Neurodistinct™

Finally got the opportunity to mix the sound with the video my daughter Joanna shot and edit some nice excerpts. Hope you like them and learn as much as I did explaining.

A quick high-level explanation of neurodiversity, neurotypical, and neurodiverse and how all this relates to the Tech / Non-Tech barrier.

The Bread Story. A personal story which illustrates the vast difference between my wife and myself.

What ticks off the non-tech neurotypical

I had a great time sharing an innovative new way to improve the Tech / Non-Tech divide using the ideas of Neurodiversity.

This is a recording of the presentation I gave at the Microsoft Denver Developer Day. It provides insight and instructions on a new way to engage the non-technical.

The first 3-1/2 minutes of sound is listenable but poor. The rest has great sound. Forgot to turn on my lapel mic and had to grab the first few minutes from the camcorder audio track.

Click to go to the MP3 & Transcript File Download

I had a great time giving this presentation. It led to some very interesting conversations. Most focused on wanting the business side to understand what we need and adapt to it. I see that as status quo, not fixing the problem.

Just getting over the red eye flight home from the Autism at Work summit held at SAP’s Palo Alto facility. Though held at SAP, this movement is being driven by a collaboration of 4 major corporations, SAP, Microsoft, HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise), and EY (Ernst Young) in combination with universities, partners, and other companies beginning their involvement. Autism at Work is the name wrapped around these and other major companies’ efforts to integrate autistic workers into their normal business environment and culture. Amazingly, this is not being done just to be good corporate citizens, but because it is proving to be a business case that is very good for the business.

 What these companies have recognized is, within the autistic population are people whose traits and strategies aid them to be tremendous performing employees when in the right job. But, these same people can’t get through the normal hiring process due to social or communication...

How many times have you heard “There is no “I” in TEAM.” This is wrong. I believe there is a very important “I”, which is hidden in plain sight. Before we finish, I will show you the “I”. But, I am doing tell & show instead of the conventional direction. Now about the missing “I” in TEAM and some unique people this important “I” represents.

 I will start with myself as an example. In the normal diversity buckets I am a majority white male. Missing is I am autistic with Asperger’s. I’ve worked 20+ years with computer databases and as a product design engineer for 10. The traits of being an Aspie (someone who has Asperger’s) gave me the mental disposition to excel in technical pursuits. Other Asperger’s traits caused me to ineffectively communicate with neurotypically minded employees. My biggest Asperger’s strength is my ability to view patterns and relationships and...

Let's face it, the business environment is competitive. We are looking for ways to create shareholder value, increase efficiency, and boost employee productivity. There are many traditional methods, out sourcing, down sizing, restructuring, and merging. These approaches often cause brand damage. They also create stinging reputations on Glassdoor.com. I'm suggesting another possibility a few cutting edge companies are trying. This is crazy, but what you need is more people with Asperger's in your company.

What is Asperger's and why do I want it? Asperger's is a developmental disorder, the result of structural and or physiological differences in the brain, not bad parents or lack of control. Think of it as how the brain is hardwired. It creates a brain that processes differently.

Now frequently diagnosed during childhood, it was virtually unknown in the USA until the early 90's. If you were out of school before then, you are likely undiagnosed. Symptom are diverse as it is a...

Was at an event where I had to give a 3 minute speech as a training exercise. I settled on a story of a struggle when I started a machining business and identifying the Asperger’s traits that both helped and hindered. My “Story” deviated from the advice of my coaches and created a discussion about the different way I perceive the world as someone with Asperger’s than they do. 

The short discussion with questions being asked by many in the group was enlightening. It made me realize most people think of someone with Asperger’s as being and thinking just like themselves, but with challenges in some areas. It was a revelation that my pattern of thinking and approach to processing bears no resemblance to the process which occurs in their minds. I explained it is a totally different processing strategy that gives us abilities allowing us to be the people that take ideas and work with them every day as if they were tangible items. With this gift I...

Tim explains his concept of representing Neurodiversity as a cloud and how it work moving from normal to Asperger's. Tim questions where the point occurs that you suddenly change categories.

Sort of rough, but here is the Google automatic transcript of this video:

hi Tim gold senior here to talk to you
about my favorite topic which is
Asperger's and neuro diversity well as
you know me being an ass be have a
little bit of a concern and interest in
this whole ass burger thing and how it's
being dealt with in corporate America
today I wanted to talk to you a little
bit today about some ideas a hand here
so if you don't mind me checking my
notes once in a while to see if I can
keep myself on topic but what I wanted
to talk about was essentially this idea
of normal to assburgers and what is
neuro diversity a lot of people don't
have any idea what this whole concept of
neuro diversity actually is well nerd
adversity is the idea that our brains
and the way that they work and function
all are dependent upon...

Us Neurodiverse thinking Tech Geeks tend to just “stick to the facts” when we explain. For me and most of the tech tribe, this means explain it in the detailed concepts we think in. This works great when the other person has a technical understanding of the topic and the time for the details. When dealing with the non-technical, “tech talking” for 10 or 15 minutes continuously is always the wrong approach. Most non-technical people are neurotypical types. They often color their impressions and make decisions based on how they feel. Frequently they consider social and emotional impressions over facts. This means facts and details will not make a lasting positive impression. Instead, you have to get them to relate to you and feel a human connection. Short personal stories and sound bites, not tech details are the key.

A well-crafted story, even if only a minute long, will make an emotional impression which will be long remembered. Weaving in a few facts with a...

Values of Scrum

Commitment Team members individually commit to achieving their team goals, each and every Sprint.

Courage Team members know they have the courage to work through conflict and challenges together so that they can do the right thing.

Focus Team members focus exclusively on their team goals and the Sprint Backlog; there should be no work done other than through their backlog.

Openness Team members and their stakeholders agree to be transparent about their work and any challenges they face.

Respect Team members respect each other to be technically capable and to work with good intent.

*(Wikipedia Scrum Values https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_(software_development) )

 Let’s start with why and what a Scrum is. A well run Scrum is for the technical employees doing the actual work. The purpose is to help the contributors be more effective creating the deliverable as a team. The addition of manager’s or stake holder’s doing...