SPaMCAST 684 posts on January 2nd, 2022. The new year evokes both retrospection and expectations for the future. 2021 was quite the year; SPaMCAST 635 marked the beginning of our 15th year of publishing with a conversation with Johanna Rothman (SPaMCAST 635 - Practical Ways to Manage, A Conversation with Johanna Rothman). That was our most downloaded cast of 2021. In late August I lost a podcast . . . (a summer rerun), SPaMCAST 668 has attained the status of the Lost Show. Somehow while I was backpacking on Isle Royale the preprogrammed show failed to post. I have a backup but it is more fun to have a lost cast. I will rectify the situation at some point when I stop being amused. The year ended with my 12-year-old mixer going to the electronics recycler. The new mixer should be delivered soon. Even with all of the hassle, I have been able to do three great interviews and two related panel discussions that will round out year 15 and kick-off year 16. That's the long way to say that even though I am struggling through a website issue and a switchover of hardware, I am currently planning years 16 and 17. Happy New Year, and now back to our regularly scheduled programming with Tony Timbol and his To Tell A Story column. This installment tackles product owners and work entry. Re-Read Saturday News Starting a re-read is a great way to start the new year. Today we start into Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick by charting the predicted course of the re-read and touching on the introduction. The version of the book I am reading is the paperback version copyrighted 2020 by IT Revolution. The book consists of an introduction, seven numbered chapters, a conclusion, and 20 pages of end matter. All of this is over 223 pages. It is my intent to cover this book over 9 weeks using the chapters as pacing. This book has similarities with Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg in that this book demands action. Therefore like that re-read, as we get to chapter 2 I will begin identifying how I will experiment with the knowledge each chapter delivers. As I have discovered over the years reading technical and self-improvement books, if you do not experiment with ideas they fade quickly regardless of their value. https://amzn.to/3vEjr55 Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - Next SPaMCAST Next week features part 1 of a 2 part panel discussion (both parts have slightly different participants), discussing the world of knowledge work circa 2021 and pontifications about the shape of work in 2022.