We often think of friction as bad. Friction prevents us from doing something we might want to accomplish. On my other blog, I write about frictionless releasing. We often want to avoid friction at work. The less friction we have, the easier it is for us to work together and release products. And, sometimes, friction […]
Where Do You Want Friction in Your Life? Read More »
I’ve been working on my 2020 strategy and tactics. I think further out, but I don’t plan for more than one year at a time. And, I break that down into quarterly and monthly planning. Because things happen. (For more details, see How Often Do You Reflect?) My yearly plan is a set of options.
When Can You Optimize For Resilience Over Anything Else? Read More »
Everyone has a relationship with money. We need money to buy things, such as food, clothing, and shelter. We want enough money so we can be happy. And, our relationships with money often dictate the decisions we make. In my recent question, When Do You Choose Yourself? I wrote about some of the decisions we
How Do You Feel About Money? Read More »
When faced with a possible change, we often want to see data that shows our transition is a good idea. Sometimes that data exists and sometimes it doesn’t. What data can you discover to see if the change is a good idea? How can we get feedback early to see if the change is useful?
Can Short Feedback Loops Offer Data? Read More »
I‘m writing this on International Women’s Day. I’ve received recognition and thanks from lovely people. I have thanked them. And yet, I have very mixed feelings about recognition based solely on gender. I’ve had a career full of ups and downs, and yes, I’ve felt gender-based discrimination and harassment. I’ve fought for pay parity. I’ve
How Do You Feel About Gender-Based Recognition? Read More »
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 the project environment, the faster the team can proceed. If you’re a software person, you know that the time you invest in build automation and
Can You Trade Off for Ease? Read More »
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, you name them. People often tell me how they feel about their work. Some of the professionals hate their work. So do some of the
How Much Grunt Work Do You Have? Read More »
Back in the comments for What’s the Difference Between Problem Whining and Problem Solving?, I mentioned we sometimes feel as if we have no choices, no good options. We need to release our preferred option from consideration—at least for now, but probably forever. I find that releasing an option quite difficult, especially if I’m attached
How Can You Generate Options When You Feel Stuck? Read More »
I see problems—often system problems—everywhere. It’s partly that I trained myself to see problems. Sometimes, I trip over them. (Literally. Ouch.) I like to solve problems, too. That’s what consultants do. Most often, we get paid to solve problems. At times, I like to offer these services for free. I might be inflicting help or
What’s the Difference Between Problem Whining and Problem Solving? Read More »
I was in Prague last week (Agile Prague and a client). One of the nice folks at the client explained that beer in Prague Is inexpensive. For years, in The Czech Republic, the beer is less expensive than water or a soft drink. (There is now a law that says the bars and restaurants have
What’s Your (Beer) Emergency? Read More »