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The Setup

March 30, 2015 By Being, Bowen One Comment

From time to time, I’ve made notes about my working set up, noticing that things change a lot over the years.  Inspired by my friend Peter Rukavina, but with substantially less detail, here is my current set up.

Infrastructure

My office is located in a dormer on the upper floor which faces south and is surrounded on three sides by windows.  to the west I can see the Queen Charlotte Channel, the waterway that separates Bowen Island from West Vancouver.  To the west is the forested slopes of Mount Collins, and in front below me are my neighbours in the Seven Hills neighbourhood of Bowen island.  In the dsitance Apodaca Ridge rises on the other side of Snug Cove.

I have a standing desk and an Ikea stool that i occasionally rest on.  Our internet comes through Shaw, a switch I made this week after months of deep disappointment in the service levels and technical assistance of Telus.

Hardware

My workhorse is a mid-2013 MacBook Air and a 1Tb Seagate external drive for back up and file storage.  I have an iPad 2 which I mostly use for reading magazines at breakfast, and as a cook book for cooking.  I have an iPhone 5c and a Kindle Paperwhite for reading.  I have gone back to taking notes in a Moleskine and photographing them for posterity.

Things get printed on a wireless Canon printer.

An old iPhone 4 sitting on a Bose system provides high quality tunes and I have a set of Bose headphones for serious listening in the evening.

Elsewhere in the house we have a XBox and an iMac, both of which are used for Netflix viewing and gaming.

Desktop software

Everything runs through Evernote.  To do lists, meeting notes, web bookmarks, pdf’s, articles and blog drafts.  Evernote is my word processor, where I compose the first drafts of anything I’m working on and is my brain.  If I need information I check there first to see if what I’m looking for is something I’ve forgotten.  Next to that Safari, MacMail iCal and Skype are my most used desktop applications.  Itunes of course for music and podcasts.

Web software

Mostly I’m off google these days with two exceptions.  Many of my colleagues and my partner use Google Docs and I run my mail through Gmail mostly for the great spam filtering ability.  I rarely use the web interface for Gmail, but am grateful for it when the laptop fails.  Dropbox is my file storage system, containing a complete backup of everything I am working on, synched to my devices.  I use WordPress on my main web site and Blogger for Bowen Island Journal.  Lately we’ve been using Weebly for quick and dirty site set up and we’ll probably be relaunching our corporate site on Weebly as well.  Inreader is my current feedreader on both the Mac and the iPhone.

Phone software

I’m a heavy smartphone user.  When I was a kid I dreamed of owning the eponymous device from the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and when I got my first iPhone I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.  Apps that get heavy time there include:

  • Mail
  • Calendar
  • Twitter
  • iTunes
  • Accuweather
  • Podcasts
  • Sticher
  • CBC Radio
  • Songza
  • Genius Scan

I’m still trying to decide what to do with my photos.  Currently they are automatically uploaded to DropBox and I periodically go through them and cull, saving the best ones in nine different folders where I have a collection of pictures of family, friends, Bowen Island, and some of the adventures I get up to, sorted by year.  I am wanting to keep these more in the spirit of how we held onto photos in the old days, and have an intention to print these out for safe keeping as hard copies.

Social infrastructure

I get out everyday here on Bowen.  Regular morning espresso at The Snug, and lunches at Rustiquie, The Snug or Artisan Eats.  Sometimes I bring my laptop and work through email.  At some point I like to get out for a walk or a paddle.  I like to end my day when I can with something marking a threshold.  Sometimes this is an hour of contemplation and meditation at Rivendell, a pint at the pub or a walk with my partner around the lake here on the island.  I try not to work evenings when I’m home, saving that time for cooking, hanging out with the family or socializing with friends.  I exercise by walking and hiking, and it’s no trouble for me to walk the two miles round trip to thew Ruddy Potato for fresh food for dinner.  I’ve been trying to travel less the last few years and making the most of my time when I’m here at home is important to me.

I love working from home and working as a consultant, but I do miss having a regular schedule.  I play in a local co-ed soccer league and sing with a couple of choirs as well as making music with friends when I can.  I find myself too often turning down invitations because I’m travelling or working, and have to work hard to limit my commitments.  Recently I’ve been appointed to out local Economic Development Committee so that is where I am putting my volunteer attention these days.

The only regular commitment I have in Vancouver is to the Vancouver Whitecaps FC, with whom I have been a season’s ticket holder for four years and a dedicated member of the Southsiders supporters group.  Otherwise I try not to leave here unless someone else picks up my ferry fare.

That’s the set up.  It all makes my work possible. What’s yours?

Understanding where you are, not where you think you are: some tips and a process

March 25, 2015 By Art of Harvesting, Art of Hosting, Collaboration, Complexity, Design, Emergence, Evaluation, Facilitation, Featured, Learning, Organization, Stories 3 Comments

A couple of good blog posts in my feed this morning that provoked some thinking.  These quotes reminded me how much evaluation and planning is directed towards goals, targets and patterns that cause us to look for data that supports what we want to see rather than learning what the data is telling us about what’s really going on.  These helped me to reflect on a conversation I had with a client yesterday, where we designed a process for dealing with this.

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One wonders….

March 18, 2015 By Uncategorized 5 Comments

From a piece of unsolicited email I got this morning comes an absolutely exquisite piece of writing.  I’m sure this makes sense in some contexts, but it is reason number one why you should not have your all star business analyst write marketing copy:

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The Taoist farmer and SWOT analysis

March 11, 2015 By Complexity

Do you know the story of the Taoist farmer and his son?

There once was a Taoist farmer. One day the Taoist farmer’s only horse broke out of the corral and ran away. The farmer’s neighbors, all hearing of the horse running away, came to the Taoist farmer’s house to view the corral. As they stood there, the neighbors all said, “Oh what bad luck!” The Taoist farmer replied, “Maybe.”

About a week later, the horse returned, bringing with it a whole herd of wild horses, which the Taoist farmer and his son quickly corralled. The neighbors, hearing of the corralling of the horses, came to see for themselves. As they stood there looking at the corral filled with horses, the neighbors said, “Oh what good luck!” The Taoist farmer replied, “Maybe.”

A couple of weeks later, the Taoist farmer’s son’s leg was badly broken when he was thrown from a horse he was trying to break. A few days later the broken leg became infected and the son became delirious with fever. The neighbors, all hearing of the incident, came to see the son. As they stood there, the neighbors said, “Oh what bad luck!” The Taoist farmer replied, “Maybe.”

At that same time in China, there was a war going on between two rival warlords. The warlord of the Taoist farmer’s village was involved in this war. In need of more soldiers, he sent one of his captains to the village to conscript young men to fight in the war. When the captain came to take the Taoist farmer’s son he found a young man with a broken leg who was delirious with fever. Knowing there was no way the son could fight, the captain left him there. A few days later, the son’s fever broke. The neighbors, hearing of the son’s not being taken to fight in the war and of his return to good health, all came to see him. As they stood there, each one said, “Oh what good luck!” The Taoist farmer replied, “Maybe.”

This morning I was in a conversation about SWOT analysis and strategic planning. I told this story as an example of why SWOT analysis has extremely limited application to planning.  Contexts change so fast that what was a threat one moment is an opoortunity the next.  What seems to be a weakness can become a strength.

I think SWOT analysis might apply in situations of extreme complexity, right close to a crisis situation.  You need to do a quick assessment of where you are in order to act.  Beyond that though it becomes dangerous to rely on an assessment that was accurate in one context but is useless when the context changes.

I don’t know why or how this became a key part of strategic planning, especially in non-profits, but it’s probably time to retire it in favour of better sense making and strategy.

This morning’s dialogue poem

March 10, 2015 By Art of Hosting, Poetry

The four fold practice meeting the Diné healthy communities framework

The four fold practice meets the Diné healthy communities framework

Harvest from a three hour check in circle this morning, building a social field among 40 health promotion practitioners from across the Navajo Nation.  The circle was at times tender and wickedly funny.  It built a beautiful field to begin our three day training.  Here’s the poem:

Yá’a tééh! It’s a good day.
I am here for the wellness of our nations;
we have stationed ourselves inside our families
where we teach and learn
reach each parent and turn around
their minds to a kind of space
that is safe to face
what flies over our heads
as we sit on our sheepskins
and keep the teachings in the home.
It’s a warm feeling, healing even
to be basking in being hosted
with a ticker that ticks and keeps on giving
and my Converse laced up and I’m ready for living
I love growing the food my family is eating
preventing cancer and diabetes
whispering the secret of healthy people
teaching through recreation and schools
reaching youth so they don’t act like fools
and see peace and respect as cool.
I work in recovery which is a kind of discovery
for the men coming back to us from the pen
bringing them back to the traditional life
to be in harmony, connected to family
receiving the gifts of community and ceremony
to counter the drama of trauma
“Lying in the road hurt” means that my work is about healing
getting up and feeling the body
feeling the advocacy that I speak
fixed by the gaze of a grazing sheep
that reminds me of my grandmother’s teaching:
this is the way that it has to be
to spread my wings and see
how I can develop me and then how we can move forward
to see possibility and leave our conversations happy.
I start with myself, and build out from there
circles of care that come from the sheepskin,
the ancient wisdom, and tools that help us weave
the stories that leave us tightly bound.
Tighten up your buns, there’s work to be done,
Doesn’t matter if it’s your hair or your derriere.
And take a look and make sure your corn beef is cooked.
I am a believer in hope and change
for a positive exchange of the art of the heart
grounding in respect so we can expect
to find out why place matters.
I help to bring wholeness with a focus on food
a wholesome and fullsome way to collude
with kids and youth who pick up the positive attitude
that comes from our culture
harmonize our bodies and our eyes.
I’m a traveller, an unraveller of
unhealthy ways, weaving teachings about how to raise
communities, raise gardens and harvest our best
bring our heart to everything we do
deal with our fears so we can be here
present to what wants to appear
with minds clear.
I’m a first generation relocation baby
thinking maybe I have a giftedness that will lift the people
bring them to fitness
and give back what I have learned on this ride
to see pride inside everyone in our tribes.
It all comes down to helping others
coaching kids, approaching mothers and grandmothers
who share their respect with us
I’m from the beach boys
and a blond haired grandma and traditional speakers
who infused in me a possibility
to change the dysfunction I see, conversationally,
for the benefit of the community, to support the wellness that starts from me.
We know our own patterns and carry them in our blood
transport them everywhere flood of memories
leaving this world better than how we found it
better harmony, better family.
I might be out of words.
Overwhelmed at everything I’ve heard
and here to hear with my ears and heart
to get a head start on addressing the fears
Here, I can see where my prayers are going,
and what has come to my knowing,
my leadership is calling me back
and I can see that I stack up.
The talking happens at the rug,
drawing people into the snug corner of the home
where we share the honest lessons we have learned
pray the prayers that burn in our hearts.
All over the world, we understand weaving
(even though our sweater doesn’t meet five days from leaving)
each one of us is teaching in this room
each one bringing our strands to the loom.
I work in the struggle
creating the space where families can face their challenges
with something as simple as reading
or as powerful as seeking out the strengths
or going to great lengths
to build leaders who feed their own learning
turning back to the language and values.
I am related to the world my relations unfurled
like a ball of yarn that leads us to our tools
a school of weaving leaving us loved and moved
coming back to what was lost
as we chased a living across the south
now I’m getting the language in my mouth
and find myself at a junction
where I support functional community
and do the work of spirit.
Yá’a tééh! It’s a good day.
and good to start in a beautiful way.