On Friday, I’m giving a talk. It’s my first time being paid to speak. An online retailer that had a great year needs to grow quickly, and is trying to add software developers who can help preserve and improve its culture. They’re planning to host a series of talks by speakers who can attract such developers. I’m very happily boggled to be first.

I’m out of practice at giving talks, though. At conferences and meetups I usually facilitate interactive learning experiences, similar to what I do in my consulting work. So I’ve been practicing and preparing a little extra, including working out a setup for giving this kind of talk remotely. I’ve been reflecting on how listeners experience Agile in 3 Minutes and trying to replicate aspects of that. A small amount of new software and hardware will help. The talk won’t be called “Agile in 35 Minutes”, but that’s how I’m thinking about it.

Taavi’s been sleeping well and looking forward to kindergarten. We’re breathing a little easier. It seems like having our own living space is always a week or two away. By the time it happens, we’ll have been here a year.

For the piano sonata I’m studying, I’ve got the first section memorized and am into the deliberate-practice phase with it. When I find myself having trouble, I focus on that spot, and it quickly improves. After a year with this piece, reaching the fast-feedback stage (and sometimes playing the whole section somewhat convincingly) is thrilling. There are a bunch more sections. One at a time.

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What’s this?

It’s a /now page.

nownownow.com is a directory of people with /now pages. I’m listed there.