Modern work key characteristics and their impact on people's values and feelings

For most of my professional life I've been working for a large global organization that, in my opinion, is an excellent example of today’s modern way of work. Themes like team work, collaboration, change, the upsides of taking risks, re-engineering, network-based organization, flexibility, short-term results, etc. are all very familiar to me. I in fact live surrounded by constant positive messages about them and about how important they are for all of us to succeed in our jobs.

A few weeks ago I came across a book that, like so many others in my house, has been sitting idle on a shelf for years: TheCorrosion of Character by Richard Sennet. This book was published in 1998 and when I started reading it I though “maybe after all these years whatever I find here is going to be outdated”. Well, I was wrong.

What I’ve liked most about the book is that it gives context and structure to these themes of modern work I’m so familiar with. He is however not so optimistic about them…through numerous examples or real life situations and personal interviews he explains the downside of modern work characteristics and their negative effects on people’s values, people’s sense of achievement (or, even more, failure) or people’s commitment.

Sennet’s book is not overly optimistic. I really want to think that many organizations, like the one I work for, do make a genuine effort to avoid or minimize some of the risks he points out. After reading the book, though, I can more clearly see organizations and individuals alike have a great challenge ahead to balance mutual needs and overcome the issues and the risks of today’s ever changing work’s demands.

Summer Reads

Summer vacation is a wonderful time to spend discovering new places, doing a little exercise and resting from it with some entertaining book in my hands. And this is pretty much how I spent it this year.

I began this year with a few novels written in my mother tongue, usually this means I can read more, faster and effortlessly. Not this time though. After the third book, that - ironically - I had found somewhat violent, I decided to switch gears and try something different: a crime fiction novel.

“The Bat” is the first of Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series. I picked the book on impulse, without knowing anything about it or its author. Harry Hole is a somewhat unorthodox and alcoholic police officer that, of course, resolves the crime and makes the murderer pay for it.

Jo Nesbo is an Scandinavian author. One reason I picked his book is that I made a mental association between him and another Scandinavian that became extremely popular around 2005 with his Millennium Trilogy (Stieg Larsson). Strangely enough, I enjoyed Lisbeth Salander’s stories very much (so much for non-violence!). A pity Mr. Larsson did not live to enjoy his success.

Mr. Nesbo has lived to enjoy his success though and has continued to work to extend it further. "The Bat" is an entertaining story, plenty of very troubled characters that have to live with themselves every day and do so with different degrees of success. I guess this is definitely an ingredient that helps readers to connect with the book and the characters. Yet, I’m still not sure why the Harry Hole’s series (more than ten novels, I believe) have become as popular as it seems they have: maybe I should pick up another one soon and see what other cases await for Harry to resolve.

 

Senderismo en Chamonix

En los últimos años viene siendo una costumbre que mi marido y yo dediquemos una semana de vacaciones a hacer actividades de senderismo. Este año el escenario elegido ha sido de excepción: el Valle de Chamonix, en los Alpes franceses.

Chamonix desde la parte superior de L'Aiguille du Midi (+3,800 m)

Han sido seis días de caminar, sin faltar ninguno, con lluvia y niebla o con sol, lo que tocase. El valle es profundo, a ambos lados montañas de altura considerable, especialmente las situadas al sur, en el macizo del Mont Blanc, con varios picos que superan de largo los 4,000 m de altitud. Los paseos han sido sencillos, con desniveles positivos por debajo de 1,000 m y negativos poco más exigentes. A este ritmo, de buena gana hubiera seguido unos días más (muchos).

Está claro que la explotación del valle está en la base de la economía de esta zona de la Alta Saboya; la infrastructura de accesos a la montaña es realmente impresionante, y está muy cuidada. El entorno natural es simplemente precioso: nieves perpetuas en las cimas, glaciares en retroceso pero todavía de longitud consideranble, bosques, prados, cascadas, rios...

Mi afición por el senderismo y la montaña cada año va en aumento; en escenarios como éste, y en compañía de las personas con las que he viajado, espero seguir practicando este deporte durante mucho tiempo más.

Fotos: dia 1, dia 2, dia 3, dia 4, dia 5, dia 6

Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and a nice example of data visualization

My first - well, second, to be precise - reading of Orwell's work has been "Nineteen Eighty-Four", one of his two most famous novels. He wrote it between 1947 and 1948, towards the end of his rather short life -Orwell died of Tuberculosis in 1950; a sickness that, thankfully, very few years later became curable in many cases. Sick and all, it seems to me that Mr. Orwell possessed a brilliant brain and an enviable gift for putting complex thoughts into simple, clear words with a clear meaning. He had rather strong opinions about the subject of language: read his essay "Politics and the English Language" to see what I mean.   

Orwell imagined a terrifying future for humanity in his "Nineteen Eighty-Four" novel. In 1984 the world is divided in three big nations that are constantly, endlessly at war; where governments are totally authoritarian and untruthful, most of the population barely struggles to survive, there's no freedom even to think and, most terrible, where there is absolutely no hope for a brighter future.

I suppose Orwell, shall he had lived a longer life, would have been glad to see that his imaginary "Nineteen Eighty-Four" did actually not became a reality, at least the scale he envisioned it in his novel.

Unfortunately in today's world there's still war, poverty, ignorance, lack of freedom, hidden agendas, greed for power, brutality...and a long etc. of terrible in-human behaviours and situations that are present in Orwell's novel. In this sense Orwell's message is as actual as ever.

I do not want to finish this post without sharing a video that I happened to visualize while reading "Nineteen Eighty-Four" . Typically, I keep IT-related topics separate from my "out of work" readings, but this time I'll make an exception. The short video embedded below is a powerful and beautiful example of data visualization techniques. It gives us a glimpse into economic and health growth in the last 200 years. Look at the second part of the 20th century: thankfully, the real political and economical situation at the end of the century looked much brighter than that in Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four"! Enjoy the still one-way "telescreen"!

 

Celebrating Three Years as a Certified Project Manager

Almost three years now since I took the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam! And now here I am, happy to share that I have just renewed the certification for another three years!

Early in June 2011 I was encouraged by my employer to become a certified Project Manager. After many years leading different IT projects I was already possessing the necessary experience for the Project Management Institute (PMI) to accept my application. I then become an eager student of the PMBOK Guide and the even more famous Rita's book.

I have to admit that spending my personal time preparing for the exam was not exactly fun, and that at the beginning I was a bit sceptical that I should gain some valuable knowledge. However, as I became more familiar with the project management areas and how they are developed in the PMBOK, I certainly became aware that there was much to learn. I realized how many of the things I was doing in my day to day work were being done in the correct way, and I also understood how others could be improved.

A good thing about the PMP certification is that you have to work to keep it. The certification is only valid for three years, and if you want to renew it you have to keep on learning about this Profession - in addition to pay the fees to the PMI.

So now I've got my renewal for another three years. This means I have to start planning how to gain my next 60 PDUs so I can celebrate another renewal in due course!