#anyone who participated in the creation of this subject has a one way ticket to hell

[jgracie]

to the person at edexcel who thought it was ok to make physics paper 2 my LAST exam i hope ur pillows r always warm and ur charger is always broken

[caerulux]

World Building - Pokemon Coordinators: A Guide & World Building

Credit to @hisvanity for the creation of levels, working with ranks, as well as the battle/appeals ranking system. Also credit to @whiteunova for their ideas for contests in Unova. Credit for Inspiration & Original Concept for the Pokémon Coordinator Association (PCA) is to pkmn-downtheline

Note: The World Building is reblogable and able to be used for anyone’s coordinator wishes! Just remember to give credit back to all those if you plan on using any information. When it comes to Kalos and Alola, they are still a work in progress.

       Originating from Hoenn, Pokémon Coordinator are people who focus on bringing out the beauty of their Pokémon. Originally, most Coordinators focused on the outward appearance of their of Pokémon, making sure they kept them highly presentable via grooming as well as feeding them specialized treats created from berries. They also go about this in showing off their Pokémon in different visual ways, usually aiming for the title of Top Coordinator. This title cannot be achieved until after a Coordinator has won in a Grand Festival which can only be obtained after winning 5 Master Rank ribbons.

       These can only be done after a Coordinator has won through the earliest levels of contests: Normal, Super, and Hyper before that can officially win ribbons that make them eligible for Master Rank status. In total, a Coordinator should in general have 8 ribbons under their belt before participating in their first Grand Festival. Once a Coordinator has obtained the title of Top Coordinator, they are eligible to compete in different hierarchy of contests. Each aspect is held in place by that region’s  Pokémon Coordinator Association (PCA) while International, which is set in Hoenn, also keeps this up and held in line.

Levels:

Local: This involves the ranks Normal through Master. Normals and Supers are held in every city every month, whereas Hypers and Masters are held every two months.

Pre-National: This bracket encompasses the Wallace Cup and other tournaments that provide a Ribbon that can be used for any region’s Grand Festival. Sometimes, these competitions can be as tough as Grand Festivals themselves, given the amount of people vying for such a valuable Ribbon.

National: This ranking is reserved for the ICL’s official Grand Festivals in each region, which take place once a year. National winners will earn the title of Top Coordinator.

Exhibition: These matches, almost always restricted to people with Top Coordinator ranking, don’t qualify you for anything–they’re for Coordinators who want to sharpen their skills and win some extra prestige. Some Exhibition matches are for charity, but most of them are national/international competitions that pack an extra punch: moving battlefields, Triple/Rotation rounds, monotype doubles, etc. Even though Exhibition matches are #4 in the hierarchy, some of these competitions are just as hard to win as the ICL’s Champions Festival–or even harder.

International: This ranking is reserved for each Coordinator league’s official international competition. ICL’s Champions Festival, which takes place every four years; winning it is considered the pinnacle of Contest achievement. One Grand Festival win will qualify you, but it doesn’t hurt to have more. International winners will earn the title of Champion Coordinator. These differ from Exhibition competitions because Exhibitions do not have so many participants, are not always affiliated with a major Coordinating league, and are not necessarily international.

Ribbons:

When it comes to ribbons, they do not expire until after a Trainer has used them to compete in a Grand Festival. Once that has occurred, Coordinators must compete in another set of Master Rank contests before they’re able to qualify again. A Coordinator most remember, however, that ribbons are region locked, meaning that Master Rank ribbons earned in Hoenn can only be used towards the Grand Festival in Hoenn. However, if one wins a ribbon from a Cup, this ribbon can be used within any region, but still the non-expiration until usage still applies to it. As Coordinators are required 5 Master Rank ribbons before taking on the Grand Festival, they are require to win one from Contests focusing on each of the 5 areas: Coolness, Beauty, Cuteness, Cleverness, and Toughness. If a Coordinator has not obtained one ribbon from each of the areas, then they cannot participate in the Grand Festival unless they obtained a ribbon from a Cup which waves them of one area or someone gifts them of the ribbon for the area they are missing.

Participating:

In order for a Coordinator to begin participation in contests, they must hold a Contest Pass. Passes are very easy to obtain as all a Coordinator has to do is register and apply for on at any Contest Hall. Upon signing up, Coordinators are given a copy of the rule book that holds for that region as well as for Nationals, a ribbon case unless they already have one of their own, and in Sinnoh’s case, ball capsules. When it comes to passes, the region it is obtained in is the only region that it can be used for. Unlike ribbons, Contest Passes expire after the end of a Contest season in that region, therefore after the Grand Festival Coordinators are required to re-register unless they plan on moving to compete in a different region. Then they must register once again.

Before the start of any contest, a Coordinator must sign up for that contest at the respective hall. It is then they are given their number so they know when it is their turn to perform in the appeals round. During this portion, Coordinators also register the Pokémon that plan on using for the entire length of the contest. Coordinators and Pokémon have their pictures taken so they can easily be identified.

Contests are broken up into two main rounds: Appeals & Battling

Appeals: In the appeals round, Coordinators use this moment to display their Pokémon’s beauty. This is the time that a Coordinators type of style is usually displayed as well as the type of Pokémon one may seem to prefer start to be noticed. It is in this round that a Coordinator is judged based on how they brought out the inner and outer beauty of their Pokémon. If a Coordinator focuses mostly on themselves, they guaranteed to not pass ono the next round for Battling

Battling: During this period, Trainers are randomly matched up against each other. Battles for contests are almost similar for the standards set by the Pokémon League, but in this case Coordinators are subjected to a 5 minute time frame. In this time a Coordinator must display their skills as a Coordinator, showing the Pokémon’s true potential in battle. Points are awarded and taken based on how Coordinator and Pokémon work together, displaying moves and countering their opponent, or when they are hit/the attack fails. The round generally ends once a Pokémon faints in battle or the time limit has been reached. In the latter case, the Coordinator who has the most points moves onto the next round. This continues onto the finals into a final winner has been crowned.

These tactics follow just the same when participating in any Contest of any level, competition and cup. For more information on the battle system it can be viewed here.

Earnings:

Coordinators are actually awarded for their wins and accomplishments in competing like trainers. They can earn the highest amount for that contest by winning the entire contest fully. Otherwise, payment will be broke down into smaller amounts based on their placements. Therefore, runner up will still receive a pay for making it that far and anyone who was able to reach the battle rounds are paid for their participation as well. The only time that this does not fully hold up is during an Exhibition level Contest. Since they are generally for charity, Coordinators who participate in it are all paid the same amount regardless of placement. Their earnings do not come out of the amount of money that was raised from ticket sales and donations.

The Season:

Typically, Grand Festivals are held between the months of April through mid-June. During that time up to the start of contests in mid-August, it’s the up to the Region’s Contest Association to find sponsorship for the next Grand Festival as its location changes every year. Local contest halls are usually kept up during this “off season” time to allow Coordinators to practice if they choose, or hold contests for those in Exhibition. As this is of a higher level, it usually is a smaller competing crowd in comparison to its lower ranking, but as it also focuses to earn money for charity it draws in high crowds. Depending on this time frame, an International Competition may also be held, but considering it occurs every 4 years it is not always promised.

Region Differences:

In general, most of the regions follow the same rules set by Internationals (as in most of the info given above), but each one has minor changes. Hoenn’s original set of rules followed Internationals very closely, considering it being the originating region for contests. However once the rise of Contest Idols (more info given below in section entitled classes) came into the fray, the entire board had to rethink the layout.

Future: Contest halls will be home to both contest and spectaculars. They will be handled a lot better thanks to creation of a bi-weekly rotation for the different specialized contests. However, those pursuing the goal of Contest Idol are still able to participate in contests to get early recognition as it can help their career get an early move on and get scouted.

Coordinator Classes:

Besides just a Coordinator as what’s been stated before, there are also other classes that Coordinators can pursue just like there are other classes of Trainers. For now, we’ll focus on two of those: Pokémon Stylist and Contest Idols

Pokémon Stylist: Originating from Sinnoh and possibly what started its rule on dressing up, Stylist focus on designing clothes and accessories for Pokémon. They have also been known to design outfits for Trainers and other Coordinators if they wish though usually this will go towards Coordinators in Sinnoh and Contest Idols as they are the main ones who partake in it. Stylist focus more so on bringing out a Pokémon’s inner beauty and enhancing their outer appearance instead of style like typical Coordinators. They also compete in competitions as well, but these differ greatly as they taken on a fashion show like style. However, Pokémon are still allowed to display their talents while on the runaway with the usage of moves.  Winners are generally crowned winner with a tiara/crown respectively. Eventually, Stylist do open up their own shops where they will sell their fashion to other Trainers and Pokémon alike.

Contest Idols: The newest class to join the ranks and also originating from Hoenn, Contest Idols have learned to put a mesh of Sinnoh’s ways of coordinating but also somewhat of Kalos’s Performance as well. Contest Idols focus more so on putting on performances and generating happiness through them to their fans. The path generally requires a lot more work than a regular Coordinator as they have to work to get the recognition through countless performances, which generally leads to some to participating in regular contests. Despite this, there are also Idol Competitions held for them as well where they must introduce their Pokémon in their opening act. Generally this is when a Pokémon dances alone, taking cues from their Coordinator, and based on their rating it is decided if they move onto the next round. Generally most of the competition is gone during this before they move onto the Talent phase, where most of 50% of the competitors are kept. From this phase, Pokémon and Contest Idols put on their rehearsed acts and are scored again by the crowd before they move onto the finals. It is in the last round where the team are given a theme that they must focus their Performance on and are generally given up to 20 minutes to come up with a show. As this puts both Idols and Pokémon on spotlight, this is when they are really judged on just how quick they are on their feet to bring happiness to others in their performances. Winners are usually selected based on judges and crowd rating. Because of its Hoenn beginnings, these Performances also require Idols to perform in Normal – Hyper contests, but they are generally not awarded a ribbon in their endeavors until they win a Master rank performance. One isn’t declared an official Contest Idol until they have officially collected 5 Master rank ribbons in total, again each from the different areas. The real key for most Idols is just getting their name out into the open. For them, their fans are their biggest passion.

Treats:

Coordinators can make treats with others or by themselves. Every Pokémon has their own taste and finding the perfect taste for a certain Pokémon is never an easy task for most Coordinators. Over the course of the different regions, the treats have begun to vary.

Hoenn & Kanto: The two regions stick to the usage of Pokéblock. Generally, a Coordinator can keep them in a personalized Pokéblock case. Originally, Coordinators had to work alongside the berry blender when it came to making the treats, but as technology advanced so did the berry blender. Now there are automatic berry blender available for usage. Also with the help of Devon Goods, Coordinators are able to keep track of their Pokéblock usage and recipes with PokéNav apps.

Sinnoh & Johto: Poffins are these two regions common usage for treats for Pokémon. Instead of a berry blender, Coordinators make the treats into a form of a cookie like treat. This treat can be a bit more complicated to make as a Coordinator has to be sure they don’t burn or overflow the entire dough in the process. Though with practice, any Coordinator can make the perfect Poffin. They are generally kept in a Poffin so Trainers can easily store and keep up with them.

The Pokémon Coordinator Association:

As originally stated before, the Pokémon Coordinator Association (PCA) is held within each region that participates in contests. They uphold the rules that were created and established by the original founding Association, Hoenn’s. Each PCA is broken up into different levels where general jobs and duties are broken down:

Managers: Made up of a body of 5 people to hold with the 5 different areas, this set of people are the main people who run the entire Contest circuit within a region. It is their job to make sure that all Contests are able to move smoothly, but also make sure that everything is kept in place for the Grand Festival. Basically, the easiest way to put it is that their job is to organize for their region. In general, each manager has their own set of team that helps out in their specialized area when it comes to running and planning their different contests for the different rankings.

Scouters/Recruiters: This is typically made out of group of 10, two people to represent the 5 different areas for Contests. Their job is find young and talented Trainers who might fit the Coordinator path. Generally, they are able to help an aspiring Trainer who knows little but wants to join the Contest realm into the area they see fit as they are prone to picking up on styles fast. They are also great in deciphering what class of Coordinator a person may fit. Scouters do have a main focus of emphasizing that Contests are a gender neutral realm, meaning that do work a lot to make sure that males are not looked down upon in the area based on the past issues of people viewing Contests as a “girly concept”.

Educators: As Trainer Schools also have classes for aspiring Coordinators, the PCA hirers their own set of Educators they see fit for the job. However, before one can become an Educator officially, they must pass a series of exams to show they have the extensive knowledge about their career from the history, to rules, classes and regional differences. Usually they go for Coordinators who had an outstanding rep but also was seen to be very approachable and helping as not every Coordinator is fit to teach. The task isn’t always easy since they are helping teach the future stars in everything they have to do in coordinating.

Promoters: Promoters are the main ones who help get the name out about contests, but they are also the ones who help collect sponsors. Thanks to them, Grand Festivals are able to be held yearly. Promoters work closely with International Competitions since they always try to keep them as charity events.

Judges: This area is mostly made up of retired Coordinators as well as the Contesta family. They are the main ones who judge the different contests and competitions throughout the regions. Each year, they elect a main host to help run all the contests for that season while the rest of them rotate off for other contests. For certain occasions, members from other departments will step in as guest judges.

Advisory: Usually made up of current and retired Top Coordinators, the group acts as a guidance towards the rest of the Association when problems occur. They are generally the ones the rest turns to when somethings wants to be added or changed to the rules for that regions Association. They are also the ones who deal with conflict within the Association as well as those who have broken the rules set by Internationals. Since they are mostly kept out of most competition dealings, they are the best ones to deal with the problem and usually make the final decision on a Coordinator’s punishment if it is needed.

Management Team: As stated before, they work alongside their Manager in organizing and running the contests for their region. They are the ones you will generally see the most as the Manager works behind the scenes. Normally, they keep record of everything that is happening for their areas of contests from participants to stage crews to registration. People apart of this team have yet another team of their own which helps them run their portion of work. They can generally be viewed as second in command when in comparison to Managers thanks to having another team of workers below them.

[earnmoneyonline2019-blog]

Top 5 Online Money Making Ideas

In today's tough times, most are hard-pressed in making ends meet even if they're currently employed with a regular source of income. For some, a job is no longer an option and would rather venture into other money making ideas that can potentially replace their job income.

This article outlines the top 5 online money making ideas a lot of creative people use to earn extra (or full time) income that makes end meet or to actually put food on the table.

The internet has not only changed how we communicate and research for information but offered a lot of income opportunities to ones who are willing to grab it.

Freelancing - One of the most common ways to make money aside from having a traditional job is to offer your services as a freelancer. If you're an artist, you can position yourself as an artist for hire. Building an online portfolio is extremely pivotal to being an artist for hire. An illustrator needs to be able to show potential clients what they can offer them if they take them on as a client. Independent authors and web publishers are constantly looking for people to design book covers, websites, and logos for them. This is a great income source for someone who enjoys doing graphic design. My friend, does this quite successfully and by having his own website that attract organic traffic, he sets himself up above the many other freelance graphic artists around. Another popular way of making money as a freelancer is to become a freelance writer or editor. Self-publishing books has exploded in recent years. There are a lot of independent writers looking for editors who would like to have their work edited for a more affordable price than the norm in the publishing world. You can editing jobs or be a ghost writer to help the author craft the whole book if you know what you're doing. On the lower end of this scale, you can accept article writing gigs and help on the internet publishers like niche website owners and bloggers continuously feed their sites with fresh quality content. The key here is quality content, to build ongoing relationships with your clients and build your reputation.

Freelance writing is a great money making idea because you can completely control how much work you take on. if you're just getting started, websites like Odesk. com and Elance. com are great places to land your initial gigs. Pricing your service competitively will help you attract clients and build your reputation on these freelance job boards but if you're considering to go this route on a long term basis, I suggest that you build your own website to build your reputation, attract more clients, and turn this into a real business that can potentially replace your day job.

There are a lot of services that you can offer as an online freelancer. If you're a developer or a programmer, you'll definitely make more money online by offering software development services.

Become An Online Retailer - Ever bought something off Amazon and eBay? Most of these sellers are people just like you and me operating their own bookstores, gadget shops or computer retail stores off their homes. There are two ways you can start selling stuff as an online retailer. One is by buying stocks and keeping inventories to ship yourself or to become a dropshipper where you partner with a dropshipping supplier that will ship your inventories to your buyers from their warehouses. Option two takes a lot of work but it can be tricky when it comes to pricing, delivery and item quality as you don't really get to see (or touch) your products before they are shipped to your customers. The best way to get started with this money making idea is to start selling junk you can find inside your home (ladies, I'm not referring to your husbands! ). The average person has a lot of things in their home that they never use. Items like old jewelry, unwatched DVDs and unused craft items are perfect. You can also buy things that are on bargain bins and sell them online for regular prices or get stuff from your local thrift stores or library sales.

The key is on being able to check the current prices of the items you're looking to resell before you buy them to make sure you're actually going to make a profit. This is where your own smart phone will come handy, all you have to do is download price scanning/comparison apps like FOB Scan.

Sell Fiverr Gigs - Yes, Fiverr gigs! It may not seem like much but Fiverr gigs are no longer limited to $5 per pop. You can offer your initial service or product on the standard $5 pricing but you can offer upgrades from $20 to $50 per pop. Some of the gigs you can offer are voice overs, small graphic jobs, short videos, SEO pushes, and other small and fast jobs that you can do for a few minutes of your time. Open Up A YouTube Channel - As mentioned in my previous article, YouTube users watch over 4 billion hours of video a month so there are always people willing to watch your current videos. A person who plans to make money off of YouTube needs to decide on a niche or what they want to talk about in their videos. Do they want to teach a tutorial or give a commentary? If someone owns all of their material legally, than they're eligible for the partner program. With original ideas and constant promotions, an internet entrepreneur can set up shop on YouTube in a matter of minutes. Although it might take a lot of work, the payment after a while can be pretty big but just like any other content marketing businesses, 10 YouTube videos won't make you a happy camper. It's always a numbers game, think of it as having your own TV show where you're the host, producer and channel owner. You can read this article for more on how to make money with YouTube.

Create And Sell Your Own Products - A lot of online marketers found that they can make money faster with creating their own products than creating blogs or niche websites. This of course if beyond the realities of most beginning online marketers but if you have some time to spare, product creation isn't really that difficult as you may think. Creating a good infoproduct (eBook or membership site) on a subject that you know and love will reward you hundred times over. Come to think of it, if you have a product of your own, a lot of other affiliate marketers are willing to sell your products on their websites as well as email lists for a commission helping you reach a very wide audience that's impossible for you to reach on your own. There are a whole lot more money making ideas people use to make money online but these by far are the top ideas that you can put to work for you right away, specially the top 3. Building and publishing your own blog or website is the best way to build a business system that will build an awesome source of passive income in the near future but the top 3 ideas listed above will help you make money right away.

Offering freelance services upon established freelance job boards helps you piggy back on their traffic being that they're the "go to" places for people who are looking to outsource stuff they don't like to do themselves.

Retailing on Amazon or eBay can also attract sales faster than if you're going to build your own online store as they already have the visitors of shoppers whose mindset is to scout for products they want to buy online. It's free to list products on Amazon . com and you only get charged when you actually sell something while eBay will charge you a few dime when you list a product for sale.

Fiverr on the other hand is the world's "go to" place for small jobs people want outsourced. It may not be as promising as the first two money making suggestions listed herein but they do pay for each gig you deliver.

Making the Most of Online Money-Making Opportunities

There are many ways to earn money online. Hundreds, if not thousands of people from different parts of the world monetize their expertise and earn a steady income working Internet-related jobs on a part time or full-time basis. These jobs don't require any cash investments. Meanwhile, some income-generating opportunities require investing money in order to earn money.

Paying gigs available

More people have become aware of the money-making potential of the World Wide Web especially since the list of online money-making schemes gets longer every day. There are products to pitch that can add spending money to a person's wallet on monthly basis. Affiliates get some of the most high-paying gigs online because they get as much as 25% commission for their hard work. Content writers and SEO specialists can find project-based jobs that pay by the week. With these money-making opportunities, the hours are flexible and even employed individuals can fulfill work requirements during their free time.

Although hundreds of legitimate paying gigs exist, there are also scammers along with nothing more than empty promises. Some products being pitched may turn out to be below par, and certain "employers" do not pay their writers and affiliates when payment is due.

The choice is yours

Since it is important to exercise caution, anyone who wants to earn money from the Internet must choose carefully regarding which jobs to sign up with. Even those who just participate in surveys for free coupons or raffle tickets should pick sites very carefully. After all, they will still invest their time and effort. It will definitely be a disappointment if they end up being short-handed or worse, if their personal or financial information are used by scammers for nefarious purposes.

If you want additional income that is steady, you can look for a legitimate online job, but don't give up your day job just yet. You can probably afford to transition fully from traditional means of earning money to an Internet-based business of you have the wherewithal to invest on building websites that steadily earn a huge amount of money.

Step One: Build a home on the Web

If you are decided on building a business online, you need to start thinking about building a home on the Web. Having a Web address that people can find is how you establish a foothold on the Internet. You can start with a blog, or you can procure a website and have your very own domain name. Either way, you need to create a base of operations. Developing a following and building your target audience are time-tested strategies of online brand awareness, promotion, and also marketing. These may be basic strategies but they work wonders, especially for beginners. Before employing more complicated (and more expensive) approaches, it is wise to focus all efforts at substantiating that your business is authentic. This is how you start building trust along with gaining loyal followers.

[frankmiller1]

Improving Incident Retrospectives

This post was originally published on learningfromincidents.io.

Photo by Jared Erondu on Unsplash

As a Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) at Indeed, I often participate in the retrospective process that follows an incident. Retrospectives—in use at Indeed since late 2015—are a meaningful part of our engineering culture. I have never questioned their importance, but recently I was struck by shortcomings I saw in some retrospectives. For example:

A retrospective meeting might use only ~30% of the allotted time.

What is discussed might be gleaned from reading the incident ticket and retrospective document instead of attending the meeting.

Too much focus is devoted to the conditions that “triggered” the incident.

Signals used for deciding to hold a retrospective tend to direct focus toward incidents with high impact or high visibility.

Were participants actually learning anything new? It became apparent to me that we were not using every incident to realize our full potential to learn.

I decided to explore why so that we could improve our process.

The typical retrospective

Retrospectives at Indeed are usually a one-hour discussion including up to several dozen participants. The meeting is open to anyone in the company, but usually participants have either been involved in the incident response or have a stake in the outcome.

Facilitators follow a prescribed process:

Review the timeline.

Review the remediation items in the template.

Find owners for the remediation items.

Open the room for questions.

Spotting opportunities for improvement

In Summer 2018 I visited one of our tech sites and was invited to several local retrospective meetings to discuss some recent incidents. As an SRE it wasn’t unusual for me (or members of my team) to be invited. I also had subject matter expertise in a technology related to the incidents.

The facilitators took about 5 minutes to review the timeline, spent 8-10 minutes reviewing the remediation items, and concluded with questions related to the specific technologies involved in the causal chain. I didn’t learn anything new. I could have gained the same information from reading the incident ticket and retrospective document. This was a rare opportunity when a unique and eager group of people gathered in a conference room ready to collaboratively investigate. Instead, we never achieved the full potential.

This result is not uniform across retrospectives. I’ve been present in retrospectives where the participants offered such rich detail that the conversation continued well beyond the one-hour time limit, culminating with a huddle outside of the conference room.

The facilitators for these particular retrospective meetings followed the process faithfully but had only utilized ~30% of the time. It was clear to me that the retrospective process itself needed improvement.

Nurturing a safety culture

To understand potential changes, I first solicited viewpoints on why we conduct retrospectives at Indeed. Reasons I heard are likely familiar to most software organizations:

Find out what caused the outage

Measure the impact

Ensure that the outage never happens again

Create remediation items and assign owners

These goals also reflect Indeed’s strong sense of ownership. When someone’s service is involved in an incident, there’s a concern that we were closer to the edge of failure than we thought we were. Priorities temporarily change and people are more willing to critically examine process and design choices.

It’s important to use these opportunities to direct efforts toward a deeper analysis into our systems (both people and technical) and the assumptions that we’ve made about them. These approaches to a different safety culture at Indeed are still relatively new and are evolving toward widespread adoption.

Recommendation: Decouple remediation from the retrospective process

One process change I recommend is around the creation of remediation items. The retrospective process is not necessary as a forcing function for driving accountability of finding and owning remediation items.

I consistently observe that the creation of remediation items occurs organically after Production is stabilized. Many fixes are obvious to teams in the hindsight following an incident.

I see value in decoupling these “after action” activities from the retrospective process for many reasons.

The search for remediation items is often a tacit stopping point that halts further or deeper investigation.

The accountability around owning remediation items should be tightly coupled to incident ownership.

The retrospective process should be an optional activity. By making the retrospective process optional, teams that decide to engage in it are doing so because they see value in it rather than as an obligation or a checklist item.

Participants are freed up to conduct a deeper investigation unencumbered by the search for remediation items and shallow explanations.

Recommendation: Lighten up the retrospective template

Another useful change is with the retrospective template itself.

Using retrospective templates can be a lot like filling out forms. The focus is directed toward completion of an activity rather than free exposition. A blank document encourages a different kind of sharing. I have witnessed incidents where responders were so motivated to share their thoughts and descriptions that they produced rich and detailed analysis simply by starting with a blank document.

If every incident is shaped like a snowflake, it’s impossible to develop a template that is equipped to capture its unique characteristics. A template constrains detail and triggers explanations through close-ended questions. A blank canvas is open-ended. A template is yet another tacit stopping point that hinders deeper analysis. I recommend that we apply templates to incident analysis, but that we use blank documents for the retrospective process.

Driving organizational change

I have learned a lot by working to drive change at Indeed as we’ve grown quickly. My efforts have benefitted from my tenure in the company, experience participating in hundreds of incidents, and connection to the literature. I have made headway but there is still a lot to do.

I attribute some of my progress so far to finding other advocates in the company and remembering to communicate.

Find advocates

Advocates are colleagues who align closely with my goals, acknowledge where we could be doing better, and share a vision of what could be. I had no trouble finding these advocates. They are colleagues who are willing to listen, have an open mind and have the patience to consider another perspective. I held numerous 1:1s with leaders and stakeholders across the organization. I found opportunities to bring these topics up during meetings. I gave tech talks and reached out to potential advocates whenever I visited one of our global Engineering offices.

Over-communicate

As much as I might think that I was communicating what I was working on, it was never enough. I found I had to constantly over-communicate. As I over-communicated and leveraged multiple media, I may have sounded repetitive to anyone in close proximity to my words. But this was the only way to reach the far edges of the organization who might not have otherwise heard me. Not everybody has time to read every email or internal blog post.

Looking ahead

Response to these changes has been largely positive. The focus during retrospectives is still anchored to the technological factors, when more attention could be paid to the human factors. I’m exploring different avenues for increasing the reach and effectiveness of these efforts. This includes working with our instructional design team to create a debrief facilitator program, communicating more often and more broadly, making more process changes, continuing to help teams produce and share high quality write-ups, and focusing on producing educational opportunities. At this point we’ve only scratched the surface and I’m looking forward to what we will accomplish.

About the author

Alex Elman is a founding member of the Site Reliability Engineering team at Indeed. He leads two teams: one that focuses on Resilience Engineering and one that supports the flagship Job Search product. For the past eight years Alex has been helping Indeed adopt reliability practices to cope with ever increasing complexity and scale. Follow Alex on Twitter @_pkill.

 

from Engineering https://engineering.indeedblog.com/blog/2020/01/improving-incident-retrospectives/

[theinvinciblenoob]

Jonathan Johnson Contributor

Jonathan Johnson is president of Medici Ventures.

Nearly five years ago, Overstock.com became the first major retailer to accept bitcoin as a form of payment. It now accepts many top cryptocurrencies. As a member of the senior executive team and board of directors at Overstock.com, I had a front-row seat to those decisions.

It didn’t take long for the Overstock team to realize that bitcoin’s underlying blockchain technology held great promise beyond cryptocurrencies. We also knew that for blockchain technology to reach its full potential, the startup companies advancing its use would need both financial and human capital support.

Overstock set up a venture capital blockchain incubator, Medici Ventures, to do just that.

We believe blockchain technology will eventually impact many industries. We are already involved in promising developments in areas like capital markets, money transmission and banking, voting, supply chain, property and self-sovereign identity. But there is still a long way to go before blockchain technology can realize its true potential.

Here are the three most important challenges facing more widespread adoption of blockchain technology right now.

Finding good enterprise-level blockchain software developers

The world has become so reliant on computers, to the point where virtually every company now has need for software development. In this environment, where demand grows exponentially, good software development talent is hard to find. Game-changing talent is rarer still.

Because blockchain is a new field of technology, there are fewer talented enterprise-level software developers who understand it well. Those who do can practically write their own tickets. While this is an enviable position for them, it limits many companies from developing engaging and transformative blockchain-based applications.

Let’s remember that we are in the early days of blockchain.

At Medici Ventures, we provide regular internal training to help our software developers climb this important learning curve. In this training — which we do in educational presentations which sometimes include accelerated coursework — our teams often present discoveries made when developing on one project, with the hope that the solutions may benefit those working on other projects. This approach lets us cross-pollinate our industries and our disciplines, so creative development and innovation become rising tides rather than isolated spikes.

The time spent learning is well worth it; it is why many of our portfolio companies rely not just on our venture capital, but also our human capital. Until there is a regular pipeline of well-qualified blockchain developers, the shortage of great talent will continue to be a struggle for the advancement of the technology.

Avoiding the temptation of regulation

Like many of their voting constituents, Congress and state legislatures are just becoming aware of blockchain. In some ways, this is good news: Political engagement will increase awareness and interest for utilizing blockchain technology and help drive adoption of these new ideas. Unfortunately, it also brings the temptation of regulation to an emerging market.

I get concerned when regulators and legislators get a whiff of any kind of technological development because they are tempted to regulate it. When U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Jay Clayton stated that he considered all initial coin offerings (ICOs) to be securities rather than commodities, and therefore subject to his organization’s regulation, Clayton brought an ICO boom to a screeching halt. While Chairman Clayton and others at the SEC have subsequently modified that stance, this regulatory tendency to fear what is new is dangerous.

The interconnectedness of the world means its adoption will probably take root and bloom quickly.

Technology — and the advancement of blockchain — should not be regulated. In the 1990s, when the internet’s potential was becoming evident, legislators opted not to regulate it. That bipartisan decision led to the open-market creation of the much-lauded “information superhighway” and the power of the internet today.

Certainly, there will be use cases that may require regulation as blockchain applications develop and proliferate. But the growth of blockchain technology will be best nurtured when it is free and unfettered from regulation.

Reaching critical mass

Cryptocurrencies and digital wallets built on blockchain are great uses of the technology. In order for cryptocurrencies to proliferate in use and stabilize in price, and for digital wallets to get widespread adoption, consumers need to spend cryptocurrencies more and merchants need to accept them. A great example of this working the right way is Colu, an exciting new company I recently saw in action when I was in Tel Aviv, Israel. Colu is a digital wallet that uses blockchain technology to create local currencies. People simply download the app, add money and shop locally. The app highlights local establishments and makes shopping convenient. And it is dazzling people in Tel Aviv!

The same can be said of other blockchain-based applications like secure remote digital voting. West Virginia recently became the first state to allow overseas citizens to vote remotely using a blockchain-driven app. The West Virginia program was tested in the May primary and was used in this November’s general election.

We’ll know blockchain technology has become mainstream when we are no longer talking about it.

Some critics have been quick to disparage real efforts to create digital voting with strictly theoretical worries. In reality, the rollout in West Virginia is a very focused solution to a specific issue: low overseas voter participation. The current system is broken. A blockchain-driven digital voting app is a clear solution. Anyone but critics of progress should eagerly support West Virginia’s efforts until there is an actual reason to worry.

Once any blockchain application is embraced in sufficient numbers by both the using and accepting sides, the impressive software will become an invaluable and ubiquitous tool. More widespread adoption of blockchain’s most beneficial use cases will trigger network effects that will multiply the benefits.

Let’s remember that we are in the early days of blockchain. Many industry observers seem to be in a rush to declare blockchain a mainstream technology. As enthusiastic as I am in my support of blockchain, I would not yet call it mainstream. The interconnectedness of the world means its adoption will probably take root and bloom quickly. We’ll know blockchain technology has become mainstream when we are no longer talking about it, but we are simply using it in everyday ways.

I am thrilled to see digital purchases made and remote votes cast in elections with this game-changing technology. As developers, investors and companies continue to focus on using and advancing blockchain, we will see that finding good enterprise-level blockchain software developers, letting blockchain grow free from unnecessary regulation and achieving critical mass use are the next important steps in the growth and adoption of this world-changing technology.

via TechCrunch

[fmservers]

Three challenges facing blockchain technology

Jonathan Johnson Contributor

Jonathan Johnson is president of Medici Ventures.

Nearly five years ago, Overstock.com became the first major retailer to accept bitcoin as a form of payment. It now accepts many top cryptocurrencies. As a member of the senior executive team and board of directors at Overstock.com, I had a front-row seat to those decisions.

It didn’t take long for the Overstock team to realize that bitcoin’s underlying blockchain technology held great promise beyond cryptocurrencies. We also knew that for blockchain technology to reach its full potential, the startup companies advancing its use would need both financial and human capital support.

Overstock set up a venture capital blockchain incubator, Medici Ventures, to do just that.

We believe blockchain technology will eventually impact many industries. We are already involved in promising developments in areas like capital markets, money transmission and banking, voting, supply chain, property and self-sovereign identity. But there is still a long way to go before blockchain technology can realize its true potential.

Here are the three most important challenges facing more widespread adoption of blockchain technology right now.

Finding good enterprise-level blockchain software developers

The world has become so reliant on computers, to the point where virtually every company now has need for software development. In this environment, where demand grows exponentially, good software development talent is hard to find. Game-changing talent is rarer still.

Because blockchain is a new field of technology, there are fewer talented enterprise-level software developers who understand it well. Those who do can practically write their own tickets. While this is an enviable position for them, it limits many companies from developing engaging and transformative blockchain-based applications.

Let’s remember that we are in the early days of blockchain.

At Medici Ventures, we provide regular internal training to help our software developers climb this important learning curve. In this training — which we do in educational presentations which sometimes include accelerated coursework — our teams often present discoveries made when developing on one project, with the hope that the solutions may benefit those working on other projects. This approach lets us cross-pollinate our industries and our disciplines, so creative development and innovation become rising tides rather than isolated spikes.

The time spent learning is well worth it; it is why many of our portfolio companies rely not just on our venture capital, but also our human capital. Until there is a regular pipeline of well-qualified blockchain developers, the shortage of great talent will continue to be a struggle for the advancement of the technology.

Avoiding the temptation of regulation

Like many of their voting constituents, Congress and state legislatures are just becoming aware of blockchain. In some ways, this is good news: Political engagement will increase awareness and interest for utilizing blockchain technology and help drive adoption of these new ideas. Unfortunately, it also brings the temptation of regulation to an emerging market.

I get concerned when regulators and legislators get a whiff of any kind of technological development because they are tempted to regulate it. When U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Jay Clayton stated that he considered all initial coin offerings (ICOs) to be securities rather than commodities, and therefore subject to his organization’s regulation, Clayton brought an ICO boom to a screeching halt. While Chairman Clayton and others at the SEC have subsequently modified that stance, this regulatory tendency to fear what is new is dangerous.

The interconnectedness of the world means its adoption will probably take root and bloom quickly.

Technology — and the advancement of blockchain — should not be regulated. In the 1990s, when the internet’s potential was becoming evident, legislators opted not to regulate it. That bipartisan decision led to the open-market creation of the much-lauded “information superhighway” and the power of the internet today.

Certainly, there will be use cases that may require regulation as blockchain applications develop and proliferate. But the growth of blockchain technology will be best nurtured when it is free and unfettered from regulation.

Reaching critical mass

Cryptocurrencies and digital wallets built on blockchain are great uses of the technology. In order for cryptocurrencies to proliferate in use and stabilize in price, and for digital wallets to get widespread adoption, consumers need to spend cryptocurrencies more and merchants need to accept them. A great example of this working the right way is Colu, an exciting new company I recently saw in action when I was in Tel Aviv, Israel. Colu is a digital wallet that uses blockchain technology to create local currencies. People simply download the app, add money and shop locally. The app highlights local establishments and makes shopping convenient. And it is dazzling people in Tel Aviv!

The same can be said of other blockchain-based applications like secure remote digital voting. West Virginia recently became the first state to allow overseas citizens to vote remotely using a blockchain-driven app. The West Virginia program was tested in the May primary and was used in this November’s general election.

We’ll know blockchain technology has become mainstream when we are no longer talking about it.

Some critics have been quick to disparage real efforts to create digital voting with strictly theoretical worries. In reality, the rollout in West Virginia is a very focused solution to a specific issue: low overseas voter participation. The current system is broken. A blockchain-driven digital voting app is a clear solution. Anyone but critics of progress should eagerly support West Virginia’s efforts until there is an actual reason to worry.

Once any blockchain application is embraced in sufficient numbers by both the using and accepting sides, the impressive software will become an invaluable and ubiquitous tool. More widespread adoption of blockchain’s most beneficial use cases will trigger network effects that will multiply the benefits.

Let’s remember that we are in the early days of blockchain. Many industry observers seem to be in a rush to declare blockchain a mainstream technology. As enthusiastic as I am in my support of blockchain, I would not yet call it mainstream. The interconnectedness of the world means its adoption will probably take root and bloom quickly. We’ll know blockchain technology has become mainstream when we are no longer talking about it, but we are simply using it in everyday ways.

I am thrilled to see digital purchases made and remote votes cast in elections with this game-changing technology. As developers, investors and companies continue to focus on using and advancing blockchain, we will see that finding good enterprise-level blockchain software developers, letting blockchain grow free from unnecessary regulation and achieving critical mass use are the next important steps in the growth and adoption of this world-changing technology.

Via David Riggs https://techcrunch.com

[theherblifeblog]

Spotlight Series: Jay Martin, CEO Cambridge House

The Cannabis Life Conference in Toronto is coming up on May 13-14! Do you have your tickets yet? 

The conference will feature industry leading panelists and ground-breaking presenters from around the world. Topics include Navigating Your Way Through Policy and Legalization and Mindful Cannabis and Destigmatization and Designing A New Culture. Some of the speakers are Cody Lindsay AKA The Wellness Solider, Craig Ex from Expert Joints, Abi Roach from Toronto's Hotbox Cafe and Antuanette Gomez - see a full list of speakers here. The trade show floor will be packed with exhibitors showing off their products and services, make sure you take a moment to check out the full list of exhibitors so you don't miss anyone!

We got to chat with Jay Martin, CEO of Cambridge House International which is the organization that produces the conference about how to get the most out of a show like this whether you're participating as an attendee or an exhibitor. 

The Toronto conference will be held at Evergreen Brickworks, a community environmental centre that inspires and equips visitors to live, work and play more sustainably and the event will help generate revenues to deliver onsite programming that supports Evergreen's mission of inspiring action to green cities.

If you're not in the Toronto area you might want to check out the Vancouver event in July. You can learn more about that conference here. 

For those readers unfamiliar with the Cannabis Life Conference, would you give us an overview of the event?

This show focuses on the new cannabis consumer. We’ve seen a massive inflow of consumers who have very little experience, possibly have always been intimidated by the stigma but are now very curious. What they need is credible information in order to make safe decisions. That is the Cannabis Life Conference. 

How long have you been involved in cannabis events?

We started integrating Cannabis into our events in June of 2014. We had an event in Vancouver that was showcasing growth industries across Canada. Jodie Emery gave a great keynote. Even though it was only three years ago, the industry has changed dramatically since then.  

How can people get the most out of a show like The Cannabis Life Conference? 

Come with a game plan. Plan which speaker sessions you don’t want to miss, and get your trade show/networking time in between them. I always get more value from the speakers if I have read the articles they have published recently.

What is the one thing an attendee must do at the Cannabis Life Conference?

Come ready to be informed, connected and entertained!

Let’s talk about your speaker lineup. Your featured speakers include Jodie Emery, Dr. David Hepburn, Ricky Williams and Randy and Mr. Lahey. That’s a pretty diverse group, how did you decide on them?

This show provides access to credible information to help consumers make smart decisions. That’s the goal. However, it is early days, and we’ve seen entrepreneurs move much faster than regulators. So in addition to the medicinal, lifestyle and application focused discussions, you will find topics covering legality and business growth. We booked the Trailer Park Boys because sometimes you just want to have fun!

If someone reading this was interested in building their own personal brand through speaking opportunities, what advice would you give them to help them get started?

Attend events, watch others, develop your niche, be unique and most of all - practice! On average, Steve Jobs would spend 90 hours preparing for each of his keynote speeches. Anybody can be a show stopper if they put the work in. 

A lot of our readers are small business owners in the cannabis space so can you tell them why exhibiting at conferences and trade shows helps build their brands?

We are watching a once in a lifetime event unfold - end of prohibition. This will be a story we will watch for the next 5-7 years before things really begin to settle. In the meantime, it is a bit chaotic out there. You can differentiate by getting in front of people, and ensuring they know the people behind the brand. Research is done online, but business is built on relationships. You need to be connecting with people, building those personal relationships. Any business is only as good as the people. Conferences are an excellent opportunity to accelerate that process. 

Check out Conference Kit; All the Essentials for a list of everything a successful exhibitor needs

What should an exhibitor do to ensure their booth is welcoming and engaging?

Bring a team - the more the merrier. If you are a one-person shop, invite your clients, supporters, friends to come exhibit with you. Coordinate your dress code - look pro, and make it fun. Exhibiting at a show is work, be energetic, engage everyone who walks past your booth, be memorable. Make sure you have something they can take home with them to remember you - elaborate swag is great, but business cards work too. 

What is one thing they should never do in their booth?

Sit down and play on their phone! It drives me crazy when I see that!

They all look really great but is there a panel or speaker in particular that you’re excited about? 

Breakfast with your conference speakers both days at 9 am - casual, continental in the speaker hall. This is a great opportunity to build out your network for the show. Making friends right at the start of the event will massively increase the connections you make for the remainder. 

Otherwise, I will be in the front row for Exercise & Recovery and Lifestyle & Creativity. Both will be amazing. 

We always ask our interview subjects what advice they would have for a woman who is interested in getting into the cannabis industry. What advice would you give?

I am very lucky to have had access to amazing women like Danielle Jackson (Miz D) and Hilary Black. These two women come to mind because they have each taken very different paths to establish themselves as an influence in the cannabis industry, and have both been influential in the creation of our events. 

In my experience, every business is a people business first. Surround yourself with likeminded people. Find mentors. Make sure your peers are having a positive influence on you.  

Follow the Cannabis Life Conference 

Follow the Cannabis Life Conference on Twitter 

On Facebook

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Get your tickets to the Toronto Event here and the Vancouver Event here.