About

The title of this site is a reminder of my first experience working with learning technology – for a large CMS company that shall remain nameless.  I was managing a technical support team and as the calls and emails piled up we found ourselves overwhelmed with the immensity of the task.   We were often working 14 hour days and our in-boxes would just keep filling up.

As often happens, when things get dire, inspiration hits.  I realized we needed to laugh, we needed a humour protocol.  So I brought a bunch of pointy hats into the office.  I explained to my team that whenever anyone was feeling overwhelmed or really frustrated that they just needed to put on their hat and with this signal everyone else in the team would also put on their pointy hat.  With this small act of solidarity we would remember two important things:  we are not alone, and that the problems we are dealing with do not indicate the end of the world.  Somehow that act of silliness saved us.  I cannot count how often someone put on a hat to be quickly joined by our other teammates, it made us laugh and kept us sane.

Perhaps I’ll call this an act of strategic silliness.   As I moved on in the company the hats stayed with the team, as new members joined more hats were needed.  Just a few weeks ago an old colleague emailed me on Facebook to see if we should have a Pointy-hat reunion – ten years later.

I write about this because it encapsulates important themes around community and learning technologies: we need each other – to laugh and to learn.  We also need to remember that people come first, regardless of the technology we’re using.

As I continue to reflect on my work here as a Community of Practice Facilitator I hope to share my take on the things that happen day to day, and to connect with you, dear reader, as we walk this wacky road together.

Thanks for reading!  Please comment!

Header image altered from A Million to One