Only this morning I heard an author and professor on the radio about a new rewritten version of the Dutch classic Max Havelaar by Multatuli. Apparently present students can't and won't read the original due to the long sentences used and words whose meaning has changed since it was written 150 years ago.
That is really mind-blowing.
I remember reading Max Havelaar when I was fifteen. During my reading, I was thinking how incredibly fresh and new Multatulis writing was for a book of 150 years old.
And yes, it was an original version (no rewritten copy).
In Europe, the greater part of the yought and population is already watching English TV, reading English books and listening to English music without a learning curve, don't extrapolate or project your own monolinguism:)
That is a little bit over simplified. We are talking about Germany here. Movies, television series, cartoons, and so on are dubbed in German. The same counts for France were everything is dubbed in French, Spain, Italy, etc. The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are the few european countries were people have to satisfy theirselves with subtitles in their own language.
It is true though that Europeans listen to a lot of english-sang music, but it is far from the only music we listen to. And I do not think that some german 9 year olds will learn a lot of (good) English from the latest Akon or Lady Ga-Ga song
Microsoft is the absolute king of the Belgian software market. Especially for government and administration.
In my few years in the Belgian software business I have heard the most mind-numbing arguments from managers to promote yet another stupid Microsoft product over a better or equal equivalent.
"Everybody uses it, so it is better!"
"It is a corporate standard!"
"Outlook has got all sorts of features that others don't!" (this was a remark on my use of Gmail and Google calendar)
... than just a script writer. Amongst many things, he gave Moebius/Jean Giraud the idea of what later became 'The Incal.'
Moebius, Giger and Dan O'Bannon were all working on the aborted Dune project of Jodorowsky.
What I learned from Agile, is that linking "hours" or even worse "man-hours" to tasks or estimates is really bad practice. This is because hours are only a one-sided measure for the workload of a task. A meaningless measure, like task points is often used to overcome these problems.
The iron cross/knight's cross is still in use by the Bundeswehr (German army). As an army related symbol, the iron cross is much older than the Nazi era. It was already in use by the Prussians in their struggle with Napoleonic France.
I do not really understand what you mean by "hours burned." In a stand-up we only talk about tasks you have been working on the previous day, or that you finished the previous day. And then we talk a little about the tasks we will be doing today.
If I understand you correctly, in our stand-up you would have said that you were working on the same task for three days in a row. There is nothing wrong with that. It is only an indication for a scrum master and scrum product owner that your task is a really complex one, or a long one, or that you ran into a problem that you cannot solve.
Re:How to turn your skilled employees into cogs
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Becoming Agile
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· Score: 1
The biggest problem that I find with agile is that it's too easy to implement incorrectly, and the overall sweatshop environment means that productivity won't dip right away, as everyone is being watched. Many managers read about it and think, "Great, we can get rid of their offices, put them all out in the open, and throw out any kind planning." I think in the long run it will fail in a slow, painful way, as people get fed up and leave. Then, when productivity finally drops, management will receive the feedback that maybe their implementation is wrong.
This is so true. And true on every level. I have seen very wrong implementations of (agile) methodologies on developer level, design and analysis level, project management level and so on.
I can get so depressed and frustrated by this. Because, most of the time, it has nothing to do with the chosen methodology per se, but more with applying simple well-known management solutions.
Re:Oh and the second agile dogma is stupid
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Becoming Agile
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· Score: 1
I think this has to do with how you read and interpret the agile manifesto. The second dogma says:"Working software over comprehensive documentation." And not vs. comprehensive documentation.
I have been in software projects where after 18 months (!) of development we had nothing to show except for tons of documentation and designs. I have also been in scrum driven projects were we had little but very useful documentation.
So, in my book, Agile != no documentation. Agile == make only the documentation that is useful and wanted by the customer.
Agile is a crock. It's a fantastic trick developers have used to get away with never having to promise to deliver anything specific in any given timescale. 'We're not sure what we're going to develop yet, or when we'll deliver it, but I promise you when we do deliver it it's what you want'. That's no use to anyone.
If your developers are using agile as an excuse, then they are doing it wrong!
I have been a Scrum Product Owner many times, and for sure we had to deliver what we promised. The difference was that our promises were better and more realistic, because the team had the final word in what had to be delivered at the end of an iteration.
And who said you can't apply PMBOK and use an agile method at the same time? Both seem quite compatible to me.
Julius Caesar never was an emperor of Rome. The imperial titles and offices were not created yet. His nephew Octavianus Augustus is considered as the first emperor, because he was the first to hold the titles of Caesar, Augustus, princeps civitatis and princeps senatus.
The official title of the Albert II is indeed "Koning der Belgen, Roi des Belges."
But his name is still Albert Felix Humbert Theodoor Christiaan Eugène Marie van België. The Belgian royal family changed their last name from "von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha" to "van België, de Belgique" after the first world war, much like the British royals did (they changed "von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha" to "Windsor").
Actually, it would be: "Voorwaarts!" The use of a 't' or a 'd' is quite an issue in Dutch.
In his dialect, Frank would say something like "Noar voor!" (Frank is from Ledeberg, so he speaks the Ghent dialect).
I'm 29, in elementary school we had a subject that was called "schoonschrift" (translates roughly as "beautiful handwriting").
It was tough, 4 years in a row, we had to fill copy-book after copy-book and had to copy chalk board after chalk board. Later on, our homework was always in handwriting, all our papers had to be in handwriting. Teachers just wouldn't accept typed out homework. Even in university, almost none of my co-students used a laptop to take notes.
I loved it and I still love it. I experience my handwriting as an extension of my personality now. As much as I work with computers, I still prefer to write texts in a copy-book over typing them on my laptop.
Young children in Belgium still have to go through the whole "schoonschrift" thing. Even though there are computers in every classroom in Belgium, and they have computer lessons in elementary school now.
You are clearly not European.
There have been many antitrust suits in the past by the European commission against European companies.
The problem is that building up a case costs a lot of time. The recent antitrust suit against Microsoft was started in 1998, with a first ruling in 2003. Just to give you some kind of perspective.
The "status of religion" may be a strange concept for Americans, but it isn't in France (or most of western, non-Anglo-Saxon Europe).
In France (and most western European countries) every religion that is recognized as a religion by the state, gets an allowance to pay for infrastructure and priest wages.
This system was created under Napoleon after the abolishment of all church administered taxes during the French revolution. The allowance paid to recognized religions comes from the taxes paid by every citizen.
In Belgium, for example, the following religions are recognized and get a state allowance: Roman-Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, Christian-Orthodox (Russian), some reformed and some protestant Christian churches. Some pluralist and liberal organizations also get a state allowance. In Belgium, this system has created an opportunity for the Belgian Federal state to demand a the creation of consultative committee for each recognized religion.
Next to this system of recognized religions, a special investigative committee of the Belgian Federal parliament composed a list of sects and organizations dangerous to society and the individual. And yes, the CoS is on the list.
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Only this morning I heard an author and professor on the radio about a new rewritten version of the Dutch classic Max Havelaar by Multatuli. Apparently present students can't and won't read the original due to the long sentences used and words whose meaning has changed since it was written 150 years ago.
That is really mind-blowing.
I remember reading Max Havelaar when I was fifteen. During my reading, I was thinking how incredibly fresh and new Multatulis writing was for a book of 150 years old.
And yes, it was an original version (no rewritten copy).
In Europe, the greater part of the yought and population is already watching English TV, reading English books and listening to English music without a learning curve, don't extrapolate or project your own monolinguism :)
That is a little bit over simplified. We are talking about Germany here. Movies, television series, cartoons, and so on are dubbed in German. The same counts for France were everything is dubbed in French, Spain, Italy, etc. The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are the few european countries were people have to satisfy theirselves with subtitles in their own language.
It is true though that Europeans listen to a lot of english-sang music, but it is far from the only music we listen to. And I do not think that some german 9 year olds will learn a lot of (good) English from the latest Akon or Lady Ga-Ga song
Gawdon Bennet! Crowley crap dang is weird.
Not sure if i' is a "good weird" awer a "bad weird". OK?
Microsoft is the absolute king of the Belgian software market. Especially for government and administration.
In my few years in the Belgian software business I have heard the most mind-numbing arguments from managers to promote yet another stupid Microsoft product over a better or equal equivalent.
"Everybody uses it, so it is better!"
"It is a corporate standard!"
"Outlook has got all sorts of features that others don't!" (this was a remark on my use of Gmail and Google calendar)
Yes, and Australia is on the other side.
... than just a script writer. Amongst many things, he gave Moebius/Jean Giraud the idea of what later became 'The Incal.' Moebius, Giger and Dan O'Bannon were all working on the aborted Dune project of Jodorowsky.
What I learned from Agile, is that linking "hours" or even worse "man-hours" to tasks or estimates is really bad practice. This is because hours are only a one-sided measure for the workload of a task. A meaningless measure, like task points is often used to overcome these problems.
The iron cross/knight's cross is still in use by the Bundeswehr (German army). As an army related symbol, the iron cross is much older than the Nazi era. It was already in use by the Prussians in their struggle with Napoleonic France.
I do not really understand what you mean by "hours burned." In a stand-up we only talk about tasks you have been working on the previous day, or that you finished the previous day. And then we talk a little about the tasks we will be doing today.
If I understand you correctly, in our stand-up you would have said that you were working on the same task for three days in a row. There is nothing wrong with that. It is only an indication for a scrum master and scrum product owner that your task is a really complex one, or a long one, or that you ran into a problem that you cannot solve.
The biggest problem that I find with agile is that it's too easy to implement incorrectly, and the overall sweatshop environment means that productivity won't dip right away, as everyone is being watched. Many managers read about it and think, "Great, we can get rid of their offices, put them all out in the open, and throw out any kind planning." I think in the long run it will fail in a slow, painful way, as people get fed up and leave. Then, when productivity finally drops, management will receive the feedback that maybe their implementation is wrong.
This is so true. And true on every level. I have seen very wrong implementations of (agile) methodologies on developer level, design and analysis level, project management level and so on.
I can get so depressed and frustrated by this. Because, most of the time, it has nothing to do with the chosen methodology per se, but more with applying simple well-known management solutions.
I think this has to do with how you read and interpret the agile manifesto. The second dogma says:"Working software over comprehensive documentation." And not vs. comprehensive documentation.
I have been in software projects where after 18 months (!) of development we had nothing to show except for tons of documentation and designs. I have also been in scrum driven projects were we had little but very useful documentation.
So, in my book, Agile != no documentation. Agile == make only the documentation that is useful and wanted by the customer.
Agile is a crock. It's a fantastic trick developers have used to get away with never having to promise to deliver anything specific in any given timescale. 'We're not sure what we're going to develop yet, or when we'll deliver it, but I promise you when we do deliver it it's what you want'. That's no use to anyone.
If your developers are using agile as an excuse, then they are doing it wrong!
I have been a Scrum Product Owner many times, and for sure we had to deliver what we promised. The difference was that our promises were better and more realistic, because the team had the final word in what had to be delivered at the end of an iteration.
And who said you can't apply PMBOK and use an agile method at the same time? Both seem quite compatible to me.
As a catholic, I got a smile on my face when I read this article...
Julius Caesar never was an emperor of Rome. The imperial titles and offices were not created yet. His nephew Octavianus Augustus is considered as the first emperor, because he was the first to hold the titles of Caesar, Augustus, princeps civitatis and princeps senatus.
How can someone become commander of the ISS when he is from a country that does not exist?!?
The official title of the Albert II is indeed "Koning der Belgen, Roi des Belges."
But his name is still Albert Felix Humbert Theodoor Christiaan Eugène Marie van België.
The Belgian royal family changed their last name from "von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha" to "van België, de Belgique" after the first world war, much like the British royals did (they changed "von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha" to "Windsor").
Actually, it would be: "Voorwaarts!" The use of a 't' or a 'd' is quite an issue in Dutch.
In his dialect, Frank would say something like "Noar voor!" (Frank is from Ledeberg, so he speaks the Ghent dialect).
Even I had a Cobol course. And I have an applied economics master. What sense does that make?
I'm 29, in elementary school we had a subject that was called "schoonschrift" (translates roughly as "beautiful handwriting"). It was tough, 4 years in a row, we had to fill copy-book after copy-book and had to copy chalk board after chalk board. Later on, our homework was always in handwriting, all our papers had to be in handwriting. Teachers just wouldn't accept typed out homework. Even in university, almost none of my co-students used a laptop to take notes. I loved it and I still love it. I experience my handwriting as an extension of my personality now. As much as I work with computers, I still prefer to write texts in a copy-book over typing them on my laptop. Young children in Belgium still have to go through the whole "schoonschrift" thing. Even though there are computers in every classroom in Belgium, and they have computer lessons in elementary school now.
You are clearly not European. There have been many antitrust suits in the past by the European commission against European companies. The problem is that building up a case costs a lot of time. The recent antitrust suit against Microsoft was started in 1998, with a first ruling in 2003. Just to give you some kind of perspective.
Two words: Opus Dei
The "status of religion" may be a strange concept for Americans, but it isn't in France (or most of western, non-Anglo-Saxon Europe). In France (and most western European countries) every religion that is recognized as a religion by the state, gets an allowance to pay for infrastructure and priest wages. This system was created under Napoleon after the abolishment of all church administered taxes during the French revolution. The allowance paid to recognized religions comes from the taxes paid by every citizen. In Belgium, for example, the following religions are recognized and get a state allowance: Roman-Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, Christian-Orthodox (Russian), some reformed and some protestant Christian churches. Some pluralist and liberal organizations also get a state allowance. In Belgium, this system has created an opportunity for the Belgian Federal state to demand a the creation of consultative committee for each recognized religion. Next to this system of recognized religions, a special investigative committee of the Belgian Federal parliament composed a list of sects and organizations dangerous to society and the individual. And yes, the CoS is on the list.