This year, I got associated with The Test Tribe Community, a vibrant group of testers from across the world. Was greateful to deliver a few of the sessions that i will share in upcoming posts.
In this post, I am sharing an interview with the Test Tribe team. Hope you like it.
Read the Interview here: https://thetesttribe.com/interviewing-our-failqonf-speaker-anuj-magazine/
Please do read and share your feedback.
Refer my last post, continuing my association with techBLEND group, sharing one more presentation i made to the forum on Introduction to India Stack.
If there is interest, will write a long form post on the subject. Till then, sharing my slide deck as below:
https://www.slideshare.net/amagazine/introduction-to-india-stack-v12
I have been associated with a volunteer group known as techBLEND. It is a group of passionate technologists. techBLEND primarily works on below principles:
Build thought leadership in technology space
Listening about other technologies and experience of the speaker in that technology space helps in widening the horizon. And hence helps in building thought leadership in technology space. It could also be possible that what I learn in other areas of work could also be applied in my area of work. More like cross-pollination.
Become better speaker
Keynote speaker, discussion moderator, or members would learn a thing or two about public speaking skills while talking and discussing technologies in a diverse group of people whom they don’t know from their area of work.
Break monotony
We know prolonged working in an area of work becomes monotonous at times. Just a weekly discussion in some other area of work freshens up the person and breaks the monotony. And it could be also possible that other areas of work might interest that person so much, that he/she goes deeper into it and eventually switches the area of work.
More details: https://medium.com/@manpreet.singh/aerial-view-of-technology-bebff21485c0
I had picked up a topic of deciphering the Drone Technology in one of the sessions. If there is more interest among the readers of this blog, i can share a long post.
Till then, sharing the deck that i presented. Hope you find it informative. https://www.slideshare.net/amagazine/introduction-to-drone-tech-v12
In 1948, Edwin Land invented the Polaroid Camera. It was a revolutionary moment for photography. This invention provided an alternative to people who found it cumbersome to take their film to a darkroom for development before they could see the pictures. A Polaroid camera could magically deliver instant photos.
The origins of this invention lies in a question that was asked by Edwin's daughter. During their vacation, Edwin took a picture and his daughter asked- why couldn't she see the picture right-away. She wasn't quite impressed by a technical response given by Edwin, and neither was he. With this started Edwin's quest to discover what was later called as a Polaroid camera.
Asking questions ignites our creativity and brings new ideas to life. Active questioning (Both "Why" and "Why not" questions) are not just at the foundation of great innovations but are also instrumental in us leading great lives.
In this regard, i found this twitter thread https://bit.ly/3Ecj70P quite inspirational. Blake Burge puts forward a few life-changing questions that makes us think. I enjoyed sketching these as well as contemplating about these.
Which of these questions resonate with you ? What else would you add to this list ? #questioning
In his insightful blog 'How I Approach the Toughest Decisions' https://bit.ly/3E159yW , Barack Obama gives insights into nuts and bolts of his decision making process. One specific aspect about his blog that caught my attention was that instance where in a crucial meeting on resolving economic crisis he left the meeting to have dinner and get a haircut and told his team on his expectation to achieve a consensus upon his return. He later reflects-
"You also want to create space to think. Remember that dinner and haircut break I took during that marathon economic session? That mattered, too. That was part of making the decision. Even in situations where you have to act relatively quickly, as was frequently the case during the financial crisis, it helps to build in time to let your thoughts marinate."
His act of taking break in a high stakes meeting to create space in his head to think is the essence of what the life skill of stillness is all about.
I got a chance to read Ryan Holiday's book "Stillness is the Key" and sharing some valuable perspectives on embracing Stillness as a life-skill-
1. Stillness is not the absence of activity.
2. It may seem abstract but you know it when you experience it. If you've concentrated so deeply that a burst of insight strikes you, you know stillness.
3. Stillness is about being present, about limiting the inputs in your life. You may go on a run without headphones or with headphones. If it's the latter, the very act of including an additional input may slow your chances of allowing ideas in your head to intermingle.
What activities can enhance your chances to achieve stillness ? Sharing my #sketchnote of some of the ideas shared by Ryan Holiday in his tweet- https://bit.ly/3ywAGaP
What else would you add to the list ? Do you find #stillness a virtue worth chasing ?
LinkedIn Post: linkedin.com/posts/anujmagazine_sketchnote-stillness-activity-6877062696815132673-Zrco/
Sachin Tendulkar had quite an average test series against Australia in 2004 scoring just ~100 runs in 3 tests. He knew there was nothing wrong in his form and upon consultation with his brother realized that his shot selection was possibly an issue. In the next innings at Sydney he ends up scoring an unbeaten 241. Only change he made was- eliminate his favorite shot- cover drive from his innings.
Serena Williams fell from being world's top ranked Tennis player to be beaten by World# 111 within a span of a few months in 2011. With her new coach, she was able to work on injuries and the mindset issues in the next few years and won almost every tournament in Tennis in 2015.
On the surface level, we could reason both these as comeback, never-give-up stories but upon peeling the layers, there is another phenomenon at play here- Unlearning and Relearning. Sachin was extraordinarily quick to replace his existing knowledge with a new habit. For Serena, the cycle of unlearning wasn't only about change in training plans and coach but also determining what part of her knowledge was outdated and causing the dip in performance.
Reiterating that unlearning is one of the keys to a successful career is like telling what many already know. But the core question really is- how to execute learning-unlearning-relearning cycle. Is there any wisdom available that can help us ? I loved the ideas shared in the Harvard Business Review article- "Why the Problem with Learning Is Unlearning" https://bit.ly/3EO7FtF. 3 ideas:
1. First, you have to recognize that the old mental model is no longer relevant or effective.
2. Second, you need to find or create a new model that can better achieve your goals.
3. Third, you need to ingrain the new mental habits
If you are in product space, it would be worth to apply these to the list that Julie Zhuo shared in her recent twitter thread https://bit.ly/3yh9MUa It's a list that includes the things you learn in school that must be unlearned when you start building software products. (included my #sketchnote of this insightful twitter thread)
What else would you add to this list ? What's your experience with executing learning-unlearning-relearning ? #learning #unlearning
