The children’s author and former Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson is probably best known for “The Gruffalo”. We have been fans of her books for many years, with “Stick Man”, “The Snail and the Whale” and “Room on the Broom” all constant features of our children’s younger lives. When my son and daughter were 5 and… Continue reading Time Windfalls
My piece earlier this month about Blue Trees was based on ideas that I came across in various training courses more than ten years ago. These ideas were taught with great confidence, and as if they apply universally, but they do not seem to apply to me. Another subject, also taught with confidence, but not… Continue reading Communication and percentages
A simple dictionary definition of fungible is “replaceable by another identical item; mutually interchangeable”. I find that an example and a comparison is more helpful. Money is fungible. A £20 note can be used to buy anything up to that value. Time is not fungible. The time that you spend commuting to work is not… Continue reading Word of the week: fungible
Some of the training courses that I have attended over the years (which have resulted in vaguely work-related certification) place great emphasis on “The Unconscious Mind” and what it can and can’t do. The advice is that “The Unconscious Mind” is like a child that follows clear instructions and cannot process a negative. If you… Continue reading Not thinking of Blue Trees
We all have strengths and weaknesses. We all have a strength for starting projects, or for finishing them, or for the bit in between (maintaining or managing projects). Similarly we all have a weakness in one of these three areas. You might be one of those very rare people who is equally good at all… Continue reading Starting and finishing, and the bit in between
I like fried eggs. I eat them often, at least twice a week. In the summer of 1998 I heated a frying pan, put a little bit of butter in it to heat up, and when it was hot enough cracked an egg into the pan. The egg was rotten inside. It made on odd… Continue reading Eggs and “just in case” behaviour
An alternative title for this piece was “Time Management in 15 Minutes”. That might be true for some of you – maybe you could learn everything you need to know in the next 15 minutes – but for others it will be the starting point. I have read dozens of books and hundreds of articles… Continue reading Time Management: the first 15 Minutes
Many times in my life people have asked me a question and not waited long enough to listen to the answer, even when the answer was short and immediate. (I only use the option “Say the third thing that comes into your head” if I’m not sure which answer to give, or if the answer… Continue reading An answer for any question beginning “Why”
“Say the third thing that comes into your head.” This is advice I heard a year or two ago in a TV interview given by the comedian Reginald D Hunter. He is from the American South but has lived in the UK for many years. When he returns to America his English style of humour… Continue reading “Say the third thing that comes into your head” (contains rude words)
We had some very welcome house guests during half-term, Steve (an old work colleague and good friend), his wife and their two daughters. Steve and I worked together, on and off, for over seven years, until the middle of the last decade. We have seen many of the same things in the world of IT… Continue reading Flow Charts
The Compartments 