The Illusion of Control

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One of my favorite sayings is “If you want to make God laugh, tell Them your plans.”

It’s not my favorite by making me feel good, since it’s usually something I’m reminded of after one of my own plans has gone kablooey and I’m sitting in a pile of smoking ruins wondering what the heck just happened. Then I remember: God just had a chuckle.

Your own belief system may differ from mine, but there is a lot of evidence in any worldview that Life, The Universe, and Everything is highly resistant to many (if not all) forms of control.

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Balancing Open and Productivity

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The adage “knowledge is power” is usually a very good one. After all, the more you know about what’s going on, the more you can usually make a better decision about the things you need to get done.

In an open, collaborative environment, methods such as more transparent processes can lead to more efficient knowledge sharing. which in turn can lead to more effective decisions and outcomes.

But such systems also have people involved, and when that happens, sometimes the most ideal open framework can be thwarted from its intended goals.

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Building Snakes to Learn Code

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On Saturday, February 2, Red Hat Brno hosted a “Snake workshop” for PyLadies CZ.

Before I begin describing the event, let me first write a bit about the concept.

PyLadies CZ is an informal group of people that (among other things) organize three-month Python courses for women (mostly beginners). These courses have been going on for about five years in Brno, and have heavily influenced the workshop.

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Self-Care on the Road

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#DeathFlu

#ZombieDeathPlague

These were just a couple of variations of hashtags that propagated through the chat channels shared by Red Hat associates and upstream community members during the course of the DevConf.cz and FOSDEM events, as a flu-like infection went off like a bomb among our friends. 

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Doing Remote Work Smarter

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Companies are now taking pride in their rankings for providing their employees with flexible, relaxed, and comfortable working hours to help them manage their lives better. In return, employers get access to the best talent from across the world without having to consider the geographical constraints. It is happening now more than ever, and needless to say that no one is perfectly equipped to tackle the emerging unexplored challenges that come with it.

Of course, we saw this coming. We knew there would be problems with the incompatible working hours, the difference in work cultures, technical problems with connectivity, etc. What was inadvertently overlooked was a simple fact that “humans are social animals.” We have been conditioned to rely on society around us for every kind of exchange and we do need a social confirmation of some sort to stay motivated and driven.

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Event Report: Linux.conf.au 2019, Part 1

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I’m often asked about the timing of linux.conf.au as it generally occurs during January, or early February, when a lot of people in Australia and New Zealand are taking a summer break. My response is that the timing is perfect as it provides a much needed mental jump start at the beginning of the year, and always leaves me excited about the amazing things happening within our Open Source community.

The 2019 linux.conf.au in Christchurch NZ, I’m very pleased to say, did not disappoint in this context. It easily stands as one of the best conferences I’ve been to in the last 10+ years, and I already can’t wait for next year’s conference in the Gold Coast of Australia. In addition Red Hat continues to sponsor the conference each year, and several colleagues had speaker slots.

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