What I did this summer and what’s coming up this fall

It’s September again. Time to get back to school, work and “normal” life (whatever that means). I was fortunate enough again this year to take August off. Coupled with some time in July I managed to do a ton of fun things this summer. From playing music with friends to seeing live music to traveling to family to some truly once in a lifetime experiences it’s been unforgettable. I’m equally as excited to get back to work and some of the amazing clients, activities and events I’ve got planned this fall. Let’s do a quick recap of summer fun and then jump into the rest of this year’s plans.?

Experiences > things

If there’s anything that motivates me these days it’s experiencing things rather than accumulating them. I’m trying to get that across to my kids as well. I have attachment to maybe 4 things that I ‘own.’ In contrast, I remember and share stories about things we’ve done together much more. This summer we traveled to the northwest of Spain visiting San Sebastian, Gijón, Santander, Vigo and Bainoa along the way. It’s a unique part of Spain rich with thousands of years of culture and history not shared in other parts of the country.

On the music front I played a show with a local Grateful Dead cover band and sat in on a few open jam sessions. I caught concerts by Metallica (been going to see them since I was 16) and Two Door Cinema Club (a Gothelf family favorite).?

Also on the travel front we spent two weeks in Scandinavia with days spent in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo. Aside from seeing some friends along the way we bumped into the Red Bull Cliff Diving Championships (in Oslo of all places), a classic car show and subway art in Stockholm, and a variety of amazing art and architecture in Copenhagen.?

Finally on the unexpected front, we saw the full/red/blood moon this summer and using our telescope got amazing photos of it. We had some family stop by, surprising us with their new babies (we love babies). And, despite knowing nothing about it, we ended up seeing the first day of racing of the America’s Cup in Barcelona. We learned a lot about the sport and got up close to the boats. They’re truly works of art.?

This fall – free webinars, Lean UX classes and book signings, oh my!

On the work front, we continue to work with our large enterprise clients (and are super grateful to them) while bringing on board at least 3 new global companies this fall in the financial services, pharmaceutical and consumer retail spaces. Interested in learning more about how we work with companies? Drop us a note or check out our website.?

Josh Seiden and I are expanding our offering under the Sense & Respond Learning brand this year. We’ve onboarded 6 trainers (with 3 more on the way) who are teaching Lean UX classes in their countries and languages this fall. Check out all our upcoming events in Austria, Brazil, England, Colombia, Italy and Spain.?

Early in the summer our new book, Who does what by how much? A practical guide to customer-centric OKRs, came out to rave reviews. To share the material in the book in an accessible way, we’re offering four free webinars this fall:

• Planning 2025 with OKRs: The Basics – It’s OKR season right now. Get started on the right track.
• Winning at AI with OKRs – Your boss is undoubtedly asking you to “add some AI” to your product. Here’s how to do that in a way that actually helps your customers.
• Write better goals for 2025 with OKRs – As the year goes on you’ll have to start setting goals for next year – both for your team and for yourself. Walk through our human-centric approach to goal setting with us and write goals that improve your impact next year.
• Product strategy and OKRs for 2025 – This is one of our most frequently asked questions about OKRs. What is the relationship between OKRs and strategy? Join us as we discuss our experience writing OKRs with and without a strategy and how to connect these two important tools together successfully.?

Finally, I’ll be at this year’s Product @ Heart Conference in Hamburg, Germany again this year. Last year I was the closing keynote at this amazing event. This year, I’m participating in a mega-book-signing event immediately after the conference ends. I’ll be giving away and signing copies of our new book. If you’re going to be there please stop by and say hello. I’ll be there with Martin Eriksson, Bruce McCarthy, Petra Wille, Rich Mironov, Christina Wodtke & Kate Leto giving out and signing our books.?

LFG!

It’s funny. Vacation is always too short. It doesn’t matter how long it was. After finishing this blog post though I’m super excited for the fall. I hope I get to see many of you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out. And, oh yeah, let me know what you think about my new website (beautifully redesigned by the folks at WordPress). Next week we’re back to the practical, tactical content you’re used to.?