Category Archives: freedom

9/11

I speak to you today as a New Yorker — I lived there 20+ years. On the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 I flew to New York LGA. I stopped to get Beanie Babies for my children, and then took a taxi that lovely September morning toward the World Trade Center. I needed to […]

Happy 4th of July!

We hope you have a wonderful day. Let freedom ring! Since we were born in Virginia, we must remember the Virginian who famously died on this date.  His words (or mostly his words) were: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with […]

Freedom

It is July 4th today.  It is a great day to remember Freedom. As I have said elsewhere, to my way of looking at the world, there is one word, love, that is greater than freedom.  But perhaps only that one. [Side comment: God is love. So, we could say that God too is greater […]

Freedom

I have written about freedom before, but, as Rousseau said, man is born free and everywhere is in chains. It is a topic that bears repeated discussion. In business and in life, too many people want to think that they own other people. Other ‘resources’ or whatever they may call these people. These owners might […]

A real person in a good team

Some people take the view that a person (often themselves) will be lost in a team, and, to be fair, this can happen. There are bosses and there are teammates who want you to conform, to submit, to lose your identity to a meaningful degree, but in a real and good team, the opposite occurs. […]

King of Anything

Sara Bareilles, whose music I have enjoyed, has a new song: King of Anything. I think you will like it. You might be asking: Why is he talking about this song here? And the answer: In work, we must recognize the importance of freedom and self-organization. For their own sake (these are human rights, after […]

Freedom and Responsibility

Now I want to start talking explicitly about freedom and responsibility — the twins. For most normal people, freedom and responsibility come together. That is, we are only free when we accept responsibility. This may seem like a paradox, like saying, “We are only free when we become a slave,” but it is not. If […]

Happy Independence Day!

First, a word about happiness. I am sure I don’t know everything about happiness, but I am still quite sure it is important. Mr. Jefferson included in his draft, “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Jeff Sutherland says, “If they aren’t having fun [with Scrum], they aren’t doing it right.” Serious fun, fun that […]

Free Speech

One of the great themes of Agile is freedom. There is no doubt that some take freedom in the wrong way, and what they get is more like anarchy, which is not freedom. But, from what I see, most people don’t really understand freedom. Based on actions, they seem to think it means, “I am […]

Freedom

Man is born free, and everywhere is in chains. Rousseau, certainly a man of some well-known weaknesses, was brilliant to say this, just a few years ago now. Of course, it was then far from literally correct. And he said this as a citizen of Geneva, arguably one of the places on this planet with […]