Clarke Ching - More Chilli Please

I bought an iPhone

Eighteen months ago I bought an iPhone. Two weeks later I took it back and got a refund coz i found it too tricky to write and edit long emails. Today I bought a new iPhone and it's still not great with long emails but it is consideably better.

I miss my blackberry bold but I do like my new toy.

Mock on fanboys.

Forecasting problems.

Many of the worlds problems happen when we act as if we can forecasting things that are unforecastable.  

Here's a wee story (nicked from here):

It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was an Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets, and when he looked at the sky he couldn't tell what the hell the weather was going to be. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect wood to be prepared. 

Being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?" 

"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the Meteorologist at the weather service responded. So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared. 

One week later he called the National Weather Service again. 

"Is it going to be a very cold winter?" he asked. 

"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it's going to be a very cold winter." 

The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find. 

Two weeks later he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?" 

"Absolutely," the man replied. "It looks like it's going to be one of the coldest winters ever." 

"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked. The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting firewood like crazy".

My Top-10 Books published during the Noughties

Books published in the noughties, in order of personal value to me:

1. Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath - I can't get enough of this book.  It is, in theory, about how to make ideas stick, but in practice it is soooo much more than that.  It's about how to think successfully.  I've nicked many ideas from this book and tried to pass them off as my own.
2. The Choice by Eli Goldratt - Not the easiest of Goldratt's book and certainly not the one to start with.  More for seasoned TOC Thinkers who understand the TOC thinking processes.  A keeper, for me.  But read "The Goal" and "It's Not Luck" first.  Advise waiting for the next edition to hit the shelves. 
3. A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink - In short: the left-brained stuff that got you here, isn't enough.  This isn't a feel-good, yet cheap, self-help book.  It's far broader reaching that that.  Go read the reviews on amazon - they'll do a better job of explaining why you must read this book.
4. Trust Based Selling by Charles Green - At the end of the day, your success depends on whether people trust you and whether you can sell your ideas and/or products to them.  This book changed my approach to life and work more than any other.  It's practical and it took the ickyness out of having to do the "commercial" stuff.
5. Lean Software Development by Mary and Tom Poppendieck I read an early draft of this book and it bought together my two professional worlds: Lean/TOC and Software development.  I find it amusing that the 1 sentence which renewed my love of software development never made it into the published version.
6. Writing Effective Use Cases - Alastair Cockburn - I should read this book again.  And then again.  Warning: if you develop software as a business and your business model relies on bums-on-seats then buy all the copies of this book you can and BURN THEM - you don't want your customers discovering how to deliver projects faster.  Use Cases are often done very, very, very badly and this book is the cure.  I'd like to see a second edition.
7. Extreme Programming by Kent Beck - I haven't coded for years, but this book made soooooooooo much sense.  It reminded me of how I coded when I coded for fun.  Weird thing: I'm not sure that XP is the best way to build software, not for everyone anyway.
8. Free Prize Inside by Seth Godin I preferred this to Purple Cow, mostly because it was more practical.
9. Purple Cow by Seth Godin  - "Be Remarkable" - Incredible advice, great examples, superb writing.
10. Executive Briefing: The Power of Influence by Robert Cialdini (Audiobook).  I've recommended this audiobook to all my friends and colleagues. It's one of the least expensive books on audible.co.uk but one of the most valuable. If you want to honourably influence people then listen to this 50 minute speech.