Jelly Bean Working
by Matt Harvey

With insincere apologies to Dr Seuss. Commissioned by UnWork.com for the WORKTECH conference

Click play below for the global premiere in 2013, or scroll further for a transcription:

What fun we shall have, we shall all have such fun
In our Jelly Bean world. And we’ll get so much done!
Said Manager One to Manager Two:
What is a Jelly Bean? What does it do?
Well…
It’s a blob that can blink, it’s a project detector
A link that can wink, it’s a colleague connector
A tell-tale twinkling from illumined informants
An up-to-date inkling reporting performance
And the shade that’s displayed says what each of them do
There’s a hint in the tint, there’s a clue in the hue
It’s a peer-pressure point, a magic marker
Two-way keyhole, nosey parker
It’s a digital diamond, a pearl of low price
A blob that’s as good as a wink – it’s concise
It’s an X marks the spot, it’s a word in your ear
About who’s doing what, who’s far and who’s near
But Manager One has a smidgen of doubt:
Your Jelly Bean Team are so widely spread out!
Flexible practice is all very well
But the practical fact is it’s your job to tell
Worker from shirker and striver from skiver
Early adopter from tardy arriver
To keep tabs on your team and your team on their toes
You must herd them in buildings and line them in rows
There must be a minimum level of order
Why can’t your Jelly Beans be more like Mordor?
One Bean to rule them all,
One Bean to find them
One Bean to bring them all
And in the Cloud to bind them
No! Jelly Bean working’s not what you suppose
They are led by example and not by the nose
In bed, shed or bar room, hub, bistro or brasserie
The Jelly Bean Team are free range, not battery
The Bean Team don’t need to be chivied and chased
Their Jelly Bean world is activity based
So the doing gets done, and its doing is seen
By means of the beautiful, mutable Bean
The Bean with the buzz that can bypass the miles
That can pollinate plans and cross-fertilise files
The chameleon Bean whose changes reveal
Who’s playing for keeps and who’s keeping it real
That’s why we all dance to a Jelly Bean tune
And work by the light of a Jelly Bean moon