How to Manage by “Walking Around” When You’re Remote If you’re like me, you learned a lot by walking around and listening when you were in the office. I saw and heard the state of the various teams. I could see in-progress work. I could see and hear how the team members treated each other. […]
Several weeks ago, I posted my innovation principles, based on Modern Management Made Easy, book 3. I developed them because I was discovering the user journey through the book. I needed a way to link the ideas together. Of course, I also created principles for managing yourself (Book 1) and for leading and serving others
All companies appear to be grappling with their approach to diversity and inclusion in the organization. Many have appointed Chief Diversity Officers. However, when you appoint a Chief Anything Officer, you decline responsibility for that thing yourself. I’ve seen this in Quality, Excellence, you name it. When you name a Chief <something> Officer, you no
Three Tips for Coping when Change Might Make You Nuts (Support Others) We’re still living in substantial uncertainty and chaos. We don’t know when we might be able to return to work. The kids are home from school for the foreseeable future. Where I live, in Massachusetts, all “non-essential” businesses are closed. (I did not
Three Tips for Coping when Change Might Make You Nuts (Start with Yourself) Given COVID-19, whatever we “knew” about our organizations or work is out the window now. I thought I might help with this three-part series about how you can manage in this time of crazy-making change. This three-part series is: How you can help
Do I advocate insubordination? Some of my Modern Management Made Easy technical reviewers wonder. And, when I looked at this definition of insubordination, I had to agree. However, when I read that definition, I don’t see any mutual problem-solving. I also don’t see any mutual purpose or respect. I don’t see how that form of
What should managers expect from their agile teams? Should they expect perfect code, or on-time delivery, or cheaper projects? Too many people sell agile as a way to get better, faster, cheaper. The problem is that you can get better code, faster projects, and cheaper results as an outcome of agile across the organization. We
You may think the #MeToo tag doesn’t have anything to do with product development. Not so fast. When people behave badly (more often it’s men than women, but it can be either), the people suffer. When the people suffer, the product suffers. It suffers in development and it suffers in release. The issue is this:
Two development managers were arguing: “I need Tom on my team,” Chase said. “He has the specific knowledge I need. We’re not going to be able to release unless we get Tom on my team.” Pierce retorted, “You can’t have him. He’s working really well with my team. He likes my team. Forget it.” They
Summary: Competition between teams does not improve performance. In fact, the added stress may shift team members’ focus from creating a quality product to self-preservation due to fear of failure. Johanna suggests managers emphasize collaboration between teams over competition. “Jonah and Sarah, this next round I want to initiate a little competition to see whose