Scientific Ink

Author: Dunrie

  • We Feel Fine / by Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar

    We Feel Fine / by Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar

    So, in Meyers-Briggs personality lingo, I am an intuitive feeler (INFJ). I’ve seen this type described more than once as a “dolphin,” essentially navigating the world based on complex emotional echolocation. (warm…warmer…nope cooler again…drat!) How I feel about things is crucial, and I am at least wise about myself enough to know that it is difficult to project how I will feel about something until I experience it.

    In practice, what this means is that I make mistakes and “bump into walls” as I figure things out. It can’t be helped; it is my process. Maybe actual dolphins are more graceful in practice.

    That most of us are bad at predicting how we’ll feel in a new situation is one of the themes of Daniel Gilbert’s book Stumbling on Happiness. Research sugests that we can understand how we *might* feel about something by talking to someone who is having that experience.

    Ah hah! I can use books and other people’s brains to help me narrow down the set of things I need to go out and experience to understand! Amazing. Maybe I can avoid a few walls that way.

    For that reason, I find the exploration of emotions aggregated from blogs in We Feel Fine interesting. I don’t yet know how to interpret it. I have to spend more time experiencing it. But, it gives me a sense of being connected to others through the irrational network of emotion. That’s kinda cool all on its own.

  • 12 and Go!

    12: The Elements of Great Managing

    I have been meaning to write a blog entry about 12: The Elements of Great Managing since I finished it in December. I have a few excuses, none of them particularly good. Let’s see:

    • I liked it so much I loaned it to a friend (HSG Consulting’s Principal),
    • I liked it so well that I actually spoke about it with friends instead of writing about it,
    • Or maybe I just needed some time to process.

    Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance
    Well, now I’m partway through yet another Gallup book, Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance. Go… is more of a workbook on how to make your job fit you better, how to contribute at a higher level, and maybe help others at your workplace do the same. It’s helping me clarify some things, some things that 12 brought to the surface.

    I think I’m a sucker for these Gallup books because they reinforce my belief that we can collaborate to recreate our work so that individuals and teams function at a higher level, so that individuals and teams contribute from their talents and cover each others’ weaknesses. These books capture and evangelize my vision of true diversity – that people with different superpowers (vision, command, strategy, relating, woo…) can come together because they’re stronger as a team than as individuals.

    Well, 12 is valuable because it emphasizes the critical list these same folks described in First Break All the Rules: the twelve items that make great workplaces, the elements that consistently attract and retain high achievers, the Gallup branded magic formula for success.

    12 argues that great managers provide the following twelve things to their teams: clear expectations, sufficient resources and materials, the chance to contribute at a high level, praise, care and nuturing, respect, a feeling of purpose, good colleagues who care about their work, good comerades, and a chance to grow with feedback (paraphrased).

    Now, this same group had explained this very same list in First Break All the Rules, but in 12, they shared stories of people actually doing these things at organizations, turning around places by paying attention to one of the missing elements. So, it is actionable and inspirational, providing at least a sense of the tools required to enact the vision.

  • Usability Professionals’ Association

    Here’s my statement of interest for becoming an officer of the local chapter of the Usability Professionals’ Association.

    I am ready to volunteer as an officer of the Michigan UPA. I have enjoyed the UPA events I have attended over the years – they often provide me some nugget I can go back and apply. And, I believe we really do need to pay attention to how we make things (software, websites, alarm clocks, projects, teams) so that they reflect and enhance our experience, rather than bother us. UPA has been a source of inspiration for me in this regard. Recently, I’ve been able to apply ideas from Lou Rosenfeld’s search analytics talk in January and many of the February Internet User Experience talks (schedule, photos). Additionally, I enjoy the other folks in the group and want to help support the local chapter.

    My background includes project management, technical writing, and project work where I always maintained a focus on the needs of the end user of the product, application, web site, or device. I’m good at seeing things that need to be done and figuring out the what, who, and how to get them accomplished. So, logistics, communication, organization, and team building. I also have some rusty PR skills I could dust off and put into service.

  • The way to travel

    My husband and I just returned from a one-week trip to Austria. My husband works for an Austrian firm, he travels to the head office several times a year, and we have often spoke about me coming along for a visit, maybe to the wine country south of Graz, maybe to the Alps to ski…

    The Wilder Kaiser from the Chapel

    Now, I’m not a downhill skier, and, in 1991, when deciding whether to have surgery to repair my blown-out left knee, whether or not I skied was a decision criterion (no downhill ski? maybe don’t need to cut into knee). The list of vacation destinations on my bulletin board is:

    1. Quebec City,
    2. Cape Breton,
    3. Iceland,
    4. Trieste, Italy (largely because of Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere),
    5. return to Alaska,
    6. return to Hawaii, and
    7. Austria.

    So, how come Austria jumped to the top of the list and we elected to go to the Alps to ski?

    Friends.

    (more…)

  • Eagle in Flight

    We took to the air around lunchtime today. There was a bit of wind, so the plane wanted to fly, pulling up in response to the gusts as soon as we rolled it from the hangar. The wind also created somewhat nauseating turbulence in flight, but the combination of wind and the thermals off of unevenly warming ground and frozen lakes brought out soaring birds. We saw more birds on this trip than I’ve ever seen, including a bald eagle.

    eagle in flight

    The eagle was below us, at maybe 2000 feet, its black wings and white tail fan outstretched and immobile – in full soar. It was big, even from far away. No, it isn’t my photograph, but the words of the post seemed insufficient without the image. Imagine inverting the photo and seeing the eagle from above, it was farther away than this, but the wings seemed just as wide and even darker.

    (photo credit: Eagles 2 050, originally uploaded to Flickr by FadderUri.)

  • Reunions anyone?

    So, anyone considering going to our 15th reunion? Cheesy themes and ugly websites aside, I’m potentially interested in attending, to see long-lost friends and to get into NYC to visit my terrific aunt Christie. But, before I commit myself and my very reluctant husband, I wanted to check to see who was thinking of coming. Drop a note!