Ricardo Viana Vargas's Blog
December 13, 2021
December 12, 2021
No Rules Rules: The Counter-Intuitive Culture of Netflix
In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the book "The Rule is No Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention", whose subject is the culture of Netflix.
Ricardo explains that he read this book recently, which is based on an interview @reed Hastings gave to @Des Dearlove from @Thinkers50.
Ricardo comments that Netflix breaks the chain of command and control and adopts a policy (or maybe no policy) where employees are free to make decisions by themselves on all sorts of topics, including how their vacation will be or how their travel expenses will be.
He also says that in the interview, Reed said that the only "rule" is to make decisions always considering Netflix's best interest.
Another exciting factor is that people are free to be truthful, even if they disagree with an idea coming from the CEO. And last but not least, Netflix values humility, helping and being helped by colleagues.
Ricardo recommends you read the book and look at the Netflix Culture page at https://jobs.netflix.com/culture.
Listen to the podcast to learn more.
December 5, 2021
To Be or Not to Be Agile: That is the Question
In this week's episode, Ricardo explains the difference between agility and agile methods.
He says that if the project uses an agile method, it may not necessarily have agility. And on the other hand, a project that uses the predictive model may have agility.
Ricardo comments that, regardless of the method used, it is first necessary to have a critical sense of urgency, agility and adaptability in the organization.
Listen to the podcast to learn more.
November 28, 2021
Artificial Intelligence in Projects - Part 2/2 - Challenges
In this second episode of the series, Ricardo talks about three challenges to applying Artificial Intelligence in project management and product development in general.
The first challenge is regarding the quality of the data that will be used. Ricardo explains that in project management, a clear business rule is not respected, which makes it much more complex to have reliable data for artificial intelligence to cross-reference this data to generate relevant patterns for analysis.
The second challenge is to stipulate and predict standards for human behaviour. A simple challenge that a professional has when commuting to work one day can directly impact work and productivity.
The third challenge is the ethical aspect. How would artificial intelligence make the decision faced with an ethical dilemma?
Listen to the podcast to learn more.
[image error]November 21, 2021
Artificial Intelligence in Projects - Part 1/2 - Definitions and Uses
In this week and next, Ricardo talks about the uses, benefits and challenges of artificial intelligence applied to the project scenario.
He explains that artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that seeks to develop equipment and software capable of performing tasks that are typically human, giving examples of products that use artificial intelligence to replace and facilitate our work.
Ricardo also comments that the great benefit of artificial intelligence in project management is monitoring and identifying patterns. These patterns allow the optimization of administrative tasks, preparation of realistic budget and schedule forecasts, and even suggest specific teams for each type of work.
Listen to the podcast to learn more.
November 14, 2021
How to Reframe your Fears
In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about the fears we have during the development of a product, where situations are not totally in our control. Whether in the speed with which we have to carry out our deliveries and releases or in the concern of not delivering the value expected by our client, which leads us to the fear of failing and not being accepted as a leader in the project.
He explains that these fears are natural reactions we have. With the pandemic, there were many changes and a massive disruption in the supply chain, affecting organizations and leaders who need to deal with the changes with their teams and stakeholders.
In the end, Ricardo gives 5 tips on how you can live with these fears and accept that not everything is in our control.
Listen to the podcast to learn more.
November 7, 2021
Three Tips to Improve Resilience and Deliver Better Results in Turbulent Times
In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about resilience and adaptability. He says that when big disasters happen, we first think about resilience, and we associate this term with resistance and more solid constructions that can withstand impacts. But there is psychological resilience and organizational resilience related to developing skills in the project team, in the organization, and ourselves.
Ricardo explains that resilience does not mean that you will go through a crisis without suffering and stress, but when you have good psychological and organizational resilience, you can recover faster and with minor damage.
And finally, Ricardo gives three tips for psychological resilience and three tips for organizational resilience.
Listen to the podcast to learn more.
October 31, 2021
3 Tips on How Time Affects Our Perceptions of Value in a Volatile Environment
In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about our perception of time when we try to assess values, risks, and scenarios in the more distant future. Time significantly affects our ability to judge, understand and evaluate scenarios.
He makes an analogy between the promises made at COP 21 for the years 2070 and 2100 and comments that it is impossible to project an event for the year 2100 without having an incredibly high margin of error.
Finally, Ricardo gives three tips for us to deal with projects in this distant future scenario. Listen to the podcast to know more.
October 24, 2021
What is Systems Thinking?
In this week's episode, Ricardo explains the concept of Systems Thinking.
He compares systems thinking with traditional analysis, where the system is broken down into smaller components to assess problems, impacts, and improvements.
In Systems Thinking, the process is practically the opposite. The focus is not the components but the connection and interactions between them and their behavior over time.
Systems thinking, despite using various tools and simulations, is a holistic and often behavioral process seeking to identify connections and influences that are not seen in the usual and traditional way.
Ricardo ends the episode by discussing the balance between system overload (reinforcement) and balance (equilibrium) as key work components. He reinforces this concept with several applicability examples.
Listen to the podcast to know more.
October 17, 2021
Why We Must Pay Attention to the Great Resignation In Our Projects
In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about "The Great Resignation", a term created by Anthony Klotz, a professor at the University of Texas, A&M University.
He explains that in the first few months of this year, 4.3 million people resigned in the United States. This phenomenon is not unique to the US. It is happening worldwide.
Ricardo comments on the influence of the pandemic on this behavior and on four factors that lead people to resign.
Finally, he addresses the challenges for both the professional leaving work and the company and managers who need to create value to attract the professionals they need to deliver projects.
Listen to the podcast to learn more.
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