Redundancy And Repetition Are Good For You: Revisited

Reading a recent Harold Jarche post – Ten Years, Ten Thoughts – thought 7 reminded me of a few posts I wrote last year that are worth revisiting, not least because redundancy and repetition are good for you! Jarche reminds us that: An informal professional learning network, with its redundant connections, repetition of information and indirect communications, is a much more resilient system than any designed professional development program can be. I made a few tangential points in this direction. In How we learn, channeling an older version of the Jarche post: [Repetition and redundancy] sounds luxurious, but it is not. Digital, networked … Continue reading Redundancy And Repetition Are Good For You: Revisited

10 Revelations From 260+ Blogs In One Year

I recently wrote: I have to go far to go at all. I need to commit fully to avoid making excuses, for being lazy. So, when I eventually began the TMWK blog I made a promise to write a post every day. I even took a week off work to get into the flow and produce. Remarkably, a year on I have posted more than 260 posts. Here is what I have learned along the way… Do or do not. There is no try, said Yoda, and who am I to argue. No-one, that’s who. So I won’t. ‘Nuff with … Continue reading 10 Revelations From 260+ Blogs In One Year

#WOLyo! Close Out: Storify Reflections On Working Out Loud

Well, I put together a Storify of the #WOLyo! experiment from last week. Storify curates the social conversation around the topic – this is about me working out loud for a whole week under the stairs at work. Unfortunately, I cannot embed the Storify here on WordPress, so click through to the slightly weird but quite interesting little experiment…it looks a little bit like this. Enjoy. ←This Much We Know.→   Continue reading #WOLyo! Close Out: Storify Reflections On Working Out Loud

One Year Of Working Out Loud = 260 Posts + REAL Community. #WOLyo!

A good little reminder of the value of blogging from Dave Winer (“I developed the first blogging software…”) from this self-explanatory post (via @elsua) Why Blog?: “The mission of blogging is to empower all of us to go directly to each other with our expertise. So if you know something as well as anyone else, or you learn something or know something that should be shared, then you should share it on your blog.” Yes, working out loud #WOLyo! is about sharing your knowledge, and it is about building community. Having reached my TMWK blog first anniversary last week, it is a worthy reminder. From … Continue reading One Year Of Working Out Loud = 260 Posts + REAL Community. #WOLyo!

A Happy #WOLyo! Outcome? Finding A First Follower.

Some learning happens in the moment, some comes in reflection and debrief. Living through the working out loud experiment last week was powerful and dense. After, I felt tired yet optimistic – that new conversations might happen, new organizational and cultural opportunities emerge. This week, a few people have been ribbing me, why aren’t you still under the stairs? It’s just not the same Jonathan, without you peering out from the gloom… A few more missed it entirely (March break holidays) and sounded genuinely disappointed (in theory, of course). A contact made the connection between what I did – a willingness to … Continue reading A Happy #WOLyo! Outcome? Finding A First Follower.

When You #WOLyo! You Recognize Confabulation When You See It

Writing down my thoughts here on the blog is both a record, an exclamation; and also an iteration. These words are a marker, that creates a line of sight to other thoughts and words. Now I have a frame of reference in which to work. Working out loud is the same process. I move out into the world, and stake a claim, then I observe what happens as I am also participating in the next iteration. It is quite the experience. Very meta. Living in this iteration, like a scene from Being John Malkovich, things can get a little confusing. … Continue reading When You #WOLyo! You Recognize Confabulation When You See It

Pecha Kucha Squared = #WOLyo!

Last week, I presented 10 (count ‘em!) pecha kucha, every day at 1130 and 1330. Topics ranged from my (fairly uneducated) take on Microsoft Office/Oslo roadmap and shipping finance for beginners, to perspectives on the company and the CEO, and then more meta content about working out loud and the value and practice of pecha kucha itself. At the end of the pecha kucha on pecha kucha, I suggested it as a good option for people to practice their presentation craft, and finished with a Challenge Accepted image. Someone asked, does this mean you want us to ‘pecha kucha’? Well, no … Continue reading Pecha Kucha Squared = #WOLyo!

What Does #WorkOutLoud Leadership Look Like? #WOLyo!

I like sceptics. I am not one generally. Used to be. Used to be a harrumphing bore, cynical to the gills. Got over it, myself. Now, I think much more about potential and what if…? Still, sceptics keep you grounded, prevent some of the plain excess of grandiloquent ideas. I encourage the engagement of sceptics, they make me better, raise the bar. And they come out of the woodwork when they smell the fresh scent of new ideas, innovation, change. This week, working out loud under the stairs, I have had several good, honest, hardworking conversations on matters of substance. … Continue reading What Does #WorkOutLoud Leadership Look Like? #WOLyo!

Still Working, Still Loud. #WorkOutLoud Day 3 #WOLyo!

I am experimenting working out loud quite physically. I moved my desk to be under the stairs with a sofa and a projector for company. I am hosting pecha kucha unEvents, chats about business topics, introducing some stim and some tension, seeing what happens, without expectation or longing. I keep returning to this idea of asking: How can I help? The social journey is a shared one, meandering and bumpy, but every time you ask that question, the flow returns. Every time. Am I to help 150 people in the office? No. Can I make a difference to a handful, … Continue reading Still Working, Still Loud. #WorkOutLoud Day 3 #WOLyo!

#WorkOutLoud Week: Day 2 #WOLyo! The Place That Adults Whisper About And Children Cross The Street To Avoid

So, word reaches me, working out loud (#WOLyo!) under the stairs at work, from two separate sources within minutes of each other – surely a meaning to this then – that Wes Craven has been here years before me, in the 1991 movie The People Under The Stairs. According to IMDb, “Two adults and a juvenile burglar break into a house occupied by a brother and sister and their stolen children and can’t escape.” Well, here I am, and there are escape routes left and right, but I’m hanging in there. Day one was very tiring because the spot light … Continue reading #WorkOutLoud Week: Day 2 #WOLyo! The Place That Adults Whisper About And Children Cross The Street To Avoid

Living Under The Stairs, Working Out Loud #WOLyo! Day 1 Review

I would be lying if I said I knew it would work. I had little idea on how people would participate, if at all. #WOLyo! is an attempt to engage with the network in a different, direct way. It is guerilla work, asking for no permission, creating tension in the corridors (quite literally) of power, stopping people in the their tracks (hopefully). It takes bravery to participate, because it is unexpected and there are no rules of engagement. If I show up, will I be put on the spot? Will I understand what is going on? Will I know the … Continue reading Living Under The Stairs, Working Out Loud #WOLyo! Day 1 Review

It’s Time To #WOLyo!

Here is my current applied learning process: I connect with those who are further ahead, some who are behind or abreast but who are seekers also; I watch, listen, read. I let the knowledge wash over me. I pause for thought. I create space for insight at several points through the day. I reach out, respond, enter the flow, deepen my awareness. I articulate my own connected thoughts on my blog, for my own challenge first. I work out loud. As ideas eddy and still and amplify, I bring new learning to work (day job). I share new ideas, new … Continue reading It’s Time To #WOLyo!