World IA Day 2015 - Edmonton

Are you happy? What can you do to improve your happiness and be more happy with your work? In this presentation for World Information Architecture Day (WAID) 2015 in Edmonton, I explore some approaches you can take to improve your happiness and the happiness of your team.

1. Architecting happiness WIAD 2015 – Edmonton, AB
15. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/benry/4321042592/in/pool-explainia/
18. 1. What happiness is
19. 2. What I do to be happy
20. 3. Some ways you can improve your happiness
21. 4. Some things we’re doing at Yellow Pencil to improve our happiness
22. What is happiness?
23. …and how do we know if we are happy?
24. –Jean-Jacques Rousseau “Every man wants to be happy, but in order to be so he needs first to understand what happiness is.”
25. THANKFULLY THERE’S A FRAMEWORK FOR THAT! Source: http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/topic/happiness
26. a. Pleasure, engagement, and meaning
27. b. Daily positive emotions and a sense that life is worthwhile
28. c. We can accurately report on your own level of happiness
29. –Tony Hsieh, Delivering Happiness “Happiness is really just about four things: perceived control, perceived progress, connectedness (number and depth of your relationships), and vision/meaning (being part of something bigger than yourself).”
30. 40% Source: The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want by Sonja Lyubomirsky,
31. Moment-by-moment or long term
32. Source: The Oatmeal
34. Source: http://thenounproject.com/term/poop/53979/ and http://thenounproject.com/term/wave/84207/
35. WHAT I DO TO BE HAPPY
36. Focus on creating the reality I want to live in
37. Stay true to my core values
38. Get rid of the negative
39. Surround myself with family and friends
42. Smile
43. Help
44. Mentor
46. Volunteer
47. Graciousness
49. Happiness folder Thanks Natalie Portman!
50. IMPROVING YOUR HAPPINESS
52. ACTIVITY Laugh for 30 seconds
54. Happy yet?
55. ACTIVITY What do you do to be happy?
56. Make a list
57. Share with person next to you
59. ACTIVITY Estimate your happiness
60. Source: https://medium.com/@ngoeke
61. 0 25 50 75 100 Money Like Impact
63. Look at what’s low and needs improvement
64. ACTIVITY Personal OKRs
65. Objective = dream
66. Key result = success criteria
67. Write an objective that will help you become happier
68. Write 3 KRs for that objective that will tell you if you are happier
69. Share with person next to you
70. WHAT WE (YELLOW PENCIL) ARE DOING TO MAKE A HAPPY COMPANY, WHILE DOING HAPPY WORK FOR HAPPY PEOPLE IN HAPPY PLACES 
 (GEEZ, HOW MANY MORE TIMES CAN HE SAY THE WORD HAPPY?)
71. 1. Clarifying our purpose
73. 2. Articulating a plan
74. –Jim Collins “If you have more than 3 priorities then you don’t have any”
75. OKRs
76. Benefits of OKRs • allow major goals to surface • provide clarity - goals are clear, measurable, and there is company-wide alignment • clarifies what is important and focusses actions, keeping everyone moving toward common outcomes • allow you to measure progress
77. • Maintain a financially stable and healthy company • Book $X in revenue per month • Invoice $X revenue per month • Profit margin: X% • Spending optional budgets • 100% of staff are healthy
 • Be accountable to one another for our success • Meeting 100% of our milestones • Project status report is green • 100% of weekly card velocity
 • Effectively tell Yellow Pencil’s story • Launch our new website • $X per month from in-bound leads Our OKRs this quarter
78. @gabrielvaldivia “Every individual step you take informs the company’s path towards achieving its mission.”
79. Monday: commitments Priorities & focus
80. Milestones & RTS
81. Friday: wins What we got done
83. Demo work
84. Celebrate successes
85. 3. Being transparent
86. $
87. 4. Re-thinking structure
88. Source: http://thenounproject.com/term/team/48670/
90. – Clay Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma “Management is the opportunity to help
 people become better people”
94. BE HAPPIER
95. @richroll, ultra endurance runner “Nothing changes if nothing changes.”
96. Source: http://thenounproject.com/term/dialog/6070/ E: scott@yellowpencil.com Twitter: @benry