Q: Why did the ghost move out of the smart home?
A: It couldn’t handle the constant reminders to update its afterlife software!
Why did the ghost move out of the smart home?
Category Archives: Schmooze Cues
The Storycraft Adventures: Mapping Way Ahead with Fibonacci and Dragons
The Storycraft Adventures: Mapping Way Ahead with Fibonacci and Dragons Can stories be the driving force behind change and guide us towards a clear path forward? This question was at the heart of my recent workshop with the European Trainers Network. Our goal was to explore the potential of storytelling in finding solutions for pressing challenges, such as improving internal communication and achieving results with diverse teams. Using a guinea pig of a fictional scenario crafted from three real stories, we embarked on a three-step journey. We delved into telling the stories, leveraging the power of Anecdote Circles, mapped possible solutions in the complexity space using the Cynefin framework, and employed the technique of Planning Poker to prioritize our solutions.
Playing Planning Poker turned out to an immensely insightful exercise. For those who are not familiar with the Planning Poker—it is a gamified technique for estimations. The members of the group make estimates by playing numbered cards face-down to the table, instead of speaking to them aloud, to avoid the cognitive bias of anchoring. A typical deck has cards showing progressing in non-linear manner (e.g. 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, 100), as it better reflects the nature of the world. We played in Zoom White Board using a shortened deck by Redbooth—only 1, 3, 8, 100 and Dragon “Here be dragons” to mark dangerous unknown areas.
Our participants were tasked with estimating the level of effort required for the proposed solutions that we had mapped in the previous step. After the initial round of assessments, a fascinating picture emerged. Some ideas received similar estimates, while others, including seemingly straightforward solutions, garnered disparate cards—like a combo of 1, 100, and the enigmatic Dragon. Rather than seeking immediate consensus and convergence, we embraced the divergence and initiated conversations. This exploration uncovered a wealth of stories and nuanced solutions. For instance, the idea of having a dedicated communicator to facilitate dialogue between different teams was split into two parts. The first part, selecting a dedicated person to facilitate communication, received a score of 3 and was placed in the complicated domain—there are good practices how to do it. However, organizing the communication process itself, was considered a project itself, requiring expert knowledge and scored 100, and placed between complex and complicated dolmans—as it requires experimentation. Similarly, a seemingly simple idea to partner with an electronic company to provide travel adaptors for the US market was met with a dissenting Dragon card. This unexpected response raised important considerations related to legal requirements and the need to thoroughly assess market demands before proceeding.
The Storycraft Adventures workshop helped me to realize three things. First, stories has an immense transformative potential. Second, estimations, similar to Planning Poker, could highlight important deviations in views and dissents—promising unexplored territories and a fresh perspective. Third, in embracing the divergence and exploring the stories behind the different estimates, we uncovered a treasure chest of insights and valuable perspectives. By combining storytelling techniques with collaborative estimation methods, we gained a deeper understanding of the challenges at hand and charted a way forward that encompassed the complexity and nuances of our goals.
European Trainers Network is serving club members of any Toastmasters club in Europe. ETN facilitates development of skills needed to create and conduct training sessions using adult learning theory.
Horror Then vs Now
Do you notice the ever-changing landscape of horror? Back in the day, we were terrified of those old cursed houses, with their eerie vibes and creaking floorboards, featuring known horrors, whether mythical or real. But fast forward to today, and what do we have?
Haunted smart homes! Forget the ghostly moans, clinking of chains, and transparent figures in white. The menace is unknown and ubiquitous. It could be a thermostat running amok, controlled by hackers who think they can mess with our lives. It could be a peeping web camera, broadcasting publicly due to the nonchalance of the person who installed it. It could even be a fridge ordering a hundred packs of toothpicks as the hallucinating AI recommendation system decides these mini swords are an absolute must for an epic battle between the condiments.
Remember the days when we were scared of the idea of big machines going haywire, giving us the heebie-jeebies? HAL9000 from “2001: A Space Odyssey” would say things like, “I’m sorry, Dave, I can’t do that.” Well, now we don’t have insanity in the mainframe; instead, we have an army of tiny WiFi ghosts haunting our routers, watching our Netflix, chuckling at our WhatsApp messages, and making us guess who is truly behind that black box during a Zoom call. It’s like living in a digital haunted house, where even our own devices have a mischievous spirit.
So, remember to keep your devices secure and your sense of humor intact. After all, what’s scarier than a haunted smart home? Trying to get tech support on a Monday morning!
Meaningless vs Meaning-loss
Today I got an email, which read like the following (I scrapped boring non-essential parts):
Hello Mihail PELEAH,
Thank you for your interest in null, and applying for [...] Please note that [...]
Sincerely,
Recruitment Team
null
One of many machine-generated messages, one could say, cheap, fast, ubiquitous. Seems nothing wrong with it—in the end, Bloomberg has been using automatically generated news since the 90s or 80s. But this email is meaning-loss.
It brought no new information to me—the scrapped part […] highlighted some info, which had already been in the application. But someone decided to send this email, and prioritized speed over quality, and checking how it will look like for recipients.
Automatization—epitomized by buttons “Make it nice!” or “Do it for me!”—giving raises the attitude “I don’t know and I don’t care” and desire to outsource decisions. According to the Oracle Decision Dilemma Report 2023, 64% of people and 70% of business leaders would prefer to have a robot make their decisions. However, this is meaning-loss, it distracts from the question WHY we make these decisions, and focuses on miniscule hassle of WHATs of decision making.
Meaningless could be useful sometimes, meaning-loss—never. Meaningless mingling at parties could be fun and camaraderie. Meaningless slam and mosh-pit can help us shed negativity. Meaningless sitting in silence in a corner is called meditation.
(Oxford dictionary defines meaningless as “without any purpose or reason” and adds “and therefore not worth doing or having.” Many artists would not agree with the latter statement)
In a world plagued by speed and efficiency, it is easy to fall into the trap of meaning-loss. Maybe by embracing the meaningless could help us to slow down, focus on quality and ask ourselves WHY? to reclaim our agency?
P.S. Just got another email:
Congratulations! Job requisition [...] was canceled and has reached the Open - Canceled status.Accepting positive feedback
That’s how I accept positive feedback with grace. Why do we feel the need to downplay compliments? It’s like we’re afraid of being seen as too good at something. Let’s embrace our strengths and accept the praise that comes with them.
Showing boss my code which produced that nice pie chart be like
Bringing the ‘punk’ in Cyberpunk!
As the bustling city streets filled with pedestrians, a peculiar sight caught the attention of a curious onlooker. A delivery robot, with its tiny rollers and glowing LED eyes, stood patiently at a pedestrian crossing, waiting for the green light to signal its safe passage.
Meanwhile, humans rushed past the robot without a second thought, jaywalking and ignoring traffic rules as if they were mere suggestions. As if guided by some divine hand, cosmic irony intervened, arranging a perfectly synchronized sequence of events.
The traffic light turned green, signalling the robot to move forward. Just as it began to step forward, a delivery boy with a bulky square package appeared beside it. And just like that, the robot and the delivery boy moved in a stunning display of synchronized dance, as if they had been rehearsing the routine for weeks.
The robot blinked its LED eye and muttered to itself:
[{ "image_id":"I0ZyaWRheUZ1bkZlZWQ=", "label": [{
"label":"class_name_human",
"prob": 0.9871635,
"text":"Meatbags, what a bunch of morons. . . Bringing the 'punk' in Cyberpunk!",
},]
}]What’s Wrong with ChatGPT? A view from Economists
Renowned economists—Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson—are concerned about ChatGPT. More precisely—the way how AI deployed by corporations in the US. Their analysis points out that it could displace workers, harm consumers, and bring losses to investors. The crux of the issues is focusing on cutting labour costs (in a short run), with little regard for the future of spending power and workers earnings, as well as neglecting the potential benefits of AI.
🤖 AI arms race, funded by billions from companies and venture-capital funds, bringing in a technology that can now be used to replace humans across a wider range of tasks. This could be a disaster not only for workers, but also for consumers and even investors.
👨🏭 The workers are facing clear and present danger. The job market is shifting, resulting in a decrease in demand for positions that require strong communication skills, ultimately leading to a decrease in higher-paying jobs. This trend is particularly challenging for younger people, just starting their careers, as there will be fewer entry-level positions available. AI powered tools could help in legal research, but deprive novice lawyers of learning techne through hands-on research.
🛍 Consumers, too, will suffer. Although they may suffice for routine inquiries, they are inadequate for addressing more complex issues—flight delay, household emergency, or dealing with a breakdown in personal relationships. We need understanding and actions of qualified professionals, not eloquent but unhelpful chatbots.
💸 Investors could also be disappointed as companies invest in AI technology and cut back on their workforce. Rather than investing in new technologies and providing training for their employees to improve services, executives are more interested in keeping employment low and wages as low as possible. This strategy is self-defeating and could harm investors in a long run.
🐙 The crux of the issues is that the potential of AI is being overlooked as most US tech leaders are investing in software that can replicate tasks already performed by humans. Contrary, AI-powered digital tools can be used to help nurses, teachers, and customer-service representatives understand what they are dealing with and what would help improve outcomes for patients, students, and consumers. The focus is primarily on reducing labor costs with little regard for the immediate customer experience and the long-term spending power of Americans. However, history has shown that this approach is not necessary. Ford recognized that there was no point in mass-producing cars if people couldn’t afford to buy them. In contrast, modern corporate leaders are utilizing new technologies in a way that could have detrimental effects on our future.
Read full article https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/chatgpt-ai-big-tech-corporate-america-investing-in-eliminating-workers-by-daron-acemoglu-and-simon-johnson-2023-02
P.S. I am currently reading “In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power” by Shoshana Zuboff. The book published back in mid-1980s explores impact of the first wave of smart machines on labour relationships and future of work. There are a lot of similarities and lessons learned for current wave of ubiquitous AI-fication.
The Hidden Benefits of Commuting: Finding Serenity in the Space Between
I used to hate mornings. Istanbul is a very anisotropic City. Commuting from one neighborhood to another, just two blocks away, could take everything from 5 to 55 minutes. However, I start valuing this commuting time as a “liminal space” between personal and business realms. It helps me to transition between home and work life, to kick start the day, and to finish it.
There are three elements of this transition ritual. First, is physical activity, which fuels my internal engine. I have to walk 10-15 minutes either to the bus or the subway stop. This walk makes me energetic and improves my mood–oxytocin proved to have beneficial cognitive and behavioural effects. Second, I use walking and commuting time to learn something new, to push my creativity for the day. Podcasts are great, I have some business related–Anecdotally Speaking, Talking About Organizations, or Re:Thinking. Some pure fun on the bun–Friday Night Comedy or Something Rhymes with Purple. Other good options are Coursera and LinkedIn learning apps, which allow you to save videos to watch off-line. Third, I use this time to reflect and think things over. I always have a notebook and pen with me, and Google.Docs on my smartphone. (Full disclosure: I drafted and edited this post while enjoying views of Beşiktaş from DT2 bus). This helps me to kick start day or unload business thoughts at the end of the day.
This ritual works very well while working from home or while on a business trip. You could use a treadmill for a 15 minutes walk, or simply walk around a block–I often enjoyed cities at 6am, empty and quiet. Podcasts are always with you, as well as a notebook and a pen.
Don’t hate mornings, instead embrace an opportunity. By incorporating a simple morning ritual–such as a short walk, listening to something new and interesting, and reflecting on your goals and intentions–you can prioritize your well-being and kick start the day; or close the day, avoiding business spillover to home life.
Meet less, write more!
We all survived meetings that could be an email. But could we do better? Tremendous summarized its high-documentation, low-meeting work culture in a blog post. Couple of takeaways:
🎯 Every meeting must have a reason—WHY are we meeting?—what Tremendous calls “meeting mindfulness”. Low-meeting culture is giving people the space and time they need to make innovative decisions. Meetings are reserved to discuss particularly heated topics and communicate on projects that require high-bandwidth collaboration
🤪 There are huge hidden costs of meetings, a 30-minute actually takes 68 minutes—15 minutes for preparation, 30 minutes meeting per se and 23 minutes to refocus. When meetings lack agendas, the efficiency cost quickly becomes grave
📑 High-documentation culture is the recipe for more productive, transparent, thoughtful, scalable, and efficient work. Writing a document—instead of shiny slides—forces people to focus on communicating their ideas as clearly as possible. While it comes with cost—time for writing (and editing), the benefits are clear—onboard and scale becoming easy. Thanks to searchable, traceable, public record of all significant decisions, projects, and initiatives across the organization
👩💻 Learn from successes. Professional development is a by-product of having access to the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of every impactful decision the company makes. Peer reviews help to learn and grow from the evolution of their own recommendations and proposals. It also teach people to provide feedback in a constructive, consistent and public manner (rather than derisive seagull-like critique)
Read blog https://www.tremendous.com/blog/the-perks-of-a-high-documentation-low-meeting-work-culture