Developing the Leader Within You by John C. Maxwell

Great book with many great lessons. Definitely worth rereading often and again.

Some of my Favorite Quotes:

• "When I have integrity, my words and my deeds match up. I am who I am, no matter where I am or who I am with."
• "The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on." 
• Meaning, in order to gain traction you need to start doing something.
• "What you are going to be tomorrow, you are becoming today." 
• The things you do everyday are going to define the future you.
• "The more you change, the more you become an instrument of change in the lives of others. If you want to become a change agent, you also must change."
• Personal growth and a discomfort with being comfortable will help lead a meaningful life.
• "If you want to continue leading, you must continue changing."
• ..."He must first understand the two important requisites to bringing about change: knowing the technical requirements of the change, and understanding the attitude and motivational demands for bringing it about."
• "People need to change their perspectives, not their problems."
• Everyone is always going to have problems. Attitude will determine how they are handled.
• "They realized they could not determine every circumstance in life but they could determine their choice of attitude toward every circumstance."
• "Everyone who's ever taken a shower has an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it who makes a difference."
• "The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day."
• "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
• "Once our minds are 'tattoed' with negative thinking, our chances for longterm success diminish."

Tools

• The self-discipline tool:
1. List 5 areas in your life that lack discipline.
2. Place them in order of your priority for conquering them.
3. Take them on, one at a time.
4. Secure resources, such as books and tapes, that will give you instruction and motivation to conquer each area.
5. Ask a person who models the trait you want to possess to hold you accountable for it.
6. Spend 15 minutes each morning getting focused in order to get control of this weak area in your life.
7. Do a 5 minute checkup on yourself midday.
8. Take 5 minutes in the evening to evaluate your progress.
9. Allow 60 days to work on one area before you go to the next.
10. Celebrate with the one who holds you accountable as you show continued success.
• The integrity test: ask someone who knows you well what areas of your life they see as consistent (you do what you say) and what areas they see as inconsistent (you say but don't always live).

Heart Failure Coach

Heart Failure Coach is a patient engagement game, administered by members of the health care team, where players interact with and guide Simon, a character with congestive heart failure (CHF) who was recently released from the hospital. The game focuses on reinforcement of critical self-maintenance skills necessary for heart failure patients to stay out of the hospital.  Players help Simon complete key behaviors like: tracking his weight, taking his prescribed medicine, and calling the doctor if needed each day for a virtual week. Players need to watch out for those midnight snacks and other cravings because they could negatively affect Simon’s progress and might cause him to be readmitted to the hospital. At the end of the game, patients are given feedback on their treatment of Simon - whether they helped him to complete the essential actions and whether or not he was readmitted to the hospital.

Heart Failure Coach was developed in partnership with UPMC, a world-renowned health care provider with more than 20 hospitals and 500 doctors’ offices  based in Pittsburgh, PA , for both inpatient and outpatient environments who see patients at risk for readmission for heart failure. This healthcare game has improved retention of the critical self-management skills for patients who have played and has had a positive impact on the number of readmissions.

Start taking care of Simon today!

For more information, visit: http://www.simcoachgames.com/heart-failure

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/heart-failure-coach/id1107028233?ls=1&mt=8
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simcoachgames.heartfailurecoach
Amazon Marketplace: http://www.amazon.com/Simcoach-Games-Heart-Failure-Coach/dp/B01EVKD17I/

Flow the Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The most important/influential part of Flow the Psychology of Optimal Experience came early on in the form of a graph illustrating the concept of flow channels (below). To put it simply, a person will stay engaged with an activity as long as the person faces the appropriate level of challenge to match their skill level. If someone's skill in a task outgrows the level of challenge, then they will quickly become board and lose interest. If someone is up against a challenge that exceeds their skill level, they will experience anxiety and frustration. Difficulty should increase to match the person's skill level as it grows.

Harness Hero

Falls are the leading cause of death among construction workers in the United States. To protect workers, employers must not only provide the right protective equipment but must ensure workers understand proper setup and safe use of that equipment.

Harness Hero the video game engages players in the key decisions of using a fall arrest system. At each step in the game, the player chooses where to anchor, what anchorage device to use, how to set up the harness, what connection device to use, and so on. The player also inspects the equipment along the way for burns, rips, rust and other malfunctions. At the end of each play, the player encounters a fall, and depending on how well they did setting up their fall arrest system, the player will either witness a rescue or a severe injury or even a fatality. Harness Hero was developed under the guidance of safety professionals from all corners of the construction industry.

Start practicing proper fall arrest setup in a fun and safe way. For more information on the development of the Harness Hero video game, visit: http://www.simcoachgames.com/harness-hero

For more information on fall prevention, visit: https://www.osha.gov/stopfalls/index.html

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/harness-hero/id1103764196?mt=8
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simcoachgames.fallprotection&hl=en
Amazon Marketplace: http://www.amazon.com/Simcoach-Games-Harness-Hero/dp/B01EBB9K5O

Introduction to Software Product Management, University of Alberta

This was the first course of the Software Product Management specialization on Coursera. The specialization is made up of five classes and a capstone project. There wasn't much to this first course, just an overview of the specialization. Looking forward to the next course, Software Processes and Agile Practices.

Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management, University of Virginia

The following is a small excerpt from the course description of Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management by the University of Virginia:

"Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management will introduce basic concepts from project planning, critical path method, network analysis, and simulation for project risk analysis. You will gain an appreciation for what is required in planning and executing large-scale projects and gain an understanding of Agile Project Management principles. Together, we will develop an awareness of some behavioral biases that come to play in project settings and identify how these impact the planning and execution of a project."


For me the class was helpful in learning how to articulate the struggles that teams face in completing projects. The professor goes into detail about the faults of multi-tasking and the tendencies of student's syndrome and Parkinson's law. I've used some of the examples presented in this class with teams that I work with to try and mitigate some of these risks.

The review of project management practices and risk analysis was interesting, but did not have much application to those practicing iterative software development. When the professor did finally get to Agile Project Management Principles, it was much more of a broad overview. Sort of a list of definitions and not much else.

I recommend Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management for those just entering the arena of traditional project management. If your company practices any specific niche of project management (anything other than waterfall), then a class like Intro to Software Product Management by the University of Alberta may be more your style.

JobPro: Get Dressed!

In JobPro: Get Dressed! you get a chance to dress for your interview based off of tips and your general knowledge of the company. Seems easy? Not so fast. There are various factors that go into picking out an outfit such as the role you are interviewing for and the atmosphere of the company.

Make sure you leave a lasting first impression in your interview. Prepare outfits for interviews with 14 different companies and 42 positions. After you make your selection you will receive detailed feedback about the outfit you chose and its compatibility with the position you were interviewing for.

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jobpro-get-dressed!/id1036998941?mt=8
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simcoachgames.getdressed
Amazon Marketplace: http://www.amazon.com/Simcoach-Games-JobPro-Get-Dressed/dp/B015WUSKXQ