The phrase “asymptomatic intelligence” is a term that describes most subtly the trait of people who show signs of intelligence only periodically or never. The expression appeared during the COVID pandemic, and just as there are some carriers of the SARS-2 virus who do not show any of the symptoms of COVID disease, so do people who do not show intelligence except perhaps accidentally or not at all.
Today, my wife showed me a inspirational movie. The idea behind was the power of example: a child see his colleague fallen and he helps him getting up, a boy sees the gesture, remains impressed and when he get the opportunity he helps a stranger, others see the gesture, remain impressed, and they, in turn, help others… finally, starting with initial gesture of the first child, a lot of people are helping others for free, unconditional, inspired by example. Brilliant! Continue Reading →
In the companies I worked before, the two roles of Product Manager and Project Manager, were separate roles, because their responsibilities were different and could be done by one person. In F-Startup, the company I was initially hired as a Product Manager, the Product Manager and Project Manager job was the same thing. Despite the fact I knew the two roles can’t be played by the same person, I accepted the challenge to assume responsibilities of both roles. Initially I looked everything as an experiment, because I strongly believed I can do both function in the same time. 
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In three of the startups I have worked, one of my responsabilities was to define performance KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for the employees. As an experiment, I tried to see in what degree the Earned Value Management (SPI and CPI) parameters can be used to evaluate the performance of the employees and the projects. I started with a pilot project where I have collected a series of informations for each team/resources/feature. Continue Reading →
The only diploma, I found useful in my professional life, was the Bachelor Degree, because it helped me to get hired. The master diploma didn’t helped me to get a better job and didn’t make me smarter, but helped me to get a very cheap accommodation in one of the best student dormitories and I save the money for rent.
One day I received a very interesting job opportunity from a startup company. Everything sound interesting, job was a good match for me, so I accepted to sustain the interview. I was tested with all types of silly questions stolen from companies like Google and Apple (the biggest producers of interviews kind of “A beautiful mind”; I think you are familiar with most known interview questions like: “How Many golf balls fit in an airplane?”, “You have a 100 coins laying flat on a table, each with a head side and a tail side. 10 of them are heads up, 90 are tails up. You can’t feel, see or in any other way find out which side is up. Split the coins into two piles such that there are the same number of heads in each pile.“). Continue Reading →
I remember how was my first job interview. At that time, I was still a student, I hadn’t defined yet a goal in life, I had no professional experience. The purpose of my life was to learn and enjoy life. If you ask me why I wanted a job, I don’t really know, because I was feeling pretty good as a student with no obligations. But all my colleagues already had a job and because I was in a direct competition with them, I felt necessary to find myself a job. For the beginning, in order to get hired, I would have worked even for free or as volunteer at the Red Cross in Africa. Few companies have shown an interest on my profile and it took quite long until someone gave me the opportunity of an interview. But in the end, an employer called me to a face to face interview.
March 8. CEO announce that we have an opportunity to sign a partnership with all the Malls in town:
-In order to make the deal, we just need to give them a simple mobile application. But we need it in one month! said CEO delighted.
9:30 o’clock. On each of the office desks are laid out our resignation letters.
-What is this? I asked.
-You resignation, of course, tells my boss. So, come on, quickly, start to sign them, so at the end of today to have all the resignations in a glossary! Continue Reading →
Some studies say the main source of conflicts in companies are: organizational conflicts (when there is a discrepancy between actual and perceived values, needs and interests of individuals or groups of individuals), some studies says the economical conflicts (when companies lack the available resources) or conflicts about understanding the project objectives and scope are the most important (it may seem there is always an inconsistency between how a client, manager and employees understand the scope of work). All the source of conflicts mentioned above are equally important, however there is no unified opinion among experts regarding which is the key factor in conflicts. But for one thing I am certain: in all companies I worked before, regardless the type of conflict involved, the ugliest conflicts was due to improper communication. Continue Reading →
9:00 AM. The most “pleasant” way of starting a new day of work is by receiving the following shocking email: “The shareholders of this company decided 109 employees will be disposed (meaning almost all employees will be fired). The board of directors will try to find solutions and provide alternatives for his employees“. And that’s all folks, the story of our parent company ends here. Continue Reading →
CEO hired a group of “Experts” in Marketing and Sales in order to offer consultancy to executive board in our company. So called “Experts” were good old friends or former employees of CEO, with questionable expertise, with few experience in technical marketing (F-Startup was a combination of IT and Marketing programs). The shock troupe was thrown by CEO in each negotiations with business partners or whenever wanted to justified his decisions in front of shareholders using their analysis. Continue Reading →
