Subject in the Almanac Index
Work & Career
Professional life, productivity, meetings, roles, and careers.
The Pre-Mortem Protocol: Engineering the Failure Out
The pre-mortem protocol Optimism helps a project begin. It can also prevent a team from naming the weaknesses in its plan.
The Social Proof Trap: Validation vs. Velocity
Other people can provide reassurance when uncertainty makes solitary judgment difficult. That reassurance is not necessarily false.
The Red Phone Protocol: Why "ASAP" is a Sign of Incompetence
When every request is marked urgent, the label stops helping people decide what should interrupt their work.
Passion sometimes follows practice
“Do what you love” has never been sufficient career advice for me.
The Vampire Rule: Why 90% of Meetings Are Theft
Corporate culture has normalized a crime: The Theft of Focus. If a stranger walked into your office and stole your laptop for an hour, you would call security.
The Integrity Ledger: Your Calendar is Your Credibility
The loudest thing you ever say is not spoken; it is scheduled. We all have a "Moral Narrative": the story we tell the world (and ourselves) about who we are.
The Experience Fallacy: Why Your Resumé is a Liability.
There is a disturbing trend in hiring and leadership. We value "Seniority" (Time Served) over "Adaptability" (Rate of Learning).
The Value-Capture Protocol: Why Effort is the Wrong Metric
The most common lie in the professional world is that "Hard Work" leads to "Higher Pay." If effort were the primary driver of income, the construction worker would be a billionaire and the hedge fund manager would be broke.
The Ritual of Presence: Moving Beyond the Schedule
A calendar divides time, but it does not have to divide the self.
Seven Things I Wish I Had Known When Starting Out as a ScrumMaster
Historical anchor: May 16, 2012. Republished with a present-day author's note on August 30, 2026.
The Entropy of Synchronicity
In 2008, I was trying to understand what made a meeting useful. I focused on commitment, integrity, reason, and the conditions around the conversation.