Elliot Washor's TGIF 10.10.2025

Are you with me now? A. J. Ryder

"To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person." – Bruce Lee 

Like I mentioned last week, when you hang out with people from different places and fields of interest you get a different picture of assessment and measurement that can help us understand how to do things first differently and then better.

Gone to the Dogs

Above is one of my favorite dogs, the Transmontano Mastiff, a Portugues breed. This dog can easily ward off wolves and as a watchdog will let you onto a property and play with you but won't let you out. SURPRISE!

In Portugal, I had quite a few brushes with assessing and judging dogs. One was at a dinner table of dog judges from around the world. They were assembled for a Dog Show in Braga, Portugal that attracted 22,000 people and who knows how many dogs. Like in any serious community of practice where judges are also practitioners in this case dog breeders, these judges talked about the fine details of judging that was mixed in with a healthy dose of the politics surrounding dog shows. Here’s a glimpse of the behind the scenes from the perspective of a bystander. Turns out that for dog shows judges are chosen by dog associations. These associations are picking judges they probably agree with on past performances which is a predictor of future performance. Based on the judges, breeders enter certain dogs that are ones that those judges have looked favorably on in the past. Right about now you are starting to get the bigger picture of what goes on behind the scenes in the selection of dogs for Best in Show. Doesn’t this sound a lot like college admissions? Of course, if you ask the judges, you will get very common responses about how the same dog can show differently on any given day or you get the ‘compared to what’ story of how your dog measures up against another dog in the contest. This is ranking to a standard and not matching. Again, this is only part of the story. There are so many variables and, in the end, there is arguing and feuding like in any other high stakes assessment. Hmm?

That Little Old Winemaker in Douro

On Wednesday, I spent three hours with Pedro, the winemaker at Quinta de S.Bernardo - Winery & Farmhouse in the Douro Valley. The Douro is one of the oldest wine producing areas of the world. Now in his early 50’s, he has spent most of his life understanding all that is involved in making wine. Yes, he studied agronomy at universities where he combined field and book learning but way more than that, he had to learn specific details of elevations, soil, water, wind, temperature, history, science, finance, accounting, varieties of grapes, storing the wine, storytelling and also have relationships with his boss, the workers and customers. It is all encompassing. I have to admit that I was blown away by the volume of details of each and every aspect and how it all comes together to make wines that take years to develop and you really don’t know how they are going to come out. This is way more than full-time work. It is a life. As he would tell you, you can’t do it any other way. Yes, he has young children and his wife is a civil engineer yet, somehow it all fits together as a true passion of putting food and drink on the table as one of the pleasures of life. Yet another bigger picture.

Next week, I’m back from Portugal and will be having meetings with CA policy people as well as finishing up a number of grants for CA Redesign and beyond.

Be well and Plenty, plenty, bye, bye