Wednesday, July 23, 2014
SDCC
SDCC is starting again today. It has been a number of years since i have gone and I miss going. What I really want to do is take my wife and daughter with to SDCC one year so I can share this amazing time with them.
The Start - Take 2
It's been a month since I tried going to the gym and eating healthier. Needless to say that this was an unmitigated failure. I couldn't find the time or the energy to keep going. It was all to easy to come up with excuses about how I had to work or there wasn't enough time. But the truth is that I couldn't be bothered to put in the effort.
But I am trying again. I have started up again this week going to the gym. I am going to try and go on my lunch break, I have noticed that I have more success with that time then in the morning or after work.
I feel more positive about this time since I am working they gym around my schedule. Now with that said if I need to be at work or an emergency happens, the gym comes second.
You can follow my progress on my workout sheet.
But I am trying again. I have started up again this week going to the gym. I am going to try and go on my lunch break, I have noticed that I have more success with that time then in the morning or after work.
I feel more positive about this time since I am working they gym around my schedule. Now with that said if I need to be at work or an emergency happens, the gym comes second.
You can follow my progress on my workout sheet.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Creativity Inc
I just finished Creativity Inc by by It was recommended to me by a colleague at work because he believes that our team can learn from other companies even if they are not in the same industry. I work in the finance industry and I was skeptical that a book about managing a film studio would be useful or interesting. I was very wrong on both assumptions.
Ed Catmull uses the story of Pixar to make his points about managing and helping to create great films. What I found fascinating is that Mr. Catmul used the failures at Pixar to illustrate where they went wrong and how they learned form them but never pointed a finger or placed blame. An example of this is how a couple of films had the directors fired part way through development but did not mention who the people were that got fired.. Beyond the insightful and useful advice Mr. Catmul gives to mangers is the history and story of Pixar itself. To read how some of these entertaining movies got made and how these film changed over time is worth reading this book alone.
Some of the best moments in the book was finding out that the only 2 things that remained from the original pitch of "UP" was the name and the tall bird. One fo the most interesting pieces of trivia about UP was the problem of Charles F. Muntz being a grown man when Carl was a boy but they are the same age when they finally meet in the film. The directors bad the choice to not fix this story issue believing the audience won't notice that Muntz should be over 100 years old. Until the age was pointed out I never noticed the issue because the film was so good.
Another interesting story was when Disney bought Pixar, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter took over Disney Animation. During this time Disney made the Princess and the Frog, Mr. Catmull was told that if the movie had Princess in the title people would think it was just for girls and loose 1/2 of the potential audience. Mr. Catmull didn't follow his own advice and the advice of people that knew better about marketing, and released the film with title he wanted because he was caught up by memory of Walt Disney and believed that people would watch the film anyway. He was wrong. The film did terribly at the box office. But the lessons learned from this experience helped create Tangled which I am sure helped with Frozen too. Both are amazing films that I still watch with my family.
The management lessons from the book was also full of really good insights about working with people and projects. The 2 that made the most impact on me was that married people with family produce differently than single people and they should not be compared. And comparing the output from married people to single is like comparing apples to oranges. The other big quote was that Quality should be THE goal not a goal. Too often the THE goal is a deadline or the budget and quality is a goal. Mr Catmul believes this view hurts the product the employees and the company as the pole working are not doing their best work,
Quotes by ED Catmull
• Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better. If you get the team right, chances are that they’ll get the ideas right.
• Likewise, if someone disagrees with you, there is a reason. Our first job is to understand the reasoning behind their conclusions.• Careful “messaging” to downplay problems makes you appear to be lying, deluded, ignorant, or uncaring. Sharing problems is an act of inclusion that makes employees feel invested in the larger enterprise.
• There is nothing quite as effective, when it comes to shutting down alternative viewpoints, as being convinced you are right.
• Failure isn’t a necessary evil. In fact, it isn’t evil at all. It is a necessary consequence of doing something new.
• Trust doesn’t mean that you trust that someone won’t screw up— it means you trust them even when they do screw up.
• Excellence, quality, and good should be earned words, attributed by others to us, not proclaimed by us about ourselves.
• Don’t confuse the process with the goal. Working on our processes to make them better, easier, and more efficient is an indispensable activity and something we should continually work on— but it is not the goal. Making the product great is the goal
Ed Catmull uses the story of Pixar to make his points about managing and helping to create great films. What I found fascinating is that Mr. Catmul used the failures at Pixar to illustrate where they went wrong and how they learned form them but never pointed a finger or placed blame. An example of this is how a couple of films had the directors fired part way through development but did not mention who the people were that got fired.. Beyond the insightful and useful advice Mr. Catmul gives to mangers is the history and story of Pixar itself. To read how some of these entertaining movies got made and how these film changed over time is worth reading this book alone.
Some of the best moments in the book was finding out that the only 2 things that remained from the original pitch of "UP" was the name and the tall bird. One fo the most interesting pieces of trivia about UP was the problem of Charles F. Muntz being a grown man when Carl was a boy but they are the same age when they finally meet in the film. The directors bad the choice to not fix this story issue believing the audience won't notice that Muntz should be over 100 years old. Until the age was pointed out I never noticed the issue because the film was so good.
Another interesting story was when Disney bought Pixar, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter took over Disney Animation. During this time Disney made the Princess and the Frog, Mr. Catmull was told that if the movie had Princess in the title people would think it was just for girls and loose 1/2 of the potential audience. Mr. Catmull didn't follow his own advice and the advice of people that knew better about marketing, and released the film with title he wanted because he was caught up by memory of Walt Disney and believed that people would watch the film anyway. He was wrong. The film did terribly at the box office. But the lessons learned from this experience helped create Tangled which I am sure helped with Frozen too. Both are amazing films that I still watch with my family.
The management lessons from the book was also full of really good insights about working with people and projects. The 2 that made the most impact on me was that married people with family produce differently than single people and they should not be compared. And comparing the output from married people to single is like comparing apples to oranges. The other big quote was that Quality should be THE goal not a goal. Too often the THE goal is a deadline or the budget and quality is a goal. Mr Catmul believes this view hurts the product the employees and the company as the pole working are not doing their best work,
Quotes by ED Catmull
• Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better. If you get the team right, chances are that they’ll get the ideas right.
• Likewise, if someone disagrees with you, there is a reason. Our first job is to understand the reasoning behind their conclusions.• Careful “messaging” to downplay problems makes you appear to be lying, deluded, ignorant, or uncaring. Sharing problems is an act of inclusion that makes employees feel invested in the larger enterprise.
• There is nothing quite as effective, when it comes to shutting down alternative viewpoints, as being convinced you are right.
• Failure isn’t a necessary evil. In fact, it isn’t evil at all. It is a necessary consequence of doing something new.
• Trust doesn’t mean that you trust that someone won’t screw up— it means you trust them even when they do screw up.
• Excellence, quality, and good should be earned words, attributed by others to us, not proclaimed by us about ourselves.
• Don’t confuse the process with the goal. Working on our processes to make them better, easier, and more efficient is an indispensable activity and something we should continually work on— but it is not the goal. Making the product great is the goal
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
The First Day
Yesterday was the first day for this fitness kick. The good news is that I was able to get to the gym before work. The bad news is that my diet still sucks. I was so tired after work that just grabbed some take out on the way home. I need to get out of this habit if i am going to make any lasting change.
So I would say am off to an average start, not bad or good.
So I would say am off to an average start, not bad or good.
The Beginning and The Challenge.
I am a Husband, Dad, Gamer and a Geek, labels I am proud to use and wear. I am also overweight.
This is not a I have know that I need to loose weight for a long time but I have such a hard time finding the to time to go to the gym and eat healthier. Anyone who is a parent/husband understands that you put your family first, add to this balancing a career, you have no time to to look after yourself. If you add the expense of raising a child on top of this is, eating healthy and getting to the gym to workout is incredibly difficult.
My wife and I always put our daughter first, this includes making sure she eats right and is healthy and happy. When we have time eat what ever we can find. This means we eat a lot of take out or unhealthy prepared meals.
AS I mentioned before my wife and I are games/geeks too. We find games an excellent way to relieve stress and relax. So i am in constant struggle to choose between relaxing or getting of my but and goo to the gym.I bet most of you know which choice I make most often.
I am hoping that this blog will help motivate me to go to the gym and eat heather.
To do this will set a few goals each month that I think are reasonable.
Goals for the June
workouts: 3/week
healthy meals: 1 on the weekend
2 for the work week.
This is not a I have know that I need to loose weight for a long time but I have such a hard time finding the to time to go to the gym and eat healthier. Anyone who is a parent/husband understands that you put your family first, add to this balancing a career, you have no time to to look after yourself. If you add the expense of raising a child on top of this is, eating healthy and getting to the gym to workout is incredibly difficult.
My wife and I always put our daughter first, this includes making sure she eats right and is healthy and happy. When we have time eat what ever we can find. This means we eat a lot of take out or unhealthy prepared meals.
AS I mentioned before my wife and I are games/geeks too. We find games an excellent way to relieve stress and relax. So i am in constant struggle to choose between relaxing or getting of my but and goo to the gym.I bet most of you know which choice I make most often.
I am hoping that this blog will help motivate me to go to the gym and eat heather.
To do this will set a few goals each month that I think are reasonable.
Goals for the June
workouts: 3/week
healthy meals: 1 on the weekend
2 for the work week.
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