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?

On: The Office Life

another one of my #thismightnotwork posts (inspired by Seth Godin)

Deep down...

We know that nobody owes us anything.

We know that we are just cogs in a machine, replaceable.

We know that company loyalty does not really exist, no really, it IS about the bottom-line!

We know that we are only as good as our last project, even though ten projects earlier, we shot the lights out.

We know that no matter what we like to believe, most relationships in the office are simply transactional, although we would like it to be deeper.

We know that it does not matter how much we try, we can't (neither should we care to), change people's perceptions or deeply entrenched biases.

We know that mediocrity can be contagious if we stick around for too long, and unable to really influence change in performance and behaviour.

We know that tribes, cliques and clubs exist, it's natural (especially in Africa when it comes to racial divides), but we either feign ignorance or hope it gets better.

When a company value is "give benefit of the doubt" and we don't see it in action, what taste this leave us with?

We know that we are so much bigger than just our jobs...or do we really now (hint: count the number of times per day you find yourself immersed in thoughts about the office, even during your personal time)?

It's all about the bottom line....

It's business they say, you must develop a thick skin.

New age leadership is all bullshit they say...it's capitalism and darwinism all the way man...power, politics and Machiavelli are role models of the day.

Empathy is so overrated, they say.

Empowerment? Let the team decide? What's all that fuss about? 

Humility, Modesty, Authentic, Integrity, Fairness...that's not leadership they say...but great for selling lots of books & makes for a booming consulting/coaching industry...but, kid, they won't get you through the real world...skin in the game is what you need, and be damn sure to fight to the death to protect it...

Attitude...attitude is good as long its conforms to groupthink aligned to culture (not the culture deck written down, but the real culture, yep they're different!).

...Yet knowing all of this, there are some people who still stick it out...

Wow, there walks about a man with grit & resilience they say...

...an immediate assumption is: this guy must keep a cool head, he needs the money/income, responsibilities he has to his family, etc. comes first...just see it through, it will all be okay...

Dig a little deeper, and we often realise it's usually much more than just that....it's quite personal actually, positively personal...sometimes deeply inspiring, confusing & at times bewildering...

Such people have a cause, they're fully in tune with their why, their self-worth and are completely aware of  not only themselves but of those around them. They know they stick out, are nonconformist, often mistaken as a threat to the status quo & risk being played out of the system...yet they still remain behind, firmly footed, digging their heels in - why, mostly because they take commitment seriously & sincerely. Such are those people, who believe in their craft, make their art, do things differently because they truly care deeply, and will not leave until they say "my work here is done, I've come as far as I'm willing"...they don't leave through external forces or pressure, instead they leave on their own terms, when they're ready to leave it all behind and never look back. And often to their surprise, they've built up a tribe, left a following behind...even though they didn't intentionally start out that way.

If you'd like to find out more about these people, check out Seth Godin & Simon Sinek's work...

Highly recommend getting your hands on:

What to do when it's your turn

The Infinite Game

The Courage to be Disliked

Am I hunting antelope or field mice?

I came across this question from Tim Ferriss' Tools of Titans during my summer reading, it's quite apt  for my first post of 2019, as I have a feeling it will probably be the question I will pivot around again and again during 2019. It features as question #13 of Tim's 17 questions that changed his life. I've lifted the description here on this blog so I can keep coming back to it.

Am I hunting antelope or field mice?

Quoted from Tools of Titans, 17 Questions that changed my life:

Newt Gingrich is one of the most successful political leaders of our time...Now that he's in the private sector, Newt uses a brilliant illustration to explain the need to focus on the big things and let the little stuff slide: the analogy of the field mice and the antelope.

A lion is fully capable of capturing, killing, and eating a field mouse. But it turns out that the energy required to do so exceeds the caloric content of the mouse itself. So a lion that spent its day hunting and eating field mice would slowly starve to death. A lion can't live on field mice. A lion needs antelope. Antelope are big animals. They take more speed and strength to capture and kill, and once killed, they provide a feast for the lion and her pride. A lion can live a long and happy life on a diet of antelope. 

The distinction is important. Are you spending all your time and exhausting all your energy catching field mice? In the short term it might give out a nice, rewarding feeling. But in the long run you're going to die. So ask yourself at the end of the day, "Did I spend today chasing mice or hunting antelope?"

Initial Thoughts?

Courtesy

Five years ago, I used this illustration to pitch my situation at work to my then bosses - I felt like a lion trapped and being tamed by a corporate structure that was stifling the value I could bring to the organisation especially in terms of working across group-silos. This pitch resulted in me being freed up from the HR constraints and kick-started my journey into consulting which lasted about 4.5 years...

Then having spent enough time consulting, it felt more and more that I ended up hunting field mice again (consultants were excluded from big meaty execution decisions and did not have a seat at the table), so I went back into permanent with the same company...I am getting my share of antelopes now with a seat at the table, but more often I find myself  being dragged into field mice problems. My solution to this problem is through effective delegation and empowering my people, the challenge is that my peers and bosses have trouble appreciating this tactic...what I view as field mice problems is not always seen in the same light by the people that further up in the food chain - so maybe I'm not a lion after-all ;-) or maybe I need to find another pride of lions with the same mindset as I...??

It might well be that my current job is not the antelope I'm searching for...that my real antelope is still out there evading me, and could it be  that my fear is the only thing that is holding me back??

So that's thoughts on professional life...in terms of family life, this story could also be applied as well. Being a husband and a father to three children, whilst very rewarding on levels that can't really be measured or quantified well, is probably the most challenging experience one can have...in my case it's about letting go of being a control-freak, not sweating the small stuff (field mice) and focus on the bigger important stuff...whilst I'm an expert project manager in the professional world, the project of a family and raising children is THE most intense project to manage in life...

2019 must be the year I either bag an antelope or at least make strides in identifying bigger game...My RAGE model and my focus on the 80/20 principle in all aspects of my work and life are tools that are helping me on this journey - and if I were to assess my progress since starting with my RAGE model tracking, then things don't look bad at all.

My gut tells me that 2019 is going to be an interesting year for me professionally...

[Update: August 2023 - I did indeed bringing down my antelope in 2019, reaching heights in my professional career to C-level, as well as step-changing my family-life away from field-mice problems...but the interesting thing now in mid 2023, feel I need bigger antelopes again, since I'm in Africa, I need to hunt a buffalo]

Review: Agile! The Good, the Hype and the Ugly

In October, I spent some time in the company of Bertrand Meyer, author of "Agile!: The Good, the Hype and the Ugly". This book was written to be an independent, impartial and objective study of the various agile methods (scrum, xp, lean, crystal) viewed against the knowledge-base of software engineering methods and principles. The author, being no stranger to software engineering, is well-known in the computer world, across both academia and industry. He took it upon himself to do the research, investigate the agile landscape breadth-and-depth, probing assertions, practices, principles and values using a scientific (and empirical) approach with searching questions, thus providing an overall assessment. This wasn't purely an academic exercise, Meyer walked the path of agile himself, is even a certified as a Scrum Master, his team are using selected methods of agile in their own product development, so it's not like Meyer is throwing the baby out with the bath water! On the contrary, Meyer tries to remain objective, unbiased and fair in his reporting and analysis.

This book may just as well be the first book to read if you're a software manager, entering the agile-space, who's potentially feeling uncomfortable with perhaps some misplaced(?) "baggage" of software engineering, old-school-style projects, as touted by some agilists. Meyer has done almost all the background work for you, covering and assessing the popular agile methods in play today.

I was quite intrigued by the book's title, who wouldn't be!!?? You must admit it is quite EDGY, axe-to-grind, in-your-face-daring-the-agile-pundits - agilistas. I just HAD to get my hands on a copy, I actually waited a long time to buy this book (due to the bad Rand/Dollar exchange rate). I have voraciously read most of the popular books on agile (Schwaber, Cohn, Poppendieck, Rubin, Appelo, Pichler, Derby et. al, you name it), that extol this new thing "agile", often claiming a silent revolution is coming to overtake the industry, that "Software Engineering" should belong to the annals of history, and instead welcome "Software Craftsmanship" as in.  And when I read these signature-series books, I do get caught up in the rush-of-it-all, excited, converted and have actually been a promoter for #agile for ten+ years...I was caught hook, line and sinker!

Then when I came across "Agile! The Good, the Hype and the Ugly" written by a person very well respected in the industry, I had to ask myself, if I may have actually fallen for some hype, maybe I didn't ask probing questions, without having empirical data to substantiate claims. I wanted to find out if I was potentially backing the wrong horse, wanted to check some of my own values, personal-biases or not, of software engineering experiences held weight or not, but most important, the title being so catchy, I was rather curious to find out what the "Hype & Ugly" bits of agile this book claimed were...

Since my background in software is in embedded systems (Set-Top-Box systems) and highly-available-systems (Real-Time-Streaming/Encryption-Services) I grew up with the scientific engineering mindset (BSc. Electronics Engineering & Masters Computer Science), so I often found myself being selective with vanilla Scrum and had in the past, cautioned people against following a particular agile method with extreme dogma, i.e. I maintained a certain amount of discipline and structure was always needed. This is primarily because of the particular domain-experience I was coming from, which wasn't high-level application non-critical development (Mobile apps, WebApps, Websites), or application development that relied on a stable SDK/engines (i.e. the expectation of a stable operating system, database, etc upon which to build applications on top of).

This book, in my view, should be essential reading for any software manager, looking to understand agile methods before diving head-first into a vanilla, textbook-implementations.

For people convinced about agile to-the-letter, this book will be a little edgy for you - one needs a cool head, and openness to accept some of the challenges that Meyer puts forward, especially when it comes to backing up assertions of values/practices/principles or citations of productivity-gains, without sound scientific and empirical data to back up those claims.  Meyer highlights such challenges from some of the books that I myself have held in high esteem for many years, so take it on the chin...

Meyer's style of writing is somewhat academic, factual, but also practical with some nerdy-humour thrown in-between. Meyer has written with sincerity, remained as open-and-unbiased-as-humanly-possible, and made a conscious effort not to promote his own personal projects, products and frameworks. Meyer cuts to the core of uncomfortable-but-some-relevant truths, especially challenging assertions and statements that lack scientific validation, or backed up by empirical studies. He writes with a depth of experience and passion for practical software methods that it forces you to think hard about the course you're on, the things you just accepted and may have taken for granted (e.g. forgoing necessary engineering practices such as a little bit of design up-front to support changing requirements).

You have to be patient with Meyer as he unpacks in some surgical, analytical detail the various topics, in fact, the selling point of the book's title, is actually left right till the last chapter, so you have to read from start-to-finish, because the essence of the Hype, Ugly, Good & Brilliant is saved for the end (building upon his arguments and case-points from the earlier chapters).

I was taken on a roller coaster ride, experiencing moments of pure resonance thinking I am on the same wavelength as this guy riding high, in-phase. Yet also, there were instances when I felt a little edgy, somewhat uncomfortable, noticeably shifting my position as I lay in bed reading at night. Stopping, putting the book aside, to sleep over it. [I am two+ years into consulting as a Systems & Software Engineering Management consultant, doing the odd agile coaching gig here and there, advising on agile systems processes - and here is Meyer taking issue with consultants!]

In keeping with my deep-review style for special books - topics struck certain nerves, either resonating (fully in agreement with Meyer) or feeling of discomfort (not sure, not convinced), so I graphed the below curve, which is how I resonated with Meyer's assertions in the last chapter, specifically the edgy bits: Meyer's UGLY & HYPED assertions:

The blue area shows the feel-good, things that resonated with me, the extent of which I agreed and was comfortable with the ideas. The amber spots show the areas that made me feel uncomfortable, my level of discomfort, that either I'm not convinced, or have some personal biases that's potentially blinding me from seeing the points. On the whole though, resonance wins over discomfort.

[Aside: Here is Meyer's blog post introducing why he wrote this book, you'll find detail about the book's table of contents too]

Here's the detail of these comments, for each topic - In what follows, read as:
Title, Level of Resonance, Level of Discomfort, Comments

The Bad and the Ugly parts of Agile

Review: The People's Scrum by Tobias Mayer

This month I spent some time in the company of Tobias Mayer, author of "The People's Scrum" which is a collection of writings from his blog posts, grouped into themes, that speak about ideas, topics and challenges around organisation's transformation along the scrum journey, driving home a striking message that time's are changing, a silent revolution is brewing. 

I chanced upon this book by accident, browsing some tweets on #agile, saw a picture of the book cover, and it struck me as odd and interesting. Have never heard of Tobias Mayer before, I was intrigued - decided to follow him on Twitter, and buy the book on impulse. Mind you, it was really good that I did!

Tobias' style of writing is literally quite deep: written with words of sincerity, openness and passion, he cuts to the core of uncomfortable-but-so-relevant truths. He writes with a depth of experience that is so poignant that it forces you to think hard about the course you're on, the things you just accept and take for granted.

I was taken on quite a roller coaster ride, experiencing moments of pure resonation thinking I am on the same wavelength as this guy (I'm not that weird after all, just been the odd one out in most of my workplaces), riding high, in-phase, I'm on the right track!!

Yet also, there were instances when I felt a little edgy, somewhat uncomfortable, noticeably shifting my position as I lay in bed reading at night. Stopping, putting the book aside, sleep over it. I have just started my stint into consulting, not a specific agile coach per se, it is one tool in my toolbox of consulting ;-) so it was enlightening & awakening at the same time to see what could be in store for me  personally (i.e. self-realisation of what true happiness means, does the road to consultancy end in permanent employment I wonder?) as well as professionally (much of the experiences shared by Mayer rings a bell as I've experienced similar).

Being deeply touched by the nature of this book and Mayer's genuine disclosure of personal experiences, I decided to take a chance and do somewhat of a different book review. Because the topics struck certain nerves, either resonating (fully in agreement with Mayer) or feeling of discomfort (not sure, not convinced), I thought, let me present a review based on a picture that describes these feelings - so I graphed something that looks like this:

The blue area shows the feel-good, things that resonated with me, the extent of which I agreed and was comfortable with the ideas. The red spots show the areas that made me feel uncomfortable, my level of discomfort, that either I'm not convinced, or have some personal biases that's potentially blinding me from seeing the points. On the whole though, resonation wins over discomfort.

I assessed my feelings in almost real time as I read each article - I didn't spend much time processing and deep thinking, debating or self-reflecting in too much detail. I responded with gut feel, instincts, and of course, the life/work experiences I've had along the way - take it as a rough first-cut!

Here's the detail of these comments, for each article (I've not had the time to break these into separate links yet): In what follows, read as:
Section, Title, Level of Resonance, Level of Discomfort, Comments

Review: The Deadline

I came across a review I wrote for Amazon sometime back 2010:

The Deadline : A Novel About Project Management is a novel attempt at describing life as a practising project manager in the software development industry. Choosing fiction as a means for distilling this experience was the right call, since many books on software project management talk about mostly the process, but less so on the fundamental human experiences.

This book attempts just that, a perspective on the people elements, and it doesn't do too bad a job either: It tells the story of a Mr. Tompkins who takes on the job of managing an army of software engineers, to create and deliver 6 software products from scratch, limitless resources. So he sets off creating an experiment: create 3 project teams for each product, each with the same goal of delivering the product by an artificial deadline (that was later made real by a tyrant manager bringing the deadline many months forward) and set about observing the progress of each team, thereby understanding the implications of their actions - in an effort to understand the secrets behind real world processes...

Whilst this book does get my recommendation, it must be noted that this was written and published over 10 years ago - which makes much of the experiments seem a bit out-dated and irrelevant. The shrink wrapped software industry age has passed on, which is why I feel the book has missed out on exploring modern practises seen with open source development, off-shoring, outsourcing; large scale distributed development, test driven development, agile, etc - with real world demanding customers, where companies are driven by competition, so hard that there is really no time for proper planning, estimating, playing around with models and predictions is a luxury rather than necessity - the deadline is really about winning new business and keeping your customers happy; and your competitors at bay; delivering software that is of acceptable quality to your customer, stressing less on established processes like CMM level 3/4/5 (depends on the industry of course), etc.

This book is considered  a work of fiction but it does contain real world references for follow-up reading. One such interesting reference is the topic of modelling your hunch-base, using for example, iThink a systems thinking tool that allows you to model business processes, using parameters for tuning and testing output of various scenarios. This, along with archaeological project data mining for metrics, will provide invaluable resource to a team when considering new projects.

If you're an experienced software manager however, then most of the encounters will not be new to you. It feels like there should be a sequel to this book, updated to support and test out current theories, offering more detailed explanations of each experiment, which is lacking here. One gets the overall idea that the project management laboratory is an interesting topic, but there is so much more to play with rather than just over staffing and design philosophy...

All in all, I am nevertheless pleased I read it and would definitely recommend to anyone involved in software projects.

2013 Update: Although times have changed since DeMarco & Lister's experiences, much of the essence with the challenges of Software Projects nevertheless remain relevant today. For those of you not familiar with DeMarco, I strongly recommend you follow-up on their works - I've read & own all of these - highly recommended, I learnt quite a bit from these, further amplifying my passion & respect for the Software Engineering Profession:

Summer Reading List over December

Since returning home* to South Africa in June 2011, life has been really pretty damn hectic, they say relocating your family & household contents is one of the most stressful things you can do in life - added to that, working with a new company presented itself with a massive culture shock. So I had my hands full with handling not only work but also family transitioning to the new life. Not to mention I quit my permanent job and ventured into consulting territory. This transformation has set me back someways: in particular, my reading list fell on the back burner, and it's only now that I'm starting to rev it up again. Another reason for not maintaining my reading as I used to in UK, is that South Africa is way behind in the online shopping space, the deals I used to get on Amazon were so great in terms of price (not to mention service!), that when I pick up books from the shelves in stores here in SA, or even online (Kalahari), I often cringe at the price tags (definitely cheaper in UK, wait). I still haven't made the leap to the Kindle yet which is the sensible thing to do (although the Pound/Rate exchange rate is crazy!), I was an early adopter a few years back, but I really wasn't impressed at the time - so still prefer my hardbound copies! I do have my eye on the Kindle Fire HDX though...

Here's a snippet of the handful of books piled on my bedside table for reading over the South African summer break:

Agile Project Management with Scrum by Ken Schwaber

Agile Project Management with Scrum (Microsoft Professional) is a well written, easy flowing book that is clearly borne from someone whose had first-hand, real-world experiences of running and managing a variety of Software Projects over a number of years, Ken Schwaber, who is considered the father of Scrum who humbly takes no responsibility for being assigned that title, and so points to much earlier endeavours of many people, pointing to Babatunde's Process Dynamics, Modeling & Control for his first oral presentation of the theory behind Scrum; and sites Degrace's Wicked Problems, Righteous Solutions as the first people to call Scrum Scrum.

Regardless of who is attributed to formalising the Scrum processes, it is a software development methodology that is here to stay, and anyone working in software projects not familiar with Scrum should indeed rethink their strategy. Still, with so many books out there claiming to distil the secrets of Agile/Scrum, finding the right book is indeed challenging -- as with so many books, people focus on the theory without expounding on the practice, the real-world experiences and encounters that as a manager, and especially as someone transitioning from classic project management principles (not necessarily connected to the Watefall process of software development).

This book is definitely different, one that I recommend and fully endorse 100% - so if you're reading this and don't have a copy, get one now!

Why do I like this book so much?

Well, as a developer I'd worked on many projects of different styles, more recently explored with Agile/XP concepts. I've been on training courses, presentations & and participated in practical workshops such as the agile lego game. I've contributed as a developer, lead certain development efforts with a few engineers, then later went on to managing development projects using Waterfall as well as Agile; and more recently came off a massive project with 300+ people, where at the macro-level applied Agile/Scrum principles across the programme, but I didn't have much involvement in the day-to-day planning with individual component teams, where we'd assigned team leaders to act as Scrum Masters. We maintained one huge Product Backlog, not so different to that as Ken describes in Chapter 9 Scaling Projects Using Scrum.  We were developing a product that would deliver to multiple customers, each customer adding unique features contributing to the final feature set, the product itself would service tens of millions of homes -- so we had a strong Product Management group maintaining the heartbeat of the multiple projects using Sprint Time-boxing. We had macro daily planning and status updates, call it Scrum of Scrums.  So I was pretty much focussed on the high level programme and product management, than the low-level activities that a Scrum Master would normally be dealing with, I'd instruct as necessary....

As I was moving to a new job that placed me in a Scrum Master role, I needed to brush up on my Scrum Master knowledge and needed to prepare or translate my heavy Project Management experiences to Scrum principles. This book was certainly written with that purpose in mind. I was looking for real world use cases and reflections of actual projects, something that Ken describes well.

Ken touches on the key concepts of Scrum by using example projects as references, with frank and honest feedback. He includes much of the areas that would trip someone up coming in cold to Agile, and also does not dismiss the value and usefulness of applying the rigour of classic project management dogma (reporting, tracking, metrics, predictions) as old-school, out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new.  In fact, Ken advocates entirely the opposite of that. It certainly takes a while to master Scrum as a Scrum Master, and therefore takes much longer for a company with seasoned managers who know no better, to transition and accept Scrum from day one.  So as important stakeholders in the project and business, these people have a right to be given information in a format that is understandable, and this too, can still be achieved using Scrum.

What really resonated with me was...

Ken has re-affirmed much of my own understanding in that Agile/Scrum is no excuse to cut corners. Scrum is not a short-cut from applying rigour and due diligence.  Way too often, people who are either new to Scrum or have been previously burned by management, fall in love with the concepts of Scrum, especially the tenets of autonomy, freedom and do-what-it-takes attitude to get the job done, immediately put up barriers when someone starts talking about processes...

• "Oh that's waterfall approach, we are young developers, we don't do it like that anymore. We are light on process, and don't need documentation. We don't need to have a process for teaching new engineers, it's a collective, the engineer will be absorbed into the team and learn on the job. We don't have release notes any more, it's automated by Git. We don't need a version numbering system, Git labels are fine. We don't do need pre-planning, we do just enough because it's going to change anyway...."

Principles I connected with...

• The importance of taking time out to produce a Product Backlog early in the project. The argument of not knowing what you're creating because it's unknown is not good enough. Even if you're aiming to brainstorm to produce an initial Proof-of-Concept (POC), that POC is driven by meeting the high level needs of the Product Owner, so it is not an impossible activity to put thoughts onto paper, call it your wishlist, to-do list, whatever - there must be a Product Backlog to start with...how else do you determine the goals, and measure your progress accordingly??  So if you think you're doing Scrum and don't have a Product Backlog, then please go back and reconsider what you're doing...

• Ensuring the Roles/Responsibilities are clearly identified - especially the ownership of the Product Backlog - Is your project big enough to have its own Product Owner, or is this also something the Scrum Master can absorb?? The Product Owner's role is pivotal to setting feature priorities only, but not responsible for driving through scheduling or people management. That is the Scrum Master's job...So spend time to clearly outline the roles and responsibilities...

• Spend enough time Planning - the planning process described by Ken is a useful starting point. Spending a full day on planning and getting the team to uncover the tasks before the Sprint begins is definitely valuable.

• Due diligence must be followed by Scrum Master - measuring progress and reporting on progress, generating metrics and predicting the future are essential aspects to Scrum Management.  Don't be fooled by Scrum being lighter than classic project management. Scrum teams still have a responsibility to meet business objectives, how you go about doing it is the Scrum teams own business, but when asked with business-type questions, then the Scrum team better have enough data to provide professional responses

• Don't misuse Waterfall defence mechanisms - who says you don't do requirements/design/testing - Scrum says you ensure enough is done during the sprint such that at the end of the Sprint you produce a release that is shippable - so a Sprint must support requirements/design/testing/validation/release - same steps as waterfall, but it's constrained to happen within the sprint itself. Of course, one doesn't have to have heavy processes, but it is about applying core engineering principles.

• Self-organising teams are difficult to create, and takes time to master.  As a Scrum Master you have to continuously monitor the team's performance and interactions.  The hard truth is that in the real world, using distributed development or even multicultural teams with mixed permanent/contractor staff, a truly self-organising team is a rare find.

• Common sense - a large part of Scrum is essentially maintaining a common sense and pragmatic approach to things.  One doesn't have to be a certified Scrum Master to manage Scrum projects, but care should be taken in obeying & applying the rules of Scrum, which Ken concludes in Appendix A:
• The ScrumMaster is responsible for ensuring that everyone related to a project, whether chickens or pigs, follows the rules of Scrum.  These rules hold the Scrum process together so that everyone knows how to play. If the rules aren't enforced, people waste time figuring out what to  do.  If the rules are disputed, time is lost while everyone watis for a resolution. These rules have worked in literally thousands of successful projects. If someone wants to change the rules, use the Sprint retrospective meeting as a forum for discussion. Rule changes should originate from the Team, not management.  Rule changes should be entertained if and only if the Scrum Master is convinced that the Team and everyone involved understands how Scrum works in enough depth that they will be skillful and mindful in changing the rules. No rules can be changed until the Scrum Master has determined that this state has been reached.

Watch the man himself here @ GoogleTechTalks:

Review: Dissecting the Hack: The F0rb1dd3n Network by Jayson E. Street, Kent Nabors, Brian Baskin

This book is interesting in that although it tells a fictional story of how two hackers innocently & accidentally fall upon and help prevent a serious threat to national security, everything about the technology is all real, and explained in good enough detail to make anyone interested in security threats, wanting to learn more. 
The book is divided into two parts: Part story, Part references. The references can be used again and again to sharpen your skills in being more security conscious or paranoid in your every day activity, beware of the bit-trail you leave behind.

Review: What I wish I knew when I was Twenty by Tina Seelig

Tina Seelig runs the Entrepreneurial Thought Leadership at Stanford, a very impressive programme with guest speakers from all the top companies sharing their experiences of past failures and successes - invaluable insights freely available for download.  If you're seeking out knowledge to be a successful entrepreneur, then I highly recommend you visit Stanford E-Corner website.

Back to the book: Very well written, easy language in direct conversation-style, brings out the message in clear and simple terms. Although this book could be seen as yet-another-self-improvement-book-on-leadership-innovation, in that it provides stories and insight's into other people's experiences & resultant lessons learnt; it is unique in the following aspects:

• References to real classroom exercises being taught at Stanford. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a student text, the example challenges can be given to any company team and will be equally, if not, more challenging than the classroom experience
• Tina touches upon subjects that are generally considered taboo
• There is an element of realism, practical advice that is good food for thought
• Topics are light-enough to leave the reader time to analyse his/her own personal situation (For example: the bit on "Failure Resume" (FR) really got me thinking, so much so that I exposed version 1 of my draft FR here)

Another topic that got me going was from the chapter "Turn Lemonade into Helicopters", Pages 129-130, which I'll quote below [I am still working on my own similes :-)]:

...In my course on creativity I focus a great deal on the value of recombining ideas in unusual ways. The more you practice this skill, the more natural it becomes. For example, using similes or metaphors, to describe concepts that on the surface seem completely unrelated offers tools for revealing fresh solutions to familiar problems.....Teams are asked to come up with as many answers as possible to the following statement:

Ideas are like ______________________________________

because __________________________________________

therefore __________________________________________

• Ideas are like babies because everyone think theirs is cute, therefore be objective when judging your own ideas ideas 
• Ideas are like shoes because you need to break them in, therefore take time to evaluate new ideas
• Ideas are like mirrors because they reflect the local environment, therefore consider changing contexts to get more diverse collections of ideas
• Ideas are like bubbles because they easily burst, therefore be gentle with them
• Ideas are like the measles because they are contagious, therefore hang out with other people with ideas if you want to get them yourself
• Ideas are like spider webs because they are stronger than they appear, therefore don't underestimate them

All-in-all, this is a useful addition to my book collection. It will no doubt be used time and again as a reference.  Don't be fooled by the title, the lessons taught are relevant to anyone throughout their personal/professional life, 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond...

Review: Good Boss, Bad Boss by Rob Sutton

Fight as if you're right; listen as if you're wrong.If you plant a seed in the ground, you don't dig it up each day to see how it's doing.Beware of your inner jerk. Peformance, humanity...Self-awareness.Bossholes

...are just a few snippets that stand out for me. This piece is not just an opinionated work by Sutton, it's a culmination of a life time's research, backed by professional studies, research and personal accounts from the workplace. Although it could be said the vast majority of the material is from US companies, the problems of being a good/bad boss/manager are relevant to all countries & cultures - humanity.

This book can be read by managers and subordinates alike - If you're a manager, then hopefully you'll leave your ego at the door, open yourself to new insights, allowing you to question yourself, an exercise of introspection; if you don't experience an "aha" moment, then you're either a very good boss, or just an asshole...for those people reporting to managers/bosses, you'll find the material useful in managing your boss, to detect signs of "bossholes" and possibly change you ways, e.g. don't take it personal, find methods to deal effectively with an asshole boss...



 


It's unbelievable how I found myself looking back to scenarios in my own professional life, and of late, have had to deal with some really difficult people, including my bosses.  I can personally relate to having a boss who is so full of himself that he barely listens to people, or appears to be listening, but doesn't heed a word being said. Once he zones in on a train of thought, for his understanding and for all intents and purposes "rightly or wrongly" (his famous quotes) assumes his way is the best without giving a chance to the others for trying out their ways....on top of that, the guy builds upon his 20 years of industry experience and always uses that as leverage against his subordinates. Instead of teaching the ropes, this guy is just plain bossy - a manager without any form of coaching skills, of rather selfishly keeps the skills and experience preventing others from learning.  Among other the things, this guy was notorious for delaying meetings, extending the meetings to have "educate me session" with no cause for concern if you've got other commitments to attend to. Not to mention, he takes over meetings, and wants to be involved in the detail...I've also had bosses where after having been completely honest about issues, does nothing to improve the situation...At first I thought it was just down to UK management style and culture (i.e. being aggressive, in control, focussing on production production production, less on people people people) - but then I later worked with some brilliant managers that were very good coaches, mentors and leaders.  So it's good not to generalise... Anyway, one should always take time to assess the situation, as the saying goes to "soss it out" - and if you don't like what you see, or the person you might become as a result of working for a crappy boss, then walk away.... 


 
If only they could read this book and learn a thing or two. But even then, as the example cited in the book, even if you give the book to your asshole boss as a gift, he won't get it, think that he's an excellent boss...afterall a leopard can't change its spots, you can't teach an old dog new tricks....unless you empty your tea cup ;-)  And yes, I'll be reading the The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilised Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't in the near future...

The Build Master by Vincent Maraia (Microsoft build secrets exposed)

If you're in the business of software product development and management and are not using a continuous build and configuration management system, then you should definitely reconsider your approach. This book offers insight into how Microsoft handles its product build processes, it's always interesting to learn from the world's most successful software outfit - finding out about Microsoft isn't easy, so any bit of inside info is useful.

Regardless of this book being out-of-date, especially with the influence of continuous integration and delivery, and the large-scale adoption of Agile development processes; where information is freely available on the net - I still recommend this book to those who have little or no experience on effectively maintaining product code, what you'll learn is the following:

• Processes, techniques and tools to make build, configuration management, integration and testing easier, more controllable and predictable
• Change the way you think: The people in power is the Build, Integration and CM team, not component developers. Learn ways to control check-ins, find out about Triage and WAR room. Learn about Dogfooding
• Interesting side-notes on the inner workings on Microsoft, containing memos from Bill Gates himself, Microsoft's management philosophy, etc.

If you're not a fan of Microsoft or your products are not based on Windows, then this book isn't for you. There are plenty of good resource material available on the web...

What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis

A refreshing read, always good to see someoneelse confirming much my own ideas and thoughts about what people, companies and industries need to think about, to adapt, change, and prepare for the future that will be dominated by Generation G, the Google Generation.Yes, consumers are very much in control. The web brings about openness, collaboration and a whole new way of organising society & community.  In fact, this little gem was the trigger that kicked my ass into gear to set-up my own blog. It's nothing much at the moment, but who knows it might just get me noticed and connected with like-minded people that share my interests, and it could be the start of something beautiful. 


Yesterday yet again validated the power of the link as explained in the book and Jeff's blog. See for yourself, Jeff replied to a recent blog post of mine, prove that this guy lives and breathes what he's talking about. I wish more people, especially companies set in their ways, start listening, really listening about the new way of doing business, building relationships and conceding to the fact that consumers must be listened to, they're in the driving seat for sure. 


For long, we've heard the "customer is king" mantra, but now we're getting to the point of talking the talk and walking the walk. Something that is especially close to me is TV, since all my professional life I've been involved in creating systems that "changes the way people are entertained and informed" - but that world is an absolutely closed world. We the people, consumers, have little control over what we want to watch, the number of channels to choose from, and the option of using multiple service providers; compared to other markets such as mobile phones, where the consumer is a little more in control. Short of derailing this review into a rant about lack of choices of Digital TV, I'll save this for another topic on my blog :-)


Back to the book...

What Would Google Do? is definitely a catchy title, and even though much of the new behaviours described in the book can be attributed to the Internet in general and other big players like Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Twitter, etc - Google, no doubt has become, and is - synonymous with the Internet...well actually now, according to recent reports it's probably Facebook or Twitter that own the Internet.... Google is ubiquitous, as open as it allows itself to be, and has been the enabler and provider of many great things, more often than not taking the lead in disrupting, forcing us to change our ways of working, thinking, and even living...


I've learnt alot from this book, even though I thought I understood much of the features of the link economy already, Jeff provides enough examples, providing context and facts that increases the learning experience. Certainly, the content hit the nail on the head for me, and opened up my eyes to embracing the new way of doing things, i.e. to actually do something and experiment...

Definitely worth a read, but if you don't want to spend money, you can always get the essence of Jeff by reading his blog on buzzmachine.com, or listen to him participate in Leo Laporte's weekly podcast on TWiG - This week in Google

Tribes by Seth Godin

This book at first appears to be too thin on the ground, incoherent snippets from blog posts turned into a book - but get a little further ahead and it builds up momentum, driving deeper into the subject of leadership. Be warned though this isn't your usual "How to be a good leader" books of which there are hundreds of such books...it's about the reality that anyone can assume a leadership position, as long as one is committed and has the grit to persistently face resistance no matter how tough the going gets, and from that all, over time you will get people following you...forming your own tribe.

I've recently become a follower of Seth Godin's Blog.

Interesting bits that struck a chord in me & that'll stick with me are (quotes from the book):

Leaders have followers, managers have employees.

Leaders initiate, managers react.

Become a heretic, question the status quo.

Sheepwalking - the outcome of hiring people who have been raised to be obedient and giving them brain-dead jobs and enough fear to keep them in line.

The only thing that makes people and organisations great is their willingness to not be great along the way.

The desire to fail on the way to reaching a bigger goal is the untold secret of success...

The longer you wait to launch an innovation, the less your effort is worth...

The tactics of leadership are easy, the art is the difficult part...

The yin and yang are clear: without people pushing against your quest to do something worth talking about, isn't to be worth the journey.

Persist...

What's hard now is breaking the rules. What's hard is finding the faith to become a heretic, to seek out an innovation and then, in the face of huge amounts of resistance, to lead a team and to push the innovation out the door into the world.

Don't settle - it's an obligation not to settle.

Review: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell has attempted an ambitious project in analysing the secrets behind successful individuals, "Outliers" - providing wide coverage including hockey players, rock bands, software entrepreneurs like Bill Gates & Bill Joy, European Jewish Immigrants success in Law, challenges with schooling, misconceptions of relating high IQ with success, cultural legacies & social differences, & other interesting tid-bits that forces the reader to think & question, generally acknowledging Gladwell's logic of analysis in most cases. Gladwell ends accounting for his own personal success, an exercise I'm sure most readers will no doubt apply to themselves.

This book by far does not solve the puzzle of understanding talent, intelligence & success; but it definitely is a very good attempt backed up by research & accompanying references that sets it apart from being the unsolicited opinions of the author. However I'm inclined to challenge some of the cases put forward by Gladwell. I agree talent & IQ doesn't make one successful - hard work, dedication & the will to succeed - grit are those qualities that really pay off. Indeed, the timing counts, environment, cultural heritage also do play a part... There are 6+ billion people on this planet, success is measured in different ways - it means different things to different people; examples cited are indeed popular & well known figures in western society, the sample size for the research should extend to outside the US, for example Africa & India; Nelson Mandela for example would've made a good citation for Outliers...The 10000 hour rule is also an interesting observation....

I'm glad I came across this book as it forces one to gain perspective; re-affirming most of what I already know & learnt through experience myself. For example, how does a someone from South Africa of Indian descent - born to a family of labourers who's parents had no high school education (Mother's education stopped at age 8, Father's age 12), growing up through the apartheid era - work his way out of the ghetto to become a relatively successful professional now living in the UK, continuing to support more than one family??

If you want to learn more about my background, click here to read my own Outliers story, or continue reading my personal story here:

Following Gladwell's analysis, we start by going back to understanding a bit of my cultural heritage: Indians started to arrive in South Africa during the early 1860s from the British colony of India - mostly labourers to work on the plantations, but some traders & skilled people also tagged along as it was an opportunity. Sadly not much is known of my heritage past my parents: my father was orphaned at the age of two & took the name of Khan under his foster family. Growing up, I vaguely remember my father's foster family as he liked to distance himself from them. My mother's family tree stops at her father, her mom died when she was 2 years old, her father remarried. I grew up listening to stories of difficulty, sadness, hardship but the underlying message was always honesty, taking pride in what you do & working very hard. Mother lived in a village, with African neighbours side-by-side, houses were made of mud. Mom would walk 5 kilometres to fetch water twice a day...her house got destroyed by floods, when it rained they would be busy patching the walls...under Apartheid they were dispossessed & relocated to an Indian area under the Group Areas act, whatever land they could claim they had was gone...Father's foster family seemed to be slightly better off, city people, street savvy - he'd recount stories of how everyone would be afraid of the Khans, the fights he would get into - he was part of a gang, etc - to this day, he stands for what is right & single-handedly patrols his neighbourhood watch...My father worked all his life in a shoe factory, earning the same £20 a week for 30 years. Five siblings in total, a brother & 3 sisters. None of my sisters finished high school, just my eldest brother & I did...I started reading at an early age of 5 years old - my eldest sister thought me to read, would take me to the library, I still remember my mom reading to me the newspaper, she could barely read & write herself, but she tried her best. Growing up I had the support of my older sisters & brother - I being the youngest, was taught by them. My parents weren't teaching me after hours, they would stress on the importance of education & made sure the homework was done, etc...We were not well off, I remember not being able to go for school excursions or even pay for school photos...

My brother started working part-time at the age of thirteen, I would do grocery shopping & go to pay the bills when I was 10 years old..we would walk 4kms carrying bags of groceries, sometimes with a 10kg bag of potatoes...I finished primary school with flying colours taking most of the awards, went to public, state-funded school, where most children were of a similar background as me - i.e. most of us had someone in the family working for a shoe factory...Enter high school, I meet a whole different bunch of kids from different backgrounds - all Indian - but this time, I was the only one in my class who's father worked in a shoe factory - the rest were middle-class families...In high school I met my best friend Zeyn (His mom was a high school physics & Maths teacher, his dad was an Accountant. Zeyn was absolutely brilliant at everything - he grew up in completely different circumstances to me - but for some reason we became best of friends, he was pushed by his parents to excel at school & sport, passing whatever he learnt to me, helping to advance on my own...for example we’d finished much of the maths and physics courses a year in advance of the final high school year...During holidays I would be working part-time or helping around the house, whilst my friends would be enjoying their vacations - I was always bitten by the practicality of life. Knowing what it takes to survive in this world, that one has to work hard to succeed, nothing comes for free, one has to determine one own’s future through sheer hard work. Despite my humble conditions, I was fortunate enough not to join the wrong company, diligently living through teenage years with the goal of finishing high school, studying to become a doctor, earning lots of money to support my parents one day...I finished high school with distinction...

It was this environment that challenged me & kept me motivated to strive to break through the barriers of my heritage...but as Gladwell proves in his book, dig deeper & I'm not singularly responsible for my break in life..My brother, through his hard work managed to complete high school, enter university & become an accountant, the first university-graduate in our family! He's a true outlier himself - through his working through high school, he impressed the local businessman, a Mr. Asmal who funded his 4 years of University tuition fees. Over the years my brother would marry, leave home & fall out of contact with the family, leaving me to figure out how to deal with the situation...So when it was my turn to graduate high school (it was still tough then, I couldn't afford going for the school prom, I'd just enough for Physics tuition & couldn't afford buying a suit for the ball), I finished with an A-average. I'd applied to Medical school & got a place confirmed for a university in Johannesburg, 5 hours away from my home - I'd never been to Joburg. Like Chris Langdon as Gladwell explained, Chris didn't have the wits or family support required to help him break through the obstacles he faced. Here I was unprepared to know how to make my decision - do I accept the offer on the phone or not?? Medical school costs R20000, plus food plus residence - I didn't have that kind of money, neither was anyone in my family able to take a loan or stand guarantor for me for a student loan. Besides my estranged brother I didn’t know anyone else that went to University. My parents were not equipped to deal with the situation. I had no one present that could offer me guidance on what my options were; I had not lived away from home - a life-changing decision awaited my response, the admissions officer was pressing me for an answer on the spot, so what happened? Based on the financial reality of my situation, I turned down the offer! Sadly, no medical school for me then...maybe even no university at all...I was set on looking for a job and figuring out a way to work and pay for my studies...

Then a surprise came my way - my estranged brother (my eldest sister made contact with our brother & urged him to help) managed to talk to his friend Mr. Asmal  into calling me in for an interview & offered to pay my tuition fees through university. By that stage I missed the medical school boat, so settled on Engineering (Eng was 4 years compared to 7, so I could start earning money faster contributing to the family by being an Engineer). Mr. Asmal funded my first two years of University...Again, drawing from Gladwell's analysis, I got lucky - there was an element of timing that helped me out: I was part of the transition out of Apartheid, in 1990s there was a big push for equal opportunities & affirmative action grants - where companies would seek out individuals offering scholarships/bursaries & work placements. Late in my second year, I received a surprise phone call from university finance department saying that Vodacom were giving bursaries to students & I'd been chosen (what wonderful news this was to me since I'd been sending letters to hundreds of companies each year) - so I got three times as much as what Mr. Asmal was offering - it allowed me to live on my own, be an independent student...In the spirit of Gladwell, dig a bit deeper & we might find that the year I was born played a part too: people born between 1976-1979 would see the transition of Apartheid & new opportunities for tertiary education, although competition was still tough...if I remember correctly, all my classmates from class of 1995 had distinctions in Maths & are also living quite successful lives today...

After university though, Vodacom had no jobs to place me in so I was left in the lurch as I'd not applied for jobs elsewhere...it would be a good few months till I landed my first job after graduation, with UEC...After 13 months with UEC, I applied for a job with S3 in Ireland (advert in Sunday times newspaper) - I had never been out of my country but jumped at the opportunity - got the job, went to a land where I had no family, knew no one & started on my own with just £500 in my pocket, although S3 did a nice job with relocation assistance...18 months from S3, moved to the UK with NDS...Wait, could this be another stroke of luck? Indeed, my specialty is in Digital Television, a technology area that was only coming of age at the turn of the millenium. Had I not gained experience with UEC, there wouldn’t have been any opportunity to leave SA. S3, a small Irish company had received money from the EU to increase its workforce, investing in employing foreigners, and companies were targeting places like South Africa at that time!

And getting the role at NDS had a bit of good timing in itself as well. At S3 I had just come off a project to implementing an end-to-end software stack for Digital Terrestrial TV and my experience from that project had direct relevance to NDS at the time. Not to mention S3 was well known for its professionalism and competency, so that reputation helped as well. Within NDS I’ve spent the last 8+ years, climbing the ladder every 2-3 years, always interested in learning more and trying out new things. My overall ambition is to learn and experience all facets of software product development in practice, from the early grassroots ideas that start-up projects, moving on to continuous product development and maintenance, supporting customer projects and delivery. NDS provided the platform to grow, opportunities presented themselves, due to sheer hard work & determination, I was able to move between departments to pursue my personal interests at the same time adding value to the the company. No luck breaks from that point on I’m afraid ,continued success is a result of consistent perseverance past the point that got you there, something that Gladwell fails to present in his book.

I continue to support my immediate & extended family. I paid for my father's driving lessons & even bought him his first car (how often to you see a son setting up his father, almost as if the father/son roles were reversed)....In my journey I was able to achieve what some might've predicted as next to nigh on impossible given my cultural legacy - but as Gladwell's chapter on European Immigrants highlights, the family tree that I'm about to start should set the stage for my kids, nieces & nephews to become equally successful, if not more successful than me or my brother...So as Gladwell points out, no one is singularly responsible for one's success: Thanks to my brother, my parents for teaching me about grit & patience, Mr. Asmal, Nelson Mandela for succeeding to bring change to SA, Vodacom, UEC & Sunday Times, S3 & NDS...I am always striving to move forward, hopefully this will be enough motivation for my children, and it is my hope they are more successful than I am, which according to Gladwell should be a natural progression...