When I published Accountability vs. Responsibility I did not anticipate being drawn back into the discussion of whether committees can be accountable and responsible. Over the last few weeks, I have observed several "product meetings." In these meetings, consensus decisions are being made about releases, what they will contain, and a marketing approach. These are committee meetings. Is the committee accountable for their decisions and to whom? It is not a moot point In mid-2008, I wrote "Responsibility, Got Some?" As I considered the topic of accountability and responsibility, I re-read the piece and polished it a bit. It speaks to the idea of committees and the diffusion of responsibility. So a little detour on our summer road trip. We also have a visit from Susan Parente. Susan and I discussed certifications. Does having a bunch make sense or does it reflect mass insanity? The answer is…it depends. Learn To Tame Your Work Intake Beast! Jeremy Willets and I are running two Mastering Work Intake cohorts over the next three months. Learn to solve IT's dirtiest secret — work intake. Stop ignoring it. Start fixing it. May 31—June 28, 2024 (only a few seats left) July 12—26, 2024 Want to read the book first? Jeremy Berriault, The Evolutionary Agilist™, described Mastering Work Intake as a "Fantastic work. Very practical and helps improve workflows." Purchase a copy of the book from: JRoss Publishing: https://bit.ly/474ul6G Amazon: https://bit.ly/3NWOKn0 Re-read Saturday News We begin the meat of our re-read of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow with Chapter 1, Happiness. Csikszentmihalyi highlights that happiness requires an individual perspective stating, "The best moments usually occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile." Read and discuss! Buy a copy and read along - https://amzn.to/4b5kPmb Week 1: Preface and Logistics - https://bit.ly/3WLjFHU Week 2: Happiness - https://bit.ly/4dUSpNg Next SPaMCAST Next week we will feature our interview with Brad Micklea, Founder & CEO at Jozu on the topic of Machine Language Operations (MLOps) and why agile is integral to getting work done.