Gavin Barwell’s excellent book “Chief of Staff” is about his two years from 2017 in Theresa May’s government, and much of it is dominated by Brexit negotiations. In one chapter … Continue reading Let’s be thankful for hierarchy
There are many things to optimise for
There are a couple of practices I value greatly, and which many engineers struggle with, usually for the same reason. One practice is planning for value in small increments, which … Continue reading There are many things to optimise for
Sharing the stakeholders’ mindset
A few years back I was talking to a team leader about their delivery schedule. Some of her stakeholders were keen on a planning to have two milestones every quarter—that … Continue reading Sharing the stakeholders’ mindset
Incremental delivery takes practice
I was talking once to a company director about the problems he was having with his company’s digital projects. He said that although they tracked their projects carefully, disastrous problems … Continue reading Incremental delivery takes practice
Two sides of leadership
When you’re a leader, it’s fine to ask hard questions of your bosses. Maybe you even have fiery conversations with them. These are also fine in moderation (or at least … Continue reading Two sides of leadership
Unbiased questions for everyone
I was speaking once to a user researcher about her work. One of the things she mentioned was the importance of asking unbiased questions. When she said this she was … Continue reading Unbiased questions for everyone
Don’t let user testing promote ignorance
There was a time when user testing wasn’t particularly practised. There was a general view—sometimes not explicitly stated—that we could devise a product or interface within our offices, launch it, … Continue reading Don’t let user testing promote ignorance
Don’t just change what you know
I love brown bag lunches, when someone talks about an interesting subject while (traditionally) everyone else eats their lunch around a table (or on the other side of their video … Continue reading Don’t just change what you know
Not delivering creates distractions
Once upon a time I was with a number of colleagues and my then-boss, who had just come out of a meeting with the CEO. “He wants us to improve … Continue reading Not delivering creates distractions
Escaping black and white thinking—in pictures
The other day I was discussing with Tom Gilb my approach for breaking out of black and white thinking. I was saying that when presented with two undesirable options it’s … Continue reading Escaping black and white thinking—in pictures
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