Modern Management: What Value Do You Offer? Sherry, a VP, was worried. Cliff, a new director, insisted on keeping his “hands in” the code. Now, she realized Cliff focused more on the code than his director role. And he irritated the team because he no longer understood enough of the technical details. Sherry had offered […]
Do you or your managers want people to be happy at work? That’s a laudable goal. And, in my experience, unrealistic. That’s because happiness is an outcome of a person’s current life context. Instead of happiness, let’s consider satisfaction. When we consider satisfaction, we might discover ways to create a great work environment. That satisfaction might
I had the pleasure of being on the Agile Uprising Podcast: Modern Management Made Easy with Johanna Rothman. We had a wide-ranging discussion, including: What the manager’s job is (and is not). How servant leaders support people taking responsibility. Why, if people manage through the seven principles, we don’t need to use transparency and communication
What do you appreciate about your office culture? Maybe someone circulates get-well or congratulations cards. Someone might bring cookies to work or arrange birthday celebrations. I know of people who arrange retirement/transition lunches. All these actions are nice things. They even have a name: “niceties.” Nice people perform these services for the rest of the
You might have heard about the Basecamp culture changes last week. I’m sure you heard about Google’s culture problems several years ago. These problems are issues of culture: specifically what we can and cannot discuss. What do “makers”—technical people—in any industry need to discuss? Big product issues: Why we are working on this project at
Three Tips to Move from Certainty to Openness Dan, a senior manager, sees the end of the organization’s traditional business lines. He thinks they have a few good years with their current customers and products. However, he’s sure the company needs to find another way to meet their customers’ needs. And probably, acquire more and
Your team finished something difficult. They released it. You celebrated the team’s accomplishment with the team. Let’s assume your name is Jim. Now, you’re in a senior management meeting, where your boss says, “Thanks, Jim, for all that hard work.” You feel great from that recognition. And yes, you supported that team. You facilitated some
Are you wary of asking for help? You might feel weak. Or, you might worry your colleagues see you as weak or incompetent. You might not feel safe if you want to ask for help. However, very few of us know everything we need. Or can do everything we want to accomplish without asking for
I had a terrific time with Joe Krebs on his podcast. See Agile FM – Johanna Rothman. We spoke about a number of ideas from the Modern Management Made Easy books: How to recognize and avoid micromanagement What it might mean to engage people at work The kinds of workspaces we need Psychological safety One-on-ones
One of my clients wants to use shared services “teams” as they start their agile transformation. Their developers work on a product for months and years at a time. However, the testers and UI people are part of pools of people. The organization calls these testers and UI people, “shared services.” Shared service-thinking denies the