You might have heard the apocryphal story about a landscape architect and shortcuts. The architect doesn’t put sidewalks or trails in a large green space. Instead, he waits for a year as walk across the space. He then puts the sidewalks/trails where the people walk. I am not quite ancient-history-years-old. I have never seen this […]
When Does a Shortcut Make Sense? Read More »
I was on vacation last week, in Eilat Israel, a tourist destination. Because it’s a tourist town, you can see a lot of street art. On my walk this past Saturday (Shabbat) morning, I heard loud music with a great drumbeat. My first reaction was, “How loud! On Shabbat!” Then, I turned the corner and
When Are You Willing to Practice in Public? Read More »
I love to learn. When I learn, I reflect on what I know and refine how I can use my knowledge to change something. I love to learn about how people work—and don’t work together. I love to learn how to make things easier for people at work. I love to learn about all aspects
How Do You Create Your Learning Opportunities? Read More »
There’s a lot in my life I can control. I can control what I eat, and often when I eat it. I can control when I go to bed at night, even if I can’t control my occasional insomnia. I can control what I choose to do with my time: which projects to start and
How Much or Little Can You Control? Read More »
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 you for thinking so. That means I’m writing well. But I have worked for 20 years to become a ‘natural’ writer.” She meant well. But,
What Are You “Natural” At? Read More »
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 I finished. Read that word, finish, in neon-blinking capital letters with fireworks. That’s how it feels to me. Damn*: Finishing a book is a slog
How Do You Build Grit? Read More »
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 the summer where a program team chose a limited number of reports. Instead of “being chosen,” why not choose ourselves? Last week, I spoke with
When Do You Choose Yourself? Read More »
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 books a day. Not on vacation, I only read a couple of books a week. I skim much of the non-fiction, so maybe I actually
Do You Have Rules for Reading? Read More »
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. That approach isn’t working for them. They persist because otherwise, they’re not “agile.” They’re stuck on this one possible solution. They boxed themselves in. We
How Do We Recognize When We Box Ourselves In? Read More »
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 to learn and master the work, I can be as good or better than I hope. When I don’t have the ability to learn and
How Can You Become Better than You Fear, as Good as You Hope? Read More »