snippets of cloud

“The idea that creativity is vital to success is not widely accepted, yet it is built on a simple and wonderful truth, that all people have the capacity to be creative. Sir Kenneth suggests that when people are encouraged to be creative, they often find out what they are really good at, and it is when people find out what they are good at that they become better at everything they try. He identifies this as being something to do with “extreme confidence” entering the equation.”

http://pages.citebite.com/r6n1c2ydwdy

simple retrospective process

1. Team survey
2. Collated metrics
3. Facilitated group discussions/feedback
4. Interviews (1-1 with range of people) to confirm group findings or get more specific information
5. ‘Project History Day’ to do root cause analysis, leading to changes & actions required
6. Management team presentation/recommendation
7. Team presentation
8. Actions management process
9. Follow up 30 days after presentation

Rewards create emotions, emotions drive decisions

“We’re all gut players?
For a lot of our decisions we are. It actually turns out our unconscious processes are a lot more powerful than we thought. In fact, they’re probably better at making decisions than our conscious access. Our conscious awareness and attention is really limited in the amount it can process.

Why are emotions so important (in marketing)?
Emotions turn out to be the way in which the brain encodes things of value. When an economist talks about how much utility a decision has for somebody or how much reward somebody is likely to get — that is actually being encoded in the brain in emotions. … “

http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2007/11/interview-quartz.html

• Ads in the top and left portions of a page will receive the most eye fixation.
• Ads placed next to the best content are seen more often.
• Bigger images get more attention.
• Clean, clear faces in images attract more eye fixation.
• Fancy formatting and fonts are ignored.
• Formatting can draw attention.
• Headings draw the eye.
• Initial eye movement focuses on the upper left corner of the page.
• Large blocks of text are avoided.
• Lists hold reader attention longer.
• Navigation tools work better when placed at the top of the page.
• One-column formats perform better in eye-fixation than multi-column formats.
• People generally scan lower portions of the page.
• Readers ignore banners.
• Shorter paragraphs perform better than long ones.
• Show numbers as numerals.
• Text ads were viewed mostly intently of all types tested.
• Text attracts attention before graphics.
• Type size influences viewing behavior.
• Users initially look at the top left and upper portion of the page before moving down and to the right.
• Users only look at a sub headline if it interests them.
• Users spend a lot of time looking at buttons and menus.
• White space is good.

http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2007/scientific-web-design-23-actionable-lessons-from-eye-tracking-studies/

Tone: Beautiful tone is pleasing to the ear. It sounds smooth and rich. There is no strain or hoarseness. It is resonant in the same way a beautiful violin solo is. Expression and volume are parts of tone. It’s no good if you speak so softly that people must strain to hear you and no good if you’re always shouting

Rhythm: Rhythm encompasses the percussive aspects of speech including diction or enunciation, accents, dialects, rate and pace. Slow down a bit and crisp up your diction by being sure to put on word endings.

Breath: Breathe from the core. It should feel less tense and have more freedom.