Digital interaction, unproductive meetings and cups of tea
In these past few months in which the pandemic forced many of us to work remotely, there has been an unprecedented peak of mediated meetings. In all types of organizations, no matter its size, having moved to working remotely overnight made it clear that there is something that happens within an office that cannot be completely replaced –at least not easily– with technological tools.
As an illustrative data point, the value of Zoom shares went from $68 to more than $470 in just 8 months, but the change is much more significant: we are seeing, in real time, the explosion…
Fast-paced decision making to get back home
Surely by now you’ve at least heard the term agile. Maybe you know what it means, maybe you don’t, maybe you kind of know. As it gains popularity and permeates new spaces, we can settle for having a basic understanding: that agile methodologies, and the mindset that they operate on, are essential for fast-paced environments that require quick decision making in high stakes contexts.
A good way to think about –and understand– agility is to imagine that you are living in a zombie movie: the fundamental rule for survival is that you have to keep moving.
Is it a bit…
Lessons learned from a decade and a half of making music with other humans
When I was 15, I formed my first band with a group of high school friends. From that point on, I kept on making music for almost 15 years. I played in shitholes and I played almost decent gigs. I played for literally two people, and I played for more than a hundred people (not much more than that, though… we were never a big deal). I played, in total, with over 40 different people, in a variety of bands, formats and formations. I played in a nuns’ school and would have played a biker’s meetup, if we hadn’t been…
Maxims and guidelines on what makes good graffiti (and good blogging)
In this post, we’ll see how graffiti and blogging are alike, some maxims from the 70s (that we somehow got to losing along the way) and some guidelines to make your blogposts sticky. But before all of that, we’ll talk cinema.
If there is a tremendously relevant movie for these times we’re living, it is the 2011 movie Contagion: it is about the pandemic outbreak of a highly lethal and highly contagious virus, that sets off when Gwyneth Paltrow returns to Minneapolis from a business trip to –you guessed it!– China. …
A practical guide for deciding when to build, buy or adapt
The names Robertson, Allen, Parker, Philips and Goodwin may not mean anything to you, but they all played a part in building the world you live in.
No, they’re not the members of some 70s band that inspired any sort of social or musical movement, and they’re also not a band of infamous robbers that pulled off some big heist back in their day.
They are, first of all, not a group. And this isn’t even the whole list of names. There are several more people involved, and none of them even worked together. In fact, they were all competitors…
Some practical thoughts on where to put your focus
One of the many insightful things that Seth Godin repeats every so often, and that I like to keep within sight, as a mantra, is that:
A new kind of approach to tackle new kinds of problems
If you go to Manas.Tech, you can find an easter egg by hovering on the word ‘unconventional’. That word is a big influence on everything we do, including but not limited to, a hidden wink to curious visitors.
Unconventional
/ʌnkənˈvɛnʃ(ə)n(ə)l/
adj. not based on or conforming to what is generally believed.
The dictionary definition of the term unconventional is as illustrative as its counterpart:
Conventional
/kənˈvɛnʃ(ə)n(ə)l/
adj. based on or conforming to what is generally believed.
The true meaning, however, does not lay in definitions. What’s behind this is the fact that all the easy problems are already solved. Humans…
A rant on the state of work and the uncovering of the lies our lives are built upon
These past few weeks, I have seen a few job offers going around that got me motivated to write this post.
During a global pandemic, preceding what we all know is going to be a crude recession, finding work is something precious. Except in cases like the ones I am getting at here, that explicitly say things like “remote during quarantine”:
Finding value in unexpected tools, during an unexpected time
Nothing like a global pandemic to shake us out of the beaten path. We’re used to doing more or less the same stuff, more or less the same way. And even if you’re not a strict-routine kind of person, an extreme situation like the one we are living likely showed you that you are nonetheless used to operating –with or without a routine– within a context where things are a certain way. …
A small tribute to the great Zig Ziglar, with teachings to be applied on Linkedin, your work and your life.
Zig Ziglar once said ‘you can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want’.
A slightly different version I recently heard is: if you want to be a millionaire, you’ve got to help a million people. The basic idea is, if you create value for enough people, you’re creating value for yourself. The problem with this beautiful idea is: it’s easy to get it wrong. This article, then, is a modest effort to try and fix that.
What is usually (mis)understood by this is that it works more or less…
Martín Pettinati
I want you to communicate better. Marketing & Communications at Manas.Tech. I write, talk, design and execute trainings on communication, marketing, and stuff.
