Todor Vlaev

Had someone asked me 10 minutes in, I wouldn’t have thought Signalis would have grasped me the way it did. Some of my favorite games of my childhood are of the likes of Resident Evil 3 and Silent Hill. Signalis inescapably reminds me of the retro survival horror classics. The game is true to its inspirations down to the sometimes clumsy mechanics and restrictions, such as no autosaves.

The magnetic draw of the game, however, is far deeper than its aesthetics. The whole narrative design in my opinion is outstanding. Signalis is a true tribute to indie craftsmanship. The core game team of the rose-engine is 2 people and the care put into the game seeps through its every pore.

Writing this as I just finished my run, I feel deeply satisfied with my experience. The puzzles were generally simple, yet not insultingly so. There is, of course, action in the game but far from the spotlight. The limited inventory, enforces resource scarcity even when things are good. Everything just works together, as you get sucked in the tense mystic atmosphere. And at least I feel fully rewarded for my time and attention.

I’ve been waiting for a while now to take a long weekend. Finally, there was the perfect opportunity and I decided to make the most of it. Of course, this means making a list. I’ve checked the items below. I’m proud I managed to tick everything off, apart from ❌ taking a nap. Will catch up during the weekend 😉.

I decided to ✅ walk everywhere I go on Friday, to keep me active and, well, I enjoy walking a lot. My first destination in the morning was a cozy cafe, where I had a solid breakfast set. It was super chill, I was the only customer for the most of the hour I spent there.

After breakfast, on to ✅ Helsinki’s City Library Oodi. The Finnish library system is some sort of a welfare utopia, Oodi is the cherry on top of the cake. On the way, ✅ listened to a podcast, a panel discussion on the day in the life of game producers. At the library I ✅ finished the draft of a blog post, read some magazines, had some tea and overall was sucking in the unique atmosphere of Oodi.

Nothing relaxes me like ✅ a good sauna session. It was a bit early in the day, this was a bit of a challenge. Settled for Allas, which is in the heart of the city and combined it with some open air swimming (in a heated pool). There was also the option to dip in a pool of actual sea water, however the water temperature of 8 degrees Celsius, discouraged me… but not many of the other customers.

On the way to an early dinner, I made an improptu stop by one of my favorite beer pubs - Pien. This pint of Czech Pilsner brought to a spring to my step as I commuted to my next destination.

✅ Dinner at a lovely wine and tapas bar with my partner. Excellent food, drinks and, of course, company 🥰.

We had a nightcap on the way home in the tiniest of wine bars. Super atmospheric. By then, I was feeling the nice tinge of exhaustion from a long day well spent. 🙏

Photo by Patrick Perkins.

As professionals we often put ourselves in other people’s shoes. Be it customers, peers, managers. We benefit from empathy and critical thinking. I like playing devil’s advocate. This often requires challenging own core beliefs.

Many of us are blessed with working with a team of smart people. And smart people are darn difficult to argue with. They have good arguments and often juxtaposed valid perspectives. Navigating this sometimes requires (😱) changing our own minds.

Here’s a few ideas I’ve come across recently that have challenged some common beliefs core to my work. Have fun.

We may not need teams anymore

HBR: Do We Still Need Teams?

As we’ve stated in past research, true teams have a shared mindset, a compelling joint mission, defined roles, stable membership, high interdependence, and clear norms. Co-acting groups represent a loose confederation of employees who dip in and out of collaborative interactions as a project or initiative unfolds.

This reminds me of the notion of “dynamic teams” I read about in uni. It’s startling to say that we don’t need teams. And it’s also not quite like that. There are some interesting benefits, though. Co-acting groups band and disband rapidly based on desired outcomes. I’d venture that start-ups are much better at this than larger corporations. There is potential of making disruptive re-orgs a thing of the past. Co-acting groups, or dynamic work comunities, are an enviable organizational capability.

The open office is not great for workers

NYT: Opinion | The Immortal Awfulness of Open Plan Workplaces

For decades, research has found that open plan offices are bad for companies, bad for workers, bad for health and bad for morale. And yet they just won’t die.

I admit this something that’s not new to me, ever since Peopleware at least. Yet, I also understand the challenges that drive us towards the open space multi-func spaces of today. There is no one-size-fits-all solution and we need to be respectful of this. However when was the last time your company experimented with private offices. (I’m not laughing, you are laughing. 😀)

Objectives and metrics may prevent us from achieving our higher goals

Kenneth Stanley: Set The Right Objectives [The Knowledge Project Ep. #148]

“Actually the subjective judgments are the interesting ones because the objective judgments are easy. You don’t need a degree to just measure something.”

Objectives and metrics may restrict the required creativity when dealing with complex problems. Our good-intentioned drive for objectivity can also trip us up. Subjective judgements and experiences are super valuable. “You can’t improve what you don’t measure.”… Really?? I beg to differ. By the way, I’m an active participant and proponent of rolling out OKRs in our organization. It definitely helps to keep the hype in check.

Visited the Billnäs Antique Days. Bought an old carpet and some trinkets. Nice atmosphere, but somehow less popular than previous years. Some chocolate directly from the factory made up for this! 😋

We then went to Tammisaari. A cute town with some beautiful old buildings. The day was gloomy and grey.

This is our last weekend at the cottage before we close it down for winter. There is a bunch of things to do. Bernie here likes to supervise from his tiny window.

… so I had no choice but to deliver!

Rewarded myself with a sauna 🧖‍♂️ and watched LIV - MCI ⚽️. What a game!