In a single day, recently, I came across two things independently, but in which I saw a useful link. The first was a quote from management legend Peter Drucker: We … Continue reading It helps to know what not to do
Personal understanding is essential in the workplace
I was pleased to read an article this week in HBR entitled “What your coworkers need right now is compassion”. It began by suggesting now, at a time of a … Continue reading Personal understanding is essential in the workplace
Simplifying estimation
Many years ago I worked with a team that seemed to be delivering software only very slowly. There were multiple causes, as is usual in these situations, and part of … Continue reading Simplifying estimation
Taking responsibility amid uncertainty
[I held onto a draft of this post for some time, as I felt it was never the right time to publish it. But today, although the details seem to … Continue reading Taking responsibility amid uncertainty
For real innovation, take your second best idea
Recently I was speaking to a friend about choosing business ideas for innovation. He described an exercise in which three teams in the same organisation were tasked with brainstorming and … Continue reading For real innovation, take your second best idea
“Definition of enough” for discovery work
In many development teams I work with there is a “definition of done”. This a checklist (explicit or implicit) of things that need to have happened before we can say … Continue reading “Definition of enough” for discovery work
Testing intangible character traits
A short time ago I was helping a CEO recruit a CTO for his company. One important requirement was that the two of them should have a relatively easy working … Continue reading Testing intangible character traits
Not all opportunities follow from the numbers
Regular readers will know that I’m a big fan of measuring things and I talk a lot about making goals measurable. But I hope that doesn’t mean I’m a slave … Continue reading Not all opportunities follow from the numbers
A clearly-stated bias for action
In the course of some conversation, a friend pointed me to a page by Amazon explaining their internal cultural principles. While I have some dislike of Amazon as a whole … Continue reading A clearly-stated bias for action
There’s value in a measure without measuring
I’m a big fan of having goals that are measurable. That’s usually in what I call a value statement, and it doesn’t just have to be done with numbers, either, … Continue reading There’s value in a measure without measuring
