Control what you can control - Maryse Meinen

Software Testing Unleashed - Better Teams. Better Software. Better World.

Stoicism in software development

"And what the Stoics say is, well, most things are actually outside of your control. Like other people's opinions, your body, your health." - Maryse Meinen

In this episode, I talk with Maryse Meinen about stoic thinking for product development and life. We ask what happens if you stop judging success by outcomes and start judging by decision quality. Maryse shares tools you can use today: scenario planning, the 10 10 10 rule, and a simple decision journal. Prepare for failure, accept what you cannot control, and act with courage, justice, and temperance. This fits agile work and the mess we face in tech and society.

Maryse Meinen is a product development coach who uses Agile and Stoicism to make teams and organizations more resilient and sustainable. She espouses the philosophies of degrowth and stoicism, which advocate working more efficiently with fewer resources and valuing what is already there. Her motto is: Achieve more with less!

Highlights:

• Judge decisions by quality, not outcomes.
• Use scenario planning, the 10 10 10 rule, and a decision journal.
• Prepare for failure and accept what you cannot control.
• Practice courage, justice, and temperance in work and life.
• Stoic thinking fits agile work in tech and society.

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1. Stoicism in Agile Leadership (00:00:00)

2. Applying Stoicism to Life & Work (00:04:05)

3. Stoic Decision-Making in Products (00:09:21)

4. Practical Wisdom of Stoicism (00:11:16)

5. Short vs Long-Term Decisions (00:15:35)

6. 10-10-10 Decision Framework (00:17:25)

7. Big Dreams, Risky Decisions (00:21:00)

8. Temperance in Decision Making (00:26:12)

9. Turning Inward: A Farewell (00:28:31)