A colleague once needed some help with a work-related problem, and she spoke to a large number of people to see how they had tackled similar problems in the past. … Continue reading Advice doesn’t have to agree
Category: General management
The chisel stage and the sandpaper stage
Once upon a time I was speaking to a software developer who was explaining why he wasn’t taking the kind of care in his work that he would have liked … Continue reading The chisel stage and the sandpaper stage
Don’t confuse silhouettes with x-rays
The other day I was reading Patrick Lencioni enthusing about Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality tests. He gave examples of various situations where a clear description of someone’s biases and … Continue reading Don’t confuse silhouettes with x-rays
Goals that show success, but don’t define it
I was reading an article the other day about the dangers of making one-sided judgements about risk (tl;dr: always consider risk and reward together) and in the comments underneath someone … Continue reading Goals that show success, but don’t define it
The bell curve of project versus business
I’m due to have a conversation with someone about an ambitious startup-type idea they’re seeking to run within an established company. They have an idea—it might be a great one–and … Continue reading The bell curve of project versus business
Erring on the side of direction
Over the last 12 months I’ve been speaking to people about leadership. Sometimes this is with technical people who are progressing up a career ladder into managment roles; sometimes it … Continue reading Erring on the side of direction
Making your point… but not too much
One of my minor frustrations with political discussion is that it’s almost entirely word-based. Radio works well for political discussion; television is the same as radio, but you get to … Continue reading Making your point… but not too much
We are responsible for the world we want
No doubt you, like me, were horrified by the killing of George Floyd. And maybe also by the killing of Trayvon Martin. And also Stephen Lawrence, and many others I … Continue reading We are responsible for the world we want
The importance of a common language
A long time ago I co-authored an article with Mat Wall about the value we found from domain-driven design (DDD). That is a way of capturing in software the concepts … Continue reading The importance of a common language
The evolution of our organisations
I’ve been reading recently about the evolution of species, and it struck me how similar that process is to the evolution of our own organisations and their internal structures and … Continue reading The evolution of our organisations
