oneafrikan.com

Barefoot CEO: This is what a day from hell looks like, and this is what a good team does…

oneafrikan — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 18:30:24 +0000

Lookin’ for the day
Hard as it seems
This ain’t no damn dream
Gotta know what I mean
It’s team against team
Catch the light beam
So I pray
I pray everyday
- Public Enemy

So the week has been working out really well. Margin numbers are good, revenue numbers are good, we’re cranking out tech stuff, improving everything across our entire stack, and I’m starting to feel we’re getting on top of our growth curve. We’ve had one or two difficult discussions over the week so far, but that’s all in the course of business.

So I’m up at 6 to crank through email from 6:30 to 8:30, so that I can go do breakfast with Dees who is changing the mobile world one Firefox OS handset at a time, I get to enjoy a super awesome Chai at Dishoom, the tube back to work is fast, the sun is shining for the first time in 9 months, we’re hitting nice weekly KPI’s, and we’re on top of what we need to do as a team.

And then I walk through the office door and one of our carriers has dropped a bombshell (we can’t deliver to customers), our merchant provider has terminated our trading account (if you’re not in e-commerce that means we can’t process credit card transactions online), and a technology supplier just doesn’t get what they’re doing to us (I’ve promised not to reveal more, although I fear I soon will). In about 30 mins of each other. This is on top of a tough few months of pushing things uphill every day.

The rest of the day is firefighting.

So everyone starts firefighting their corners, after 45 mins of progress we do our morning huddle in the reception area to report back, we have a plan and options.

As the day progresses we understand problems, make calls, find alternatives, get to the bottom of issues, find solutions, deploy code, and generally sort shit out. By close of play we’ve gotten through one problem and are solving the other. The last one is not done yet, but latest email at 18:45 or so says it is. More importantly, we’ve got 3 backup solutions to the merchant problem and revenue is back on again. No one shouted. No one did anything stupid. We just worked through the problems.

25 odd phone calls (everyone).
2 Angry Gareth (*) appearances.
1 Code deployment.

I thought we were through the day, and I could go back to the tech team roadmap and revenue meeting. I get another email from the tech supplier, which almost sends me into the kind of catatonic rage I’ve resisted earlier in the day. I take the blue pill, and work through the email. They just don’t get it, but they’re on borrowed time anyways so I try my best to be civil and just join the dots for them.

I’ve assigned two tasks, done two other phone calls which are useful, cleared some email during the day, seen my cousin (cut lunch short ‘cos of the above), and done two useful meetings. I feel like I’ve got a full day’s work ahead of me, and it’s 19:29.

Just another day in paradise

* Lately, the Angry Gareth in me comes out when I need to go to bat for my team. Sometimes someone just needs to get angry and shout at people / suppliers / whoever, to get them to actually do things they are paid to do. I don’t like it, but have found that a conscious instillation of the fear of the Almighty into someone does something polar to that person. They either hate you and get the job done, or they fear you and get the job done. But they get the job done. All other attempts at being nice have failed, so this remains the last port of call in situations. I never knew this person existed until a few months ago.

Barefoot CEO: This is the kind of cover letter which gets you an interview…

oneafrikan — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:12:05 +0000

This is the kind of cover letter which gets you an interview…
… a good interview gets you onto the shortlist…
.. and then a good cover email to say thank you get’s the job:

Hello again to you both,

Thank you for meeting with me today to discuss the Graphic Designer/Artworker position. I’m now even more enthusiastic about working with you both and everyone else at Wedo. I am also more convinced than ever that my skills in Photoshop and Product Retouching would be a strong match to be able to accomplish the challenges and issues that were discussed.
With your current backlog of product imagery that needs addressing i feel it would be the perfect opportunity to implement style guidelines, which will assist with quality assurance, keeping the imagery on brand and consistent. This is exactly the sort of challenge i am looking for and one i would conduct with great enthusiasm.

I also believe that my experience with Graphic Design, Illustration Animation, Still and Moving imagery would bring additional advantages if the business needs allowed for the position to develop further. It is exciting to see that the company has scope moving forward and for the visual elements to develop further, should the opportunity arise; my dedication, ideas and solutions would ensure that Wedo’s future visual identity is delivered to an exceptional level and exceeding expectations. I am really looking forward to discussing this with you again and look forward to hearing from you shortly.

Once again, many thanks.

Kind Regards

James Burton

It’s not hard
** Full disclosure: I sucked at this when I first started job hunting in London, so speak from both sides of the table!

What stage are you at?

oneafrikan — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 08:51:36 +0000

Got this from the UserVoice blog, great representation of company growth cycles. Glad to see we’ve made it through some hurdles

Customer Service Scaling Timeline

This is what Google, Baidu, Yahoo and others will do to your server…

oneafrikan — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 12:21:28 +0000

We got caned by the bots this weekend, and this is what it does to server CPU ;-( The top left graph is the most interesting, the top right graph puts into perspective.

Effect of bots on server CPU

Good thing we’ve got some power plumbing in the works

Our guiding principles at Wedo

oneafrikan — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:37:47 +0000

Just done the April all hands meet with the whole team, thought I’d post the essential bits and the deck here:

Who we are:

We do simple shopping
Simple, informative, easy, reliable eCommerce.

In everything we do, we follow these principles.

Be human, be interesting

We hire for talent and fit, and you need to have both to make Wedo your home. But you also need to be interesting. Everyone is unique, so after talent and fit, we celebrate diversity. Show everyone honesty, integrity, humility and be trustworthy. We show our customers why they should think of us every time they go online.

Focus on simplicity

Take the complex and simplify so anyone can understand. Unearth the simple in everything you do. Focus on the fundamentals and eliminate distractions. The best products polarise.

Make yourself at home

Life is too short to do something you don’t enjoy. Treat your colleagues and our customers the same way you’d treat them when coming over for a cuppa tea. Bring a positive energy to everything you do. We work hard, and play hard. Make what you do fun, or find something new to do.

Measure & Adapt

Ask the tough questions to create focus, then use data to validate and measure. Reveal the complexity, then analyse to make sense of what you find. There are very few absolutes. Always look for the improvements you can make, and always ask whether something can be done better, quicker, simpler, easier. In data we trust. Most of all, change is good.

Make it happen

Ideas are cheap, execution wins over great ideas and technology. Execution is where great teams define industries. While others are talking & blogging about their ideas, we’re working on them relentlessly. There is always a solution. Be resourceful. Make every day count. Seize the opportunities presented to you every day. Don’t shrink from anything. Make mistakes fast, and then learn from them. Most of all, #JFDI.

The deck:

Gareth Wedo Monthly All Hands meet from oneafrikan

Barefoot CEO: A time management & productivity email to my team

oneafrikan — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:31:01 +0000

Sent today:

Team,

** Pls read in full and confirm you’ve understood everything by COP today. I’m going to keep as short & sweet as possible **

*** If you’re in the habit of reading the top 3 lines of an email, this is not the email to do it ***

The next 4 months are massively important, I can’t overstate that more.

As such, I’m going to ask that everyone starts shifting their mindset from 2nd to 3rd gear – the short term result of which will be a £6m p/a company that is profitable. From scratch.

This is going to mean that each and every one of us steps up to the plate and increases work output, productivity and communication.

We’ve reached the end of a hiring spree now, so this is best time to get this comm out (and include the new folks on the way).

Some points I want to make:

You’ve all been hired because you’re smart & motivated, and I’d have no problem introducing you to my parents

In some way, each of us is a positive asset to Wedo – don’t forget this, no matter how tough the days may get, because they will get tougher.

I’m going to be pushing hard for everyone to move from being reactive, to being proactive. The results will be astonishing.

From now on, I’m going to be clearing time for myself so that I can move back to being a producer, think about the future, sell our company vision to outsiders, and be creative again.

As such, I’m going to ask that you respect the following guidelines:

Don’t come to my desk at any time and ask if I have a minute, because the answer will be no.
Don’t send me Skype messages where you’re looking for an answer to something, because I’m trying to wean myself from Skype.
Don’t send long emails; rather talk in person.
Unless urgent, hold all thoughts, ideas, issues or (nonurgent) concerns until we get to meet & talk in person.
I’ll start adding weekly times into the calendar where we’ll do this.
My best advice here is to learn the difference between urgent & important; how to keep & maintain lists (if you don’t already), and fast.
Good resources are below. I love this stuff, and am a student of it, so happy to discuss with anyone.
If it is urgent, then pls schedule time with me to talk in person, don’t send emails about the issue unless it is background material.
When you do schedule something, make sure there is an agenda, make sure you’re organised, and make sure you’re able to keep things to the point and fast. I’m going to push back strongly if not.
If your needs can’t be met by the weekly meet above, I will make myself available for ad-hoc conversations daily, in the 30 mins before and after lunch.
Put something in the calendar if you want to do this, so I know ahead of time. Pls be mindful of time, and keep it below 10 mins.
Again, if the issues brought up can wait, I’m going to push back strongly.
I have an Evernote for pretty much everyone in the team, and I’ll be using this to keep track of everything important to me, with respect to that person. Suggest you do the same.
My (virtual) door is always open; I’m happy to have breakfast, lunch & dinner with people so we can chat in depth ==> but I am trying to work smarter & with the same intensity, so I reserve the right to adapt & change the above

Most importantly, I would urge each person to take the guidelines above and think about how you can respect your colleagues & team time so that we can all get stuff done. We have a lot to do.

I’m going to start pushing & encouraging everyone to make decisions within the realm of common sense, without the need for affirmation – the RASCI doc will outline boundaries for this, so watch out for that soon.

In general, I’m also going to start implementing stuff to do the following:

measure everyone’s performance
make us more effective
reduce disruptions
improve communications
respect each others time
reduce reliance on Skype whilst increasing inter-team updates and comms
better meeting prep & agenda
weekly team meetings to discuss problems / ideas
better internal feedback loops
better external feedback loops
more trust, more responsibility

In general, I expect that everyone starts doing the following if not already:

create and manage lists to prioritise workload
plan calendar each day to be proactive instead of reactive
keeping track of things you want to discuss with your team leader, or myself

As such, I’m going to start spending time each day with different people in each team, to better understand problems and issues, so that I can help.

During that time, I’m also going to ask to see the above lists, your calendar, your prioritisation, your 6 things, etc, and the issues you want to discuss.

If you don’t have that the first time, I’ll ask you to do it.

If you haven’t done it by the 3rd time, I’ll start asking why we’re working together.

For the folks that think they are in largely reactive roles (ie, customer service team, finance team):

Every person should still be planning in some proactive tasks that can be done each day; these are things that move the company forward or improve the company or your work.

Plan time to improve skills, performance, workflow, and organisation for you and your team or the company.

It’s understood that people in reactive roles will have less time to be proactive, but I won’t accept there is no time.

Some general principles for better time management:

touch it once:
if you touch it, take action
use descriptive subjects in emails
when the subject of an email changes, the subject line also changes
do not use email alerts
do not use Dropbox alerts
do not use skype alerts
if you spend 15 mins per day revisiting emails, you will waste 97 hours per year where no action is taken == 6 weeks of wasted time
make lists:
a project is something with more than one action
a project should be a list
complete 6 things a day; your day should plan these 6 things
only move onto the next 6 things, when the first 6 are done
plan how much time you will allocate to a task:
if your 6 things can’t fit into the day, then split it up into smaller chunks so you can better manage
everything can be broken down into smaller chunks
a project is not an action, it’s the sum of several steps
plan your day, each day:
plan your 6 things into your day; stick to the plan; use lists for overflow
plan buffer time
prioritise:
put most important tasks first
20% effort brings 80% results in almost all circumstances
focus all your intensity, effort and concentration on the 20%
ask yourself: “will it hurt me to throw this away? / will this hurt me, the team or the company if I don’t do this? / is this something that will move us all forward?”:
you need less than you think you do, and even less is important = don’t hoard and clutter for the sake of it
“delete” is as important as “archive”
gmail search is better than labelling
filesystem search is generally not as reliable as using folders

Assorted resources:

RASCI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_assignment_matrix

covey quadrants / urgent vs important: http://www.eitanbirshan.com/blog/time-management-covey%E2%80%99s-4-quadrants/

pickle jar theory: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/pickle/

GTD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done

Kaizen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen

Web based tools for keeping lists (search for their name):

Asana, Basecamp, Wunderlist, google docs, Things, Remember The Milk, or just search for “gtd task list”

Great note taking tool for windows / mac / web:

Evernote

Most importantly, let’s stay classy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgGCIZi1UjY

Walking in the shadow every day

oneafrikan — Wed, 23 May 2012 09:31:33 +0000

Long time since my last blog post. The last few weeks have been fucking hectic, so thought I’d write up something as it’s gnawing at me. I’m going to commit to more regular blogging once one or two more operational things are in place, so until then it’s as and when I can If anything, from now on, the stuff I write here will be for me and me alone. If anyone digs it, then awesome. If not, then I’ve got something to reflect back on.

So the last while has been an immense, epic, fucking monster entrepreneur roller-coaster. I’m cursing not because I’m an ineloquent person, but because I’m trying to get a point across in a blunt way.

On one day, we hit milestones and numbers that make my eyes water. I mean, I’m sweating blood for 3 years, delaying gratification for pretty much anything one can delay gratification for, and then in 4 months we start to grow in a way that I was dreaming about 3 years ago. We’re hitting metrics that show we’re growing, and fast.

Then on the flip side, we start hitting operational growth issues that are slowing us down, and creating a lot of pain. Everything is fast, everything is a firefight, everything is aimed at keeping the growth going so that we get to profitability faster. But it’s cool. Those are the good problems, those are the ones I’ll wake up at 4am to conquer any day of the week. Those are the problems I want.

It’s the fuckoff big other stuff that crops up at exactly the same time, which makes you wonder whether you can cope with it all. It’s the people you trust that let you down when it really matters, that makes you wonder whether you’re ever going to trust people from the get go again. It’s the mistakes you make when you’re so tired from firefighting all day long, that you really wouldn’t make usually (I left my wallet and phone on a train after no sleep; this is after identity theft and credit card fraud), which just complicate things further.

And so from one hour to the next on the same day, literally, you’re dealing with epic shit that doesn’t sit on normal people scales. Almost 99% of people I speak to just don’t get it. They can’t relate, so I don’t say anything anymore. I just say I’m in IT and Wedo ecommerce.

So what’s happened is that my tolerance / ability to deal with things has changed massively. This is a good thing, and this is part of why I’m writing this blog post. You learn shit about yourself when you think you really have nothing more to give. It’s also taught me that it’s something I have to become comfortable with to keep growing, and to become the person I know I am inside. I’m going to change and push the growth even more so I deal with stuff better.

But, it feels like almost every day my universe is at threat in a fundamental way, like I’m walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death every day, and it’s fucking hard.

And that’s all. My internalisation.
There’s no getting away from it

In praise of routine

oneafrikan — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:29:00 +0000

For the first time since October 2008, I’ve been in one place for more than 6 months. Long enough to get into a routine and start to feel like I’m living a normal’ish life. Long enough to feel like I can start building something more than airmiles.

The simple benefits to this is that I’ve now got a stable personal cashflow, and consistent expenses which I can budget against and plan for. I know I’m playing hockey each week, know that I can go to gym and do exercise regularly, I know I’m going to see key people in my life often enough to engage with them more than superficially,

As an aside, this happily coincides with being in London for 10 years. Thinking back, I’ve been in London for longer than any other city, since I was 13, so think that affords me the privilege of saying I’m a Londoner. More importantly, I no longer feel transient here. I’ve got a plan, I’m on a mission, and I’m comfortable with that.

I thought I’d never say this, but I’m really enjoying having a routine, and through living the routine for long enough, I’m starting to see the benefits of optimising that routine, and getting into daily habits which make life better, faster, easier, more fulfilling.

More and more, I’m drawn to the conclusion that despite what our modern society preaches about the always connected lifestyle we lead, there are some simple fundamentals which are absolutely essential to making personal progress, and good daily habits are one of them.

What are your daily habits?

Africa to send troops, food parcels to UK as riots spread

oneafrikan — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:50:16 +0000

Spare a thought….

ETHIOPIA. The African Union today adopted a unilateral resolution to deploy army troops and care packages to England as looting and violence spread from London to other major cities. Spokesperson Charity Khumalo said “We can no longer stand by while these savages tear themselves apart.”

The AU, meeting today in an emergency session to discuss the ongoing rioting in the UK, has declared that they will do “everything in their power to help bring civilisation to England”.

“It’s just so sad, you know?” said Khumalo, speaking from the organisation’s HQ in Addis Ababa. “Sitting here and watching them on TV while their society implodes. We cannot in good conscience remain idle and let it happen.”

The AU has announced a range of initiatives that Africans can get involved with to help alleviate the misery of the English.

“For instance, we have launched an ‘Adopt an English child’ programme,” Khumalo explained, showing journalists brochures featuring the faces of English kids. “If you donate a mere R50 a month, you can see to it that sweet little Johnny from Peckham receives a basic education, a pack of condoms and a pair of pimpin’ Nikes.”

Khumalo also said that the AU would be parachuting in dentists along with army troops as part of a ‘Feel better about yourselves, Brits!’ initiative.

“You can understand why they’re turning on each other,” the spokesperson told journalists. “You look in the mirror and you see teeth untouched by modern dentistry. It’s heartbreaking enough to make anyone put a brick through a Starbucks.”

The organisation also plans to air-drop care packages on major UK cities.

“Vegetables, mainly,” Khumalo confirmed. “We’re sending them vegetables and toothpaste.”

The AU’s flagship event, however, will be a star-studded rock concert to be held in Johannesburg, with all proceeds going towards the establishment of mobile libraries around the UK. Artists ranging from Mafikizolo to Steve Hofmeyr have pledged to perform at the show.

“As a humanitarian, it’s the least I can do,” Hofmeyr said yesterday. “I look at those photos of the adorable little beasts knifing each other in fights over looted X-Boxes and I want to hug them and give them a nice hot cup of Milo.”

Meanwhile, the week’s events has seen terrified South Africans in London and Manchester packing their bags for home.

“This country is going to the dogs, dude,” said Werner du Preez, a gap-year student from Johannesburg. “I’ve been offered a nice little two-bed place in Hillbrow where I can feel safe again.”

Overextending leads to self discovery

oneafrikan — Mon, 30 May 2011 12:45:50 +0000

Seth wrote a really good blog post about Underextending, which got me thinking.

Last year I took some very big financial, personal, emotional and reputational risks, in two countries. I completely overextended myself. It hurt like hell. There were times when I thought I’d never get through it all. There were many times when I thought I was going to lose everything. And I mean everything. I got to the end of last year, and I was broken from overextending myself. I won’t go into the tactical stuff and what I did to get through it just yet, mainly ‘cos it’s still too close.

What I think is important in the context of Seth’s blog post, is that the overextending from last year has led to so many great things that are happening now, and it’s just the beginning.

I didn’t see or predict it last year, I just knew they had to be done. If I had have known then what I’ve seen now, I would definitely have spent less time worrying.

Too often we back away from apparent pain, in fear of the risks involved, not looking at the benefits that may come afterwards. If anything, the last 18 months has taught me that well timed, well executed overextension is actually what creates the lifechanging progress we all crave.

Where are the meetups?

oneafrikan — Thu, 26 May 2011 07:30:31 +0000

Last evening we had an informal meetup for BigData people in London, where we got to listen to some interesting talks from people working in BigData, and meet some cool people. Held at WhiteBearYard, where PassionCapital is based.

That in itself is not the interesting for most people

But what is, is that a bunch of people got together to share what they’re doing, and talk about some interesting problems and solutions they’re dealing with. This is how you learn new stuff, meet new people like yourself, find new hires, and broaden your horizons. It’s essential.

Where are the meetups ?
Where are people gathering to learn, interact, and take over the world?
What elegant solutions are people working on to difficult problems?

An open letter to African technologists

oneafrikan — Tue, 24 May 2011 07:00:50 +0000

PASSION = BRAIN FUEL.
DUMB BRAIN FULL OF GAS ALWAYS BEAT SMART BRAIN WITH EMPTY TANK.
SMART BRAIN WITH FULL TANK BEAT EVERYONE.

Dear African technologist, hacker, developer, geek, product guy, dreamer, thinker, tinkerer, manager, CEO, multi-national-organisation-in-Africa,

We’re at the beginning of a shift in technology usage, where mobile adoption and usage is quickly going to become more prevalent and ubiquitous than the PC. Bandwidth is getting faster and cheaper for both PC and mobile, despite the monopolies that have held everyone back for years. Infrastructure is now massively cheap and easy to scale. There are toolkits, API’s, platforms, frameworks, services and stacks for almost every technology need you may have. It’s easier now to create something, and innovate, than it ever has been. Not moving forward means you’re being left behind.

The traditional approaches we’ve been using for years are dying. People are looking for authenticity, value, engagement, real’ness for want of a better word.

Dream. Find something that provides value. Help people to get some of that value. Make it great. Remove the crappy stuff.

Stop banging the same drums. Stop thinking you’ve got it all figured out. Approach problems differently. Give your people space to think and tinker. Innovate.

Get massively hyped about your product or service. Tell everyone you know. Let go of any conservativeness you may have, because if you can’t get excited about what you do, then no-one else will. If you’re working for a crap company, leave it. There are better things to do with your precious time.

We can learn a lot from places like Silicon Valley, New York, Berlin, Israel, London, Austin, Chile, Singapore, Ireland and India. We can learn even more from the people who live in those places, how they work, what they do with their time, and ultimately the success they create. We can also learn from the people we live among, by asking them about the problems they face.

There is no shortage of investors or money, only shortages of good people, scalable and executable opportunities. Be the person who can execute and scale, and do it with a product that people will use, and the money won’t be a problem. But don’t use a perceived lack of investors, internal or external, as an excuse.

There are no accidents, only trying, failure, and then ultimately succeeding. As a technologist, today, your greatest asset is the time and technical gifts you have. Use them wisely.

There are many problems people face in emerging markets, and they all need elegant solutions. Find the value. Supply the demand for that value, by doing something that makes you get up in the morning with a spring in your step and a whistle in your tune.

In short, there are no excuses or reasons not to do something awesome, other than the ones we limit ourselves with. Africa has the potential to be one of the largest mobile markets on the planet.

What are you doing about it?

What are your values?

oneafrikan — Fri, 13 May 2011 14:49:33 +0000

This week we sat down as a company to talk about what we valued the most, what we’d like to get across in each and every customer interactions, and what we wanted to live by. This is what we came up with, after 3 or 4 sessions:

Love what you do.
Be interesting, not perfect.
Focus on simplicity.
Be the ‘go-to’ people.
Make yourself at home.

The idea is that in every decision, interaction, argument, direction, we take, the above values are our guide. We think the above take all of the little things we want to live by, and wraps them up into something which is easy to understand and talk about.

The proof it works for us, was that this week we had an experience which tested the above values, and we felt good about the outcome. We talked about how our values applied in this situation, what our conduct should look like to make us feel congruent with them, and then we acted. What’s funny is that my own default response was somewhat cynical (this happens after being in the trenches for so long – you get jaded and less and less patient), and much more sarcastic. But it was the team which brought us back to our values and what was the right thing to do.

No discussions, no debate, no arguments. Just alignment. And then happiness knowing we’d tried, and done the right thing.

We’re going to put the values on the wall, and we’re going to use them for all the important decisions. Feels good.

How about you? What’s your guide?

Functional workout: “Still Alive”

oneafrikan — Mon, 02 May 2011 16:23:22 +0000

Today I wanted to see where I was and whether I’ve still got the strength to go back to using weights in workouts to get more out of the time spent.

So in honour of the song by Pearl Jam, “Alive”, I decided to call this functional workout “Still alive”.

So, splits were:
5 min warmup row

4 sets of following exercises:
10 x kettlebell squat to shoulder press
10 x kettlebell bent over row
10 x kettlebell deadlift to lateral raise (so bells endup just below chin)
10 x kettlebell pushup (pushups using big ass kettlebell, aiming for chest to dip below handles)
2 min rest between reps

Aim was to do weights light enough to complete the 4 sets, which worked.
Completed this in 26 mins (33 min total – 5 min row – 2 mins warmup / finding bells, setting up space); with 395 Kcal (which wasn’t enough). The last pushups rep took at least 4 mins as well (last few were agony), so when stronger there, should complete the workout quicker.

My aim is to burn 500Kcal in each workout session, so decided to do a short cardio on top of this to push out the burn, so did:
20 x lateral box jumps (1 step)
20 x lateral box jumps (2 steps)
10 x kettlebell swings
10 x lateral box jumps (2 steps)
10 x kettlebell swings
20 x lateral box jumps (2 steps)
Lateral jumps were jumps side to side over Reebok step thingy, then HR back to 130.
Last 10 of last 20 jumps was hardest.

According to my HRM:
Ended with 506 Kcal, with total time of 41min, including the row.
32m in the zone (between 120 odd, and 157 odd).
Avg HR of 131.
Max HR of 161.

Notes to self:
Last pushup set was hardest of them all. Ended up doing alternating pushups on the step moving left to right to see how far I could go. In general, it worked – I was totally pooped by the time I got into the shower, and when shaving getting my arms up was sore.

To get this to 800 Kcal, will add a good HIIT run on top. But we’re not there yet