Steven Savage's Blog, page 71

My Agile Life: Be Your Own Best Boss

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s LinkedIn, and Steve’s Tumblr)

(My continuing “Agile Life” column, where I use Scrum for a more balanced and productive life continues).

One of the better bosses I had, when seeing a report I had created, noted “Now I understand where we are and I’m worried.”

Why do I say he was a better boss? Because his reaction to seeing disturbing data was to then figure out what to do. He didn’t kill the messenger (me) or berate the team (everyone el...

My Agile Life: Overwork

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s LinkedIn, and Steve’s Tumblr)

(My continuing “Agile Life” column, where I use Scrum for a more balanced and productive life continues).

Uhg.  So as you know from my blogging about agile techniques, I’ve been getting overloaded.  I’m trying to fix this with some success.  So here’s what I’ve been trying.

Velocity.  Velocity, the measure of work done in a timeframe, is a big part of Scrum.  One reason to measure it is to see what you can...

Steve’s Update 8/7/2017

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

It’s my weekly Scrum style standup for my audience, so where am I?

First, apologies for missing another start-of-month update two months in a row.  It’s like I forget to do a post on those times, and will try not to do that.

So August’s goals are pretty much get out the Way With Worlds Book 3, keep writing “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet,” and I may get out a generator or two.

So what have I done the las...

A Writer’s Life: Writing And The Models

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

My friend Serdar was discussing why we write and why it’s valuable.  If you haven’t read is stuff, scope it out, his Flight of the Vajra is one of my influences to write again.

He talks about why some writing fails at a point, and how writing is a way of modeling.

The tough part is for that model to be properly informed by real human behavior and real-world facts. Most of the bad writing I’ve encountered is either ignorant of...

A Writer’s Life: Big Rocks II: Electric Boogaloo

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

I recently ran into a case of getting blocked in my writing.  It was weird, things just felt “wrong.”  I wasn’t happy with a scene.  Some plot elements seemed off.  Editing earlier chapters felt odd.  I was writing, but it felt stuck.

So I took a lok at how I felt.  I didn’t even to need to use the “Five Whys” because I quickly realized what this sensation was.

It was the Big Rocks. http://www.stevensavage.com/blog/2017/06/wri...

My Agile Life: The Line Isn’t So Dead

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s LinkedIn, and Steve’s Tumblr)

(My continuing “Agile Life” column, where I use Scrum for a more balanced and productive life continues).

Right now I’m doing Agile methods in my own life, specifically Scrum.  This has been very successful, both in terms of becoming productive, but also in truly understanding good process and productivity.  However, I often felt (and feel) odd bits of discomfort, concerns over things being late, and so on e...

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: What It’s About

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

I’ve been posting about my writing here a lot.  So, with intermittent updates, I’m going to talk about my fiction writing project, “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.”

First of all, yes, fiction.  I’ve not done public fiction in awhile – but I did side projects, edited, coached, and did stuff for the Sanctum.  I figure it was time – and it’s fun.  If this works, I plan to split my time between fiction and non-fiction.

And what’s it...

Magic, Technology, And Worldbuilding is Out!

It’s out!  The latest of the Way With Worlds miniguides, this one on Magic and Technology – because for the sake of worldbuilding, they’re usually the same!

Each book contains 50 questions on the specific subject, plus a bunch of extras, to help worldbuilders think, ponder, and design.  Think of it as a personal coaching session in a book!  On top of that, each is only 99 cents!

To celebrate, the flagship book, Way With Worlds, is on sale for a week!  It’s your chance to pick it up!

So go on,...

My Agile Life: By The Numbers

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s LinkedIn, and Steve’s Tumblr)

(My continuing “Agile Life” column, where I use Scrum for a more balanced and productive life continues).

Let’s talk estimating how much work something takes. This may sound boring, it will get abstract, but stick with me here – it’s pretty interesting.

I’m using the Agile method of Scrum in my own life, which involves sizing work to know how “big” it is. If you’re not familiar with Agile practices, just kno...

Steve’s Update 7/24/2017

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

It’s my weekly Scrum style standup for my audience, so where am I?

So what have I done the last week? Way With Worlds Minibook #2: Getting it out and publicity queued up.  Also there’s a sale coming . . . “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet”: Chapter #3 was released to my pre-readers.  Want to be one?  Let me know! Blogging: I recorded my next two agile posts! What am I going to do this week: Way With Wor...