What Are You “Natural” At?
A friend attempted to offer me a compliment the other day. She didn’t mean to. She said, “You’re a natural writer. It comes so easy to you.” I said, “Thank…
Read moreHow Do You Build Grit?
Perseverance, the idea of grit, fascinates me. Every time I finish a (damn*) book, I experience relief and happiness. Relief that it is finally over—that’s the “damn” part. Happiness because…
Read moreWhen Do You Choose Yourself?
Universities choose high school seniors in a crazy game of selection. Publishers choose a select few books to publish. I’m shepherding chosen experience reports for the big agile conference in…
Read moreDo You Have Rules for Reading?
A comment on When Do You Make Time to Think? got me thinking about books. I am a big, big reader. On vacation, I can easily read two, sometimes three…
Read moreHow Do We Recognize When We Box Ourselves In?
I’ve been talking with people in various mediums about how their agile approach is working. All these people have similar problems: they are trying to use a specific agile approach.…
Read moreHow Can You Become Better than You Fear, as Good as You Hope?
I like to be great at everything I do: my client work, my writing, my relationships. You name it, I want to be great at it. When I have the autonomy…
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 moreWhat Is Your Sustainable Pace?
Back in the ’90s, people started to talk about “sustainable pace.” We work to the best of our abilities during the day. We’re done and pleasantly tired at the end…
Read moreHow Do You Maintain Your Emotional Balance?
I’m in Paris at a conference this week. I was a keynote speaker, which is lovely for my ego. One of the participants asked me how long I’d been a…
Read moreWhich Number Career Are You On?
I had lunch with a colleague today. We spoke about his freshman-in-high-school age (14?) child who was studying Computer Science. The student is actually solving problems with code (Python) and…
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