Avatar photoSteven Savage

9/4/2017

by

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

It’s my weekly Scrum style standup for my audience, so where am I?

So what have I done the last week?

  • “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet”:Chapter 6 is out.  Chapter 7 is being written and is a probably about 2/5 done already – big revelations here when the characters look back on history – and character development as one has to ask just what his goddess is up to.
  • Way With Worlds Minibook #4: I thought I’d take a break.  I didn’t – the cover is done and I edited it.  So I may be ahead of the game.
  • Art: Did more practice cover art that’s now on my tumblr.  This’ll be good because if my fiction takes off, I may do short stories as well and this practice should let me do quality covers.
  • General: Mostly crashed and saw my girlfriend.

What am I going to do this week:

  • Way With Worlds Minibook #4: I will probably format this, as weekend after next is busy.  But I can probably let it slide.
  • “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet:” Pretty much keeping at it.  I may finish Chapter 7 but am not sure.
  • Other: Got a lot of club meetings this week including a writer’s group.

Challenges:

  • Had a bad allergy attack last week and it wore me down.  Though I was productive (hey, what else was I going to do?) I’m keeping an eye on it based on previous experience.

– Steve

A Writer’s Life: The Second Principle

by

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

This week I rewrote part of the plot of my book.  I had a great idea that would make the book deeper, improve character, explore the world!  Best of all it didn’t require me re-plotting major elements or the ending, while it made the ending more powerful.

It’s just I didn’t want to do it.

I had this gut-level resistance to re-plotting.  In retrospect it was a dumb attitude to take, and I think it was just that I don’t like to change plans.  I always fear things will never get done.

Then I recalled the Second Agile Principle, which states:

Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.

I’m using Agile to manage my life and my writing, and if you’re not familiar with Agile, it’s worth studying up on. Agile is a philosophy of good organization that has inspired and taken guidance from many business processes.  Adsorbing and leveraging change is a big part of Agile (which is kinda the reason for the name).

When I thought of that principle, it struck me how stupid my resistance to change was.  Change was inevitable, so you should find a way to use it.  As I thought it over I realized how beneficial change was:

  • Feedback inspires change.  So being willing to change lets you incorporate feedback.
  • Changes lets you fix problems, perhaps even before they start, making something better (or making something you don’t need to improve later)
  • Change lets you learn.  A changed requirement, the need to edit a story, a new plot idea teaches you something.  Change lets you learn.
  • Change means review, so as you adapt to changes it requires you to review and stay intimate with what you’re writing.
  • Change keeps your mind limber so you adapt.

Notice that most of these relate to the quality of the work.  The ultimate goal of change is to make sure what you’re creating gets better.  If you don’t change, if you aren’t open to change, then are you really sure your work is going to be the best it can be?

What’s interesting is, after I admitted I had to replot part of the story, the new outline is not only better, I had all sorts of insights on improving the story further (most of them far less invasive).  I was also much more aware of the story and it felt more alive because I’d let it change.

I may still have to fight the urge to “write not replot,” but I think this experience has helped me embrace change better as a writer.  Perhaps I’ll have more insight on this in the future.

I probably will, as change is inevitable . . .

– Steve

Information Radiators, Refrigerators, And Hoses (My Agile Life)

by

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s LinkedIn, and Steve’s Tumblr)

More on my use of “Agile” and Scrum  in my life!  This one isn’t quite as “life-directed” as my others, but the insights come from my personal work to be more Agile.

Lately I’ve become obsessed with Information Radiators.  As I was once inspired by Failbetter game’s public posting of their sprints and my own desire to better chart workflow, that kind of fits.

If you’re not familiar with Information Radiators, the idea is that its something (a chart, a graph) that’s easily visible and communicates information. Ideally in, say, an office or a home it’d be posted somewhere so that everyone sees it and quickly gets updated. In a situation like mine it may be a weekly update or a web page with statuses.

The important thing is that Information Radiators are clear, visible, and accessible. These are very Agile.

The opposite is something I’ve heard called the Information Refrigerator, which I’m now stealing for use in any damn conversation I can use. The Information Refrigerator is a source of information you have to rummage around to find anything. I’m pretty sure you’ve encountered these from work to softwere requiring you to dig around in charts.

The Information Refrigerator is distinctly un-Agile. It’s also just annoying.

To all of this I’d like to add the Information Hose.

The Information Hose is not an easy chart, not something requiring digging, but a graph or report that just plain deluges you with informaiton to th epoint of being harmful. You’re flooded with information, soaked, and wondering what happened – and when you try to figure it out, everything is doused in data and you can’t make sense of anything.

The Information Hose is overload. it’s not Agile (though people may think it is), it’s aggression.

I’m realizing looking back at Information Refrigerators and Information Hoses, I’ve encountered way too many of them (and, sadly, built a few). They’re disruptive, unhelpful, and in a few cases just ways to avoid responsibility – dump all the info into a Refrigerator, or spray it and leave.

When you’ve got a project you want to communicate it. You make it as easy as possible, as clear as possible – and enough as possible but no more.

Yeah, I know, not as my-Agile-Life as it could be. But I wanted to share. Plus you have a great set of terms to tell people at work when they’re messing up reports!

(By the way I do plenty of books for coaching people to improve in various areas, which may also help you out!)

– Steve