Fabio Pereira

I have been reading a lot lately about what makes us happy. Hector and the Search for Happiness is a very good book on the subject.

I found this list on Jason’s blog and decided to repost. Thanks Jason. It also helps remind ourselves of what really matters:

1. Making comparisons can spoil your happiness
2. Happiness often comes when least expected
3. Many people only see happiness in their future
4. Many people think happiness comes from having more power or more money
5. Sometimes happiness is not knowing the whole story
6. Happiness is a long walk in beautiful, unfamiliar mountains
7. It’s a mistake to think that happiness is the goal
8. Happiness is being with the people you love; unhappiness is being separated from the people you love
9. Happiness is knowing that your family lacks for nothing
10. Happiness is doing a job you love
11. Happiness is having a home and a garden of your own
12. It’s harder to be happy in a country run by bad people
13. Happiness is feeling useful to others
14. Happiness is to be loved for exactly who you are (People are kinder to a child who smiles)
15. Happiness comes when you feel truly alive
16. Happiness is knowing how to celebrate
17. Happiness is caring about the happiness of those you love
18. Happiness is not attaching too much importance to what other people think
19. The sun and the sea make everybody happy
20. Happiness is a certain way of seeing things
21. Rivalry poisons happiness
22. Women care more than men about making others happy
23. Happiness means making sure that those around you are happy

Technical happiness

As a brazilian, it was very interesting to watch this video. It shows what americans think about Brazil. It’s pretty accurate, with some exceptions. Especially the fact that it mentions Lula, former president, as the responsible for stabilizing the economy. It was actually the president before him who did it Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Lula has just proceeded with most of Fernando Henrique’s action plans.

It’s true that the video doesn’t express the reality, but it felt to me like a small retrospective…

What’s good about Brazil:

- Growing at 7%, 3 times faster than America

- 14% of the world’s fresh water

- 80% of its electricity comes from hydropower

- For its size, the world’s greenest economy

- World leading exporter of beef, chicken, orange juice, sugar, coffee.

- Police has recently pacified 13 slums and there’s 27 more to go in Rio

- 1 trillion dollar of oil found recently 150 miles from the coast

- Economists are predicting that Brazil, China, Russia and India will dominate the world economy in the 21st century

- A country that would rather play soccer and make love other than fight a war

What can be improved:

- The brazilian way: “Why do something today that you can pay someone to do it the day after tomorrow?”

- Incredibly high taxes on almost everything

- 90% of the roads are still unpaved

- Public transportation

- Rich/Poor gap

- High tolerance for corruption

- Bureaucratic red tape

I’d be happy to hear comments… There’s a lot of comments for the video on youtube.

Technical Brazil, Economics, Video

A couple of months ago, ThoughtWorks set the challenge of an Android competition. Anyone from the Australian office could participate and write an Android app which would be presented and judged at the TeamHug. People should self organise in groups and each person from the winner group would receive an Android Phone as a prize.

At that time, Romain Prieto and I were flatmates in Brisbane and we decided to accept the challenge. So we worked on an app called ThoughtFerret. Why Ferret? Hummm… Because ferrets look happy and they are cute and… That’s pretty much it The objective of the application is to collect information of how happy a thoughtworker is at some point in time, using keywords and GPS location and… Well, let’s make use of the “show don’t tell concept”… Watch the video.

Everyone present at the TeamHug voted and the winning criteria for the competition was equally divided in 5 topics:

• Impact - Ability to credentialize ThoughtWorks with clients in the mobile app space or make a lasting impression.
• Originality - Innovation, revolutionary, have you seen this before?
• Presentation - Was it delivered well? Did they send the message across effectively? Engaging? Visually appealing?
• Usability and Usefulness - Can we use it now or is it still just a concept? Will it make your life easier, more enjoyable or speed up a process?
• Testing - As Android development is still new, QA processes are still rather immature, how did you test your app?

Romain and I presented this app at the TeamHug and we won!!! Congratulations to the other teams, they were amazing!!! Here are the slides from our presentation:

The prize chosen by us was the HTC Desire HD. Mine arrived 2 days ago… I can’t stop playing with it.

It’s been a pleasure working with Romain. He is such a talented person! He deserves the prize much more than I do… If this were a movie, he would have been the actor in a leading role and I would have been the supporting actor…

Technical

At the last TW TeamHug, I did a talk on Persuasion. It’s a summary of the two books I read recently: Predictably Irrational and Yes! 50 Secrets from the science of persuasion.

Technical

Just got back from an amazing weekend at the TW TeamHug. An event that happens twice a year and gathers people from all the offices in Australia plus some people from overseas. It was a record in Australia, around 150 people attended.

Talks, party, great view, games, drinks… One of the highlights was a the photo booth during the wild west party night. Even Fowler went into the booth

Technical

Technical

I had some people asking me what is this whole #dearscott all about…

Basically, Danni McBride found this ad on facebook:

When you clicked on it, you were taken to Scott’s microsite prepared especially to amaze us from ThoughtWorks. The guy really knows TW and what we like… Very persuasive, brilliant.

Quickly, #dearscott on twitter was created.

I was quite surprised to see that people from Sydney office gathered to take this photo. It’s hard to get everyone in the office given most of the people are assigned to projects on the client site.

We haven’t interviewed Scott yet, but one thing we can say about him, he is creative and he managed to get his message through.

Technical

Once upon a time, a forest where some pigs lived, caught on fire and all the pigs were roasted. People, who at that time were in the habit of eating raw meat only, tasted the roasted pigs and found them delicious.

From that time on, whenever men wanted roasted pork they set a forest on fire.

The demand for roasted pork increased and it became a big business and it generated a lot of jobs.

There were men who worked at setting the woods on fire (firemen). There were weather consultancies with experts studying and advising other companies on the best weather conditions to achieve the best roasted pigs. There were also the wind specialists who could be trained and become Certified Anemotechnicians.

Due to the many bad points of "the system" complaints grew at an increasing rate, as the system expanded to involve more and more people. It was obvious that ”the system” should be drastically changed. Thus every year there were any number of conventions, and congresses, and a considerable amount of time and effort was spent on research to find a solution.

Those who were experts on the subject put down the failure of the system to:

• a lack of discipline on the part of the pigs, who would not stay where they should
• or to the inconstant nature of fire, which was hard to control
• or to the trees, which were too green to burn well

One day a fireman named John Commonsense said that the problem was really very simple and easily solved. Only four steps need to be followed:

• the chosen pig had to be killed
• cleaned
• placed in the proper utensil
• placed over the fire so that it would be cooked by the effect of the heat and not by the effect of the flames.

The director general of roasting himself came and asked Commonsense what he had to say about the problem, and after hearing the four point idea he said:

- "What you say is absolutely right–in theory, but it won’t work in practice. What would we do with our weather experts, for instance?"
- "I don’t know," answered John.
- “And what shall be done with the forests that are ready to be burned - forests of the right kind of trees needed to produce the right kind of fire, trees that have neither fruit, nor leaves enough for shade, so that they are good only for burning? What shall be done with them? Tell me!"
- "I don’t know."
- “What you must bring, are realistic solutions, methods to train better wind technicians. We have to improve what we have; we cannot ignore history. So bring me a plan. That is what we need. You are lacking in good judgement, Commonsense! Tell me, if your plan is adopted, what would I do with such experts as the president of the committee to study the integral use of the remnants of the ex-forests?"
"I’m really perplexed," said John.

Poor John Commonsense didn’t utter a word. Without so much as saying goodbye, stupefied with fright and puzzled by the barriers put in front of him, he went away and was never seen again.

It was never known where he went. That is why it is often said that when it comes to reforming the system, Commonsense is missing.

This is an adapted version of the original Fable of the Roasted Pigs.

Technical

A ThoughtWorks office in Brisbane was officially opened last week. We had already had an office in Brisbane, but it’s been closed and now we reopened it.

Trevor, our CEO came to cut the ribbon. We had a Declaration of Independency from Sydney and Melbourne offices and at the restaurant I had snails for the first time, with Romain’s and Danni’s support

I’m still based in Sydney, but assigned to a project in Brisbane for around 3 months. I’m pretty happy with it, especially because of the great people we have here.

Go Brisbane!!! Thanks Danni and Super Dooper Dan Gower for the help setting up the office.

Photos by Danni McBride

Technical

I just finished the book Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion, in fact I finished listening to it I have been using Audible to download some audio books, it’s really good actually.

One interesting metaphor in the book mentions that if we want to change one’s behaviour, or if we want them to agree with us on some subject which is different from their current beliefs, it is like riding a running horse… Basically if you try to jump on the horse and at the same time steer him towards another direction, it’s very likely that you will fall… However, if you jump on the horse and ride towards the same direction that the horse is going for some time and slowly steer him towards the direction you want him to go, then it is more likely that you will get some success.

Eventually you and the horse will be going towards a direction which is neither the original horse’s nor the one you had in mind when jumped on it… Both will learn from each other what’s the best way to go.

Photos from here and here

Technical