Pull The Plug Modeling: A reset before you model
I work as a software architect for an Indigenous organization. Twice a year, we get together offsite for a team retreat. We reflect on our values, challenge our assumptions, and reconnect as a team. We often invite an Elder to open the event with a prayer. I am not a spiritual person. But I have always been struck by what that prayer accomplishes. Everyone arrives carrying something different. Different concerns, different frames of reference, different languages. The prayer does not erase those differences. It suspends them, just long enough for everyone to find common ground before the work begins. ...