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Smalltalk is improv. It's yes... and. You take turns with the hot potato. You take your turn and then pass it. It's creating a story. Take whatever what was pas
by gexla 7y ago
Smalltalk is improv. It's yes... and. You take turns with the hot potato. You take your turn and then pass it. It's creating a story. Take whatever what was passed to you, add something quirky and then pass it back. It's fun to add something off the wall, a bit ridiculous.
Doing this takes courage. You WILL make mistakes. At times, you may cringe at yourself. Putting yourself out there, taking small risks is the spice of life. When you fail, embrace it and move on. Don't look back.
If you smile and keep a bright attitude, then that becomes infectious. If showing up is 90%, then the right attitude is showing up. The quickest way to screw this up is to be toxic.
Advanced mode is keeping that positive attitude (don't forget the smile) even when you're feeling attacked. If you can't bear it, then keep a number of exit strategies in your bag of tricks and pull one of them. You have to get going. Someone is expecting you. You need to take a call, etc. If you choose to stay, then you have to stay deft and keep the air light. Don't let someone pin you down into a corner where you have to defend yourself. Continue keeping things light and a bit ridiculous and the air will change. You might even gain some respect.
- abledon 7y agoone reason I don't like working remote is that when I'm in the office, part of the time there... I'm being paid to do improv, to freakin' use my grade 8 drama skills!
- Loq 7y agoone reason I do like working remote is that I don't have to deal with others' grade 8 drama skills!
- lonelappde 7y agoBut then you have to deal with their 8th grade writing skills.
- saddestcatever 7y agogolf clap >>> Made me laugh, so thank you. But so true
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- flycaliguy 7y agoProbably my most upvoted repeat HN comments are my recommendations of the book Impro by Keith Johnstone. It really is a brilliant breakdown of what Improv is beyond theatre games. I think it’s especially useful for coders in the workplace because it really nails the importance of understanding exchanges of “status” in these situations. So much of humour is building and then diminishing a person’s status in an artful way. Being aware of how you are displaying your status around others and being able to consciously manipulate that display for laughs goes a long way. He has another book “for storytellers” that you can skip over for now. Get Impro, it’s a bit of a cult classic. I work in education and it’s such an incredible skill for teachers as well. Controlling a class is easiest when you can establish your authority while simultaneously letting your students question it in a playful way. You can really break down a lot of walls and connect better.
- FiatLuxDave 7y agoFYI, I bought the book and read it due to your HN comments. Thank you for making me aware of it.
- Red29 7y agoYes. I have been doing improvisation now every week for past 3-4 years. And impro is definitely the best book I have read on the subject.
- coldtea 7y agoI had a tab opened with this HN thread, and started reading your comment (at the moment, it was the first one). Two paragraphs in, I was ready to write that it makes no sense at all, and the Smalltalk experience is nothing like it. Then I realized that you're not talking about Smalltalk the language, and people e.g. sharing the "hot potato" of vm images (in some other tab I also had opened today's Smalltalk-72 HN thread)...