The Secret To A Happy Family: Try

As a geek dad this caught my eye: Agile programming for your family?! Make your family a self-managing team.

Feiler’s 3-plank Agile family manifesto

• Adapt all the time
  • stay flexible
  • don’t listen only to ‘experts’
  • hook up with new ideas
  • be open minded
  • let the best ideas win
  • weekly family meeting, 20 mins. ask
    • What worked well?
    • What didn’t work well?
    • What can we all agree on to work on this week?
• Empower children
  • stop ordering your children around
  • enlist them in their own upbringing
  • they come up with punishments and rewards
  • plan their own goals
  • set weekly schedules
  • evaluate themselves
  • succeed and fail on their own terms
  • less what they do wrong, more on what they do right
  • give them the tools to make themselves happy
• Tell your story
  • as bedrock context for adaptability
  • preserve the core
  • define mission, core values, family mission statement
  • tell story of family, where we came from
  • difficult situations overcome
  • family strengths and successes
  • retell the positive and overcoming negative stories
  • make a family manifesto

Happiness is not something we find, it’s something we make. Greatness is not a circumstance, it’s a choice. What’s the secret to a happy family? Try.