I am a software engineer, and we use agile development methodologies at work. Scrum and Kanban are the life we live. I had never thought of using these methodologies outside of work until I saw this TEDTalk by Bruce Feiler, in which he explains that agile methodologies can lead to happier families by reducing stress and helping to better manage busy lifestyles.
After watching the TEDTalk with my wife, we decided we could institute some agility in our family, and immediately started doing daily standups. Every morning, we take 15 minutes to discuss three questions:
(1) How did yesterday go?
(2) What is our schedule like today?
(3) Are there any issues preventing us from making progress?
When there are issues, a quick plan of action is discussed and may lead to changes in how we approach the tasks or projects that are affected. The idea is for daily standup to be more informative than it is a planning session.
The immediate benefit has been improved communication and mindfulness of each other throughout the day. What else do we hope to gain from this? Easier change management, helping each other when common problems are encountered, being on the same page more often, and ability to create, modify or eliminate rules and expectations based on what is and what is not working. We think it will promote teamwork and provide opportunity to serve each other.
So far, the daily standup is all we have in place. Lots of families are doing agility successfully; we hope this becomes a mainstay, slowly but surely.
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Not Resolutions But Prayers
We don't do resolutions. We do goals. There is a subtle difference between the two, although most people use them interchangeably. We do goals with prayers. "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain" (Psa.127:1).
If we still had any doubts that God answers prayer, they were resolved in 2014. Everything we prayed for was practically answered, and then some. We started 2014 praying for a 15% increase in income somehow, to find a good house, and for our son to be born healthy. Moses was born in August, we found and bought a beautiful home in April, and ended the year with 60% more income than we anticipated. Additionally, we changed jobs, and got on track to get my identity paperwork replaced. It was such a year that just went right in all aspects, we really cannot complain.
This year, our goals are few and simple: (1) travel to Uganda in August or September, (2) find permanent employment by May, and (3) replace our second vehicle with a newer and larger one in the summer. The year will have been successful if these three goals are achieved. Our 4th wedding anniversary trip this year will be to Nashville, Tennessee in April and we shall spend Christmas in Seattle, WA. There are probably one or two more domestic trips in there, for the love of travel.
Besides goals, we also set commitments. My wife's year-long focus is on joy as her word of the year. My focus turns to minimalism (living on less). Our combined commitments are to be content with what we have and where we are in life.
More importantly, we pledge to be good parents to Mozy even if we have to wing it sometimes. We will do anything for the welfare of this sweet face. We want his childhood to be a great story, however that will unfold.
Yes, these sound like resolutions but we consider them prayers for the year. So God help us.
If we still had any doubts that God answers prayer, they were resolved in 2014. Everything we prayed for was practically answered, and then some. We started 2014 praying for a 15% increase in income somehow, to find a good house, and for our son to be born healthy. Moses was born in August, we found and bought a beautiful home in April, and ended the year with 60% more income than we anticipated. Additionally, we changed jobs, and got on track to get my identity paperwork replaced. It was such a year that just went right in all aspects, we really cannot complain.
This year, our goals are few and simple: (1) travel to Uganda in August or September, (2) find permanent employment by May, and (3) replace our second vehicle with a newer and larger one in the summer. The year will have been successful if these three goals are achieved. Our 4th wedding anniversary trip this year will be to Nashville, Tennessee in April and we shall spend Christmas in Seattle, WA. There are probably one or two more domestic trips in there, for the love of travel.
Besides goals, we also set commitments. My wife's year-long focus is on joy as her word of the year. My focus turns to minimalism (living on less). Our combined commitments are to be content with what we have and where we are in life.More importantly, we pledge to be good parents to Mozy even if we have to wing it sometimes. We will do anything for the welfare of this sweet face. We want his childhood to be a great story, however that will unfold.
Yes, these sound like resolutions but we consider them prayers for the year. So God help us.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
The Next Job, Part II: Know Your Stuff
Aside from computing, my other passion has always been medicine. In fact, I was a pre-med student for two semesters when I first started college, but decided to pursue computer engineering instead because I would start making money sooner (5 years compared to surgery's 13 years). In the back of my mind, I've always thought I might make the jump back to medicine, perhaps in a position that integrates computing.
With the prospect of unemployment in March 2015, I wondered whether this was the opportunity to consider a medical career. I reasoned that if my wife's job could support the family wholly for a few years, I might return to school and start out as a nurse, working my way towards surgery. Possibility. The harder I considered this, I became convinced that your 30's are the last opportunity to settle into your last career, one that will take you into a comfortable retirement. Yes, you still have another 30 years before retirement age, but it is much harder to change careers after your 30's. You surely can change jobs within your career, but not many more times. Age discrimination is on the rise, as well as a growing younger and immigrant labor force that will make the labor market highly competitive. Old dogs cannot learn new tricks.
In the end, I decided to stick with computing as my career. In fact, I also determined that I would be really good at it that even in my 50's, I'll still be markatable with tons of relevant experience. Having learned what skills were in demand for jobs I could qualify for, the next step was to determine which skills I already have, which ones I needed to spruce up, and which ones I need to attain. Out of 55 skills, I decided to focus on 25 of the most requested, and gave myself a year (until July 2015) to master them. Even with the birth of our son and off-schedule sleeping routines, I still manage 2-4 hours of quiet study in the mornings while everyone else sleeps, so I have a chance to pursue this goal.
With the prospect of unemployment in March 2015, I wondered whether this was the opportunity to consider a medical career. I reasoned that if my wife's job could support the family wholly for a few years, I might return to school and start out as a nurse, working my way towards surgery. Possibility. The harder I considered this, I became convinced that your 30's are the last opportunity to settle into your last career, one that will take you into a comfortable retirement. Yes, you still have another 30 years before retirement age, but it is much harder to change careers after your 30's. You surely can change jobs within your career, but not many more times. Age discrimination is on the rise, as well as a growing younger and immigrant labor force that will make the labor market highly competitive. Old dogs cannot learn new tricks.
In the end, I decided to stick with computing as my career. In fact, I also determined that I would be really good at it that even in my 50's, I'll still be markatable with tons of relevant experience. Having learned what skills were in demand for jobs I could qualify for, the next step was to determine which skills I already have, which ones I needed to spruce up, and which ones I need to attain. Out of 55 skills, I decided to focus on 25 of the most requested, and gave myself a year (until July 2015) to master them. Even with the birth of our son and off-schedule sleeping routines, I still manage 2-4 hours of quiet study in the mornings while everyone else sleeps, so I have a chance to pursue this goal.
Friday, September 12, 2014
The Next Job, Part I: Skills In Demand
I'll be the first to confirm that there is no such thing as "job security". It used to be that if you did something unique or very few people did what you do, you were safe. It used to be like that for me, until our company was bought out by another. Suddenly everything changed, and my position is scheduled for elimination in March 2015. Never mind that what I did will remain, probably assigned to somebody that has no experience with it.
But I'm not one to bemoan spilled milk: I quickly came up with a strategy for landing my next job. It comprises of 4 steps: (1) determining what skills are "hot" in the industry, (2) reviewing the skills I have, (3) attaining any new compelling skills, and (4) determining how I'll identify my next job. That last step is important: you don't want to apply for anything that comes across your radar just because you have the skills it requires.
For the last 4 months, I have tallied the general categories of skills or qualifications in jobs posted at Dice, Glassdoor, SimplyHired, Indeed, Careerbuilder, and LinkedIn. The jobs match a general search query "java+web+developer+software+engineer", and I only tallied the ones I could reasonably apply for, even if I did not have all the required skills. Additionally, I got a torrent of job matches arrived via the armies of IT recruiters out there, almost as soon as I posted on the first job site. Fortunately, their matches are closer to what I am looking for (except for the relocation).
Below are the results of what's hot in my nexus (step 1), skills that I should know if I will be highly marketable. They are sorted by relative importance, with must-haves at the bottom. It says, for example: "there is three times as much demand for ORM frameworks (such as Hibernate) than there is for portal technologies (such as portlets or iFrames)" among the jobs I could do. The data shows that I should care little about the skills at the top; the ones at the bottom are my best bet. The next question then is: which of these skills do I have (am I sure about or expert at)? Future blog post.
But I'm not one to bemoan spilled milk: I quickly came up with a strategy for landing my next job. It comprises of 4 steps: (1) determining what skills are "hot" in the industry, (2) reviewing the skills I have, (3) attaining any new compelling skills, and (4) determining how I'll identify my next job. That last step is important: you don't want to apply for anything that comes across your radar just because you have the skills it requires.
For the last 4 months, I have tallied the general categories of skills or qualifications in jobs posted at Dice, Glassdoor, SimplyHired, Indeed, Careerbuilder, and LinkedIn. The jobs match a general search query "java+web+developer+software+engineer", and I only tallied the ones I could reasonably apply for, even if I did not have all the required skills. Additionally, I got a torrent of job matches arrived via the armies of IT recruiters out there, almost as soon as I posted on the first job site. Fortunately, their matches are closer to what I am looking for (except for the relocation).
Below are the results of what's hot in my nexus (step 1), skills that I should know if I will be highly marketable. They are sorted by relative importance, with must-haves at the bottom. It says, for example: "there is three times as much demand for ORM frameworks (such as Hibernate) than there is for portal technologies (such as portlets or iFrames)" among the jobs I could do. The data shows that I should care little about the skills at the top; the ones at the bottom are my best bet. The next question then is: which of these skills do I have (am I sure about or expert at)? Future blog post.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
The Oxygen Experiment
Although Mozy was 9 days late, he was born with a condition called respiratory insufficiency, which is more common in premature babies than those who are full term (and late). He even spent a night in the NICU to stabilize the condition. Its causes range from high altitude (thin air) to insufficient surfactant, or inefficient surfactant conversion at birth (when the lungs switch from breathing amniotic fluid to breathing air. That first cry plays a huge role in the conversion, helping lungs expand and fill with air). Whatever the case, he needed oxygen for 3 weeks, a slow 1/16mLH administered by nasal tube.
At 2 weeks old, we did the first overnight test to see if the lungs had matured more. Basically the pediatrician puts in an order with a home oxygen supply company, who loan you a pulse oximeter. You are supposed to monitor over at least a 6-hour period with the subject off oxygen, then send in results. The pediatrician usually calls within a couple of days with her observations. Even though I thought the numbers looked good, we were crushed when the pediatrician told us Mozy's numbers were to borderline to get him off the oxygen. For the next test a week later, I really wanted to see the numbers myself, and ensure that the oxygen machine we had at home was working.
At 3 weeks old, we did the second test. This time, I sat for the first three hours (between feedings) and recorded the numbers every minute (180 readings). Either I'm a bad parent for conducting experiments on my kid, or I miss the lab environment at university, or I'm just a nerd. Either way, the first 60 readings were while he was on oxygen so I could see how efficiently his lungs were performing: 98% saturation on average. So the darn oxygen machine was doing its job; I couldn't blame that if this test failed.
Without oxygen, I took 120 readings and plotted them thus:
As can be seen, he had mostly 95% saturation (median and average are both 95%) over that period. The normal range is 94% and above, according to NIH. In fact, he was above the threshold 88% of the time! I would have been so surprised, or even reject the results, had the pediatrician called and said the second test was a failure too. I'd show her my numbers and demand to see hers. My first 3 hours would have had to match her set for me to accept her conclusion (which would mean that Mozy slowly deteriorates in lung function the longer he is off oxygen). But thank God the pediatrician confirmed our expectation: Mozy did not need to be on oxygen anymore, everything looked great.
You can't imagine the freedom: no more noisy oxygen maker or a slacking a line from it wherever the baby is taken. No more oxygen canisters when we travel, and irritation on his upper lip from the oxygen tube. He had grown strong enough to rip the tube off his face, and it worried us how hazardous that could be. Better sleep!
At 2 weeks old, we did the first overnight test to see if the lungs had matured more. Basically the pediatrician puts in an order with a home oxygen supply company, who loan you a pulse oximeter. You are supposed to monitor over at least a 6-hour period with the subject off oxygen, then send in results. The pediatrician usually calls within a couple of days with her observations. Even though I thought the numbers looked good, we were crushed when the pediatrician told us Mozy's numbers were to borderline to get him off the oxygen. For the next test a week later, I really wanted to see the numbers myself, and ensure that the oxygen machine we had at home was working.
At 3 weeks old, we did the second test. This time, I sat for the first three hours (between feedings) and recorded the numbers every minute (180 readings). Either I'm a bad parent for conducting experiments on my kid, or I miss the lab environment at university, or I'm just a nerd. Either way, the first 60 readings were while he was on oxygen so I could see how efficiently his lungs were performing: 98% saturation on average. So the darn oxygen machine was doing its job; I couldn't blame that if this test failed.
Without oxygen, I took 120 readings and plotted them thus:
As can be seen, he had mostly 95% saturation (median and average are both 95%) over that period. The normal range is 94% and above, according to NIH. In fact, he was above the threshold 88% of the time! I would have been so surprised, or even reject the results, had the pediatrician called and said the second test was a failure too. I'd show her my numbers and demand to see hers. My first 3 hours would have had to match her set for me to accept her conclusion (which would mean that Mozy slowly deteriorates in lung function the longer he is off oxygen). But thank God the pediatrician confirmed our expectation: Mozy did not need to be on oxygen anymore, everything looked great.
You can't imagine the freedom: no more noisy oxygen maker or a slacking a line from it wherever the baby is taken. No more oxygen canisters when we travel, and irritation on his upper lip from the oxygen tube. He had grown strong enough to rip the tube off his face, and it worried us how hazardous that could be. Better sleep!
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