I continue to see more senior leaders who want everyone to return to the office because they think people were more productive then. However, these same companies have a ton of data that they are actually more productive when people work from their desired location. The data doesn’t deter these leaders from wanting what they […]
How Many Other Ways Can You Get What You Want? Read More »
Fred, A sixty-ish colleague, said, “My son is so overloaded at work. But he refuses to work overtime. He says it compromises his ideals. Is overtime something Millenials don’t do?” I asked, “When do you think it’s okay to work overtime?” Fred said, “Whenever the company needs me to work overtime.” “How many days do
When and for How Long Do You Choose to Compromise? Read More »
I listened to Tim Harford’s podcast, La La Land: Galileo’s Warning (Classic). Galileo warned that adding more layers of risk management does not prevent bad outcomes—and might create them. Yet, I’ve said I respect risk management. Not all risk management is created equal. We can use additional steps, sequential occurrences, to manage risks. Layers are the concurrent practices we might
How Many Layers Do You Add to Manage Risks? Read More »
I recently gave a talk about how we can rethink our roadmaps and how to portray them. (See the Roadmap Personas deck if you want to see what I said.) One of the audience members asked what tool I recommended. I said I didn’t recommend any tool—not yet—because I’d offered alternative ways to create the
What Triggers You to Change Your Approach or Trusted Solution? Read More »
My husband, Mark, momentarily lost his keys this morning. Except, it wasn’t just a moment—it was about five minutes. He planned to load several items into the car, return to the house to kiss me goodbye, and then leave. Except, he was stuck on Step 1, loading items into the car. We have other car
When Do You Assist, Support, or Inflict Help? Read More »
I’ve participated in two panels in the past few weeks: one about agile approaches and the other about management. In each case, my fellow panelists echoed each other for several questions, thinking alike. I did not. Not only did I disagree with the other panelists—I explained my claims with data. I thought differently. And because
Great Minds: When Do We Gain from Thinking Alike or Differently? Read More »
Do you ever make the same mistake twice or realize that mistake somehow feels familiar? Many of us fall into patterns that allow us to recreate those mistakes—even when we don’t want to. However, we can learn from our history. When we do learn from our history, we can increase our chances of succeeding now.
How Can You Learn from Your History to Succeed Now? Read More »
You want to change something—maybe a personal change or an organizational change. You’ve seen the headlines: “proven ways to lose weight!” or, in my context, “proven agile transformation success!” These people claim they have the One Right Way to succeed at something. They probably have succeeded—maybe even several times. They can explain the journey, from
What’s Your Context for Your Success In Solving This Problem? Read More »
When you were a child, your parents made all the decisions for how you lived. I distinctly remember thinking it was “so unfair” that I had to go to bed and not read more. Yes, I was one of those kids who read under the covers with a flashlight. Even as adults, we live in
How Do We Balance the Power to Make Decisions with Who Feels the Outcomes? Read More »
The world feels more complex now, where the Big Issues of the Day create “interesting” times in our lives. Even planning for vacation often requires adaptability. We must be ready to toss those plans when the circumstances change. Some people tell me we need to “return” to simpler times. Or that we can use direct,
How Can We Embrace Complexity—and Stop Trying to Avoid It? Read More »