Merry Christmas from David & Sheri Burns at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms!
It is always so rewarding to enter into the Christmas season. For us, it means another year of hard work under our belts, experience gained and hopefulness for another great bee year. Of course, the greatest blessing of all is the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We give Christ all the glory for blessing us beyond our imagination.
Sheri and Karee have been making lots of good food and some extra Holiday sweets that are impossible to resist. We had our family Christmas gathering at our home on December 20th, and we enjoyed entertaining 20! Our family continues to grow!
This year we insulated our entire bee building, added on another build room and a paint room. We’ve really been enjoying working in a warmer environment with more room!
We’ve decorated our home with a Christmas tree, lights and other decorations. For a tree stand I use a 3 gallon bucket, stand the tree in it and fill it with small rocks. It holds it really tight and then I fill the bucket full of water. My wife wraps the bucket with a special Christmas cloth.
Because our youngest son is only two, we could not put our gifts under the tree, or little Christian would open them up when our backs were turned. He likes Thomas the Train toys, so he’s got a little Thomas the Train track around our Christmas tree. Battery powered and all, playing Jingle Bells as it goes by. There’s nothing like see Christmas reflected in the eyes of a child. Here’s our family all dressed up for Christmas doing our annual Christmas dance!

Family Christmas Dance

LESSON 68: What Do Bees Do In The Winter? Home Of The Winter-Bee-Kinds!
In previous lessons I’ve talked about how to prepare our hives for winter. Please review those previous lessons if you become nervous about your bees this winter.
But before you become too anxious about your cold bees, let’s gain some comfort from understanding how bees overwinter.
The bees prepare for winter long before we even think about it. In the early spring bees are working hard to store up honey for the long winter months. All spring, summer and fall the bees are making preparation for winter. Their stored honey is their only hope of making it through the winter. They only need 3 pounds of honey per month, provided there is no significant brood to feed. That’s why most hives are doing fine now, in December and January, because with little to no brood to feed, there is food in the hive. However, in January as the days begin to lengthen slightly, the queen begins to lay alittle more, thus requiring more food to feed the larvae. This increases week by week until most hives become stressed in February and March, unable to continue to feed themselves or the larvae and they perish from starvation. Therefore, candy boards to the rescue!
I believe the reason most hives perish in late winter is because they were reserving limited stores of food and therefore reduced their brood rearing. This makes for a decreasing hive in number and a hive that will eventually die out or become so weak that even if it survives into spring, it will not make any surplus honey.
When beekeepers complain of low honey production, their hives probably suffered from low nutrition in December and January when they needed it the most. Now is the perfect time to slap on some candy boards.

Bees do not hibernate during the winter. Instead, we use the word “cluster” to describe what bees do all winter. They cluster together. When I first started keeping bees I remember someone explaining to me that the bees form a ball in the hive and cluster in a ball and stay warm. My first thought was wouldn’t the frames interrupt their ability to form a tight cluster? One year I removed some frames to see if the bees overwintered any better since they could actually form a ball without frames breaking up the cluster. Didn’t make any difference. Heat travels well through the combs and frames even plastic frames. Remember, the bees do not heat up their entire hive like we do our homes. Instead, they merely gain heat from their surrounding sisters. When the temperature outside dips to 50 and below the bees begin to form their cluster. The colder it becomes, the tighter the cluster.

The cluster moves around more when the temperature reaches around 50 outside. At this temperature or higher, they may actually travel to a frame of honey that is around them and carry that honey back to the cluster to feed others. And at temperatures 50+ they will fly outside the hive to finally go to the bathroom (defecate). During the winter, the temperature in the center of the cluster is maintained around 80 degrees and warmer if there is brood. However, toward the outside of the cluster the temperature may barely be above freezing. Cold bees are pulled back into the warmer cluster by warmer sister bees.
I believe my bees do better the more winter fly days they have per month. It seems to me they stay healthier if they can fly one or two days per winter month. But that sometimes never happens here in Central Illinois.
In the cluster the bees stay warm by generating heat by flexing their muscles. To do this, it requires eating honey. The colder they are, the more they will need to eat. But the warmer it is, the more they eat because they’ll want to move around and even fly out. Therefore, we have no choice but to leave 60-80 pounds of honey in the hive for winter, or feed them candy boards or sugar water during the winter. By January and February the bees have made their way up into the top deep hive body. The image shows how we can rotate our two hive bodies in April. But, never rotate the hive bodies unless you are absolutely sure that the entire cluster is in the top deep. Never break up the cluster if they are in both the top and bottom deep. Some beekeepers rotate their boxes too early and put the cluster in the bottom deep away from the upper heat source as heat rises. A cold snap can produce a larger number of dead bees than is acceptable.
Winter-Bee-Kind For Winter Feed For Bees
Winter-Bee-Kind For Winter Feed For Bees

In The summer of 2011 we introduced our Winter-Bee-Kind after several years of studying overwintering hives. We could barely keep up with production they were in such demand. We still make them right here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms but we've expanded our production methods to keep up with demand. So many beekeepers told us that these were the only thing that got their hives through the winter. This year, it's time for the 2014 production year. We even mix the sugar and pollen and right here and pour the candy into the Winter-Bee-Kinds. WHAT IS A WINTER-BEE-KIND? It is a one piece candy board that provides food, ventilation, upper insulation and an upper exit/entrance to help bees remain healthier during the winter. Someone said it insulates, ventilates and feed-i-lates. With the built in upper vent, you don't have to worry about snow covering up your hive's lower entrance. The bees can still go in and out through the top vent spacing. We avoid shipping Winter-Bee-Kinds in hot weather and start shipping each September-March. You can place our Winter-Bee-Kinds on your hive anytime, even in the winter. Because it goes on top of the hive in place of the inner cover, and you are NOT removing any frames, it can be placed on the hive in cold weather. Just do it fast. Open the top, remove the inner cover and place the candy side down and the vent slot toward the front of the hive and you're done. Click here to order your Winter-Bee-Kinds Some form of a candy board has been around for a long time. Beekeepers of long ago placed candy in their hives to provide enough food for their bees to survive the long months of winter. There are various mixtures and receipts for candy boards. Some are made with soft candy and some with hard candy. The end result is still the same. The bees will consume the sugar as they need it. We've always been concerned about the amount of condensation that can develop in the hive during the winter. The bees produce heat within their hive and as the temperature is very cold outside the hive, condensation will develop on the warm side, just above the bees on the inner cover or top cover. This condensation can accumulate and drop down onto the winter cluster of bees below. Bees can stay warm in the winter but they must remain dry. If this cold water drips down onto the bees, it can reduce their ability to keep their cluster warm. The insulation on our Winter-Bee-Kind helps reduce the excessive moisture and even puts some of that moisture to work, as it accumulates on the candy and makes it easy for the bees to consume the sugar. Thus, a Winter-Bee-Kind can help lessen two winter stresses, the lack of food and excessive moisture. We make our Winter-Bee-Kinds with sugar and a healthy amount of pollen powder. Many beekeepers make the mistake of only feeding their bees sugar in the winter, but the bees also need protein which they obtain from pollen. Our Winter-Bee-Kinds come with pollen mixed in with the sugar.. Click here to order your Winter-Bee-Kind today. We recommend that you place candy boards on your hive any time between Oct-March.


Commonly Asked Questions
Q: Which way does the candy face in the hive?
A: The candy faces down just above the winter cluster. Normally, this means that the Winter-Bee-Kind would be placed on the brood box that contains the cluster. For example, if you overwinter your bees in a single deep hive body, the Winter-Bee-Kind would be placed on this deep hive body with the candy facing down toward the cluster. If you are using two deep hive bodies to overwinter, then the Winter-Bee-Kind would be placed on the top deep hive body. It is best to disregard the use of an inner cover, and simply place your top cover over the Winter-Bee-Kind.

Q: What about winter moisture?
A: Moisture can develop in the winter from condensation, a contrast of the heat the bees produce in the hive and the extreme cold temperature outside the hive. Condensation accumulates on the warm side, which means moistures collects on the inner cover or top cover above the hive. This can drip down on the bees and chill them during the winter. A Winter-Bee-Kind takes the place of an inner cover and any moisture that develops from condensation aids the bees in consuming the candy.

Q: How long will a Winter-Bee-Kind last on a hive?
A: On average about 3 weeks. However, a colony that has ample stored honey may not consume the candy board as fast or not at all until they need it. A colony close to starvation may consume a Winter-Bee-Kind within a week or two.

Q: Since Winter-Bee-Kinds are placed or replaced on the hive in the winter, can I open the hive up on a cold day?
A: It is best to place the candy boards on a hive when the temperature is above freezing and try to place the candy board on and have the hive sealed back up within 1-2 minutes. It should not take over 1 minute. Do not remove any frames in cold temperatures, only place your Winter-Bee-Kind on and off quickly. If you can choose the warmest day during the winter, that would be best. Try to avoid very cold, windy or rainy days.

Q: How do I refill a candy board?
A: It is best to send back your candy board and we will refill it for $7 plus shipping. If you are a good candy maker, you can do it yourself.

Q: How do I get one with a pollen?
A: Our Winter-Bee-Kinds contain pollen as well.

Q: Can I make my own?
A: You can, but you must experiment, because you do not want the candy to be too hard or too runny. The exact mix depends on your altitude, heat source and other conditions so it will be different from one location to another.

Q: Why was some liquid sugar dripping out of my Winter-Bee-Kind when I received it?
A: It is the nature of candy boards to be a bit on the dripping side even though the top may be hard. Do not be concerned if you see liquid sugar dripping out of your boards when you receive it. It usually means it was left on end during shipment for a prolong period of time. The bees will clean everything up and enjoy this soft liquid.

Q: How much sugar is in one Winter-Bee-Kind?
A: Approximately 5 pounds

Q: When do I put a Winter-Bee-Kind on my hive?
A: Any time! Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb are good months to place on the boards.

Q How often should I check my Winter-Bee-Kind?
A: Every three weeks, take a peek.

Q: Do you make Winter-Bee-Kind for 5 frame nucs or 8 frame hives?
A: Yes, check out our website to order, but carefully read the description to make sure you are ordering the correct size and type.

Q: Can the candy break loose from the board on the hive?
A: It rarely happens, but during extreme winter weather, the candy and separate from the board while on the hive. This is not a problem. The bees will continue to consume the sugar.

Q: When I place it on the hive, do I use my inner cover. Just how does it go on?
A: Winter-Bee-Kind takes the place of your inner cover. Simply place the Winter-Bee-Kind on the top of your upper hive body or super with the candy facing down, then place your top cover on top of the Winter-Bee-Kind. Be sure to use a rock or brick to make sure the wind does not blow your top cover off. There is overwhelming enthusiasm about our Winter-Bee-Kinds. Click here to order now.

It has been a pleasure being with you today, and from Sheri and David Burns, we do wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.
Here’s our contact info:
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N. 1020 E. Rd
Fairmount, IL 61849
WEBSITE: www.honeybeesonline.com
BLOG LESSONS: www.basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com
PHONE: 217-427-2678
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/longlanehoney

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In a previous post, I defined two kinds of metrics: vanity metrics and actionable metrics. In that post, I took it for granted that vanity metrics are bad for you, and focused on techniques for creating and learning from actionable metrics. In this post, I'd like to talk about the perils of vanity metrics.

My personal favorite vanity metrics is "hits." It has all the worst features of a vanity metric. It violates the "metrics are people, too" rule: it counts a technical process, not a number of human beings. It's a gross number, not per-customer: one hit each from a million people is a very different thing than a million hits from just one person. Most normal people don't understand it: what counts as a hit, anyway (an image, a page, a JS file...)? And it has no built-in measure of causality: if we get a million hits this month, what caused them? How could we generate more hits? Are those hits all of equal value? Since each of these questions requires diving into a different sub-metric, why not just use those metrics instead? That's the essence of actionable metrics.

But actionable metrics are more work. So it's reasonable to ask: what's wrong with vanity metrics, at least as a proxy for customer behavior? If hits are bigger this month than last month, that's progress. Why do we need to ask hard questions about the metric, if it's at least directionally correct?

When we rely on vanity metrics, a funny thing happens. When the numbers go up, I've personally witnessed everyone in the company naturally attributing that rise to whatever they were working on at the time. That's not too bad, except for this correlate: when the numbers go down, we invariably blame someone else. Over time, this allows each person in the company to live in their own private reality. As these realities diverge, it becomes increasingly difficult for teams to reach consensus on what to do next. If those teams are functionally organized, the problem is amplified. If all the engineers work on the same thing at the same time, and all the marketers do the same, and QA, and ops, all the way down the line, then each department develops its own team-based private reality. Now picture product prioritization meetings in such a company. Each team can't believe those idiots down the hall want to try yet another foo project when it's so evident that foo projects always fail.

Have you ever built one of those charts that shows a metric over time, annotated with "key events" that explain what happened to the numbers at key inflection points? If you never have, you can create your own using Google Finance. Go ahead and try it, then come back. You've just experienced vanity metrics hell. Everyone knows those charts are totally unpersuasive. At best, they can only show correlation, not causation. Sure I can build a stock chart, like this one, that shows that eBay's stock price went into a four-year decline immediately after "eBay Inc Acquires Dutch Company Marktplaats.nl." But do you really believe that's what caused eBay's problems? Of course not. At worst, these kinds of vanity metrics can be easily used for gross distortions. And that potentiality can cripple companies at just those key moments when they need to understand their data the most.

Let me take an example from a company that was going through a tough "crossing the chasm" moment. They had just experienced two down quarters after many quarters of steady growth. Naturally, they had just raised money, and their new investors were understandably pissed. The company struggled mightily with how to explain this bad news to their board. They were accustomed to measuring their progress primarily by gross revenue compared to their targets. When the numbers started to go down, they started to investigate. It turned out that, during the course of the decline, one customer segment was losing customers while another was gaining customers. It's just that the declining segment's customers were more valuable. In retrospect, I can see the irony of the situation perfectly. This decline was actually the result of the company successfully executing its strategy. The customers on their way out were more valuable in the short-term, but the new customers coming in were where the real growth was going to happen in the long-term. Unfortunately, the magnitude of the shift, and the relative values of the two segments, took the company by surprise.

Guess how well those board meetings went. All of the sudden, now that the company was struggling, new metrics were being used to judge success. The vanity charts appeared, showing the changes the company had made to its strategy and the subsequent changes in customer behavior broken down by segment. All very reasonable, well designed, well argued. In other words, a total disaster. This board had no way to know if they were hearing real insight or just well-crafted excuses. The insight turned out to be correct (it's always clear in hindsight). Too bad several of the executives making that presentation weren't around to be vindicated.

The whole situation could have been avoided if the company had used actionable metrics to set and evaluate goals from the start. The strategy changes could have been rolled out gradually, segment by segment, in controlled trials. The data from those trials could have been used to predict the future effects, and allowed the company to make smarter decisions. Actionable metrics don't guarantee you'll make good decisions. But at least you can have facts in the room at the time.

And that's my metrics heuristic. Consider a team's last few critical decisions. Not the ones with carefully choreographed discussion and a formal agenda. Those are the easy meetings. I'm talking about the adhoc crisis decisions, the periodic product prioritization meetings, and the failure post-mortems. How much actionable data was in the room at the time? With data, teams have an opportunity to improve their decision making over time, systematically training their intuition to conform to reality. Without it, they're just rolling the dice.

And that's why vanity metrics are dangerous.
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Satu diantara hamba muslim adalah Zunairah, hamba Abu Jahal. Kerana keyakinannya itulah dia diinterogasi Abu Jahal. "Benarkah kamu telah menganut agama Islam?" tanya Abu Jahal. "Benar. Aku percaya pada seruan Muhammad, kerana itu aku mengikutinya." Jawab Zunairah.

Untuk menggoyangkan keyakinan hambanya, Abu Jahal bertanya kepada kawan-kawannya. "Hai kawan-kawan, apakah kalian juga mengikuti seruan Muhammad?" "Tidaaak," jawab mereka serempak. "Nah, sekira apa yang dibawa Muhammad itu baik, tentu mereka akan lebih dulu mengikutinya" kata Abu Jahal melecehkan hambanya.

Maka dipukullah Zunairah itu secara keji hingga matanya luka parah dan akhirnya menjadi buta. Melihat mata hambanya menjadi buta, Abu Jahal membujuknya. "Matamu menjadi buta itu akibat kau masuk Islam. Cuba kau tinggalkan agama Muhammad itu, matamu akan sembuh kembali," katanya.

Betapa sakit hati Zunairah mendengar olok-olokan itu. "Kalian semua adalah pembohong, tak bermoral. Lata dan Uzza yang kalian sembah itu tak akan boleh berbuat apa-apa. Apalagi memberi manfaat dan mudarat," katanya.

Mendengar itu, Abu Jahal semakin naik pitam. Maka dipukullah hamba itu sekeras-kerasnya dan berkata, "Wahai Zunairah. Ingatlah kepada Lata dan Uzza. Itu berhala sembahan kita sejak nenek moyang kita. Tak takutkah jika mereka nanti murka kepadamu? Tinggalkan segera agama Muhammad yang melecehkan kita." Kata Abu Jahal.

"Wahai Abu Jahal. Sebenarnya Latta dan Uzza itu buta. Lebih buta daripada mataku yang buta akibat siksaanmu ini. Meski mataku buta, Allah tak akan sulit mengembalikannya menjadi terang, tidak seperti tuhanmu Latta dan Uzza itu" kata Zunairah.

Berkat kekuasaan Allah. Esoknya mata Zunairah yang buta akibat siksaan Abu Jahal itu kembali sembuh sperti sedia kala. Abu Jahal yang menyaksikannya menjadi sangat hairan. Namun dasar orang tak beriman, dia malah berkata "Ini pasti kerana sihir Muhammad" katanya sambil kembali menyiksa hambanya. Untunglah datang Abu Bakar yang lalu memerdekakan Zunairah setelah memberi tebusan kepada Abu Jahal.

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Huzaifah Al-Yamani telah diberi oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. suatu ilmu khusus tentang mengenali orang-orang munafik serta sifat-sifatnya yang tersembunyi. Beliaulah yang pertama sekali memperkenalkan Ilmu Tasauf dan membuka jalan serta teori-teori ilmu tersebut.

Ada orang bertanya kepada Huzaifah: "Kami melihat tuan mengeluarkan kata-kata yang tidak pernah kami dengar dari sahabat-sahabat Rasulullah s.a.w. yang lain. Dari mana tuan memperolehinya?"

Lalu jawabnya: "Rasulullah telah menentukannya kepadaku. Orang banyak bertanya Rasulullah s.a.w. dari hal yang baik-baik, tapi aku bertanya dari hal yang jahat-jahat agar aku mengetahuinya dan menjauhkan daripadanya. Sedang mengenai yang baik-baik aku tidak takut ketinggalan mengerjakannya. Sesungguhnya sesiapa yang tidak kenal kejahatan, ia tidak akan kenal kebaikan."

Dalam riwayat yang lain beliau berkata: "Banyak orang bertanya kepada Rasulullah s.a.w. tentang pahala dan fadilat-fadilat amalan, tetapi aku bertanya Rasulullah apa yang merosakkan amalan itu."

Saiyidina Umar r.a. misalnya, enggan menyembahyangkan jenazah seseorang kalau dilihatnya Huzaifah tidak turut menyembahyangkannya. Inilah kelebihan Huzaifah Al-Yamani yang mempunyai pengetahuan tentang ilmu ghaib hingga dia tahu siapa yang munafik dan siapa yang tidak.

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The first step in a lean transformation is learning to tell the difference between value-added activities and waste. That foundational idea, so clearly articulated in books like Lean Thinking, is what originally led me to start using the term lean startup. I admit that I haven't always done such a good job emphasizing this connection; after all, there's an awful lot to the lean startup theory, and I'm always struggling with how best to explain it fully. Luckily, I've had some excellent backup.


The following is a guest post for Startup Lessons Learned by the legendary Kent Beck. One of the most amazing things about the past year has been the opportunity to meet many legends and personal heroes. And yet, I have a confession to make. Many of these heroes have proved disappointing: some have been defensive, stand-offish, and downright mean. Not so with Kent Beck. 


Longtime readers will recall how I first met him. I was giving my first-ever webcast on the lean startup. For those who've heard it, it contains a length discourse on the subject of agile software development and extreme programming, including its weaknesses when applied to startups. Now, this webcast was packed, hundreds of people were logged in. The chat stream was flying by in my peripheral vision, a constant distraction, hard to focus on. As I'm pontificating about agile, I see the name Kent Beck in my peripheral vision. I was truly terrified, and I almost completely lost my train of thought. Was that really the Kent Beck? I assumed he was there to refute my critique of extreme programming, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, of all the gurus and leaders I've had the chance to meet, he has been by far the most open-minded. He instantly understood what I was saying, and since that first encounter, our exchanges have made me a lot smarter. 


So when he weighed into a recent thread on the Lean Startup Circle mailing list on this very subject, I asked if he would expand his comments into a guest post. The following is the result. - Eric

Names matter. By pulling in a web of associations, names help people quickly assess ideas. Chosen well, they draw attention from people likely to appreciate the ideas they identify.

There is a dark side to naming. When a name is misused, as with some of the claims to "agility" extant, the initial interest is followed by disappointment when customers discover there is no corned beef between the slices of rye. It's tempting to ride the coattails of a popular idea by using a word with momentum, but in the end it backfires for the idea and the word.

The naming question has been raised about the "lean" in Lean Startups. Are lean startups really lean or was the word chosen because it is widely recognized and popular?

I had a background in lean manufacturing (book knowledge, anyway) and lean software development (hands on) before encountering Lean Startups. When I read Eric's blog I immediately felt at home: the principles were the same even though some of the practices were different.

The foundation of TPS (Toyota Production System) is that people need to be (and feel) productive and society needs people to produce value. This value is evident in Lean Startups. We are all engaged in creating valuable (we hope) services for society in some form or other and simultaneously meeting our own need to feel significant and productive.

Another basic principle of TPS is respect for people. One form of respect is not wasting the time of people who are creating new products and services. Another form of respect is inviting customers to be part of the process of creating those products and services. At times on this lean startup mailing list I hear an undercurrent of "ha, ha, I got you to give me feedback on this fake landing page even though I gave you nothing in return," which is a violation of this principle of respect. Overall, though, Lean Startups seems far more respectful to me than the "build something big and shove it down customers throats" model I have participated in (and failed with) over and over.

TPS focuses on eliminating waste. Rather than try to create value faster (I'm thinking of Charlie Chaplin in "Modern Times" or Lucille Ball's Candy Factory scene), a lean organization creates more value by eliminating waste. This principle appears throughout Lean Startups, starting with the biggest waste of all in a startup--building something no one uses.

A TPS tactic that familiar in lean startups is reducing inventory. If you can split a feature in half and get good feedback about the first half, do it. The lack of inventory enables quick changes of direction, something seen in Lean Startups in the pivot and in TPS in the ability of a single production line to create multiple vehicles. I haven't seen an equivalent of the systematic elimination of work-in-process inventory in Lean Startups, however. (Those who are interested in work-in-process might want to take a look at Work in small batches and Continuous deployment - Eric)


Some specific TPS practices appear in Lean Startups. A/B testing is set-based design. 5 Whys is straight out of the Toyota playbook. Conversion optimization is a form of kaizen. Whether practices work directly is not as important as whether the principles are alive, though. I see the lean principles throughout Lean Startups.

Is the "lean" in Lean Startups an illegitimate attempt to steal some of the "lean foo"? I don't think so. It doesn't look precisely like manufacturing cars, but the principles are shared between the Lean Startups and a lean manufacturing system like TPS, and to some extent even the practices. I expect the cross-fertilization to continue, even as Lean Startups discover what is unique about the startup environment and what calls for a unique response.
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Things are piling up all around me: to do lists, wrapping, presentations, reports, research, shopping, cleaning, fa la la la la la la la la.

And all I want to do is find a corner in the woods and dream about HIM sparkling and beautiful and finding ME.

Oh, I got bit all right.

BAD.

(Love you wholly and completely, Pete).
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Lately, I’ve been rethinking the concept of “business model” for startups, in favor of something I call “business ecology.” In an ecosystem, each participant acts according to its own imperatives, but these selfish actions have an aggregate effect. Some ecosystems are stable, others malign, and others grow and prosper. A successful startup strives for this latter case. I think this concept is necessary in order to answer the truly vexing startup questions, like: “Should startups charge customers money from day one?”

Let’s begin with the four customer currencies. I had a lot of use for this concept back when I worked on game design and virtual worlds. In order to maintain game play balance, game designers have to take into account the needs of customers who have an excess of four different assets: time, money, skill, and passion.

If players with more money than others can simply buy their way to the top of the heap, a multiplayer game fails – because this makes the game un-fun for other players. The same is true if kids who have an unlimited amount of time on their hands are guaranteed the top spot – this isn’t going to be very fun for the busy professionals who want to play only casually. Chess is only fun for those who have the requisite skill to play well – and even then, only if there are ranking systems to make sure that players of relatively equal skill play each other. If you could buy a higher chess ranking or, worse, simply grow it by logging more hours, that would ruin the system for everyone. And passionate players are often the backbone of game communities – especially online. They run the clubs, forums, groups and mailing lists that make the game more fun overall. If they are barred from participating (say, because they lack the skill needed to prevent advanced players from killing them all the time), the game is worse off.

Each of these four currencies represents a way for a customer to “pay” for services from a company. And this is true outside of games. Constructing a working business model is a form of ecosystem design. A great product enables customers, developers, partners, and even competitors to exchange their unique currencies in combinations that lead to financial success for the company that organizes them.

Here’s the ecosystem we built at IMVU, just to give one example. We cultivated a passionate community that nurtured a skilled set of developers. Those developers create an incredible variety of virtual goods: 3D models, textures, homepage stickers, music, and much more – more than three million in total last time I checked. This variety entices millions of end-users to invest their time and passion with IMVU, providing many incentives for a small fraction of those users to become paying customers. Those paying customers provide IMVU with sufficient profits to reinvest in the core experience for everyone. It’s a working, growing, ecosystem.

Having a balanced ecosystem is what game designers strive for. But startups strive for something else: growth. Thus, business ecology is concerned with both ecosystem design and finding a driver of growth for that ecosystem. In a previous post, I covered the three main drivers of growth: Paid, Sticky, and Viral. When a startup finds a working value-creating ecosystem that supports one of these drivers of growth, watch out. They’re off to cross the chasm.

And this is why questions like “Should a company charge money from day one?” are nonsensical. Some companies definitely should. Others definitely shouldn’t. In order to tell which is which, you have to understand the unique ecology of the business in question.  Let’s look at some examples:

• In a traditional business, customers pay money for a physical artifact (a product) or a service. Companies use that money to market the product or service to more customers. This is the simplest ecosystem and simplest driver of growth. A business that strives for something like this should absolutely be charging money from day one, in order to establish baselines for their two key metrics: CPA (the cost to acquire a new customer) and LTV (the lifetime value of each acquired customer). In other words, the minimum viable product is designed to answer the question: does the product generate enough demand and margin to support a growing ecosystem?  
• Now consider a traditional media business. By paying money to content creators (ie writers, producers, talent), the business uses builds up assets that are of interest to other consumers. Those other consumers pay for this content sometimes with money, but more often with their attention. This attention is valuable to yet another set of people: namely, the traditional businesses (see above) who are using marketing to grow, and are looking to advertise to new prospects. The value of the attention that the media company collects determines how profitable it is. In the old days, these media companies would then themselves plow this profit back into marketing and advertising, and grow. Today, many of these businesses are suffering because the ecosystem no longer balances thanks to the Internet. (Sorry about that.) If you’re starting a new media company, does it make sense to charge from day one? Probably not – you need to be finding an audience, making sure that audience will trade you their attention for your content, and – most importantly – establishing a baseline for how much that attention is worth to advertisers. A minimum viable product in this category must answer the question: does my media content or channel command the attention of a valuable audience?
  
  
• Let’s look at a viral growth company, like Facebook. They are a classic case of a company that doesn’t seem to care about charging customers money. Here’s Andrew Chen’s description:
  
  
  

  “it strikes me that consumer internet companies often don’t care much whether or not they have viable businesses in the short run. If you are building a large, viral, ad-support consumer internet property, you just want to go big! As soon as possible!”
  

  This is a common sentiment, but I don't agree. I think it uses the phrase “viable business” in too narrow a sense. When Facebook launched early-on at college campuses, it was immediately apparent that they had a viable business, even though they weren’t charging customers for anything. Why? Because they were collecting truly massive amounts of attention and they had an amazing driver of growth. Those two factors made it relatively easy for them to raise enough money to avoid having to build a profitable business in the short term. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t have a viable one. The ecosystem worked, and was growing. Figuring out how to turn that attention into cash seems to have been pretty obvious to Mark Zuckerberg. For a true viral ecosystem, the minimum viable product is designed to answer the question: can I unlock viral growth mechanics while still keeping my ecosystem alive? As many viral companies have found to their chagrin, quite a few viral products are fundamentally useless. Although they grow, they don’t actually collect enough of any customer currency to be viable.
  
  
  In fact, the viral metaphor is actually more apt than many people realize, once you look at it from an ecological perspective. Facebook is actually quite rare – many other viral products didn’t really build their own working ecology: they colonized someone else’s. That was true for Paypal cannibalizing eBay, YouTube and MySpace, and could still be true of Slide, Zynga, or RockYou – we’ll see.
  
  Now, Andrew’s excellent piece that I quoted from above correctly diagnoses two situations where consumer internet companies often get in trouble:
  
  
  
  1. They focus too much on short-term revenue, getting caught in a local maximum via constant optimization. They aren’t really engaged in customer development, they aren’t getting inside their customers’ heads, and they aren’t crafting a robust ecosystem. For a consumer internet company in particular, this is often due to a lack of design thinking.
     
     
  2. They get focused solely on growth. This isn’t helpful either, as countless companies have shown. If you haven’t figured out the ecosystem, growth is useless – whether it is a acquisition-only viral loop, like Tagged, or an advertising blitz like countless dot-bombs.
  
  
  

• Let’s consider one last example, a sticky-growth company like eBay or World of Warcraft. Here the goal is to create a product whose ecosystem makes it hard for customers to leave. eBay offers their customers an opportunity to monetize their skill and passion via online trading for hard currency. World of Warcraft offers beautifully balanced and addictive game play, for which customers trade all four currencies in bewildering combinations. Like eBay, these investments are best understood as trades between players, which is what makes multiplayer game design so much harder than its single-player counterpart. What these products all have in common is the question their minimum viable product is attempting to answer: does this product have high natural retention built-in?

Understanding the four customer currencies allows us to avoid these problems, and also unify a number of different concepts that have been floating around. Take the minimum viable product, for starters. How should the word viable be understood? Here’s the original definition I proposed for MVP:

“the minimum viable product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.”

Of course, this begs the question: what are we trying to learn? Now I think I can answer this question with some certainty: we want to learn how to construct a business ecology harnessed to the right driver of growth. And how do we validate that learning? By creating a model of the ecosystem we want, and showing that actual customer behavior conforms to that model. And, of course, if customers don’t behave the way we expect, it’s time to pivot.

That necessarily means that different types of startups will be seeking to learn different things. Minimum viable product is a tactic for mitigating risk. It doesn’t say anything about which risks it should be used to mitigate. Startup founders need to use their own judgment to ask: which is the riskiest assumption underlying my business plan? In each of the ecosystem examples I gave above, the tactics of the minimum viable product are quite different. In some cases, Tim Ferriss-style landing page tests will suffice. Others require Steve Blank-style problem/solution presentations. And others require an early product prototype. The level of design required will vary. The level of engineering quality will vary. The amount of traditional business modeling will vary.

And now we can answer the biggest question of all: how do we know it’s time to scale? Or, to borrow Steve Blank’s formulation, how do we know it’s time to move from Customer Validation to Customer Creation? I think I have a solid answer here too: when we have enough data that shows our business ecology is value-creating and also ready to grow via a specific driver of growth.

Founders struggle with this question. Successful startups don’t. In almost every case I’m aware, the question never had to be asked. When an ecosystem is thriving and growing, it takes work just to keep up with its scaling needs. This was true at Facebook, eBay, and Google – and at countless other successful startups. Marc Andreessen has already coined a phrase for what it looks like: product/market fit. One clue that you don’t have product/market fit – you’re trying to evaluate your business to see if you have it. It’s probably time to pivot.

These concepts have important implications for any lean startup. My whole goal with the lean startup movement has been to learn how to tell the difference between value-creating activities and waste in startups – and then to start eliminating waste. In an entrepreneurial situation, this is hard, because artifacts that we are creating (products, code, marketing campaigns, even revenue) are of secondary importance. The real value we create is learning how to craft profitable ecosystems. Even then, it’s the learning that’s the real value. So, when evaluating any activity, ask: is this helping me learn more about my startup’s ecosystem? If not, eliminate it. If so, ask: how could I get even more learning while doing even less work?

Most of all, beware one-size-fits-all startup advice. In order to figure out what applies to your unique situation, focus on the principles. Who are the customers? What currencies do they have? And what problems do they need solved? Look for a balanced ecosystem and a driver of growth. And be sure to hold on to the reins once you find it.

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"Aduh..doktor, tolong..mannyak sakit ini kaki woo.."

"Itulah lu..apa pasal pegi bawak motor laju-laju. Itu kalau lu bawak slow-slow pun boleh sampai jugak apa..sabar sikitla..kami kalau orang Islam, nabi kami ajar sabar tu separuh daripada iman!"

"Wa bukan bawak laju pasal wa talak sabar doktor. Wa mau pegi tandas woo..sula talak tahan lagi."

"Wo..itu pasal ka..lain kali lu jangan tahan-tahan tau. Bahaya, boleh kena batu karang!"

Suasana wad umum hospital amat sibuk. Pagi yang amat memenatkan bagi mereka yang berkhidmat mengabdikan diri buat orang lain. Suatu pekerjaan yang amat berat jika dilakukan hanya demi ganjaran berupa gaji ataupun wang semata. Tetapi akan menjadi sesuatu yang amat membahagiakan jika dilakukan untuk membahagiakan orang lain. Apakah yang lebih membahagiakan apabila melihat manusia-manusia yang kembali sihat dengan asbab bantuan daripada diri kita? Itulah erti hidup pada memberi. Kita akan paling bahagia apabila dapat membahagiakan orang lain.

'Ya-Allah, bantulah aku untuk memberikan yang terbaik kepada para pesakit ini. Sihatkanlah mereka dan jadikan mereka hamba-hamba yang bersyukur.' Azrif bermonolog.

Merupakan tugas bagi graduan sekolah perubatan untuk mengabdikan diri di hospital kerajaan di tanah air. Tahun-tahun awal bagi pelajar perubatan yang baru menamatkan pengajian amat memenatkan. Melayan karenah pesakit, on call yang tidak mengenal erti kepenatan dan kelelahan, tugas-tugas yang perlu dilaksanakan yang terkadang melebihi 36 jam kerja lalu pulang ke rumah nyawa-nyawa ikan dan 1001 lagi bentuk 'penyiksaan' bagi seseorang yang bergelar doktor perlu dihadapi. Namun jika semua itu dianggap sebagai ibadah, bahawa segala pengorbanan ini diganjari pahala sebanyak-banyaknya oleh Allah SWT dan betapa ramai manusia yang bakal meneruskan kehidupan dengan sinar harapan baru, semua 'penyiksaan' tadi akan bertukar menjadi 'kebahagiaan' yang tidak tergambarkan.

"Assalamu'alaikum. Pakcik Jamal apa khabar?" sapanya ketika menghampiri sebuah katil pesakit. Namanya diketahui daripada senarai daftar pesakit yang ada di dalam failnya. Pesakit kencing manis.

"Baik doktor. Kebas-kebas kaki sikit je."

"Takpe, pakcik banyak-banyakkan bersabar ye. Nanti makan ubat okaylah. Biar saya periksa kejap ye.

Azrif meletakkan eartips stetoskop ke telinga. Ketika sedang membongkok untuk meletakkan muncung stetoskop ke belakang badan Pakcik Jamal tiba-tiba sesuatu terjatuh daripada saku kotnya ke atas katil. Sebuah objek kecil berwarna biru tua. Kelihatan berzip. Di zipnya tergantung sebuah keychain berwarna silver.

"Opocot! Ape ni!?" Kata Si Pakcik separuh menjerit.

"Maaf pakcik. Ni Al-Quran saya. Maaf kalau saya buat pakcik terkejut."

"Quran? Ada pulak quran kecik-kecik macam ni ye?" Sambil menatap quran kecil berzip itu. Hanya menatap, tidak memegang. Tiada wudhu.

"Quran sekarang ada macam-macam saiz pakcik, senang nak bawa ke mana-mana."

"Owh, doktor selalu bawa Al-Quran ke mana-mana?"

"Em, alhamdulillah. Saya memang biasa bawa Al-Quran ke mana-mana, senang nak baca. Nak hafal, saya bukan hafiz quran. Ye la, saya ni muda lagi, bukan banyak sangat amal. Amal ada, banyak cacat pulak tu. Dengan bawak quran ni leh la saya baca-baca, tambah amalan. Er, maaf pakcik, saya nak periksa tekanan darah kejap ye." Bicaranya lembut. Ramah. Dia membalut tangan Pakcik Jamal dengan Cuff sphygmomanometer (alat mengambil bacaan tekanan darah).

"Ooo..doktor selalu baca? Banyak ke?"

"Alhamdulillah, dengan izin Allah, selama ni saya selalu khatamkan bacaan saya sebulan sekali. Saya cuba buktikan kepada Allah yang saya tidak akan memberikan alasan kesibukan saya sebagai doktor untuk tidak menunaikan hak Al-Quran. Lagipun ustaz saya pernah mengingatkan, dalam Al-Quran Allah ada pesan, mereka yang jauh daripada Al-Quran akan didatangkan syaitan untuk menjadi teman karibnya."

Azrif terus menerangkan tentang Al-Quran kepada si pakcik sambil tangannya sambil tangannya cekap mengepam sphygmomanometer. Pakcik Jamal hanya terdiam, sambil membiarkan bacaan diambil. Namun diamnya memberi seribu makna. Penjelasan berkenaan Al-Quran amat-amat menyentuh hatinya. Seumur hidupnya, itulah pertama kali dia bertemu dengan seseorang yang begitu menghargai Al-Quran sebegitu sekali. Tidak semena-mena, airmatanya bergenang. Namun segera dikesat dengan lengan baju.

‘Ya-Allah...lamanya aku tak baca Al-Quran. Nak dapat seminggu sekali pun susah. Agaknya inilah sebab aku merasakan kekosongan selama ini. Allah...’ Pak Jamal bermonolog di dalam hatinya.

“Doktor yang sibuk-sibuk melayan kami, periksa kami, keluar masuk wad, sempat lagi nak baca quran ye. Saya yang tak buat apa-apa pun ni, hampir tak pernah baca Al-Quran. Pakcik bertekad, Insya-Allah, lepas ni pakcik nak belajar balik baca Al-Quran, dan pakcik akan selalu baca Al-Quran.” Pakcik Jamal berkata dalam suara yang agak serak basah.

“Er, pakcik cakap apa tadi pakcik? Maaf, saya sibuk mencatat bacaan ni tadi, tak dengar.” Jamal kembali bertanya.

“Takde, pakcik cuma kata dah lama pakcik tak baca Al-Quran. Terima kasih ya sebab cerita pasal Al-Quran tadi.”

“Takde masalah pakcik. Okay pakcik, tekanan darah normal, pernafasan pun ok. Insya-Allah kalau tiada aral melintang, pakcik boleh keluar tak lama lagi. Tapi pakcik kena banyak rehat dan makan ubat ye. Saya pergi dulu ye pakcik. Assalamu’alaikum.”

“Wa’alaikumussalam..”

‘Bagusnya doktor ni. Ya-Allah..berikanlah aku kesempatan untuk mempelajari Al-Quran..’ Pak Jamal terus berkata-kata di dalam hatinya. Airmatanya bercucuran kembali.

Seketika kemudian Azrif bergerak keluar daripada wad untuk ke pejabat. Dia menerima panggilan kecemasan. Dia diperlukan di wad tingkat 4. Ketika melangkah keluar, tiba-tiba dia dipanggil oleh jururawat yang bertugas di kaunter.

“Dr. Azrif, tanya sikit.”

“Ya, kenapa? Saya kena cepat ni.”

“Maafkan saya, tadi doktor cakap apa kat Pakcik Jamal katil no 15 tu? Saya nampak dia menangis tadi lepas doktor beredar dari katil dia.”

“Em, entahlah. Saya pun tak pasti. Dia teringatkan anak-anaknya kut. Maaf, saya kena pergi dulu. Awak pergilah temankan dia berbual. Mungkin dia ok sikit nanti.”

Sebetulnya dia tidak berapa mendengan soalan jururawat tadi. Dijawabnya soalan acuh tidak acuh. Dia perlu segera ke tingkat 4.

*****

Masa berlalu begitu pantas. Tanpa disedari tiga tahun sudah berlalu.

Dugaan dan cabaran sebagai seorang pengabdi perubatan bukanlah perkara yang mudah. Tahun-tahun awal yang penuh dengan onak dan duri dihadapinya dengan penuh kesabaran dan air mata. Bukan mudah mengawal emosi bekerja sebagai doktor. Terkadang seorang doktor di hospital yang bekerja sebelum pukul 8 pagi lagi dan hanya akan pulang tidak tepat pada pukul 5 petang. Sekiranya oncall akan terus celik sehingga keesokan harinya dan terus masuk kerja sehingga petang seterusnya.

Diikutkan hati, beban kerja fizikal dan mental yang diletakkan di bahu seorang doktor memang tidak mampu dipikulnya. Bayangkan sekiranya setiap hari bekerja melihat seseorang itu mendapat serangan jantung. Panik melanda tetapi perlu dikuatkan diri melawannya bagi membantu si pesakit. Dan tidak jarang menghadapi pesakit yang menemui ajal kerana ketidakmampuan si doktor. Terkadang dia menangis sendirian di dalam bilik air wad bedah. Bahkan lebih banyak lagi airmatanya tumpah ketika sedang melaksanakan solat malam. Memohon secebis kekuatan dan ketabahan untuk mengharungi hari-hari seterusnya bagi memberikan yang terbaik untuk para pesakitnya.

Kini Azrif bertugas di Out Patient Department (OPD). Hanya menunggu pesakit datang ke bilik untuk di diagnosis dan diberi cadangan ubat yang sesuai. Tidak perlu keluar masuk wad. Bebannya sudah tidak seberat dahulu.

‘Tak sangka dah tiga tahun aku lebih aku berkhidmat di jalan ini. Ya-Allah..aku mohon kau terus kuatkan aku untuk terus ikhlas memberi sebanyak-banyaknya hanya untuk-Mu Ya-Allah..’ Hatinya berdoa.

Lamunannya ditamatkan apabila pintu biliknya diketuk.

“Masuk!”

Seorang pesakit masuk. Lelaki. Usianya separuh baya, mungkin melebihi separuh abad. Rambutnya yang memutih telah menceritakan segalanya. Namun raut wajahnya bersih. Terpancar ketenangan.

“Assalamu’alaikum pakcik. Jemput duduk. Apa yang boleh saya bantu?”

“Wa’alaikumussalam. Macam biasalah doktor. Penyakit tua-tua ni..” Tiba-tiba kata-katanya terhenti. Objek kecil di suatu sudut meja itu amat menarik perhatiannya. Lalu dicapainya objek kecil berwarna biru itu. Ditatapnya seketika, lalu diletakkannya kembali. Dia yakin, dia pernah menatap objek itu tiga tahun yang lalu. Dan dia yakin dia pasti mengenal doktor yang berada di hadapannya. Lalu dia tersenyum.

“Kenapa pakcik? Itu Al-Quran saya. Memang saiznya kecil, mudah di bawa ke mana-mana.”

“Doktor, doktor ingat lagi tak dengan saya?”

‘Alamak, apa kena pulak pakcik ni. Berapa juta orang aku dah jumpa. Manalah aku nak ingat. Nak kata tak ingat nanti kecik pulak hati dia. Tengok sikit kad kesihatan dia ni...’

“Owh pakcik..pakcik macam mana sekarang? Kencing manis dah surut? Ada pitam-pitam ke?” Azrif hanya berbasa-basi setelah mengetahui penyakit yang dihidapi orang tua itu melalui kad kesihatannya.

“Bukan itu yang saya nak doktor ingat. Ingat tak saya pernah masuk wad dulu?”

‘Wad la pulak..lagi lah aku tak ingat..bila ye aku jumpa dia..’ Azrif cuba-cuba mengingat.

“Yang Al-Quran doktor terjatuh tu?”

‘Al-Quran? Ya-Allah...pakcik ni rupanya. 3 tahun dah, dia ingat lagi kat aku ye.’ Azrif agak terharu yang pakcik itu masih mengingatinya.

“Owh...ya, saya ingat. Pakcik Jamal..apa khabar pakcik sekarang?”

“Alhamdulillah doktor. Sejak berjumpa dengan doktor dulu, saya dah banyak berubah. Tengok ni.” Sambil tangannya mengeluarkan sesuatu daripada saku baju kemejanya.

‘Subhanallah! Al-Quran..maksudnya pakcik ni..’

“Alhamdulillah doktor, sekarang saya dah rutin baca Al-Quran. Cuma saya taklah macam doktor, boleh khatam sebulan sekali. Kalau saya 3 bulan sekali ke, baru khatam."

“Takpe pakcik. Daripada tak baca langsung.”

Credit To FRESHIE

Air mata mereka bergenang. Azrif tersenym. Hatinya bertahmid syukur yang tidak terkira tingginya. Segala pengorbanannya yang berdarah-darah selama ini terasa amat ringan. Jiwanya berbunga-bunga bahagia.

‘Ya-Allah..apakah yang lebih membahagiakan daripada melihat seseorang yang berubah menyintai kalam suci-Mu..sesungguhnya inilah saat paling membahagiakan dalam hidup ini!’ Monolog hatinya bermadah indah.

Sambil melakukan pemeriksaan, mereka berbual ke mana-mana. Saling bertukar cerita, nombor telefon, laksana saudara yang telah lama berpisah dipertemukan semula. Keakraban begitu cepat terjalin.

“Eh, doktor, kenal tak dengan Dr. Nurul Iman? Dia kerja kat sini.”

‘Nurul Iman? Dia ke?’

Tiba-tiba Azrif teringat pertemuan di surau hospital dua minggu sudah.

Azrif baru sahaja menunaikan solat dhuha. Rutin yang memang jarang sekali ditinggalkannya sejak dari bangku sekolah. Ganjaran pahala dan kemurahan rezeki yang dijanjikan nabi sangat memotivasikannya untuk menyempatkan barang seminit dua untuk melakukannya walaupun masanya amat sempit. Keluar sahaja daripada surau, terdengar bunyi pintu surau perempuan dibuka.

‘Aik, ada juga minah hospital ni solat dhuha?’ Bisik hatinya.

Lalu keluar seorang wanita berbaju kurung biru gelap. Tudungnya biru muda. Labuh.

‘Aik, ustazah mana pulak ni? Tak pe lah. Aku dah lambat ni. Nanti marah pulak patient tunggu.’

“Maaf saudara,” Tiba-tiba perempuan itu bersuara.

'Erk? Dia panggil aku ke?'

Azrif menoleh dan memandang wanita itu sekilas. Wajahnya tertunduk. Matanya memandang ke lantai. Di tangannya tergantung sebuah kot. Milik seorang doktor. Ada stetoskop terjulur keluar daripada poket kot itu.

“Ya?”

“Pen awak, jatuh.” Sambil menunjukkan ke arah lantai. Matanya masih tertunduk.

"Owh, terima kasih."

'Nasib baik dia ingatkan. Dahlah pen kesayangan aku ni.'

Secara tidak sengaja Azrif terpandang tag nama yang terlekat pada kot itu. Dalam keadaan terbalik, namun masih dapat dibacanya.

NURUL

‘Owh, doktor rupanya dia ni. Bagusnya, solat dhuha lagi. Pakaian pun sopan. Lawa pulak tu. Astaghfirullah..bahaya hati aku ni.’

"Sama-sama."

“Er, saya pergi dulu. Assalamu’alaikum.”

“Baik. Wa’alaikumussalam.”

Sejak hari itu Azrif tertanya-tanya, siapakah sebenarnya Dr. Nurul? Ataupun sebenarnya tertunggu-tunggu, bilakah dapat bertemu lagi dengan doktor perempuan yang bertudung labuh itu. Dia mengakui wanita itu mempunyai pesonanya yang tersendiri. Pakaian labuhnya itu amat menambat hatinya. Matanya yang sentiasa tertunduk itu amat menambat hatinya. Sukar dicari wanita apatah lagi doktor yang masih mahu menutup aurat dengan sempurna dan menjaga pandangan seperti Dr. Nurul.

Seringkali tatkala bersendirian dia akan terfikir akan wanita itu. Namun hatinya segera beristighfar. Dia tidak mahu hatinya larut dengan bayangan wanita yang masih belum ada apa-apa hubungan yang sah dengannya. Dia mencuba melupakan bayangan wajah manis yang sering berkunjung itu. Terkadang berjaya, tetapi biasanya dia tewas.

Pernah terniat di hatinya untuk mengenali lebih Nurul dengan lebih dekat, tetapi niatnya itu diurungkannya.  ‘Nanti aku orang ingat aku ni tak tahu malu pulak. Entah-entah dia tu dah kahwin, tak pun dah mesti bertunang.’

“Eh, doktor! Ni apa pasal mengelamun nih? Kenal tak Dr. Nurul Iman?”

‘Astaghfirullah..teringat dia lagi..’

“Maafkan saya pakcik. Termengelamun pulak. Bukan apa, cuba ingat-ingat, pernah tak dengar nama tu.” Azrif cuba mencipta alasan.

“Dia pakai tudung labuh.”

“Pakai tudung labuh? Kulit cerah-cerah, pakai cermin mata bingkai hitam tebal?”

“Haah, dia la tu. Doktor kenal ke?”

“Takde lah kenal. Tapi pernah terjumpa la. Pakcik kenal dia ke?”

“Lebih daripada kenal. Dia tu anak perempuan saya. Dulu belajar kat Mesir, Dia ambil medic kat Cairo University, Kasr El-Ainy.

“Owh, tak sangka, dunia ni kecik rupanya. Dia dah kahwin ke pakcik?”

“Ha, ni yang pakcik nak tanya sebenarnya. Dia belum kahwin. Kalau doktor pula?”

“Belum ada jodoh. Jadi doktor ni sibuk pakcik, mana ada masa nak cari calon..”

“Ha, pakcik memang dah lama nak kahwinkan anak pakcik ni. Tapi dia kata kata calon yang soleh tak muncul-muncul. Sebenarnya sejak pakcik jumpa doktor 3 tahun lepas, pakcik dah lama berhajat menjodohkan doktor dengannya. Dia ni solehah, insya-Allah. Kat mesir dulu ada juga pergi menadah kitab. Alhamdulillah, dah 10 juz dia hafal.”

Azrif terdiam seribu bahasa. Bagai tidak percaya apa yang baru didengarinya. Entah apa yang bermain dalam benaknya. Terkejut? Bahagia?

“Macam mana doktor? Setuju? Lagipun doktor dah tengok siapa orangnya.”

“Er..macam ni lah pakcik. Biar saya istikharah dulu. Insya-Allah minggu ni saya bagi jawapan. Lagipun ibubapa saya pun dah bertanya bila saya nak menikah.” Katanya bersahaja, menutupi gugupnya. Terkejutnya masih belum hilang.

“Baiklah. Nanti kalau dah ada jawapan, telefonlah pakcik. Pakcik harap doktor terima. Pakcik anggap doktor dah pun meminang Nurul Iman ketika doktor menyampaikan ilmu tentang Al-Quran kepada pakcik 3 tahun yang lalu. Pakcik balik dulu. Assalamu’alaikum.”

“Wa’alaikumussalam..”

Azrif bagai tidak percaya apa yang baru dilaluinya. Terasa Allah begitu baik kepadanya. Airmata bahagia mengalir ke pipi. Dia tersandar di kerusinya. Terpandang akan Al-Quran kecilnya yang berwarna biru itu. Di tatapnya seketika, lalu diambilnya. Dicium dengan penuh ta’zim. Tidak semena-mena hatinya mengungkap sebuah bait,

‘Kupinang Engkau Dengan Al-Quran’

Azrif terus melirik senyum.

Kupinang Engkau Dengan Al-Quran
~Gradasi~

Kupinang engkau dengan Al Quran
Kokoh suci ikatan cinta
Kutambatkan penuh marhamah

Harungi bersama samudra dunia
 

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Hadapi gelombang ujian
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Harungi samudra kehidupan
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We first discussed Imgur here. Some recent news:Meet Alan Schaaf: Creater, Designer, Coder of One of the Fastest Growing Sites on the Net: Imgur.comI'm the Imgur guy, AMA!From 2 months ago:Just noticed imgur is doing 20TB of bandwidth a month! They do not seem to advertise much at all, how can the afford this bandwidth when some hosts give you 2-3,000GB and 25c a gig extra. That badwidth bill
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Zohriah melangkah masuk ke dalam bilik guru dengan laju. Mukanya tidak tenang seperti biasa. Dengan segera dia menghampiri mejanya lalu meletakkan buku-bukunya.

"Hai cikgu, lain macam je ni. Ada masalah ke?" Sapa Cikgu Salim yang kebetulan melewati mejanya. Pertanyaannya acuh tak acuh.

Zohriah sebaliknya hanya tersenyum segaris. Sebetulnya memaksakan dirinya untuk tersenyum. Melihatkan kelainan dirinya itu, Salwa mendekatinya.

"Zoh, dah lunch? Jom makan dengan aku?"

"Takpelah Sal, aku tak lapar."

"Aik..takkan diet kut. Biasanya kalau bab makan ni kau laju je. Kenapanya ni..muka macam mati laki je."

"Mati laki apenye..kawin pun belum." Jawabnya bersahaja. Tiada mood untuk bergurau. Masalahnya yang baru dihadapi di kelas tadi amat merunsingkannya. Dia serba salah.

*****

“Lan, mari sini sekejap.” Zohriah memanggil Azlan ke hadapan kelas.

Azlan yang sedang bergurau senda dengan rakan sebelah mejanya itu terhenti. Dengan wajah yang masih ceria dia mendapatkan gurunya itu.

"Betul ke Lan jual bateri ni kat kawan-kawan?" Zohriah bertanya kepada Azlan sambil menunjukkan sebiji bateri eveready bersaiz D. Nadanya agak tinggi.

Azlan hanya mengangguk. Menelan air liur. Air mukanya berubah. Tiada lagi raut ceria di wajahnya. Mungkin nada tinggi gurunya itu mengejutkannya.

Hati Zohriah mula dilanda gelisah. Khabar angin yang didengarnya selama ini bermain-main di fikirannya. Fikirannya kembali ke mesyuarat tergempar yang diadakan seminggu lalu.

"Ada ibubapa yang mengadu, anak mereka meminta duit lebih. Katanya ada orang suruh. Ibubapa mereka mengesyaki anak mereka dibuli. Saya minta cikgu-cikgu lebih peka dengan keadaan anak-anak murid masing-masing. Jangan biarkan gejala tidak sihat ini berterusan. Kita tak mahu nama baik sekolah rendah kita ni tercemar." Kata-kata pengetua terngiang-ngiang di telinganya.

'Ni mesti kerja pelajar-pelajar tahun 4 ni. Batch diorang ni memang banyak buat hal.' Zohriah berfikir. Dan begitu juga fikiran para guru yang pernah mengajar pelajar tahun 4. Hampir semua menganggap ulah ini berpunca daripada pelajar tahun 4.

Namun pagi itu persepsinya berubah. Ketika mengajar matematik di dalam kelas 1 Uthman, sebiji bateri yang diletakkan di atas meja anak muridnya menarik perhatiannya.

"Sakinah, kenapa bawak bateri ni? Awak nak pasang kat jam kelas ke? Tapi bateri ni besar sangat, tak muat untuk jam tu."

"Taklah cikgu. Saya beli daripada Lan. RM1 jer."

"Beli? Azlan jual?"

Sakinah mengangguk.

"Kenapa Lan jual bateri ni? Dahlah bateri lama. Entah boleh guna lagi ke tidak ni. Jual pada kawan-kawan pulak." Suaranya makin mininggi. Beremosi.

'Aku tak sangka Azlan yang sebenarnya buat hal. Anak murid kelas aku pulak tu! Apa aku nak jawab dengan pengetua nanti?' Zohriah mula berfikir macam-macam.

Azlan hanya mendiamkan diri. Dia amat takut kerana cikgunya sedang marah. Dia merasakan dia telah melakukan kesalahan yang amat besar.

"Kenapa diam? Lan jual kat siapa lagi bateri ni?" Tanyanya lagi. Masih dengan emosi. Suaranya makin meninggi. Kelas menjadi sepi. Semua murid terhenti daripada pekerjaan masing-masing. Semua mata tertumpu kepada 'drama' yang baru sahaja bermula di hadapan kelas itu. Masing-masing tertanya-tanya.

"Siapa lagi yang ada beli bateri daripada Azlan?" Zohriah bertanya kepada pelajar-pelajar yang lain.

Lima orang pelajar mengangkat tangan. Firasat Zohriah semakin kuat mengatakan yang memang Azlanlah dalangnya. Matanya kembali menatap tajam wajah Azlan yang masih tertunduk.

"Apa lagi yang Lan jual?"

"Dia ada jual bateri lain cikgu. Dia kata bateri tu bateri mahal, dia jual RM5. Boleh caj dia kata." Sampuk Sakinah.

Semakin tersirap darahnya. Anak murid di hadapannya ini membuatkannya sangat tidak keruan. Tanpa berfikir panjang, dia memulas telinga Azlan sekuat-kuat hatinya.

"Kamu ni dah melampau. Jual bateri buruk pada kawan-kawan. Paksa mereka beli. Menyusahkan cikgu je. Cikgu akan beritahu mak bapak kamu!" Kecamnya.

Zohriah lalu bergerak ke meja Azlan. Dia mengasingkan meja Azlan daripada rakan-rakannya. Azlan dibiarkan berseorang dalam lajurnya tanpa teman sebelah.

“Kamu semua jangan tegur Azlan. Biar dia seorang-seorang macam ni. Jangan ubah balik meja ni sampai cikgu beritahu. Ini denda bagi orang yang nakal.” Zohriah memberi arahan kepada anak-anak muridnya.

Murid-murid lain terpinga-pinga.

‘Nakal? Apa yang Azlan dah buat?’ Fikir mereka.

“Azlan, kamu duduk sini!” Arah Zohriah. Separuh menjerit. Emosinya sudah tidak terkawal lagi.

Azlan lalu begerak ke mejanya yang telah diasingkan. Dia dipulaukan. Anak kecil itu hanya terdiam seribu bahasa. Sebaik sahaja Azlan duduk, Zohriah mengambil buku-bukunya di atas meja dan melangkah keluar.

*****

“Eh, Zoh, termenung apanya kau ni?”

Suara Salwa mengembalikannya ke alam nyata.

“Takde la. Kau ingat kes buli yang pengetua cakap masa meeting hari tu?”

“Ingat. Kenapa?”

“Aku rasa anak murid aku yang buat. Habislah aku. Apa aku nak jawab dengan pengetua nanti.”

“Apa yang kau cakap ni Zoh? Kes tu kan dah selesai. Memang kerja budak-budak darjah 4. Kumar and The Gang. Apa kena mengena dengan anak murid kau pulak?”

Zohriah terkejut bukan kepalang.

“Hah, betul ke apa yang kau cakap ni? Tadi aku baru dapat tau, Azlan tu paksa kawan-kawan beli bateri terpakai dia. Aku ingat dialah dalang semua ni.”

“Azlan? Budak yang Happy-Go-Lucky tu? Dia jual bateri? Kau biar betul Zoh?”

“Betul la. Aku dah tanya dia tadi. Memang muka bersalah habis. Aku pun terus denda dia kat situ juga.”

Zohriah menceritakan apa yang dilakukannya satu-persatu kepada Salwa.

“Aku rasa baik kau check betul-betul Zoh. Kau pun tahu, Lan tu budak baik. Takkanlah dia paksa kawan-kawan dia. Aku rasa ada salah faham ni.”

Zohriah hanya terdiam.

Di kelas 1 Uthman...

Sebaik sahaja Zohriah keluar dari kelas, Azlan dikerumuni oleh rakan-rakannya.

“Apa kau dah buat ni. Kau ni tak habis-habis buat hal. Kau ni memang budak nakal  Aku taknak kawan dengan kau lagi!” Ramli bersuara.

“Bagi balik duit aku. Ambil bateri buruk kau ni. Taknak aku bersubahat.” Jamil meminta kembali wangnya.

“Wek..wek...budak jahat...” Kamil turut mengambil peluang mengutuk.

Azlan tidak berkata apa-apa sebaliknya menekupkan wajahnya ke meja. Dia tidak mampu menahan sedihnya lagi. Air matanya berhamburan. Menangis tidak berlagu. Sedih kerana dimarahi cikgunya belum reda, ditambah dengan kutukan daripada kawan-kawan sekelas. Padahal mereka sebenarnya tidak tahu apa yang berlaku, cuma terikut-ikutkan tindakan guru mereka. Anak-anak tahun 1, apalah yang difahami mereka.

‘Kenapa Cikgu Zohriah marah aku? Salah ke jual bateri? Aku bukannya paksa diorang beli pun. Aku jual baik-baik. Sampai hati diorang buat macam ni kat aku. Abah...’ Azlan menangis di dalam hatinya. Teringat akan abahnya yang disayangi.

Tidak lama kemudian loceng berbunyi tanda waktu rehat bermula. Semua pelajar pergi ke kantin untuk makan. Azlan masih kekal di mejanya. Tidak terfikir langsung untuk makan. Dia merasakan dunia amat sempit baginya. Perasaan gembiranya yang dilaluinya setelah mengumpulkan hampir sepuluh ringgit sebagai duit poket tambahan sejak Isnin kelmarin tiba-tiba bertukar menjadi sesuatu yang amat menyedihkan di pagi Khamis itu. Pelbagai kekhuatiran bermain di mindanya.

‘Macam mana kalau Cikgu Zoriah beritahu Mak? Mesti aku kena marah teruk teruk. Mak pun mesti lagi sedih sebab aku buat hal. Apa aku nak buat ni?’ Azlan terus berfikir dalam kesedihannya.

Di bilik guru...

Zohriah termenung di mejanya. Dia masih memikirkan tentang Azlan dan kes buli yang berlaku.

‘Kalau betul bukan Azlan yang buat semua ni, kenapa pula Azlan nak jual bateri di sekolah? Dia tak cukup duit? Baik aku telefon maknya terus. Selesai masalah.’

Lalu dicapainya telefon bimbit di dalam beg tangannya sambil tangan kanannya membuka senarai daftar pelajar kelasnya. Setelah mendapatkan nombor telefon rumah Azlan, dia segera mendail.

“Assalamu’alaikum, boleh saya cakap dengan penjaga Azlan bin Baharuddin? Saya guru kelasnya, Cikgu Zohriah.”

“Wa’alaikumussalam, ya, saya ibunya. Kenapa cikgu? Ada apa dengan Azlan?” Suara ibu Azlan agak cemas, merisaukan apa-apa terjadi kepada anaknya.

“Tenang puan, saya cuma ingin bertanya sesuatu. Berkenaan Azlan.”

“Kenapa dengan anak saya cikgu?”

“Baru-baru ni Azlan jual bateri terpakai di sekolah. Puan tahu apa-apa? Selama ini dia tak pernah buat hal-hal macam ni.”

“Maafkan saya cikgu. Saya rasa dia buat macam tu sebab dia taknak susahkan saya. Saya tak dapat nak beri duit belanja lagi untuk minggu ini. Ayah Azlan baru je meninggal Jumaat lepas. Kemalangan. Rasanya Azlan cuba cari duit belanja sendiri. Dia memang jenis yang berdikari. Maaflah jika tindakannya menyusahkan cikgu. Er, Azlan tak beritahu cikgu tentang ayahnya?”

Jantung Zohriah hampir berhenti berdetak. Perasaan berdosa menjalar ke seluruh jiwanya.

‘Ya-Allah...apa yang aku dah buat?’

“Er, hello, cikgu ada kat situ?” Suara ibu Azlan menyedarkannya.

“Hello, ada. Maaf. Ada gangguan sedikit tadi. Baiklah puan. Tiada apa-apa. Saya cuma nak tanya itu je. Maaf mengganggu. Assalamu’alaikmum.”

“Wa’alaikumussalam.”

Zohriah tersandar di kerusinya. Rasa bersalah yang amat. Dia telah menzalimi seorang anak yatim yang cuba berdikari. Usahanya sepatunya dihargai, tetapi dia telah menghancurkan harapan anak kecil itu. Tanpa disedari air matanya mengalir.

“Hah, ni apasal menangis pulak ni?” Cikgu Salim bertanya. Seperti biasa, acuh tak acuh.

“Eh, takdelah. Mata masuk habuk.” Zohriah mengesat airmatanya.

Dengan segera dia bangkit daripada mejanya dan meluru keluar daripada bilik guru. Langkahnya laju. Kelas 1 Uthman menjadi destinasi. Dalam langkahannya terdengar bunyi loceng tanda masa persekolahan sudah tamat.

‘Janganlah Azlan balik dulu. Aku mesti jumpa dia,' bisik hatinya. Dia amat berharap Azlan masih belum pulang.

Sesampainya di kelas, kelihatan Azlan sudah menggalas begnya, bersedia untuk pulang. Dengan segera Zohriah memeluk Azlan sepenuh hati.

“Maafkan cikgu...Cikgu yang salah..” Ucapnya dalam linangan air mata.

Pengajaran yang amat bermakna buat dirinya di hari tu. Pepatah Melayu itu terngiang-ngiang di telinganya:

"Mendengar guruh di langit, air tempayan dicurahkan"

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