Imagine besides the major civics lesson we are having in the United States this week there’s other things going on. Well, perhaps not as important.

Great Reading at a Great Price – On January 1st, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gadsby came out of copyright, which means it can be freely distributed. So another great, Chris Abraham shared the text of the novel on his blog, and I am sharing it with you.

Great Images at a Great Price – I came across Unsplash this week, as I saw an attribution license link to a photo from them. You too can read the license and check out the site for a variety of free and low-cost images.

Some Would Say There’s No Difference – It’s time to play the game that everybody loves, School or Prison! I found this link and didn’t do so well the first time around, much to my dismay.

The Thinking Within Those Walls – Without any additional commentary, I present this survey of students at the University of Wisconsin – Madison on free speech.

Look Away – Have you ever taken the time to read the terms of service for online services, or any software for that matter? One artist decided to print them out for several of the larger one and made an exhibit piece out of them. Reading is of course only one part of this, understanding is another.

Ask Away – This past week I participated in Open Office Hours offered by Headway, an app design and development firm in the area that I have gotten to know and respect. It’s a unique hour session where you can present technical, business and strategy questions and Headway’s CEO Andrew provides his thoughtful insight on them. This giving back to the global community is in addition to their overall contributions to the local tech community.

Business Paradise By The Dashboard – Congrats to my friend Jason Jacobsohn and his Propellant Ventures on their investment in SquareStack a service that integrates the various services a firm uses into a common dashboard. With the growth of the uses of varying third-party services, such a dashboard will be a vital service for firms.

Mi Calendario Su Calendario – I’ve seen a lot of calendar scheduling systems, from doctor’s appointments to professionals making time for clients, and from a user-experience point of view I have found Microsoft Bookings to offer the best from the customer or end-user point of view. It’s part of Microsoft 365 and come with an added cost, but it may be well worth it.

Back to School Giving – What a better combination of starting the new year by going back to school and getting a tax write-off? My daughter’s school teacher, whom she will finally meet in person in a couple of weeks, has a wish list where looking for some books and supplies to compliment her classroom and thank you on advance.

Too Soon? – While setting up an online account this week, I was prompted to enter security questions to verify the account. Where most options are usually the same on every site, one stood out, “where were you when you first heard about 9/11?” That stopped me in my tracks. First, 9/11 is a topic that almost 2 decades later is still sensitive for many people. For many people, you don’t have to guess too hard to find that answer, such as in my past post on remembering 9/11. In any case, take my advice and lie with your answers.

"We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." – E. M. Forster

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

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With the New Year upon us, a lot of annual thoughts are swirling through my head, and one of them is regarding professional training. Last year I became a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) through the Scrum Alliance. As I am thinking of what to take to continue my Scrum training, I am also thinking of where to take it, as the world of Scrum training changed in 2020.

In a departure from my typical posts of offering advice, this time I am seeking it. Please read on and I welcome your thoughts on my training journey.

That Was Then

My decision on the CSM course I did take was relatively straightforward. In discussion with colleagues I was advised the courses and certification from the Scrum Alliance were the most recognized. The other factor was location – I chose the closest course to me, and that was one being offered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I signed up for the April course in February, not knowing what was coming down the pike.

Shortly after the state shutdown order happened in Wisconsin, I got an email from the vendor offering the course that it would still be happening, and they would provide more details. As the date of course drew closer on the horizon, I was concerned with taking what could be a virtual course – no Scrum training to that point was offered online and was always in-person, and that was my preference. Several emails to the vendor went unanswered until I finally got a terse response – the course would be offered virtually, and as it was within the no-refund cancellation window I had no option to change it whatsoever. Cancellation windows were not a consideration when I signed up for it – I was going to take it no matter what, and that included driving the hour from home to the venue.

In the end, it was a great course. The instructor Mike Stuedemann of agilityIRL (a firm separate from the vendor) was very knowledgeable and ran a great virtual 2-day session. The class was composed mostly of people from Wisconsin, plus one from New York and another from Paris, France, which added nicely to the mix. I was well armed to take the certification exam, which I passed and gained the CSM title. Though my preference was still to take the course in a live setting, this was a perfect Plan B.

This is Now

Today most all Scrum training courses continue to be offered virtually. As well, my knowledge of the Scrum community has broadened since I became a member of it, and have learned of other organizations offering the courses, all virtually. Needless to say this opens up a whole potential for taking courses, including ones from Scrum Inc. taught by none other than Dr. Jeff Sutherland, the co-creator of Scrum.

How to Proceed?

With all of these opportunities, I am curious how to proceed. Should I continue taking courses through Scrum Alliance? I have no issues per se with the training I received or the organization as a whole. Or should I look to other organizations that offer the training, like Sutherland’s Scrum Inc. or Scrum.org, a firm led by Ken Schwaber, the other co-creator of Scrum? There are also other firms offering courses and certifications as well.

Does continuing with one firm make more sense? Is looking to other firms a good or bad thing? Are there approaches to the instruction of one better than the other, overall or course-by-course?

The answers to these questions I don’t have, and I am putting this out to the greater community for advice. Where I have seen comparisons of various firms and their courses, I am also interested in the experience of people who have first-hand knowledge.

I welcome your thoughts here in the comments of this blog post, and I thank you in advance.

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

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Agile / Scrum • Technology • (0) Comments • Permalink

Meet the new year, same as the old year? I guess time will tell.

Finally! – Thanks to my friend Craig for reminding me that Adobe Flash is now no longer supported and the software giant urges you to uninstall it from your computer. Flash was/is a technology for displaying content on the Web. It was revolutionary when it first came out and was far from perfect, including the high ability for it to be hacked. But that doesn’t mean it still isn’t out there on Web sites – including corporate Intranets. If what I said is all a blur to you, don’t worry, but if you can’t load a restaurant menu online someday then now you may know why.

Resolution Breakdown – Where paper calendars to change have mostly gone away, making resolutions at the beginning of the new year is still common for many people. Not for me, but if for you, this post by Dan Rockwell on rethinking how you structure resolutions is very insightful. I have been a fan of Rockwell and his blog Leadership Freak for years, and while you’re there check his other to-the-point and insightful writings.

Destiny – I saw a reference online to someone being called an umareli. Who knew my people had a term for what I will eventually be, if I am not partially there already.

Celtics Lost – I was sad to hear that Boston Celtics legendary player, coach and executive KC Green died this week. In reading this I also learned that another similar legend, Tommy Heinsohn, died earlier last year. One thing I will always remember about Green was when, despite his greatness, he was fired by the team when Rick Pitino was hired as coach in the late 90’s. When asked to comment on his firing, he quoted none other than Kermit the Frog saying, “it's not easy being green.” This tweet from another Celtics legend Bill Russell, shows him and Green the last time they got together.

More Of Not If But When – Synthetic identity theft is a thing- . So be diligent out there my friends.

RumChata is made in Wisconsin – Who knew? Clearly I didn’t, did you?

RumContrast – If you check out the RumChata site linked above and scroll down to the bottom, you’ll notice there’s a switch to view the site in “high contrast mode.” I’ve never seen this on a site before – I have seen similar switches to see sites in “dark mode” but this is one I will think about the next time I am working on a redesign.

Symphony of Good Design – Speaking of design, my friend Stefanos wrote a post the other day on LinkedIn comparing good design with music and had my mind not been on vacation I would have engaged with him more on it. Shortly after reading I was subjected to a new and poor user experience, the checkout for the US Postal Service’s Click-N-Ship service.

Another Agile Anniversary – In February there’ll be a live webinar for the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Agile Manifesto. What is that? First you can read the Agile Manifesto here. The signing happened at a gathering of the leaders of agile software development frameworks where they agreed to base principles on what is agile, paving the way for both more people using agile to create software and for many more to resist it.

Alone Together – I just listened to Randy Streu’s podcast mini-series Alone Together which is 4 short monologues recorded back in the late summer. As he only told me about them a few weeks ago I don’t feel bad that I missed it. Of course nobody wants to rehash 2020, but if you like well-written and spoken entertainment, it’s a good use of less than a half hour.

Exclusive Showing – Last week my family and I went to the movies, and where we have gone once or twice since last spring, this was the first time we paid “full price” for tickets, as most other showings were only $1 or some ridiculously low price. Perhaps it was all going on, or it was because we saw Croods 2, but we were the only ones in the theatre. As soon as we got home I got an email from Marcus Theatres, where we saw the film, promoting that you can rent a theatre for a private showing... which was like we just did?

I feel bad for Marcus Corp. – they are a Wisconsin-based company that runs quality movie theatres and manages hotels, and are benefactors to the communities they served. Throughout the pandemic their business has been devastated. They are one of the good ones I hope thrives again soon.

Happy Birthday TJ!

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

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It was 14 years ago today that I fulfilled a singular goal – to launch a blog site before the end of that year 2006. I did so with my first post titled “hello world” in homage to the typical phrase a programmer would display when working in a new computer language. I did it. Goal achieved. Yea me!

It wasn’t until a couple of days later that I wrote my first “real” post on the topic of giving a job reference to a recruiter and the blog took flight from there. Sure, there were gaps and restarts, and we arrive here today with this being the 947th post.

Over the years, but not every year, I wrote similar anniversary posts like this one, as I believe such milestones should be celebrated. If you’re so inclined, you can find links to them all on the Archives page.

In closing there’s not much to deconstruct, overanalyze or predict. I have been working on much more thoughtful posts as compared to at least what’s come out over the last month. I am looking forward to those, as well as whatever else comes to mind to keep with the theme here of striking the iron while it is hot.

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

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‘Tis the season to bring out the best in people, as we close out the year with gift giving and gratitude to all who were part of our lives the previous dozen months. ‘Tis also the season for the exact opposite of that, which is the tale told in the book A Christmas Caroline by Kyle Smith.

This story is a modern take on the holiday classic A Christmas Carol. Here, our protagonist is Caroline, an editor for a fashion magazine in New York City who works hard at being beautiful and making sure everyone knows this. As you might guess, she isn’t exactly a nice person. After being fired after nearly burning down her office after insulting her new boss, Caroline is taken through the traditional Christmases past, present and future and in the end everything works out and then some.

Where my takeaways from fiction are not usually the same as their non-counterpart, I have a few after reading this story.

And then some – Caroline’s journey over Christmas is not just a modernized version of Charles Dickens’ tale, as it has some unique twists and contemporary story lines that may resonate more with readers today. Don’t get me wrong, I love the “original” and have read it and seen it over the years on stage and screen. However accounting in the 1800’s doesn’t quite grab someone as much as 2000’s work and life in New York City.

Holiday struggles – From the “first” story where Mary and Joseph couldn’t find a room in an inn and had to settle for a barn, to Caroline’s realizing there’s more to being a member of society than herself, what’s a Christmas story without struggle? If there is such a story, my guess is I wouldn’t want to read it.

After rereading The Littlest Snowman I looked to find another Christmas story that would be better suited to an older reader, and found A Christmas Caroline. I was drawn to it because of its story, and that its author Kyle Smith graduated from my high school a year before me. Though we were both on our school’s team for a local high school TV quiz show, I doubt he remembers me. Smith has written another book that inspired a TV show and is a columnist for the New York Post and National Review. Go Spartans!

Though the holidays are drawing to a close, I recommend picking up a copy of A Christmas Caroline. It has sharp wit on just about every page and was a nice diversion from holiday shopping. As for what I am going to do with my copy, it’s on its way to my cousin, who I know will enjoy it especially the references to the Big Apple.

Yes, click on this or any link in this post and I earn a few cents if you buy the book.

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

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Book Take-Aways • (0) Comments • Permalink