Author Archives: philipp68

To see the whole, we need to forget about the parts

September 16, 2012 by philipp68

All we hear, see, smell, taste or feel is analyzed by our mind. It makes an incredible job in creating an amazingly detailed description of everything we experience. We call this description reality. What we keep forgetting is that we only experience a fraction of the whole. Our mind tends to focus on what we already know, because the unknown gives us a fuzzy feeling. To put together the broken jewel of wisdom we have to learn how to stitch […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Intuition, Modern Workplace, Wisdom

Dear Robots: It’s time to take your helmets off

August 25, 2012 by philipp68

Many years ago my father gave me the book “The Star Diaries” by Stanislaw Lem. The book is a collection of the incredible voyages of space traveller Ijon Tichy. It was one of my first science fiction novels. I loved it. The eleventh voyage is a parable of living in a country, where everybody upholds the official ideology no one actually believes in. Having grown up in the “Peoples Republic of Poland” Lem knew, what he was talking about. As […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Action, Bhagavad Gita, Illusion, Modern Workplace

A process can never teach us patience

August 12, 2012 by philipp68

Where does this fascination for processes come from? I think processes can be beneficial, but at the same time inhibit our ability to deal with the often-chaotic “reality”. By wrapping “reality” in a process we hope to stay in control, reduce the complexity of the world. We hope that the process will serve as a guide and tell us how to interact in a group. Instead of trying to stay calm, interacting freely with the people around us to solve […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Compassion, Illusion, Modern Workplace, Process

The meeting room: an opportunity to learn and teach

August 1, 2012 by philipp68

Participating in meetings or steering boards of a larger cooperation or committee can be a source of frustration and anger. The leaders on the board are disappointed because their expectations are not met and the experts are frustrated because the leaders don’t seem to understand most of the things they are trying to explain. Truth is, most difficult problems can only be solved with the help of both strong leaders and brilliant experts. It’s time for both sides to learn […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Action, Experts, Leaders, Meetings, Modern Workplace, Teaching

Monkey Business: Did you ever get soaked, while trying to grab a Banana?

July 22, 2012 by philipp68

In 1967 G. R. Stephenson conducted an experiment with a group of rhesus monkeys. The experiment shows how we acquire behavior. I think studying the way the experiment was conduced shows something else: It shows that monkeys would never have acted the way they did, if they had been left alone to live their life in peace. I believe the natural state of monkeys and humans is to be good. It’s the experiments, which drive us crazy. The experiment went […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Buddhism, Compassion, Heart, Illusion

Merit or Duty Part 2: Breaking out of the imaginary caste system at work

July 13, 2012 by philipp68

In the last post I briefly outlined how believing in “merit” shapes the way we look at the world. How the moment we start comparing ourselves with the people around us can create a deep sense of anxiety. What if we would believe in our dharma, our duty? Would this help to look at work and life with more compassion? Be more forgiving towards us, if things don’t turn out as expected? Let’s find out. Dharma can be understood as […]

Categories: Bhagavad Gita, Life & Work • Tags: Bhagavad Gita, Dharma, Heart, Meritocracy

Merit or Duty Part 1: What will make us happier?

July 10, 2012 by philipp68

In the next two posts I would like to compare two completely different preconceptions how we look at life and work. One is a western ideal, meritocracy. The other is one of the fundaments of Hinduism and Buddhism, dharma. I believe that understanding both these concepts in context is important, in order to benefit from both western and eastern wisdom. My hope being, that this understanding can bring you some peace of mind, when struggling at work. Let’s start with […]

Categories: Bhagavad Gita, Life & Work • Tags: Bhagavad Gita, Dharma, Meritocracy

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The Bhagavad Gita Part 3: The Art of Action

July 4, 2012 by philipp68

The last post ended with the mental image of the “battlefield of life”. On one side the strong army of negativity, on the other the fighters for positivity. We in the middle, afraid that we might loose the battle, that things could turn out even worse than they feel at the moment. The drawing above represents the moment the battle starts. A moment on the journey of life, hesitating to take the next step. Looking back, remembering past experiences, constructing […]

Categories: Bhagavad Gita, Life & Work • Tags: Action, Bhagavad Gita, Body, Compassion, Decision, Heart, Wisdom

The Bhagavad Gita Part 2: What types of Actions exist?

June 25, 2012 by philipp68

To understand how to take difficult decisions and engage in all type of actions with a positive attitude, we first have to understand what the Gita means by action. My reflections are primarily based on notes I took during a reading of the Bhagavad Gita by Andrea Boni. I scribbled, abstracted, combined Andrea’s passionate words with my thoughts and experiences. Thank you so much, Andrea! The Gita is a poetic text. I apologize if during my attempt to apply its […]

Categories: Bhagavad Gita, Life & Work • Tags: Action, Bhagavad Gita, Decision

The Bhagavad Gita Part 1: Facing a difficult Decision?

June 12, 2012 by philipp68

This is the first of a series of posts, where I would like to explore how an ancient text like the Bhagavad Gita can help us taking overdue decisions and engaging in action. I use the example of decision making, because in life and at work we often hesitate to take decisions, especially if a decisions leads to actions we would like to avoid. We act a little bit like Arjuna, the hero of the Gita, in the opening of […]

Categories: Bhagavad Gita, Life & Work • Tags: Action, Bhagavad Gita, Body, Decision, Dharma, Heart, Intuition, Mind, Wisdom

Is Technology part of Nature?

May 22, 2012 by philipp68

According to the dictionary one of the definitions of nature is: A creative and controlling force in the universe. When I think about nature I certainly think about all the plants and animals, the whole ecosystem on planet earth. But what about my mobile phone? Is my iPhone part of nature? Is it part of the ecosystem we life in? Here a small story I made up to contemplate this silly question: Once upon a time lived Roxie. An open […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Compassion, Ecosystem, Nature, Technology

A Lack of Appreciation

May 18, 2012 by philipp68

Ever felt frustrated because you don’t get enough appreciation at work for what you do? You are not alone. Did it ever happen to you that you invest all your energy into your work, create something beautiful, something you are proud of and then receive no or only negative feedback? It seems to be a common illness of this world, especially the corporate world. As kids we doodle something and our parents say: “Wonderful, nice colors, incredible, you will be […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Appreciation, Compassion, Heart, Wisdom

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It’s all in the DETAILS

May 8, 2012 by philipp68

Want to dramatically boost the user experience of your systems? Ban the word DETAIL from your vocabulary. Why? Your interaction designer will call the ingenuity in a particular beautiful piece of code a detail. Your software architect will call the beautiful shading of the buttons a detail. Your project leader will call your daily interactions with your colleagues a detail. Your CEO might call everything EXCEPT the stock price a detail. What do YOU call a detail? There is nothing […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: IAD, Interaction Designer, User Experience

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It’s not HOW you do it, it’s WHY you do it!

May 6, 2012 by philipp68

A great user experience does not come from the perfect process, it comes from the right attitude I often ask myself why some teams seem to produce better results while having more fun on the way. The other day, while listening to a wise Sadhu in “Enlightened Up!” I had an epiphany: “It’s not how you do it, it’s why you do it!” That’s the whole secret. Let me explain. Imagine you are in the process of developing a new […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Interaction Design, Usability, User Experience, Wisdom

The Middle Way

May 6, 2012 by philipp68

How Siddhartha can help you to find the middle path between agile and waterfall development philosophies Three years ago my wife, a good friend and myself travelled for the first time to India. On my iPhone the audiobook “Siddhartha” from Herman Hesse, my parents had given to me for my 40 birthday. I was both shocked and fascinated by this incredible country. On the train ride from Goa to Mumbai I was listening to the wonderful story of Siddhartha Gautama, […]

Categories: Agile, Life & Work, Waterfall

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