Your team’s fate is in your hands. Choose badly and you’ll come to a sticky end. Choose wisely and you stand the chance of living happily ever after. What will you choose to do?
I’m delighted to share with you that my first book The Dream Team Nightmare: Boost Team Productivity Using Agile Techniques published by The Pragmatic Bookshelf turns 11 years old this year!
They say time flies when you’re having fun so if you’ve ever dreamed of writing a book, I highly recommend giving it a go. With plenty of caution, of course – because this is the only responsible and fair thing to do when it comes to doing work from the heart.
In my case, the result is the first ever Agile business novel in the format of gamebook – a fun and interactive story with eight different endings where you, the Reader, gets to put your Agile knowledge and experience to the test.
Back in the autumn 2011, The Dream Team Nightmare began as a personal challenge to see if I could write a book at a time in my life when I wanted to gift back something of me to the world.
Now, as I complete writing my second book and delight in the gifts of feedback from my first readers, I feel incredibly fortunate to have followed the wisdom of my heart. After all, this is the Play Way.
If you’re part of a book club that enjoys having fun as you read, I’d love to pay you a visit (be it online or may be even in-person) to explore and experience the exquisite adventure that is reading – in community!
The Secret to Heartwork
It’s possible that when it comes to writing a book, you find it easy. Believe or not, I’ve met writers for whom this is true. Or you might find it as tough as climbing Mount Everest which is my case (although I’ve yet to climb Mount Everest for real but I’ve been working on my yoga crow pose – slowly, slowly, catchy monkey – in preparation for a handstand or forearm stand). And that’s the thing. Whenever we do anything truly, madly, deeply important to us, it requires hard work because it’s heartwork.
The truth is, I’ve spent most of my life working from my heart. It may sound simple, but up until recently, it’s been anything but easy. Fortunately, I discovered in my wonder years the profound joy that comes from embracing a challenge and doing something for the sake of doing it and because my heart wants to (regardless of what those around me have to say on the matter).
The trick I’ve found about writing a book is to treat it as an adventure of self-discovery par excellence. If what I have come to know as play alchemy has taught me one thing, it’s that “The greater the purpose, the more fun you need to have”. In spite of the ginormous challenge writing a book may seem to you, just imagine how much more fun and joy you’ll experience if having fun and joy becomes part of the process.
This is the Play Way.
THE SCHOOL OF PLAY 