Avatar photoSteven Savage

Steve’s Update 5/14/2017

by

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

And it’s time for another  Scrum style standup!  What am I up to?

Well bluntly this week also was nuts, with assorted work events, a friend having health concerns (resolved) and of course occasional allergies.  It’s not been the greatest week – but Agile method are about adapting.  So where are we?

So what have I done the last week?

  • Way With Worlds Minibook #1: Back from the editor, looks good, she kicked butt.  I’ll probably go into it sometime in the near future – but I’m not scheduled to until next month.
  • Way With Worlds Minibook #5: Still writing, and on schedule here.  Not much more to say.
  • Seventh Sanctum Spotlight: This keeps just being interrupted, and I’ve not had that great a response.  I’m going to try and get back to it, but may just delay until next month.
  • Marketing: I’m trying Amazon Marketing Services ads and have a bunch set up.  I think they might be working but it’s hard to tell.  I have no direct sales but had a spike in sales anyway.  I also am placing flyers around town in various locations, but am not 100% sure what’s working and what isn’t.
  • Seventh Sanctum General: Figured what to do with the Tumblr and planned that out.  And yes, you’ll have to wait!
  • Professional: Yet another professional meetup which was great.
  • “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet:” You’ll probably see an entire post about this, but I ended up having to stop plotting it – it wasn’t coming together well.  Short form was it was a mix of being rusty, of mis-applying techniques, and not breaking down the work.  I restarted plotting it and it’s coming along great once I applied a bit more planning to the whole affair.  You’ll probably see a post on it – but short form is that I won’t work on Chapter #1 until next month.

What am I going to do this week:

  • Way With Worlds Minibook #5:  Write more of course.
  • Professional: One professional event this week.
  • Social: My girlfriend’s birthday and a book club this week.
  • “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet:” I’ll be finishing up some plot outlining and going over character story arcs.
  • Newsletter: Get my newsletter out this week.
  • General: I’ll may do some fanime preparation

Challenges and blockers:

  • Continuing allergies and various interruptions have me a bit concerned.  I might strip down some plans.

 

This week taught me a lot about adapting.  I cancelled writing a chapter to have time to actually develop the book outline.  I was willing to cancel a marketing idea because, simply, I needed the proper “mood” to do it.  I also caught a few missing things and got on top of them fast.  It’s likely I overplanned this month a bit, but hey live and learn!

– Steve

Steve’s Agile Life: Writing Time

by

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

As I write about my “Agile Life” experiment (where I use the Agile techniques in  Scrum) I hope to get others to think about time management.  Looks like my friend Serdar over at Genji press got himself a thinking about time management.

He gets into his own blogging, how he has to carve out time, and how his cadence for projects differs based on the kind of said projects.  It’s a great insight into what he as a blogger does – but also he talks about his way of blocking out work.

As a great deal of his work is writing, he blocks out a time to write each day, setting a minimum time.  If he’s not up for one thing, he’s up for another.  That’s a smart writing technique, and I wanted to note where something like this can fit into the Agile mindset.

  • First of all, he notes that he sets aside time to write, but doesn’t necessarily choose what he writes until he sits down.  This is a great idea on two counts – he has a block of time, and can make the call as to what’s needed at the time.
  • Secondly, if you use this technique, why not consider breaking your writing work down into hour increments and tasks?  That way if you set aside an hour, you can use it to measure progress on projects.  Also, great practice for work breakdowns.
  • Third, this gets you into the habit of practice.  With writing and certain other creative skills, many people respond well to regularity to both accomplish work and hone skills.  Why not make that Agile, with regular writing, broken down so you can slot it into your writing time?
  • Fourth, this removes roadblocks, which is a big part of why we use Agile techniques (as I heard it put once, the prime focus of any Agile method is to find what’s blocking you).  By having this general time you can go around other writing blockages – but by having a set time to write you keep up the regular work you need.

What’s funny for me is I’ve tried both techniques and tend to lean towards not writing each day.  I tend to like task-based writing, to accomplish “x” goal, be it 30 minutes or 2 hours of writing.  But it’s all about finding what works for you.

(Then there’s people asking if they need a definition of “Ready.  Let’s not get into that.)

– Steve

Steve’s Agile Life: Done

by

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

If you’re new to my whole “Agile Life” thing, this is me using Agile (specifically Scrum) to make my life more productive and less stressful.  Let’s talk about a big barrier to success – “Done.”

The latest lesson I want to share is the challenge of figuring out what “Done” is. Yes, trust me, people ask this.

When are you “done” with a task? With a story? With a book? “Done” is important to organizing since that’s when somehting is basically able to go out the door. “Done” is especially challenging if you have radically different work to do, and moreso when doing “personal” Scrum – because the definition of a done LinkedIn profile update and “done” for cleaning the refrigerator are kind of different.

“Done” plagues professional managers and Scrum Masters as well as people in less anal-retentive professions. I have sat in meetings, with grown adults, debating the meaning of “done” for a half hour.

I’ve also debated the exact meanings of the colors red, yellow, and green. I am not proud.

So you need to define “Done” for you and your work. Hopefully it lines up with some other people’s ideas of “Done,” but as this is your life you may have some unique challenges.

Here’s some I had – and how I resolved them:

  • Writing a book consisting of 50 questions. Well I know what the “done” is for the Book, but how do I organize doing these questions? So I decided to write questions in 5-question blocks. “Done” would be five questions ready for the editor. Incorporating edits would be a separate set of tasks.
  • Cleaning a closet meant ‘done’ wasn’t what I thought. Sure having things repacked is one thing, but disposing of the junk was another. As I had some ancient electronics I found disposal wasn’t so easy, so I got it organized in a box. I considered the closet “done” but created a new “story” to dispose of these things – if they were invasive, then it wouldn’t be done.  Plus a good lesson for next time.
  • Designing marketing flyers – This is a bit challenging. First I have to design the flyer, then print it. I made both of these separate tasks, but decided after some thought that “done” would be completion. The service was reliable enough and the design templated enough that if everything was a botch, I’d “re-open” the tasks and start over.

Done is not just important for completion, it’s when you get feedback. My cleaned closet was “Done” but the fact I had to create a separate disposal story was a reminder I hadn’t thought “Done” out too well.

Oh and remember if you have any kind of validation, like software testing or your Church approving your flyer, then you’re not necessarily “done” – it’s in testing. Surprise! You may be finished but not “Done.”

Or you may be arguing about what “done” is.

(Then there’s people asking if they need a definition of “Ready.  Let’s not get into that.)

– Steve