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Saturday, 11 December 2021

On "World-Class People", what a load of bollocks!

(11-Dec-21 clearing out old drafts cache 2012-2016, articles I didn't get round to finishing) 


Lately I've been thinking about our tendency to compare ourselves, our work, skills & knowledge using the term "world-class" as the benchmark, the bar (at least for us in Africa, this comparison is pretty much comes up frequently in boardroom conversations).

I myself have used this term on a few occasions, heck, the goal for my current job was to transform the engineering team & products we build, from being "ordinary" to "world-class", to build a "world-class" engineering team. Three years later, I now see what a whole load of bullshit that really was!! And instead of being used as a powerful motivator for change, it "world-class" carries far more negative connotations that positive...incidentally, I had stopped using the term less than a year into the role, I don't use it with my team anymore, although I have to deal with non-technical executives as well as key stakeholders across the business, who regularly challenge: Do you have world-class engineers? Are they A players or B players? We need champions league players...and so on.

For people coming from the western world into Africa, you will indeed be in for a surprise. Even myself, a returning African after working for decade in Europe, was initially flabbagastered ...

Why & How I did enter consulting?

(11-Dec-21 clearing out old drafts cache 2012-2016, articles I didn't get round to finishing) 
Another one penned but not published. 
I did experiment with my own consultancy for 4.5 years, created Africa Systems and Software Services and subcontracted with TPI Africa Computer Services.... So I did take the leap and go out on my own 🤷🏽‍♂️

I provide specialist Software and Systems Engineering Management Consulting in the following areas:
The sector I offer immediate and expert use is in the Digital TV sector, covering Set-Top-Box software & hardware, Headend systems - for TV services such as EPG (Electronic Program Guide), VOD (Video-on-Demand) and other OTT (Over-the-Top Internet) services. I have a detailed track record of successful engagements in this sector.

These skills, experiences and best practices are easily transferrable to other sectors that touch on Software/Systems Engineering, including Telco, Healthcare & Banking systems.

Telling my story...why I think I'm a Digital TV Expert...

(11-Dec-21 clearing out old drafts cache 2012-2016, articles I didn't get round to finishing) 

this one I penned I 2013 but didn't publish...
So much has changed in 7 years!!

At a recent training session with a life coach, I shared my current challenge of me/my ideas not being taken too seriously and an apparent misconception in the organisation that I'm largely theoretical & academic in nature - that there's this innate resistance from people to consider new approaches. I had spent a decade overseas, gained some solid experience and knowledge (working with the best companies in the Digital TV Software field), and have come back to my home country, South Africa - where I'm interacting with most of the same people that I'd left behind over 10 years ago, having grown and matured and reached accolades that most people (in SA) will have only dreamt about...I left as an Engineer-in-Training, returned as a Senior Manager, dealing with people who were originally (10 years ago) either my team leaders or managers...Although no one says it out aloud, I'm pretty certain that people think "This guy thinks he's a big shot, coming from overseas and trying to change our ways. There's nothing wrong with our way of working, it's worked for us all this time...This best practices spiel is all theory, he's not a person of action, he's a politician - more talk, very little action!". Alas, I am anything but academic, and this post will try to clarify this misconception!

As lame as this might sound, it is well-known fact that working with human beings is really difficult! The coach hit the nail on the head that a possible reason I was facing resistance is most likely due to a mistake by senior leadership of not communicating to the rest of the organisation what my role entailed, especially in the area of introducing changes or best practices. I was probably not introduced to the company as someone who has a lot of value to offer, my positioning and expectations were not clear from the senior leadership, hence people are not sure what to make of me. Indeed this is true since I was initially interviewed for Scrum Master role, but was instead offered a Project Manager role due to my experience; and then later on in a short time, having influenced many areas, especially after resetting the project back on track, the company realised I'm more than just a Project Manager - and so moved to a Senior Program Manager Role, positioned as a Strategic Planner. But there still wasn't a clear mandate from the upper echelons of leadership to say to listen to me...nor was there outright acceptance that most of the existing processes to date were somewhat flawed; and miles away from following best practices.

My experience covers a variety of areas: Software Development, Architecture, Technical Management, Technical Leadership, Systems Integration, Engineering Management, Software Product Management, Software Project Management, Delivery & Integration Management, Agile, Scrum, Software Engineering...

I am equally passionate in all these areas, so wearing the hat of "Strategic Planner" that creates direction for Programs and sets a high level project plan into motion, is somewhat limiting the value I bring to the organisation. I can contribute to many areas in the company, but run the risk of sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong, the corporate structures preventing cross-collaboration; and the tendency of people building empires makes it really difficult to influence change; unless direction comes from the top. Being the person I am, I can't sit still and see things being run inefficiently and somewhat mismanaged - surrendering doesn't sit well with me!

So this coach strongly recommended I must tell my story every chance I get (if I'm meeting new people, etc)...that I need to tell my story so people can understand where I'm coming from, what my insights are, and get people to acknowledge the value I can bring to the team or organisation...

...so this is my attempt at telling my story...How did I get here? What makes me think I have expert knowledge worth sharing with the professional world? Why do I feel I have a sound grasp of best practices? Why am I passionate about Software Engineering? Why do I think I'm Software Management Consultant material??

  • Embedded Engineer: Set-Top-Box Developer
  • Systems Software Engineer: Fault-tolerant Server-Side Computing
  • Entrepreneurial: Ideas to Products
  • Software Architecture: Architectural Insights
  • Software Testing Experiences
  • Software Manager: Project, Programme & Delivery Manager
  • Software Consulting: Development Processes, System Integration & General Management

Opinion: Cloud Services impact on TV

(11-Dec-21 clearing out old drafts cache 2012-2016, articles I didn't get round to finishing) 

What I expect from a STB Architect Role...

(11-Dec-21 clearing out old drafts cache 2012-2016, articles I didn't get round to finishing) 

One of my most well read and often-sited posts, and the post that steered much of the changes I got introduced into my project was my Overview of Architecture Roles in Digital TV Projects. I have yet to change my view on the demand and need of real architects on software projects, and since my focus is on software development in Digital TV Systems, I remain unconvinced that the role is either not required, or the expectation from the role remains purely a high-level technical co-ordination or problem-solving role. I also remain totally unconvinced that Agile/Scrum calls for less focus on up-front architecture activities either.

I have worked with Digital TV Software Projects throughout my professional career, some might call this expert knowledge (although I am thinking of branching out into Cloud-Services as an attempt to remain up-to-date & current) - I have seen traditional Waterfall projects, classic Agile/Scrum small-scale projects and also managed Large-Scale Distributed Projects implementing a mix of Structured & Agile. I have been on training courses on Agile/Scrum, read most of the popular books on the subject, and haven't found much evidence that speaks against following at least some rigour when it comes to Software/Systems Architecture. 

This post is about sharing some of the activities that I've come to expect from a STB Architect Role, by building on the high level requirements that I introduced in the original post on Architect Roles:

[RECAP typical STB Architecture Stack]

[HAL / CDI Layer - broad profile / review / etc]
[Basic STB Architecture building blocks:
- device memory map
- device hard disk partitioning
- device hard disk management
- component interfaces
- component communications
- interface patterns / protocols
- software classes / framework - base classes
- use cases: Product Use Case - System Use Case - Feature Use Case - Functional Component Use Case, etc
- tracking memory management
- tracking stability
- assisting in defect triage / classification
- security aspects - kernel hardening, etc
- open source knowledge
- co-ordinating technical discussions, not doing the technical debugging - but advising/co-ordinating
- managing vendor expectations
- future looking roadmap features
- works on multiple projects & activities at once
- excellent time management & documentation skills
- high level design - UML
- interface control definitions

Architecture Patterns: How to design an EPG?

(11-Dec-21 clearing out old drafts cache 2012-2016, articles I didn't get round to finishing) 

Managing Large-Scale Projects using Agile, Part 5 - Implementing a Large-Scale Architecture Model

(11-Dec-21 clearing out old drafts cache 2012-2016, articles I didn't get round to finishing) 

In this post, I'll discuss a Large-Scale Architectural Model we adopted, touching on the concepts and challenges we experienced. I have broken down this post into the following sub-topics:

  • Recap the project, STB Software Stack & Organisational Structure
  • Overview of the Organisational Structure around the Software Architecture
  • Breakdown of the Architecture Processes, key areas of maintaining architectural integrity
    • Requirements, Design & Implementation Model
    • Communication Challenges (Collaboration, Reviews, Meetings, Documentation)
    • Controlling Change (APIs / ICDs)
    • Scaling the Roadmap - Advanced Features, Multiple Customers, Short Release Cycles




STB Performance Testing

(11-Dec-21 clearing out old drafts cache 2012-2016, articles I didn't get round to finishing) 
[talk about why you need to do this...example performance tests]

Managing Large-Scale Projects using Agile, Part 8 - Conclusions


(11-Dec-21 clearing out old drafts cache 2012-2016, articles I didn't get round to finishing) 

- recap the model
- talk about management challenges - admin
- share the twitter discussions from Kane Mar
- Reference Software in 30 days
- talk about the challenges with adopting agile in large scale STB projects - very hard to achieve, has to be done piecemeal

Conclusions

Managing Large-Scale Projects using Agile, Part 7 - Continuous Delivery - Challenges

(11-Dec-21 clearing out old drafts cache 2012-2016, articles I didn't get round to finishing) 

Managing Large-Scale Projects using Agile, Part 6 - Evolution of the Model

(11-Dec-21 clearing out old drafts cache, articles I didn't get round to finishing) 

My first surgery at 43: cervical discectomy

This year, 2021 was always going to be the year of many changes for me. I took a leap of faith in disrupting myself by switching to a new world of work altogether. I relocated to a new city with my family, starting over again having no family or close connections in Cape Town. My kids all going through teenage phase, having uprooted leaving behind their last 10 years of growth for new beginnings. My wife too, left her community and lifestyle behind to support my work ambitions and personal adventures. I thought I was prepared for the disruption (despite the challenges of covid-19, I'd resigned and found new work in 2020 and relocated provinces in the same year during second wave)... but I didn't quite expect disruption to my own personal health front. 

This health challenge called me to inspect yet again my priorities and focus. I knew 2021 will call for increased work hours as part of my ramping up to new company culture, new domain, timezone differences, that my focus would be more work than family or even my own individual interests for that matter. 

So I'd started experiencing some discomfort in my right arm from July/ August. Experienced severe pain, pins and needles that made it quite impossible to focus at work, sit at desk or even function outside of work normally - without medicating for the pain. Took to painkillers at first, thinking it a temporary situation. Three weeks passes (I'm stubborn like that) before decided to consult a GP, suspected a bad pinches nerve or slipped-disc, so had me in a neck brace for 2 months and some interesting pain killers. Problem with nerve meds and pain killers is that it kinda slows everything down, best to take at night and getting the timing right also makes for an interesting experiment. 

After two months of neck brace, the severe pain was replaced by mild pins & needles and dull pains. Yeah, I'm on my way to recovery or so I thought. Then the pain came back, with a vengeance. Not having a decent night's sleep for months, waking up with a sore arm each morning, not being able to go thoughout my day without some kind of pain relief, some days pain was 8/10, others 4/10...started to add up and take its toll on my overall mental and physical well-being. 

Went for MRI. Diagnosis: you need surgery but it's up to you. If you can manage the pain and adapt to a lifestyle disruption then you can decide not to have surgery. 

I needed some time. Decided to take another course of higher dose of nerve and pain killers. I never had an operation in my life, I wasn't going to start now! It's the spine, I grew up with some strong biases "Don't ever go near the neck/spine...once you put knife it's all downhill from there"...my default programming, innate fears unjustified but made up my belief system nonetheless.

I sought other opinions, some friends had similar experiences ended up recovering with physiotherapy and chiropractic manipulations. I tried physio, it for worse. I went to a chiropractor, who had the best bedside manner I've ever experienced. He looked at my MRI, sat me down and explained the seriousness of the issue. In his professional assessment, there's very little he could do. In his personal opinion, he advised surgery. 

Watershed moment. 

Screw it let's do it! Time to be like water, go with the flow. Trust in Qadr. Shed old fears. Embrace change. Have courage. Be brave. Prioritize myself for once!! So I decided to go all-in and have the surgery: cervical discectomy

insha'Allah. God willing. I took the necessary precautions nonetheless (made sure my life's paperwork was up-to-date, what to do in emergency rehearsed with my wife, etc.) General anaesthetic, I'll be out for 4 hours. Anything could happen...thankfully nothing happened. Shukr Alhumdulillah!

But what do I do about my work commitments? Can I just drop everything in 2 days and leave, even though so much urgent projects are underway?

We've been planning an off-site strat session and team building in another country. It would be the first time we'd meet our bosses and peers face-to-face. The journey is 33+ hours travel in coach/economy that I wasn't looking forward to, very uncomfortable...so I asked to upgrade my seats based on medical reasons, economy premium - sweet! As much as I'd committed to the travel and workshops, deep down I was still concerned about being in physical pain dampening my contributions to the workshops. 

A week before the planned trip, Omicron covid-19 variant broke news. I was in two minds about the trip, didn't want to risk getting stuck in the US, missing my planned surgery. As luck would have it, flights were automatically cancelled due to countries closing their borders to South Africa. I saw this as a sign not to squander the opportunity to have my surgery done much earlier.

I prioritized my health and personal wellbeing ahead of work. 

I actually felt bad doing this last-minute, but it honestly felt like the right thing to do. Even though I did not square things off face-to-face with my manager, I did have a 1:1 with my skip-level boss who was more than empathetic and supportive. I felt my direct reports had things under control and could be trusted. 

The recovery period is between 4-6 weeks, the longer I leave it, the later in 2022 I'll start to recover...so I left work all behind in the capable hands of my direct reports, mailed my boss and went all in on focusing on my health and recovery. 

It's been a week since my surgery but am on the road to recovery, albeit a little slowly. The pain in my right arm that crippled me earlier this year is no longer there. I have a scar on my neck and an alien foreign device as a new part of my body. It will be a while until I start hiking or cycling again, and I have to let the healing process take its time. 

As I write this, I do feel a little sense of regret having missed out on team building, strategic planning and operational planning events, even missed out on a big AWS outage post Re:invent but hey...when it comes to life, one has to prioritize life first ahead of work. 

Health and well-being comes first. Work is lower priority, work will always be there...

I've learnt that physical pain must be treated before it becomes an issue impacting lifestyle and work. A grumpy colleague in pain, who's head might be floating on meds is harmful to the team and business. Just as much, if not more, a grumpy father in pain is not good to be around the family either!

Here's my MRI:

Here's the device now creating room for the nerves and hence relieved the pain:
And I've got my first surgical scar on the right side of my neck (what a sensitive area!) at the age of 43! 

I can't believe I actually went ahead and done this!!

2021 - what a year of personal disruption it's been so far!!

Thursday, 28 October 2021

Simplifying complex projects using visuals

In my previous work experience as a program director, I led very large programs consisting of hundreds of people distributed across geographies. I had multiple stakeholders to manage, mostly C-Suite folks that depended on me to simplify the details and present the essence of program to them, so that they could make effective decisions in a timely manner. Whilst I managed the detailed project plans and task breakdowns with my team of project, program & engineering managers, I adopted varying styles of communications to suit my audience level.

To this day, even though I've left program and project leadership behind for some years now, I myself served as a SteerCo member, sponsoring projects and programs to deliver KPIs. I still prefer the art of simple visuals as a means of communication. A picture, presented in a way that directs a conversation can be so much more efficient and powerful than reading lines and lines of verbose text, IMHO.

Sort of a #throwbackthursday post, I came across these old visuals I used on a project Steerco going back six years ago. This particular program was pretty tight, very little buffer contingency, executed in under six months, a major upgrade and launch of feature end-to-end, with hundreds of people contributing. The steerco group consisted of a dozen executives. The detailed project plan cut across 20 workstreams, the launch release updated 55 countries in Africa.

Paths to Launch



Launch Go/No-Go Checklist & Plan


Some program and project managers can over complicate messaging and communications. I've learnt over time that whilst detail rigour is still necessary for tracking project deliveries, there is actually an art to managing projects - there is also a style to stakeholder engagement - the methods of communication plays a major role. Whilst some might argue that pictures remove much of the thinking and thought process behind, I believe in the power of visuals...after all, a picture is worth a thousand words!



Thursday, 21 October 2021

About me - One slide intro with my new leadership team in Amazon

 A #thismightnotwork post

Earlier this year, as part of breaking the ice with the new senior management team, our leader asked each one of us to share a bit of background about ourselves on one slide. Sharing my story here. It was an interesting learning experience as it opens up the team for inclusion & diversity - getting to know more than just the work-side of your colleague. A great way to get to know one another!


FYI: Check out Amazon's Leadership Principles here - we live and breathe these every day, with every interaction. It's not just lip service or posters on a wall. 

P.S. We're always hiring - do get in touch with me if interested!

Tuesday, 17 August 2021

On Cloud Transformation, CTO reflections on scaling tech & people - Part 1 - Intro

In a series of posts this year, I plan to write on how I led a transformation of a technology platform and engineering team - and delivered results in scaling to 10X+ growth on KPIs such as user-and-device growth, user engagement, enhanced personalisation & content discovery, reduced platform instability by increasing availability from 97 to 99%; created a 20X+ reduction in core operating costs (saving R100m+) and simultaneously built a scalable leadership team to take over. All in 3.5 years.  

This draws on my professional work experience from March 2017 - October 2020, when I spent my time as CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of an OVP (Online Video Platform) for Africa's largest VE (Video Entertainment) provider. In this short period my team delivered end-to-end transformation (not just software development) that set up the IT/Engineering to scale for future growth. I also left a scalable leadership pipeline in place which allowed me to comfortably transition to my next role outside of video systems by leaving a technology roadmap delivery plan & sustainable processes in place for at least another 2 years. Since my departure, I remain in contact with the team who continue not only to thank me for the roadmap but also for the opportunities I helped create to grow their own careers as leaders, who are themselves on track to become CTOs & CIOs as well.

Context

The business grew increasingly concerned about their online video platform's ability to scale to increased forecasted demand anticipated as more customers switched from traditional broadcast satellite-TV viewing to on-demand, on-the-go-viewing through streaming video over the internet. With incumbents like Netflix & Amazon Prime Video and others entering the African territory, we also needed a reliable internet-ready TV product that customers have come to take for granted. Until then, the video platform which was built largely in-house by a local engineering team, had an active user base that consisted mainly of early adopters, an internal start-up project, fledgling at best. 

This platform and product was still in its infancy, not-yet-ready for exponential internet growth, which could happen at any time. As such, this team operated on a shoestring budget of a constrained start-up for a number of years. The engineering team was also spread quite thin, working on multiple, incoherent projects, product and services not specifically focused on internet video. Rather, we were the "online people" that did everything from hosting websites, various content management systems, wrote media apps and ran operations for digital marketing sites across African continent. In short, I owned a digital IT shop that was a multi-armed, multi-headed hydra that needed taming.  Such constraints whilst bred out of necessity, unfortunately ignored the bigger picture, long-term strategic investments needed in the platform to scale for future growth were largely ignored because of budget constraints. The platform barely supported its early adopters in so far as providing consistent availability was never guaranteed or reliable. Customer satisfaction scores were very low, below 4 (<40%). Net Promoter Scores (NPS) almost non-existent. Outages due to platform stability was the norm, with on-call load on support engineers increasing as number of users began to increase. 

The business, unawares of the true state of the platform, had nonetheless planned increased marketing and awareness campaigns for its internet streaming product. Large events like the FIFA Soccer World Cup (2018), Olympics (2018) Cricket World Cup (2019), Rugby World Cup (2019) sparked much concern about the platform's ability to scale for increased load. Other events like UEFA, Premiere League, Game of Thrones and other popular video content expected to bring increased traffic to the platform. Apart from primary content drivers, the fear of not making a noise on the streaming side was high - we needed to take this fledgling product & platform and make it mainstream. Marketing increased. Along came a decent technology budget assigned to me to help turnaround & deliver a recovery. I could not pass up this opportunity to test my skills in technology, engineering, strategy, delivery and leadership...what a journey it was!

The ask: build and scale an video streaming (live broadcast and video-on-demand like Amazon Prime Video or Hulu) platform to work across 50+ countries on the African continent, with localisation. Build, stabilize, replace, buy, partner - do what is necessary, but we don't have time-to-wait a year for new R&D or migration, as we're going to make a noise in marketing, so the platform better be available. At the same time, build complementary services for "internet connected set top boxes" in addition to pure online play.

Sunday, 13 June 2021

Book Review: Leadership BS

Confront brutal truths and reality of #leadership or ignore at your peril!

This book took me on a rollercoaster ride though highs and lows, twists and turns, free falling into the deep abyss to be yanked out suddenly again - what a ride! Throughout this book I experienced feelings of deep resonance as well as extreme dissonance as well! 

I've not felt this uncomfortable reading a book in a very long time!  At one point I put this book aside for weeks, resolving to give it a one star rating! I couldn't believe what I was reading. I refused to accept the evidence. The narratives conflicted with my own experience and deeply held beliefs of what leadership is.  Nevertheless I continued on, pushing through at a pace that didn't wreck my mood, working hard to disconfirm my beliefs which were in part, to be honest, largely influenced by the feel-good leadership industry I've become an avid fan of.  Moreover, I am myself a practicing leader, having held leadership positions for 10+ years, with a third spent as C-level and another 50% spent working very closely with C-suite customers. 

So I took issue with the Pfeffer's messages - at times became quite irritated with the evidence presented. My personal value system (vetted by my own workplace experiences and biases) didn't align which made me think the book reflected more a corporate America bias and definitely not a reflection on the global industry! Bias! I couldn't ignore the hard truths though, I've seen all types of nasty leadership behaviours as displayed in the book, we can't downplay the real-world corporate game exists, and therefore, must be played like any other game. It's the system for better or worse.

Nevertheless, this book is a must read if all you've encountered so far is the feel-good, warm-and-fuzzy side of leadership industry, this book provides a necessary healthy dose of reality, earning a 5-star rating in the end 🤷🏽‍

I'm also quite glad I stuck it out and read through all the way. This book re-affirms my own belief to be different, to be the kind of leader I wish I had. I refuse to accept the game as it is. I have walked away from engagements I didn't feel right about, I walked away from leaders that came across as egotistic, pompous jerks. Personally, I'm on my own path to leadership...however it's important to face the brutal facts, but still remain hopeful for change.

I'm reminded of the Stockdale Paradox: Retain absolute faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time confront the most brutal facts of the current reality, whatever they might be.

Curious to learn what other readers have to say about this book? 
Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Saturday, 20 March 2021

Book Review: To God through money, by Mohamed Geraldez

I completed reading this book today, within a week of purchasing it. It's been a long time since I've read a book this fast, given my time constraints, so that alone should say something! 

Sharing my review on Goodreads and keeping the reflection notes from each chapter in this post for reference.

I was also smiling as I read Mohamed's views on value systems, knowing one's self, self-reflections and goals of living debt-free. These anecdotes tie in quite nicely with my RAGE framework I've been developing for the last 6 years now.


Goodreads Review

The title "To God through money" is what immediately caught my attention as I browsed niche book collection at my local coffee shop. That, and the author's name "Mohamed Geraldez". Who is this guy? How come I've never heard of him before? Is this yet another one of those self-made autobiography books I doubt?? Intrigued, I bought the book with mild curiosity. 

It turns out the purchase was a good call! 

I'm so glad to have learnt about Mohamed Geraldez. It's a book of hope, admiration, motivation and respect. It is also humbling. Why? Mohamed is an American, who found Islam (almost by accident?) and became a seeker of Truth that took him to far places on Earth, the deserts in North Africa, no less! For me, as someone born into Islam "it's what my forefathers always did", I am always humbled by stories from new Muslims. 

Whilst Mohamed writes his memoirs as an aid for his progeny and generations to come, being the first Muslim - this book should be read by anyone, religious and non-religious alike. Get a glimpse of Islam and how it attracted someone from the outside. Muslims can get a taste for balancing business and life. 

Learn about business and entrepreneurship. Reflection points are shared to trigger "discover yourself" moments. 

Mohamed Geraldez - thank you for courageously putting yourself out there by sharing your story! Well written and suitable for anyone looking to improve their life, seeking answers or anyone looking for inspiration from diverse perspectives. Highly recommended.

Useful Self Reflection Points for Life/Story Mapping

  • According to your parents, what was a particular characteristic you had as a child?
  • What did you accomplish as a kid that made you proud of yourself?
  • Did your parents' love story have an effect on your upbringing?
  • What trait from your childhood has stayed with you until now?
  • Do you think your early years had a massive effect on your current relationship with money?
  • What events from your youth indicated the type of person you would become?
  • Who were the major figures in your child rearing?
  • Did you grow up in an environment where you felt like you belonged, or did you feel like an outsider?
  • Has any death in your life affected you so much that you made a permanent change?
  • What are some of the biggest adjustments your parents had to make because of your birth? If they did not have to, why not?
  • Were you a bully or were you bullied as a child? If either, does this still bother you?
  • Is there something you regretfully did during your youth that you are embarrassed to think about now?
  • Were you exposed to an assortment of cultures growing up?
  • Did you yearn to belong to a group or were you content with those around you?
  • Did you grow up in a religious home?
  • How would you describe yourself in regard to religion? Atheist? Spiritual? Literal? Other?
  • What period in your life did you start questioning long-standing beliefs? How do you resolve them?
  • Are you still close to your best friend from childhood / high school?
  • Is there one person in your life who totally altered your life's trajectory?
  • How would you describe your relationship with your parents?
  • What is one thing you have done in your entire life that you wish you could take back? How have you dealt with it?
  • Are there people other than family members who helped raise you? If possible, give them a call to say, 'Thank You.'
  • Have you ever failed in starting a company? What were the lessons you learned?
  • Have you ever met a person or people that truly amazed you? What was it about them?
  • Have you ever conquered a great fear? What did you learn about yourself in the process?
  • Have you ever been culture-shocked? Where did this occur and why?
  • What has been the most transformative phase in your life?
  • Have you ever had a 'happiest day in my life'? If so, what caused it?
  • Have you ever had someone like 'Brother, Sisyer, Father, etc. I never had'? What made that person special to you?
  • What is one thing or event that if you did it, your life would be complete? What is preventing you?
  • Do you work well under stressful conditions? What helps you?
  • What are the different periods in your life that you learned a lot about yourself and the world?
  • Is there a dream or something of significance that you passed on in life because of barriers or difficulties?
  • Have you ever worked so hard at a job that you became sick? What kept you going?
  • What was one of the lowest points in your life? How were you able to bounce back?
  • What was the most fulfilling job you have ever had? What did you learn from the experience?
  • Have you ever been laid off or fired from your job? How did you deal with it?
  • What is the most expensive mistake you have made in your life?
  • Have you ever taken a risk, and it paid off? When did it not work out?
  • Has there ever been an instance where you went against your gut and regretted it? What about a time that you went with it and worked out?
  • Have you ever had mentors in your life? What did they assist you with?
  • Why is your best friend, your best friend?
  • Do you have any personal finance rules you live by? What are they?
  • From the list of The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, which one(s) resonates with you the most? Why?
  • What are your "happy moments" in life?
  • Have you ever given any though about your legacy? If so, what you you want it to say about you?
  • What is your Happy Money monthly amount?
  • Has there ever been a time when you refused someone's advice, but later acted upon it? What changed your mind?
  • What helps you in making important decisions?
  • What habits or practices do you have for continuous self-improvement?
  • What events or decisions were not in your favour, but with time, you were actually glad they were not? Why?
  • When you think about the fisherman and the banker story, what things come to your mind about your own life?
  • What blameworthy personality traits do you have that you would like to rid yourself of?
  • Is there a particular friendship you no longer have, but wish it would return? What is holding you back?
  • What is your love language? If you are still blessed with one or both of them, what are your parents' love languages?
  • Who has had the greatest impact on your life?
  • Have you ever felt that pursuing success in this world meant jeopardising your success in the next world? If so, why?
  • Was it ever in your spiritual practice to think about your death? If not, do you think you will now incorporate it?
  • What spiritual program do you have in place to reconnect with your Lord and regain perspective in life?
  • What charity is dear to your heart? When was the last time you donated to it?
  • Are you debt-free? If not, is it your top financial goal?

Tuesday, 16 February 2021

Some simple but powerful, useful reminders

A LinkedIn connection shared this post that resonated with me on so many levels, I just had to capture these for posterity on my blog. A picture is worth a thousand words, I could write so much about each one!









Monday, 18 January 2021

2020 review, major decisions & re-invention

Around this time last year in January 2020, I shared (in this post) how I tracked against my personal & professional aspirations of the previous year 2019, accounted for my time spent and narrowed down the major questions (and hence decisions) that remained open. 

This was all before Covid-19 happened, but despite that disruption, I remained committed to holding myself accountable for realising my aspirations. I track these aspirations through a framework I created roughly five years ago, aimed at lifestyle design, something that is always a work-in-progress and is never complete. This framework is called my RAGE (Reality, Aspirations, Goals, Expectations) model. It has seen multiple iterations and has remained my guiding compass, even as I enter 2021 - the year of massive change for both myself as well as my family.

Looking back to 2020, it started with these open questions:
  1. How do I get my work hours of the previous three years under control? What am I willing to walk away from?
  2. Where next do I take my career? Do I remain with Pay TV moving further up to Group CIO/CTO or should I do something else altogether at the risk of going down a couple steps in the ladder?
  3. How serious am I about working with, or starting my own NGO/NPO non-profit?
  4. What am I going to do with my growing list of product / business start-up ideas?
  5. Should I leave South Africa and return back to the UK; or should I relocate to another country whilst still working in Pay TV?
We all know how 2020 turned out - but - despite that black swan - I nevertheless wanted to be antifragile and took bold action to not play it safe! Instead I dove head first into uncertainty, however, I did lay out a detailed plan. Those questions I needed to answer were Type 1 decisions (according Jeff Bezos' types of decisions), which called for careful deliberation & planning. So, using my RAGE model as my guide again, along with inspiration from a few folks (authors, friends, mentors, coaches & critics), I was able to address those questions by taking the following BIG decisions:
  1. I quit my job, my own sabbatical with no return policy - thus creating space for me to rest, recuperate & reflect. This wasn't an easy decision to make, as I was walking away from some rather good monetary incentives due to cash out in early 2021, and as a result of Covid-19, the prudent thing to do would've been to stick it out until the world recovered. Yet, I left anyway, putting into perspective What am I willing to walk away from?
    • This was only possible because 5 years ago, when I started my RAGE model, one of the aspirations for my persona as an individual was "To be debt-free on the road to financial independence". Since I was debt free, and maybe 30% on the road to financial independence, I had enough saved up to afford a break for at least a year.
    • Life is short, we've lost loved ones unexpectedly in 2020. I have tweaked my life model somewhat to weigh more strongly toward living a life of meaning, purpose & enjoying the present more.
  2. I decided to leave TV behind - switch domains - do something else preferably in cloud services. I will use my sabbatical time to ramp-up and then land a new job. This too wasn't quite that easy:
    • I'd reached a peak in my career with a highly respected company in the industry, although I knew I had gaps to close to move to the next level. It took a long time to mentally let go, but I found my flame again that helped me remember my past as inspiration to change my future.
    • I even considered going to medical school - but that didn't make much sense financially in terms of my family responsibilities and commitments.
    • Being the practical guy, I ended up cutting my sabbatical short because I landed a job much sooner than I anticipated - and as a result - ended up making not only a new job decision, but also a relocation to a new city decision too!
  3. Not serious about starting my own NGO - I spent a good few days unpacking this topic. I even went through a "finding purpose" retrospective and mind-mapped the options. Lo and behold, there appeared a golden thread throughout my life on working with blind and partially-sighted people. So I planned to use my sabbatical to explore that option...but that was short-lived. So decision: NO, not financially feasible for me. Instead I'll join accessibility-related community meetups at work, continue to donate money to causes and look to committing some of my time as a volunteer (which has been difficult, since it doesn't appear anywhere in my Persona priorities).
  4. Not serious about being an entrepreneur because I don't have the time nor the resources to focus on it properly. I will rather focus my energy into innovating at work. I will still build and maintain my ideas repository because I'm an ideas guy - but if the timekeeping from the last five years has shown me anything - it's not that important to me - a wantrepreneur! I will still look at angel investing opportunities though. Thus "Being an Entrepreneur / Run my own product start-up" has been deprecated as a persona. It's actually such a relief to just let that go and leave it all behind! Shedding unrealistic aspirations reduces stress and anxiety, reinforcing a sense of perspective. A cup can only hold that much water before overflowing, the same with life!
  5. Decided to remain in South Africa but instead try a new city, Cape Town. I was lucky to meet a career aspiration and a lifestyle aspiration (to live in a coastal city & enjoy nature) at the same time, but I'm still a little far off from having my own beachfront holiday homes so a 20 minute drive to the seaside is a good start though!!
Now, as I begin my 2021 journey, having addressed those serious questions, some of which were the cause of much stress and anxiety at the workplace, home & personal well-being fronts - 2021 will simply be about appreciating new experiences cross-cutting both work and life, aiming for harmony, acceptance, learning and growth (spiritual, personal & professional).  My personas remain largely the same priorities, their aspirations and specific goals will be adjusted for the next set milestones. I have hit reset so the process of reinvention will take time, I'm not going to rush things by being overly aggressive in setting unrealistic goals!

I have indeed made Type 1 (one-way-door) decisions, making it very difficult to go back now. I have rekindled my flame and now it's up to me (as it has always been) to make my life more interesting and meaningful!

2021 is about re-invention
I believe it can be done!!

As usual, I share my RAGE metrics with you - see below for my 2020 time-keeping performance...
Hint: Click on the images to view them properly.

If you'd like to chat about my RAGE model, tools and other frameworks I use to help manage my personal & professional life, please feel free to reach out! I believe as human beings we are all striving to make sense of our life/work/world, regardless of our culture, belief systems, etc. I believe I have found a method that could be useful...and I'm happy to jump on a video call with you for free life/work coaching! It has helped a few people already, so maybe that says something??