When Do You Make Time to Think?
Everyone is crazy-busy. Too many of us multitask, listening to a book or podcast when we walk or drive, focusing and pushing through on specific work, making the “most” of…
Read moreWhen is the Right Time?
In Massachusetts, we get our cars inspected every year, on the anniversary of the month of the car’s first inspection. I’m lucky enough to have to inspect my car in…
Read moreCan You Trade Off for Ease?
I was thinking of how I make tradeoffs. In many projects, people often think we need to optimize for time and against quality. It’s a fake tradeoff, because the cleaner…
Read moreHow Much Grunt Work Do You Have?
I’ve been traveling a ton in the past couple of months. That means I get to meet all kinds of people—professionals in my field, hospitality people in hotels, taxi drivers,…
Read moreAre You Fighting to Build Your Empathy Skills?
I was writing the geographically distributed agile teams book this morning with Mark Kilby. I said, “I have to fight for all my empathy skills. They might come naturally to…
Read moreWhat Are You Sentimental About?
My town is busy planning and discussing and planning and discussing (yes, continue for several more recursions) the plans for the new high school. We need a new high school…
Read moreWhat Does Independence Mean to You?
It’s July 4, here in the US, our Independence Day. We celebrate with parades, cookouts, and fireworks. Lots and lots of fireworks. I’m a fan of watching fireworks. And, I’m…
Read moreWhen Can Structure Enhance Your Creativity?
I like structuring my work. Some structures don’t box me in. I use timeboxes and a daily structure to organize my time. I have a default set of book and article…
Read moreWhen Do You Need a Tool?
I recently listened to a podcast about scaling agile. I was sort of okay with what they said until they said this: “You need a tool to do this thing right.”…
Read moreHow Do You Encourage Your Own Adaptability?
I see a push-pull situation at many of my clients. On the one hand, the managers want adaptability—the ability to respond to changes. And, on the other hand, the managers…
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