I have really enjoyed doing some public speaking this year. I’m just back from the DDD Community Event in Galway and, once again, the feedback on my talk has been very positive. I always feel the responsibility of fulfilling people’s expectations, so hopefully I didn’t disappoint anybody. I must be doing something right though: 2 [...]
I’m just back from Stockholm, where I presented a session titled “Passionate Teams and Cooperative Customers: Agile tales of creative customer communication”. Based on my direct experience, I offered some concrete suggestions of how to revert seemingly impossible (but common) situations in IT projects using a combination of agility, effective communication and deliberate creativity. All [...]
I get a lot of ideas on my way to the office, while on my motorbike. Perhaps Dublin’s traffic and pollution is good for my brain. Or maybe not. At one of our daily standup meetings this week, someone suggested that I should try wearing gloves and helmet at my desk
As software developers, we love to delve deep into technical matters and write code that delivers value. It’s not a big secret, however, that many problems in software originate with people and not technology. In my experience, the biggest issues arise mostly due to corporate politics, lack of shared values, poor attitude, inadequate communication skills, [...]
I’ll be back to Stockholm in early April, delivering a talk at one of the main IT conferences in Sweden. For such a technology-centric event, it is quite fascinating to see an entire track dealing with the often neglected issues of people working together. We should really give the organizers a standing ovation for such [...]
There is this common notion of “intelligence” as a largely inherited talent that can be assessed in one hour interview. Do you know your Intelligence Quotient (IQ)? I don’t. In fact, I’m terrified by IQ tests. You see, those tests may well find out that I’m an idiot, or at least, that I’m not that [...]
Have you ever believed that you could never learn to be creative because inventive people are born with some special ability that ordinary people like you don’t posses? A few years ago, I suggested to each member of my team to choose a nick name, an inspiring name that would break away from what has [...]
What would you say if I told you that creativity is a skill and not a gift? Like any other skills, it can be learned and developed. Many will be surprised to know that my mum is an accomplished and multi-talented artist. She is a French-Italian poet, interpreter, writer, editor. In the past, she has [...]
