Hacking is a mindset, not a skillset

presented to Agile Ottawa March 19, 2013

by Tanya Snook, @spydergrrl

Hacking is a mindset, not a skillset

presented to Agile Ottawa March 19, 2013

by Tanya Snook, @spydergrrl

Agile

& Ellen Grove, @eegrove

MIT Hacks

Hacking Defined

Excellence

Explore limits of the possible

Exciting

Meaningful

Playful cleverness

Clever, ethical, enjoyable, excellence-seeking behaviour

Hacking Defined

Excellence

Explore limits of the possible

Exciting

Meaningful

Playful cleverness

Clever, ethical, enjoyable, excellence-seeking behaviour

culture hackers actively

modify culture for

personal betterment and the

betterment of others….

Agile in reality is a great

big culture hack

Dan Mezick

Do you hack?

• Sometimes

• Always

• Never

Principles of a Hacking Mindset (according to spydergrrl)

1. Challenge accepted!

2. Blow away the box.

3. Bring your friends.

4. Give it away now.

5. Pay it forward.

1. Challenge accepted! Barriers are welcomed.

• Barriers can be source of motivation.

• Breaking through them can be the reward.

• Perception issue? o Right tools, wrong perspective?

Lead from any

chair!

Crowdfunding

At work: Hack your training

RT @jbrains: Someone told me this early: “Your salary includes a skills allowance of the amount of your choosing”

Anywhere: practice agility

Personal Kanban Personal Kanban

2. Blow away the box. Look for unexpected ways to make it better.

• Step outside your thinking

• Find the fun or creative approach to a challenge

• Don't define yourself by how others define you

• Question your assumptions of the world

Social media

Redefine yourself

• Question your assumptions about yourself

• Don't define yourself by how others define you

Ada Lovelace

3. Bring your friends. Unique perspectives create more robust solutions.

• Multi-disciplinary collaboration

• Completely different perspectives

• Be part of something bigger than yourself

RT @RalphMercer: We cannot solve a complex problem with a solution from a single discipline of study #justsaying

Wait, what? Getting ideas from lots of places

4. Give it away now. Information and knowledge should be shared openly, freely.

• Sharing information empowers others

• Hoarding is counterintuitive to innovation

• Give away your knowledge

RT @deadprogram My rules for social media: find something cool=tweet it, learned something cool=blog it, mastered something cool=present it

Share. For free.

Open... everything

5. Pay it forward. Teach others to think like a hacker.

• Kids are perceptive. (So are your colleagues)

• Teach them to pivot their thinking

• Get them more engaged in learning

• Formal and informal opportunities to hack

• Turn questions into problem-solving and hacking

Where it began...

Raising a hacker

Principles of a Hacking Mindset (according to spydergrrl)

1. Challenge accepted!

2. Blow away the box.

3. Bring your friends.

4. Give it away now.

5. Pay it forward.

Do you hack?

• Sometimes

• Always

• Never

Contact

Tweet @spydergrrl

Read spydergrrl.com

Email spydergrrlOnTheWeb@gmail.com

Tweet @eegrove

Read Masteringtheobvious.wordpress.com

Email ellen@profluence.ca

Ready to go? Maps & outfitters to help you on your journey

• The Culture Game – Dan Mezick

• Personalkanban.com

• Bruce Feiler: Agile programming for your family

• Pomodorotechnique.com

• http://www.codecademy.com

• Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar – James Marcus Bach

• The Core Protocols – Jim and Michele McCarthy

• Hackschooling makes me happy – Logan LaPlante at TEDxUniversityofNevada