Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant
Expert in Managing Product Development
I wrote a number of posts and newsletters over the past few weeks to help you see alternatives in this age of uncertainty. I hope you use these ideas to generate other ideas or ask more questions and create more experiments. The posts on this blog: 7 Tool Tips for Your Newly Distributed or Remote …
Continue reading “Collection of My Rapidly Remote and Managing in Uncertainty Writing”
Many people talk about “going back to normal.” We aren’t going to return to normal. That old normal is gone, at least for a year, if not longer. (I suspect we will cycle between remote work and office work for the foreseeable future.) What we can do is discover a new normal. Discovery requires different …
Continue reading “We Won’t Return to Normal; We Will Discover Normal”
Everyone’s distributed/remote/dispersed in these days of COVID-19. Mark Kilby and I have had the pleasure of being guest on a couple of podcasts that released this week: We spoke with Shane Hastie at Agile 2019. Here is the podcast: Johanna Rothman & Mark Kilby on Their Book From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams. We …
Are you a manager accustomed to Management by Walking Around and Listening (MBWAL)? You can use MBWAL with collocated teams. MBWAL doesn’t work for distributed or dispersed teams. Remember, working remote is Not Business as Usual. (And won’t be for a while.) And, you might still have this question: “If no one’s in the office, …
Continue reading “Five Tips for Managers of Newly Dispersed Teams”
You probably went from the office to remote so fast, you’re still recovering from the whiplash of working from home. I found the biggest change when I started to work remotely was how meetings changed. I’ve learned these tips over the years. You might find them helpful. Tip 1: Start With Cameras On When we …
Many organizations heeded the COVID-19 warnings and sent people home to work as remote teams. The managers want to proceed as if the people can work from home and have “business as usual.” They’ve made these requests to their staff: Work at home, as if you were at the office. (Keep the same hours and …
Continue reading “This Is Not and Cannot Be “Business as Usual””
Vasco Duarte of Scrum Master Toolbox fame has invited Mark Kilby and me to a Q&A about thriving with remote work. See Remote Work Live. Vasco is recording the sessions. My session with Mark is on Monday, March 23, 2020, 10 am Eastern. (Yes, the page has time “translation.”) Please do join us. We’ll answer …
Continue reading “Get Your Questions in for a Live Q&A on Remote Work”
You’re “working” from home. The kids are home, and you’re supposed to lead their schooling. Your spouse is home. And, you’re not supposed to go anywhere. Yeah, COVID-19 reality stinks. You CANNOT work the same way you did before. Expecting people to “just” pick up where they left off? Nah. Unreasonable expectations. Here’s what you …
Continue reading “Three Tips for Managing Your Newly-Remote Day”
Yesterday, you worked in an office with everyone else. Today, you’re supposed to work from home—and so is the rest of your team. And not just for the next few days, but for the next few weeks. What tools do you need? My list of the most important tools: A good microphone and headset so …
Continue reading “7 Tool Tips for Your Newly Distributed or Remote Team”
If you’re like many of the teams I meet, you’ve sort of got a handle on things. You can release. Your product mostly works. And, then Something Happens. And, your team has trouble recovering. That’s brittleness in the system. You can build resilience as a team. In this post, I’ll summarize how your team can …