Week 23: 2nd shot, offsite, cohort-based learning
A summer week in Berlin.
Hey there! How was your week? Mine was interesting and, at times, intense. Actually, it was quite good. Over the weekend, I enjoyed some reopened cafes and restaurants. On Tuesday, I received my second Covid vaccination shot, and Wednesday, I felt like staying in bed. So this is what I actually did. I was so tired I did not even read.
For another two weeks, I will have to wait for the full vaccination to be working and for it to be accepted where you either need the vaccination or a test. But right now, more and more of the restrictions are lifted, with the numbers getting better and better here in Germany. Unfortunately, the whole situation has been so dynamic, and whenever there was hope, a new variant turned up, and everything went bad again. This time, I hope that the new variants will not let the numbers grow and that not too many people are affected too badly. I also would very much like to have “traveling” as part of my life again. Not the business traveling of pre-Covid days but the “It’s Friday afternoon, let’s go to the mountains or the ocean until Sunday!” traveling. I hope this will be possible again soon. Also, I want to camp with the twins a few times this year.
Offsite
We did our company offsite on Thursday. I hope for the last time virtually because we had to. The next one I hope to do in person again. We have figured out that it makes the most sense not to have everyone in a video call for the whole day. So we did three 90 minute long sessions with everyone today. In the first one, we talked about OKRs and how we use them, and how we can improve our working with them. The second session was an intro session where we used lifeline graphs to explain who we are and where we come from, and the third session was a chocolate tasting.
Talking about OKRs is always helpful for us as we continuously try to figure out how to align and work hand in hand to succeed and reach our goals. We continuously struggle with connecting Objectives and Key Results in our daily work. We are trying to figure out if this is something that the right toolset can support technically and process-wise. We also do not want our OKRs to be something we have to do “on top of our actual job,” as they obviously should be all about our job and our company, team, and individual goals.
The lifeline intros were intense and open. I am glad and proud I work with the people at APX.
The chocolate tasting was vegan, alcohol-free, and actually delicious—a really nice thing to do with a larger group via video conference.
Cohort based learning
Next week I will start a decentralized finance course on maven.com. I am excited to experience the cohort-based learning platform and the sessions. I will share some impressions while taking the course and how this learning format works for me.
Over the past few weeks, I did the second brain cohort with Thiago Forte, and I am still figuring out how much I learned and how much this will change the way I take notes and work with the information I consume.
What I read and watched (and listened to)
I watched the Apple WWDC keynote on Monday and am looking forward to the new versions of macOS, iOS, and iPad OS. (And TV and Watch OS etc. as well.) Keeping an understanding of how the operating systems work always helps to understand and assess business opportunities. Sometimes things get incredibly easy with new versions of the OSs, and this can be very good (when you suddenly can do what you always had in mind) or very bad (when something you built is suddenly a part of what everyone is getting for free)
I listened to the new lossless and Dolby Atmos music on Apple Music. In the past, I subscribed to lossless music subscription services to be able to listen to high-resolution music with my DAC, headphone amp, and “good” headphones. Now I can do this with my apple library. I wonder when Spotify is launching its HiRes service. I am still figuring out how much I like Dolby Atmos, and I am also excited to see the interface for mixing music in LogicPro later this year. Until then, I will be listening to better-sounding music.
I watched this vlog: the engine of the GMA T.50 revs to 12.100 RPM for the first time. I am a petrol head still.
The drag race between the Rimac Nevera and the Ferrari SF90 was hilarious to watch. (a Joerg of the past loved sports cars a lot and had a few)
With a friend who had just bought a new lock, I watched the lock-picking lawyer destroy his dream of security. :-)
And I obviously crowdfunded Joana’s book Innenansicht about her personal journey to new work over the past decade. (in German…)
Thanks to my friend Bente I bought the flavor Thesaurus and started reading it. It gives a great overview of what flavors can, should, and might be combined. I enjoy reading it so far.
This is all for today, and thank you for reading. I hope you found something useful.
Cheers
Joerg