This week I was writing a business case, and for a moment caught myself wondering why I was spending so much time fiddling around with the paragraph spacing. But very … Continue reading The value of presentational details
Category: General management
Ask the people impacted
Fairly early in my career I needed to make a change in my team—I needed to make a couple of people line managers, because the number of direct reports I … Continue reading Ask the people impacted
Keeping ideas open
Most people I know want to improve things, and many have ideas about how to do that. In presenting these ideas it’s easy to become possessive of them, however, and … Continue reading Keeping ideas open
Choosing between people and technology skills
Great people can compensate for poor technology, but great technology can’t fix poor people. Great people can work round, improve and replace poor technology. Great technology just sits there being … Continue reading Choosing between people and technology skills
Taking a stand
As Russia attacked Ukraine a few days ago, and generally horrified the world, I encountered some discussion about the extent and value of sanctions. The discussion was about the rights … Continue reading Taking a stand
“Almost done” doesn’t count
Quite a while ago I changed my approach slightly to facilitating a team’s daily stand-up meeting. Instead of going through the items on the board from left to right, I … Continue reading “Almost done” doesn’t count
Process can be liberating
Process is often thought of being a necessary evil—HR needs us to do it like this, the PMO insists we report progress in that template, and so on. It’s often … Continue reading Process can be liberating
We don’t always want to hire stars
A long time ago I wrote about the recruiting jigsaw puzzle—that is, the need to hire people who fit in with others in the team. We want people’s skills and … Continue reading We don’t always want to hire stars
Lasting change needs personal motivation
A few weeks ago I wrote about the cost of change in an organisation, and said that “it’s important to win support for the change with those that matter”. And … Continue reading Lasting change needs personal motivation
There’s no “best” way to present information
Thinking about other people’s point of view is an incredibly useful skill. User research takes this a bit further, because it requires (shock!) actually speaking to other people. But even … Continue reading There’s no “best” way to present information
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