Here is one reason why I am a Toastmaster

The Validator

Today's inspirational post embeds Lance Miller's speech as seen at the 2005 Toastmasters speech competition.  I am a toastmaster and I value the ability to inform and entertain without props or images - just the imagery provided by the story and presentation.

Here is "The Validator"

Antipatterns

DJ Gregor at Nationwide introduced me to the term "Antipattern" a few years ago and I find myself seeing antipatterns everywhere I look.  From Wikipedia :

Click to buy on Amazon

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"In software engineering, an anti-pattern (or antipattern) is a pattern that may be commonly used but is ineffective and/or counterproductive in practice."

The 1998 book "AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis" (see Amazon link to the right) put the term on the map.  Now software engineers and architects understand the term and use it often.

Some easily understood examples of antipatterns include:

• Golden Hammer:  Assuming that a favorite solution is universally applicable.
• Not Invented Here Syndrome:  Failing to adopt an existing adequate solution. 

 Many antipatterns exist in the project management world.  Samples from the Wikipedia article include:

• Avalanche: An inappropriate mashup of the Waterfall model and Agile Development techniques
• Death march: Everyone knows that the project is going to be a disaster – except the CEO – so the truth is hidden to prevent immediate cancellation of the project - (although the CEO often knows and does it anyway to maximize profit). However, the truth remains hidden and the project is artificially kept alive until the Day Zero finally comes ("Big Bang"). Alternative definition: Employees are pressured to work late nights and weekends on a project with an unreasonable deadline.
• Groupthink: During groupthink, members of the group avoid promoting viewpoints outside the comfort zone of consensus thinking
• Overengineering: Spending resources making a project more robust and complex than is needed
• Smoke and mirrors: Demonstrating unimplemented functions as if they were already implemented
• Software bloat: Allowing successive versions of a system to demand ever more resources

I even found a book on Amazon that focuses on Project Management AntiPatterns

Toastmasters - follow up

Today I presented the Thought of the Day at my new Toastmasters chapter.  I explained how much I value simplicity as a design principle and noted my observation of a strong correlation between simplicity and success.  Then I shared the Einstein poster/quote.  It went very well.

I'm reflecting tonight on why I'm enjoying this experience so much.  I've visited toastmasters chapters before, but never pulled the trigger and joined. 

I realize now that the reason I like my Power Toastmasters chapter (1080) is the membership.  This group enjoys spending time together.  They foster a fun and positive atmosphere.  My friend Pam presented a word of the day and knocked the ball out of the park (Ginormous!).  George had us rolling in the aisles with an advance speech that used humor to pull us in.  And Margeaux had us cringing at the prospect of dining on ancient eggs and bovine eyeballs!

What a fun group!

My first "Real" speech is scheduled in two weeks - I'll let you know how it goes . . .

Einstein on Simplicity

I'm preparing for a speaking part in next Tuesday's Toastmasters meeting.  I'm this week's "Though master" and need to present a "Thought of the Day" to inspire, challenge, and motivate - setting the tone for the entire meeting.

I googled "Thought of the day" and here is what I've selected:

Simplicity is more than just an AboutProjectManagement.com theme this week (see the Zen Table below).  It is my going in design criteria for everything I do.

Simplicity Rocks!