The Importance of Fun in the Workplace

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Holly Cummins

Red Hat

@[email protected]
the importance of

fun in the workplace

Joy of Coding

June 23rd

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@[email protected] #RedHat

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first things first.

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first things first.
why is there a duck on the title slide?

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first things first.
why is there a duck on the title slide?
answer: science.

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@holly_cummins #RedHat

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350,000 participants ranked jokes

(world’s largest scientific experiment)

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controlled experiments show:

ducks make jokes funnier

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funniest joke in Belgium:

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why do ducks have webbed feet?

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to stamp out fires.

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to stamp out fires.
why do elephants have flat feet?

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to stamp out fires.
why do elephants have flat feet?
to stamp out burning ducks.

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ma’am, this is a wendy’s.

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ma’am, this is a wendy’s.

ma’am, this is a technology conference.

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second things second.

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second things second.
why am i qualified to talk about
fun in the workplace?

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2016

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2022

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Let’s talk about your career.

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“Hi boss! Joy of Coding was great.
It was a very serious conference
and there were no pink octopuses
and I definitely did not attend a talk
about how to have fun. By the way,
did you know ducks are the
funniest animal?”

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Specialty: Having fun at work

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Are you brave enough?
Specialty: Having fun at work

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Are you brave enough?
I’m not :)

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Wait. Where’s “fun-loving”?

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We keep fun a secret.
Wait. Where’s “fun-loving”?

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Puritan confronts ale drinkers

Howard Pyle

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what is fun?

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Photo by Linearahandmade@etsy
Exploration

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Photo by William Warby
Puzzle

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Play

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Game

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Work

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Exploration

focussed investigation

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Play

flexible

for its own sake

Exploration


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Play

flexible

for its own sake

Exploration


Puzzle

a goal and rules

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Play

flexible

for its own sake

Exploration


Games

a winner and rules
Puzzle

a goal and rules

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Play

flexible

for its own sake

Work

a goal

Exploration


Games

a winner and rules
Puzzle

a goal and rules

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Play

flexible

for its own sake

Work

a goal

Exploration


Games

a winner and rules
Puzzle

a goal and rules
jokes

laughter

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Positive
affect

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It feels
good

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fun

happiness

joy

laughter

delight

silliness

jokes

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Programming is fun.

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We get to control stuff
when we program.

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programming is fun

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programming is fun
making is fun

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programming is fun
making is fun
being useful is fun

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programming is fun
making is fun
puzzles are fun
being useful is fun

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programming is fun
making is fun
puzzles are fun
learning is fun
being useful is fun

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programming is fun
making is fun
puzzles are fun
learning is fun
code is squishy and
awesome
being useful is fun

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Exploration

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Exploration
> Hello, World

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Puzzle

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Puzzle
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException:
WhyWhyWhyIsThisHappeningNullPointerException
at StackTraceExample.method111(StackTraceExample.java:15)
at StackTraceExample.main(StackTraceExample.java:3)

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Game

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Katie Bouman,
discovering that her
algorithm for imaging
black holes worked.

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Katie Bouman,
discovering that her
algorithm for imaging
black holes worked.
It feels
good

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Why are most of our workplaces
Not Fun?

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The 1980/90's Management Model
Very hierarchical

Control favoured over
autonomy

Technology seen as a cost
centre

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http:/
/www.defenceimagery.mod.uk

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processes control us
Photo by Michal Matlon on Unsplash

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processes control us
Photo by Michal Matlon on Unsplash
dumb

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the value of
fun in the
workplace

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Research shows:

Fun is good for business.

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job satisfaction is
the no. 1 predictor
of organizational
performance

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“Pleasure in the job puts
perfection in the work.”
Aristotle

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“so, what was said on the conference call?”

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“I have no idea …

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but they were laughing, so the project is OK. ”

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but they were laughing, so the project is OK. ”
a team that doesn’t laugh together
doesn’t want to work together

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laughter:

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laughter:
defuses tense situations

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laughter:
creates team cohesion

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laughter:
creates team cohesion
is a nice muscle workout

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Studies have shown...
Employee fun

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Employee fun
Less sick leave

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Employee fun
Less sick leave
Harder working

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Employee fun
Less sick leave
Harder working
More productivity

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https:/
/hbr.org/2012/01/positive-intelligence

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“Your brain at positive is 31%
more productive than your
brain at negative, neutral or
stressed. "
https:/
/hbr.org/2012/01/positive-intelligence

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https:/
/www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/eproto/workingpapers/happinessproductivity.pdf

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"Individuals [who just watched a
comedy video] have
approximately

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play helps creativity

we work in a creative industry

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piglet litters grow faster
if they play more
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tambako/8746156155

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“my contractors are in their
zone of competence.”
fun: cause and correlation

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How much fun can you
expect to have?
https:/
/www.flickr.com/photos/paulesson/3065570366

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How much fun can you
expect to have?
(Yes, this is a picture of lots
of fungi. You’re welcome.)
https:/
/www.flickr.com/photos/paulesson/3065570366

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Fun. What could possibly go wrong?

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2008: A developer had a lot of fun with Groovy.

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2008: A developer had a lot of fun with Groovy.
2009: The others who had to maintain the code had less fun.

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Limits to Fun
Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

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Limits to Fun
• Fun has business value.

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Limits to Fun
• Logical extension: only do
activities if they’re fun and
enjoyable!

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Limits to Fun
• Logical extension: only do
activities if they’re fun and
enjoyable!
• Uh, no.

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Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash

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balance

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Just because it's fun, doesn't
mean it's good.

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Is everyone having fun?

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who are we including
in our laughter?

who are we excluding?
https:/
/www.flickr.com/photos/davefayram/4266804988

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Enjoy fun.

Responsibly.

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How to achieve fun

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Step 1.

Find un-fun things.

Get rid of them.

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Step 0.

Stop prohibiting fun.

Obviously.

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“Please stop sending
emails telling people
you are sharing cake.”

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“If you’re in
the office
after 5:30,
you need to
be doing
work.”

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“Why are you smiling? Work
isn’t a place to be happy!”

- a prowling project manager

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Step 1.

Find un-fun things.

Get rid of them.

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A process being unfun is
a red flag that it’s not
adding value.

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Step 1.

Find un-fun things.

Get rid of them.
... because they're probably waste.

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We all hate being told what to do.

Usually, because we know it’s wrong.

Let people make their own decisions.

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Fun Not-Fun
Effective tools Bad tools
Programming Meetings
Puzzles Mysteries
Collaboration Criticism
Just doing it Process/Ceremony
Learning Repeating
Designing Sizing
Doing Status reporting
Prototyping Hardening
Interactions Interruptions
Making a difference Being a cog

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Fun Not-Fun
Puzzles Mysteries
Learning Repeating
Designing Sizing
We can fix these.

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Fun Not-Fun
Puzzles Mysteries
Learning Repeating
Designing Sizing
Streamlined
process
Pair
programming
#noestimates
Self-directed
teams
Automation
We can fix these.
Knowledge
sharing
Self-generating
status
MVP

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Pair programming

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Status for all to see.

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Keep stories small, so status is self-reporting.

Daily stand-up. Keep it short.
Status for all to see.

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#noestimates
Estimates are rarely accurate.

Why bother??

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Testing should not be something
we do only at the end.
TDD is fun.

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TDD

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Automation
Computers don’t expect to have fun (yet).

Let them do the tedious tasks.

Bonus: Automating stuff is fun (yay!).
With permission of Richard Greenhill and H

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Toil
https:/
/www.flickr.com/photos/seat850/3341460975
SRE is a whole discipline dedicated to
eliminating toil from ops because toil
isn’t worth it.

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“devops helps make our
lives humane and win in
the marketplace.”

-Gene Kim

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Fast feedback
matters.

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Step 2: Add fun

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Your brain needs breaks.

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Can our job be fun?

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Play

a goal

Exploration

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Play

flexible

for its own sake

Work

a goal

Exploration


Games

a winner and rules
Puzzle

a goal and rules

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gamification

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gamification
(management loves)

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The Fun Theory
“something as simple as fun is the
easiest way to change people’s
behaviour for the better”

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TDD

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7186 new lines of coverage

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1000 new tests added

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230 issues fixed

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230 issues fixed
10 years of tech debt resolved

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what dazzling reward achieved that?

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1 free lunch ➡ 230 issues fixed
what dazzling reward achieved that?

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metrics matter

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remember, you get what you measure

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gamification is so motivating it will
drive people do the wrong thing

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employees are not stupid

they may notice they’ve been gamed

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Play

flexible

for its own sake

Work

a goal

Exploration


Games

a winner and rules
Puzzle

a goal and rules
jokes

laughter

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Easter Eggs
https:/
/www.flickr.com/photos/30478819@N08/47142913712

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Play
Children learn through play.

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learn skill while “playing on the job”

use skill later on for real work

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Failing

at
 
Fun

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31% of us dislike

team-building activities.
http:/
/www.successfulmeetings.com/Strategy/Meeting-Strategies/When-Teambuilding-Fails/

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fun is not a formula

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Failing at Fun

Forgetting to fix the other stuff.

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A layer of fun

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A layer of fun
… on top of a terrible
workspace …

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A layer of fun
… on top of a terrible
workspace …
is still terrible.

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Fun is important.

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Fun is important.
Recap on achieving fun:

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Fun is important.
1. Get rid of un-fun things

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Fun is important.
2. Add fun things

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Fun is important.
2. Add fun things
Doing 2. without 1. is going to fail.

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thank you

Holly Cummins

Red Hat

@[email protected]
slides

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The Importance of Fun in the Workplace

The Importance of Fun in the Workplace

Holly Cummins

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