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Moving from subjective to objective discussions
I often work with product teams who have conversations—sometimes very difficult ones with stakeholders—that are full of unstated assumptions, subjectivity, and a lot of unsubstantiated “I think…” comments. For a startup with few people the conversations aren’t often difficult, but poor subjective judgements can sink the company. For larger organisations with a product team and … Continue reading
Featured Posts
I’ve previously said—frequently—that moving away from black and white, or binary, thinking is generally a very positive thing. I previously gave examples of this in predicting the future, subversion, elections, happiness and more. However, I have to admit that sometimes it is useful to drop things into clear categories. I might say things like, “That’s … Continue reading
I’ve updated my Google Sheets burn-up template once again. Here are the changes: There’s a handy new shortcut key for the most common action: adding a new line to record a change in a user story. This is Shift + Ctrl + Alt + 1 on PC and Shift + Option + Cmd + 1 … Continue reading
When I find people in my team who are particularly strong in some area of work I get itchy. Of course it’s great that they have those skills—whether it’s with a particular technology, a strength in technical design, domain expertise—but then the gap with others becomes more apparent. I want other team members to have … Continue reading
Welcome
Hi. I'm Nik Silver. I've been leading software teams for years. My specialism is helping organisations work effectively with their technical teams, to deliver business value frequently and consistently. Take a look at my experience.
If you want to talk about turning talented people into brilliant teams then get in touch. I'm nik@niksilver.com on e-mail, and I'm @pigsaw on Twitter.
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- NYC tenants successfully argue for right to a physical key over a smart lock - The Verge"Following the installation of the Latch-branded smart lock last September, five tenants sued their landlord, arguing that the use of the smart lock and its accompanying app raised serious privacy concerns."
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- BBC - Capital - Why appraisals are pointless for most people"By all available evidence, formal attempts to rate employees don’t seem to meaningfully improve employee performance or give companies any sort of competitive advantage, says Elaine Pulakos, a management expert and CEO of PDRI, a management consulting company based in Arlington, Virginia."
- Welcome to the updated Service Standard - Government Digital Service"Since we first talked about updating the Service Standard, we’ve run workshops up and down the country and been through a number of drafts. All of this has helped us get to what we’ve just published: the updated Service Standard. You can download a poster of the updated Service Standard here."
