AI-generated image of a booster club meeting by DALL-E

Prior to my last post, it had been almost 2 months since I shared my thoughts here on this humble blog, and the response from you my dear readers was overwhelming. Overwhelmingly non-existent, but I digress. With the volume of email we all get, not to forget RSS feeds for some as well, I am sure my musings may have taken a backseat to everything else going on in the world.

What was the reason for this? I’ve recently gotten a little busier than the typical busy that my life is. So what am I doing? I was recently elected the president of my kids high school sports Booster Club.

The Booster Club is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is independent of the school yet tied to it by its charter. I’ve been involved for the last two years, helping with the Web site and starting an email newsletter. As I realized these could be handled by more creative and marketing focused-people plus an opening for this leadership position, I decided to jump in, of course with my wife’s blessing.

When I told people what I was doing this I got a variety of reactions, everything from, “congratudolences” to why on earth would I want to do that. To that end I am able to sum up my reasons in one word: impact.

In this election year here in the US, I’ve repeatedly heard a phrase familiar to me over the years attributed to the late historian James Bryce regarding someone taking on a top leadership position: the presidency is open to anyone who has the audacity to believe they can do it. Even for a position like the president of a Booster Club I think you have to believe similarly. Yes, I can take on this leadership role and yes, I can fulfill it to the best of my abilities. For me that was a big part of it, but equally important is it’s helping me fulfill something in missing in my life, in having a leadership position that I don’t quite have elsewhere.

Similar Yet Different

When I put my hat in the ring I knew a little of what I was getting into as I’ve had leadership roles in non-profit organizations in the past. Most notably in the early 2000s I was president of the Boston Jaycees, a member-run leadership organization that was affiliated with a larger US-based and international society. The Boston chapter had just under 100 members and all the challenges you think you’d have with an organization of young people trying to make a difference in their community. Our greatest one was recruiting new members. People would have to commit not only a membership dues but also to being involved as we were volunteer-run; we needed people to be active and run projects, ideally creating a base that would be the future leadership of the chapter. I recall from that time period someone telling me that your job as a leader to find your successor, something that is in the back of my mind as I commence this new role.

Impact to me is two-fold. First there’s the organization’s impact on the community. In this case the Booster Club serves the high school athletic programs with equipment and funds from the money we raise from donations and concession sales. Then there’s the personal impact. This is satisfaction from the good I and all the others involved do in growing our Booster Club and in the support we provide. It’s that personal pride from a job well done and overcoming challenges.

That part about growing the Booster Club is something that’s not entirely new to me, and probably even greater than it was the last time I encountered it. Back in the late 90s and early 2000 with the Jaycees, we were competing for the time of young adults against them staying home, watching cable TV and playing video games. If they actually did something, many would want minimal commitment. The Booster Club audience is grown adults who have very active children participating in sports, academics and other activities and sometimes the last thing those parents want to do is work in a concession stand slinging burgers and hot dogs, let alone take a leadership or other role in the club.

Back to the personal impact, back when I was the Jaycees president I would occasionally hear snarky comments that I was in it to stroke my own ego. Sure, to say that you’re the “president” of something can boost one a bit, but it is a healthy reminder as well that in order to fulfill the position you have to rise up. You have to be a better person than you are and sometimes you got a bear the brunt of things that you may not think you should in order to ensure progress, whether it’s lending a hand in different areas, having tough conversations with people and putting new, bold initiatives out there.

As I reflect on just the past few months I’ve been at the helm of the Booster Club it’s so far so good, but there’s much to do. Hopefully it’s won’t continue to curtail my blogging or other activities that I enjoy.

Deconstructing Stepping Up to Volunteer Leadership

I’ve often said there’s never a best time for anything and this is true whether it’s volunteering leadership or making a difference in an organization. For myself, even though I’ve been through this before, I’ve always enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to this new role with new people and opportunities before me and the opportunity to make an impact in the community and myself.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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AI-generated image of a Scrum Master with Team Member by DALL-E

Personally, I have never been one who goes by first impressions – sure, they are important, but the experience of the initial contact with someone shouldn’t determine the terms of a relationship. However, if by, say, day 100 you still have issues with someone, then there may be a larger issue, but I digress. That’s also not to say you shouldn’t start strong either.

This concept of first impressions came to mind when listening to an episode of a popular Agile and Scrum podcast the Software Process and Measurement podcast, or Sp&mcast. The host, Tom Cagley, someone I have learned a lot from by taking training led by him, posed a question to his guest from a listener who asked about what they would do on their first day as a newly-certified Scrum Master. My excitement to hear the guest’s thoughts quickly faded as their answer didn’t help channel the listener’s recent “drinking from the firehose” introduction to Scrum, and if anything made it worse.

Realizing the guest missed the mark on the question, I asked myself, “Self, what would you do on day one as a Scrum Master?” I pondered this for a long while, taking into consideration my own training and certifications as both a Scrum Master and Scrum Product Owner plus hours of reading, listening and discussions on the discipline. I then wrote up these thoughts and send them to the Tom. Upon recently rediscovering that email, I share my 4-step agenda for that day here. Where I have tweaked some of the content, my initial approach and intent persists.

Let The Day Begin

The first thing I would do is sit down with my new reporting manager and be honest, saying, “Manager, I just finished this Scrum Master training, have all of this knowledge and now I have to learn how to use it.” I would give an analogy of taking a woodworking course: learned a lot, got a lot of tools and now I have to really learn how to use them on my own. I may not be able to build elegant, high-end cabinets from the start, but I plan to soon build something to hang on the wall to store things.

Up second is to become aware of any and all artifacts as part of the project (if there are any, but I will assume there are some). I said “become aware” as I would not read through in painstaking detail every user story right away, but I would want to know 1) if there are any and 2) where they are. Becoming aware of what exists will help with future steps.

Next it’s time to schedule the ceremonies – sprint planning, kick-off, daily Scrums, review, retrospective – if they already aren’t in place. If they are already in place, I would “take them over” by ensuring meeting invites were coming from me and I was scheduling them.

Finally in the first daily Scrum, I would let everyone know I will be scheduling individual meetings with everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, to make an introduction and start to get to know them. Whether in-person or virtual, I would like to get ahead of getting to know them. If in person, I will buy them a (insert favorite beverage here) or lunch. These meetings would be with everyone – the Product Owner, Dev Team, and people who are outside of the Scrum team but are related, including stakeholders, leadership, users, customers, janitors, et. al.! I have always found getting to know someone, especially in person, in advance of any issues is always best.

It's Good to Dream

As I revisit this, I realize I may never actually put this plan into action. Where it has been almost 5 years since I started on my “Agile journey” it has been mostly a trip in virtual reality. The catalyst for this was the directive at my job to become an Agile organization, so I went all-in. Perhaps it’s luck, fate or some other term I don’t need to dwell on now, but I have never truly put my own course of study into action in the role of a Scrum Master. And at this point with my evolving job, I may not have that opportunity. Though one should never say never, what I have learned is still valuable to me and I don’t have any reservations on my career journey.

Deconstructing Becoming a Scrum Master

Every journey begins – and continues – with one step. Starting out on the right foot, stable and strong, all the while managing each step as best as possible, helps you and your team succeed. This is especially important for Scrum Masters, especially as they have come under higher industry scrutiny as of late. Where I myself may not execute this plan, I put it out there for others to consider, and I welcome feedback as to how it worked for them.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but what about by its title? When I recently learned about the book Younger Next Year I was clearly intrigued. With all going on in my own life with my health, I just had to take a look at this book. So I bought a copy and made it a priority to read it cover-to-cover.

The copy I acquired was the latest version of Younger Next Year, which was the 15th anniversary edition (clearly I was late to the game on this book and its universe, but I digress). It was written by patient/doctor duo Chris Crowley and Dr. Henry Lodge, and new to this edition were passages on brain health by neurosurgeon Dr. Alan Hamilton.

Younger Next Year is a book geared for men by men, talking about being men getting older. It’s written in a conversational style one would expect from guys talking to each other while sitting in the stands at game or at a local watering hole. Chapters alternate between Crowley and Dr. Lodge, where the former talks in more general terms and the latter provides the medical wisdom and science behind the former. Right out of the gate this format worked for me.

So was Younger Next Year all style and no substance? Hardly, as you can see from a paired down list of my key takeaways from it.

Workout Hard 6 Days a Week – This is pounded through the book, and when not directly stated over and over again it is implied. We not only need to keep moving, but moving to the point we are sweating, gaining muscle, keeping flexible and so on. It’s something I knew as our bodies, which really haven’t evolved much since the caveman and cavewoman days, are not designed to be sedentary. Where I know I need to do this more often, I wish I could. To aid the effort I joined a gym. After a good start I have not kept it up… he types as guilt falls over him.

What We Eat Is Equally Important – This is something I have known and been practicing for years and especially in the last one. You can’t purely exercise weight off. Garbage-in, garbage-out as we say in the computer world applies to our bodies and we’re soaking in ultra-processed, over-engineered stuff to consume that is passed off with clever marketing as food. By eating real food and intermittent fasting I have lost 60 pounds in the last year. As my fellow New Englander Robert Frost said, “… and miles to go before I sleep” and I do have much more to lose. In the meantime I am going to enjoy the extra room I have in an airplane seat among other benefits.

You Can’t Do It Alone – We are warm-blooded animals that have a limbic brain. When I the authors say alone they don’t just mean being with a partner but close friends and acquaintances as well. I would add to this the “right” doctor that truly is going to help you on your journey. The reality there is whatever doctor is likely out-of-network from your health insurance.

Aging vs. Decaying – Where the former will just happen, something can be done about the latter. Each of these is often mistaken for the other. By following the advice in the book, where you will get older, could your body actually get younger?

The only thing I didn’t like about Younger Next Year is that it could get a little too repetitive. However I get it – they are trying to drive home a point, and it did not distract me from enjoying this book. I highly recommend Younger Next Year for anyone Gen X and older, as well as those just behind us as they will be here sooner than they think. There’s also a woman’s version of the book, and I am interested if any of my female readers read a copy of it.

As for whom I am giving this book to, it is going to a good friend who is not too far behind me in years and should know well about the idea of vigorous exercise. It will be good timing to send to him as he has been getting self-reflective lately.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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So I have more five dollar bills in my wallet these days.

Why? The genesis for this was not having smaller bills on me and as a result costing me more than I hoped when tipping on a recent trip to Chicago. I was staying at a nicer hotel and at almost every turn there was someone to tip. As most ATMs today just give $20 dollar bills, that was all I had. Needless to say it made me look like a really generous guy.

Inflation Hits Gratuity

With the prices of everything going up over the last several years, restaurants have not been immune from this. It is evident in not only the menu prices being higher, but the suggestions for what to tip the wait staff are right up there too. You know those “tipping tables” you see at the bottom of your bill, the ones that list percentages and the dollar amounts to make it “easier” for you to tip? In the past they would likely offer 15% and 20%, and maybe sometimes 25%. These days I am seeing them starting at 18% and sometimes going as high as 30%! That, and more restaurants are automatically adding a tip on parties larger than 4 plus that tipping table too. Clearly restaurant staff are being hit by inflation like the rest of this, and with the overall check being higher, many diners are likely not tipping as they used to.

Thus I started carrying fives on me. Doing so was made easier by my new bank’s ATMs offering $5 bills along with $20 and even $1 bills – it also offers $100 bills as well and, though a popular thing to carry on you in Wisconsin I pass on those, but I digress. It allows me to tip appropriately, as well as not look too cheap by handing someone simply a one-dollar bill.

Making It Real

Carrying more cash on me has been something I have actually been doing for a while. From every expense you make being tracked to ginormous bank statements listing those very transactions to having had a few attempts of hacking of my bank accounts in recent years, by using cash more reduces all of this. Not to mention some merchants are passing along to their customers their credit card fees. Several local gas stations are offering cash prices up to 5 cents off a gallon. With filling up 2 cars every week, this adds up quickly, and I’ll take the reduced cost of anything anywhere I can. Even though the stands at the farmers market take cards and accept payments from mobile apps like Venmo, they are always appreciative to take old-fashioned fiat currency.

Deconstructing Carrying Fives

When it comes to inflation we often feel powerless to merely succumbing to it. By carrying five dollar bills on me it is attempt to counter this wave. Seeing cash actually leaving your wallet makes you think about what you are doing with that money, more than a piece of plastic or QR code ever will. By placing a bill in a tip jar or someone’s hand makes the acknowledgement of gratuity more real. One $5 is easier than fishing a couple of ones from your wallet and makes a little more generous statement without going over the top.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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You see them everywhere, well at least I do. They are usually together, in a collection on a rack or shelf at a bookstore, department store and always at airport gift shops. The titles are somewhat catchy and who created them are familiar because you have seen them before, even if you don’t have first-hand familiarity with them. If it wasn’t for me getting one of these for Christmas last year. I probably would’ve never entered their world, or at least this soon.

What am I talking about? Where the technical term may be non-fiction novels, I refer to them as “big” novels – stories written by authors who have written many books over the years, and when I mean many I mean in the dozens. Thanks to that gift from my Mother-in-law, I am now proud to say I have read a “big” novel.

My entry into this universe is A Time for Mercy by John Grisham. I was eager to read this because I was always curious to read Grisham, but also because it took an awful lot of room on my already burgeoning bookshelf. It seemed like a good book to take on the road, and when we recently took a family trip – no less on an airline that had no Wi-Fi – this was the perfect opportunity to disconnect from the world and connect with this story.

A Time for Mercy is the fictional tale of a murder case taken on by Jake Brigance, a lawyer in a small Mississippi town in the 1990’s. Grisham himself was a lawyer, I found out afterwards, and this explains its extensive yet enjoyable-to-read detail. So would I have takeaways from such a tale? But of course.

Great storytelling – From the moment of take-off to throughout the trip and to the flight home, I really enjoyed it. This was perfect escape from me and helped me relax while on vacation (I know, me!). There was great storytelling throughout its 400 pages and it was a very compelling read.

Doing the work can make for good reading too – Many times when you take in a story, especially a legal one, it never gets into the grunt work that goes on behind the scenes leading to the main dramatic events. In A Time for Mercy there was sufficient detail of this mundane work woven throughout it. I found it not only important to how the story unfolded but refreshing. Over this same time period my family was binge watching the TV show Suits, which is a perfect example of just the opposite – drama without the detail.

Need to mix in more books from other “big” authors – Fortunately my wife has some of these books on her nightstand so when I get through the myriad on my own bookshelf, I may borrow one or several from her.

A Time for Mercy was an enjoyable read and recommend it to anyone looking for a thematic escape. Even if you are not into legal tales, this tells a good story of those impacted by the case, in and out of the court room. Eager to give this one away due to its size, I sent it to my cousin along with a coffee mug and Starbucks gift card, and my hopes he gets an enjoyable escape when he reads it as I did.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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