the dust by the runner who is focusing on winning. Even if the winner's toe hurts just as much.

Pain, even when real, is also a matter of perception. Most of what we think about is.

We have a choice about where to aim the lens of our attention. We can relive past injustices, settle old grudges and nurse festering sores. We can imagine failure, build up it's potential for destruction, calculate its odds. Or, we can imagine the generous outcomes we're working on, feel gratitude for those that got us here and revel in the possibilities of what's next.

The focus that comes automatically isn't the only one that's available. Of course it's difficult to change it, which is why so few people manage to do so. But there's no work that pays off better in the long run.

Your story is your story. But you don't have to keep reminding yourself of your story, not if it doesn't help you change it or the work you're doing.

Retired?

I thought I was retired. I thought retired people were bored. I recall being bored for half an hour once, in (I think) 1967. Whatever the opposite of bored is, I am. Bootstrap isn't going to help with that.

Roll with the changes!

Ireland 24 France 9

When the going gets tough, the tough get going, and rarely has it got tougher than it did in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff yesterday. But this has been a good hunting ground for Irish rugby, and never happier than yesterday. Even Muhammad Ali in his pomp didn’t roll with so many punches as this Irish team yesterday against a French team intent on beating them into submission.

I can hardly remember a more exciting match or ever seeing an irish team play so fearlessly. As Keith Wood commented quite rightly on TV “The most extraordinary level of bravery I have ever seen,”  Ireland thus beat France for the first time in four World Cup meetings. 

Mofo remembered

"[Mofo] . . . became the heaviest song maybe we've ever written. I feel like my whole life is in that one tune."
- Bono.




"Is it, isn't it?" Yes, it is the smoothest badass entrance I've ever seen, they could not possibly open a show in any better way!

Coming in through the audience, no other band can do that, just U2.
Those who criticize U2 just haven't seen this live! (I was there, not Mexico city but Mannheim in the rain, Sommer 1997).

Greatness in writing

John Updike. (March 18, 1932–January 27, 2009) wasn’t merely the recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes and a National Humanities medal, among a wealth of other awards. He had a mind that could ponder the origin of the universe, a heart that could eulogize a dog with such beautiful bitter-sweetness, and a spirit that could look on death without fear.

Describing his subject as "the American small town, Protestant middle class," Updike was well recognized for his careful craftsmanship and his unique prose style.

He is also credited with making suburban sex sexy, which landed him on the cover of Time magazine after "Couples" in 1968 in under the headline “The Adulterous Society” — something Adam Begley explores in the long-awaited new biography Updike.

This book chronicles Updike’s escapades in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in the early 1960s, just as he was breaking through with The New Yorker — the bastion of high culture to which he had dreamed of contributing since the age of twelve.

His literary career began to gain momentum with the publication of Rabbit, Run in 1960 — the fictional story of a twenty-something suburban writer who, drowning in responsibilities to his young family, finds love outside of marriage. That fantasy would soon become a reality for the 28-year-old Updike himself, a country boy who had gotten through Harvard by playing the class clown dressed in his ill-fitted tweed jackets and unfashionably wide ties.

I love all Updike's work, -his novels, short stories and book reviews. The Rabbit novels especially, which are a unique social chronicle of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, a wonderful mix of the poetic, coarse, witty, and lyrical.

perbit at the BBC London

BBC aktuelle Nachrichten heute! (www.bbc.com/news/)

Gut gemacht Gabi! Eine der meist besuchten Websites der Welt.

Jeff Bezos on Cleverness vs. Kindness

"Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy — they’re given after all. Choices can be hard. You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you’re not careful, and if you do, it’ll probably be to the detriment of your choices."

In 1986, Jeff Bezos graduated from Princeton with a degree in computer science. In 1994, he founded Amazon.com. In 2010, he went back to Princeton to address the graduating class about the difference between gifts and choices.   Read now.