Three Tips for Becoming a Servant Leader You and I both know that we’re not supposed to boss people around anymore, that we’re supposed to be servant leaders. Well, a client asked me, “What the heck is servant leadership?” When you’re a traditional manager, you might have thought of accumulating people and power. If you […]
Johanna’s 2013 New Year’s Tips Every year, I provide you three New Year’s tips, to start your year off right. Here are my three tips for 2013: Tip #1: Experiment. I’ve noticed that many of my clients and colleagues are looking for “best practices.” Well, how about “pretty good” practices or “practices that might work
Take Advantage of Opportunities for Speed Coaching Do people ever come to you for advice? I bet they do. Are you ever puzzled about whether to answer them or coach them? Maybe you’re not sure how to coach them quickly. Sometimes you might think, “I can provide an answer faster than I can prompt an
Lead Your Agile Transition Through Influence I bet you’re transitioning to agile or something like it. How’s it going for you? If you are anything like many of my clients, the answer is, “meh.” Kelly, a colleague had trouble with her stories. “Everything takes us forever. We can’t get anything done in two weeks. Everything
Small Steps, Frequent Deliverables Work My beta reviewers just completed their beta comments for Manage Your Job Search. I’m quite excited! Now, I have to integrate their comments into the text. This is a big part of my book project. I need to review every person’s comments, and integrate the comments, one at a time,
Vol 10 #8: When is It Time for a Change? ISSN: 2164-1196 Sept 13, 2013 When Is It Time for a Change? How do you know it’s time for you to make a change? Is your project swimming along–or is it swimming in circles? Is your career humming along? Or is it in low gear?
Creating Change That Lasts Do you want to make a change that lasts, a change that sustains itself over time? Maybe a change such as transitioning to agile? Some of you have made agile work for one team, and are wondering how to make it work for larger programs. Some of you might want to
How Do You Change? I’ve been working with people who want to transition to agile. They read about it. They hear stories about. They realize the benefits if it. But they haven’t yet done the hard work of actually transitioning. When I arrive on site, ask a few questions, meet with their management team, inevitably
Three Tips for Artisanal Change Have you ever tasted a superb strawberry just off a family farm? Or a micro brew beer from a small brewery or a chocolate from superior chocolatier? If you have, you can remember the mouth feel, the explosion of taste in your mouth, the way it felt sliding down your
Knowing When an Agile Project is Done I meet a number of new-to-agile folks who worry that an agile project might never be done. They use air quotes around the word “project” when they refer to agile projects. Just beause you use iterations or kanban for an agile project doesn’t mean it doesn’t have release