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Draw Something – Marmalade Error

If you have too many facebook friends Draw Something breaks.  But why?

I noticed this error when I tried to connect to some friends via fb.  The app threw up two really weird errors and crashed. 
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It appears Draw Something knows about the error. But I wanted to know why.  I posted about the error and a few of my friends responded they had the same problem. I looked at the amount of friends they had and it is over a thousand in each case.  Can Draw Something just not handle a long list of fb friends?

Error (Marmalade v5.2.1)
Heap 0 out of memory. Allocating 768 but only 224 available (204 LFB). Increasing ice setting [s3e] MemSize (current value is 12000000).

An interesting side note is this error exposed the framework that Draw Something is using. 
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Conflict and How to Manage It.

Gladiator-day

For the TD:LR crowd – how do you know you are in conflict, and think about what you really want and what they really want. 

In my leadership class we learned about conflict this week.  And I learned an interesting question.

What are your physiological responses you have in conflict?

If you don't know your in conflict, you can't manage it.  Do your palms get sweaty, or does your heart race?  Does your face turn purple and you start yelling? 

Analyzing my conflict management skills, I found that I get tense and excited when I am in conflict.  I usually avoid conflict, but when I really am invested in the outcome, or it is important to me I dive in.  I get tense and excited because I know that this is a tipping point.  The outcome of this decision can influence the future in various degrees. 

So now that you know your responses, you can recognize when you are feeling conflict and you can manage it.  Here are some steps to go through to proactively manage your thoughts and emotions in a productive way to manage and solve your conflict. 

1. Think about the outcome you want, and what the opposite party wants.
What do you want/think should happen.  What does the other person want and think should happen.  Don't look at just the surface level.  If you can't agree on what movie to watch don't stop at "They want Bambi and I want Inception." Look deeper.  Maybe they don't really want Bambi, they want a calming movie.  You want a thinking movie. Which moves us to the second point. 

2. Think about compromising.

Do you NEED to have your outcome? Think about the best case and worst case scenario.  Then think about…

3. Collaborate

Maybe you can work together and get to a better outcome than either of you had planned. You want a thinking movie. She wants a happy movie. What about both? A quick Google search could indicate you should watch Hugo!

4. Determine if you are conflicting or competing.

Sometimes you need to take a step back and think about what is actually happening.  Are you in conflict because you can't agree, or are you competing because you don't want to agree?  Sometimes conflict can be exciting and we get caught in the trap of prolonging conflict because we find it interesting and or exciting.  In life, sometime we have to compete against other players, in business and sports for example, but these competitions don't have to turn into conflict.  Be careful that you know what you are doing, and why you are doing it. 

ps – Movie links are affiliate.
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Skiing for the first time this year – AND Snow website Idea

Group of friends and I are going night boarding at Brighton for the first ski of the season for me.  First time skiing you ask? Why, it is Feburary?! Yes, I say, yes it is.  But the snow has not been kind to us.  Brighton is sitting at 70 inch mountain average.  In Feburary.  

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(But why is the snow gone? – said in Jack Sparrows voice)

I know that weather cycles are cyclical.  And Utah had one of the best snow seasons ever last year.  I looked up the averages for Brighton.  500+ or 410+ depending on who you ask.  70/410 = 17%.  Pathetic.  

However it will be fun.  I just wonder is there a site where you can see the historic average for each year? If such a site existed it could warn you whether or not to buy a ski pass this year.  Imagine getting this email,

"Warning, low snow year predicted. The scientists at SnowYear.com (haven't checked, probably taken) have been pouring over the data and we have bad news.  It looks like a 60% chance this year will be a bad snow year.  So think twice before buying a pass.  If you don't get a pass, here are a few great offers on lift tickets (list of affiliate ads and offers for lift tickets)"

What do you think, would you sign up? It would be free, ad supported. 
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Dysfunctions of Teams – and a small bit on how to fix them.

Teamwork.  Everyone talks about it, not very many people do it very well.  Why? Because it is hard.  Because it takes work.  Because it requires us to look outside of ourselves.  

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(example of a high functioning team… in certain ways.)

There are generally 4 stages of a team.  Forming, storming and norming, performing.

I am currently part of a team for a class.  We are working on helping students feel connected to each other and looking outside themselves. We are in the middle of the forming/storming stage. The definition for forming comes from Tuckerman's Team theory. 

Forming – The individual's behavior is driven by a desire to be accepted by the others, and avoid controversy or conflict. Serious issues and feelings are avoided, and people focus on being busy with routines, such as team organization, who does what, when to meet, etc. But individuals are also gathering information and impressions – about each other, and about the scope of the task and how to approach it. This is a comfortable stage to be in, but the avoidance of conflict and threat means that not much actually gets done.

This is us to a T. We are setting up when to met.  I introduced everyone to GroupMe to keep in contact. (If you don't use GroupMe for teams, start now. Seriously) We all tend to agree on what we should do and everything seems like it is going to be just peachy. 

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However we are also seeing some stages of storming. Tuckerman defines storming as…

Every group will next enter the storming stage in which different ideas compete for consideration. The team addresses issues such as what problems they are really supposed to solve, how they will function independently and together and what leadership model they will accept. Team members open up to each other and confront each other's ideas and perspectives. In some cases storming can be resolved quickly. In others, the team never leaves this stage. The maturity of some team members usually determines whether the team will ever move out of this stage. Some team members will focus on minutiae to evade real issues.


We can see this.  We are handing out assignments but some disagree how to best do it. I can foresee us getting through the storming stage very quickly and moving on to smooth sailing. 

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I can see the light ahead because all of my team members chose to be in this class.  The project that we chose is exciting and has a definite potential.  We like each other and just need to work out how to work with each other. 

I recently attended a lecture about the 5 Dysfunctions of Teams. (Yes this is an affiliate link.  I am trying it out.  Let me know what you think.)

I loved it, because it opened my eyes to man a team problem that I have seen in the past.  It gave these problems a name. The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team are:
  • Absence of trust—unwilling to be vulnerable within the group
  • Fear of conflict—seeking artificial harmony over constructive passionate debate
  • Lack of commitment—feigning buy-in for group decisions creates ambiguity throughout the organization
  • Avoidance of accountability—ducking the responsibility to call peers on counterproductive behavior sets low standards
  • Inattention to results—focusing on personal success, status and ego before team success

Right now my team is feeling an absence of trust.  We don't know what we are each capable of.  You might have the best escape driver ever, but you have never seen him drive a semi truck.  I know that we have a great team but we need more time to understand each others strengths and what assignment we should trust each person with.  One final way that the speaker mentioned was a great way to build trust was to give small assignments and follow up with them.  Be here at this time… done.  Trust goes up.  Can you send this email? Done, and trust goes up.  I feel that as we build block by block a solid foundation for a high performing team will emerge.  

Soon we will be pulling heist after heist, er I mean, we will be completing project after project, in perfect unison and teamwork.  
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Smart Goals

Goals are great.

 

Goal

Everyone talks about goals.  Picking somewhere where you want to go feels great because you know where are headed.  But what kinds of goals are the best?

SMART goals are a way to set goals that are effective. 
Smart stands for 
  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Attainable
  • Realistic
  • Timely
For example if you want to get better grades a goal to "Get better grades", is a good start but not sufficient.  How will you get there, what will you do? 

A smart goal would be maybe something like this…
"I will maintain an A in my Accounting 310 class during the whole semester."

This new goal is specific, you can measure it, you can do it, and you know where to put your efforts. 

In my leadership class, I want to set a goal to have more than 70% of the class read the assigned reading before coming to class by the end of the semester.  I will measure it through link tracking in the email I send out and I will reach this goal by the showing them how important the readings are to class discussion which everyone likes.  
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What is my role?

I am supposed to write a blog post for a leadership class about a role in which I will apply the lessons I am learning in the class. I am a teacher in my weekly Sunday class.  I prepare and teach lesson and try to help everyone in my class.  This is the role in which I will apply the leadership lessons.  

But I have to look deeper.  What is my role in life? What am I supposed to be doing, what do I want to do, and what am I doing about it?

I am a student. This role takes up a majority of my time.  I am learning in an attempt to increase my earning power.  Luckily that is not all.  I love to learn.  I love seeing something I don't know much about and then understanding it and teaching it to someone else.  I will be a student for the rest of my life. 

I am an athlete.  I love to play sports and believe that if we don't take care of our bodies, we are missing out on a huge part of life.  Eventually I want to be a personal trainer of some sort in order to help others get and stay fit. 

I am a friend. I try to get to know everyone and help everyone.  We are all members of many communities and our group of friends is an important one.  We are all social creatures by nature and we love reaching out and connecting with others.  

These three roles were the ones that really stood out to me, but I have many, probably hundreds of others.  Knowing, understanding, and fulfilling our roles is one of the most gratifying aspects of life.
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Servant Leader

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Leadership is a hot topic.  Search for "leadership" on Google and you get 800,000,000 (eight hundred 

million) results.  But what kind of leadership is best? A recent article suggested that nice guys finish last.  Aggressive, brash, and powerful leaders are idolized in movies and seen as very successful. 

We recently talked about being a "servant leader" in my leadership class.  Servant leadership was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf.  Servant leaders give priority attention to the needs of their colleagues and those they serve.  Often seen as humble stewards of their organizations resources. Servant leaders tries to help others solve their problems and develop. The highest priority of a servant leader is to encourage, support, and enable those they lead to unfold their full potential and abilities.  Being a great servant leader is hard because it is not just what you do, it is who you are. Southwest Airlines CEO Herb Kelleher and now Colleen Barrett are examples of servant leadership.  They see themselves as supporting the employees and giving great customer service to their own employees.  A dissatisfied flier will not fly with Southwest again, while a dissatisfied employee will not deliver required performance. 

Being a servant leader is very important to me.  One of my role models was the perfect servant leader. Christ had all power but he spend his time serving others.  It is hard to be a great servant leader because as you get better, as you get more power, the temptation to lead for leadings sake becomes greater and greater. 

In my teaching role, I need to realize that I am in front of a class, with a demand upon their time and attention, because I am supposed to be helping them.  I am there for them.  I am not there for my own reasons, and my own gratification.  Sometimes, I feel like my professors in college are only there because it is part of their job.  They don't really want to help us learn, they just have to clearly define the benchmark, then hand out the marks. 

The more I learn about servant leadership, the more I see how it would solve many of the problems today.  Bad bosses, would become good bosses.  Corrupt politicians would actually start serving the people who elected them. And I would become a better teacher and leader. 

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