If you plan to add a feature or create a new product, there is one overall guideline that might make your efforts more useful. That is this: Know who this feature or product is for. What does that user want to do? How does your product support that user in solving their problem(s)? If you […]
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
It took me a couple of days reviewing these posts to realize I’d missed one of the biggest problems in organizations especially when it comes to human interactions: romance. When I was single, I did date people who were my peers in my organizations. I still see office-romance occur with a fair amount of frequency.
I’m (finally!) circling back around to Joe Berkowitz’s statement: There is no template for how to be a good man in the #MeToo era. I said that respect provided that template. (And, we can say “good people” instead of only men because abuse of power is not limited to men. See Power, Management, and Harassment: It’s
I started this series positing that respect is the cornerstone for how we might treat each other, to manage our interactions with success, especially in light of the #MeToo conversation. The series so far is: Organizations Are Not Families, Part 1. Why the metaphor of family-as-org demeans the people working there. Build Respect in Organizations,
I wrote about treating each other with respect in Organizations Are Not Families, Part 1. In these respect posts, I’ll address possible ways we can treat each other with respect. These are not the only ways. You might have better ideas than I do. Please do comment if you’ve seen alternatives that work better. I
I started this series positing that respect is the cornerstone for how we might treat each other, to manage our interactions with success, especially in light of the #MeToo conversation. The series so far is: Organizations Are Not Families, Part 1. Why the metaphor of family-as-org demeans the people working there. Build Respect in Organizations,
I read Joe Berkowitz’s story in Fast Company, John Oliver Was Right: It’s Time To Confront The Dustin Hoffmans In Your Life. There’s a link to a video excerpt in which Hoffman discusses the idea that the people felt like a family. Mr. Berkowitz says this: There is no template for how to be a good
I just read Zappos is struggling with Holacracy because humans aren’t designed to operate like software. I’m not surprised. That’s because we are humans who work with other human people. I want to talk with people when I want to talk with them, not when some protocol tells me I must. It’s the same problem when
I have another management myth up over at Stickyminds. This one is Management Myth #11: The Team Needs a Cheerleader! I once worked for a manager who ignored all the problems we had, who said, “Let’s go, gang, we can do it!” I thought I would die. I’m an optimistic person. But I don’t believe