Years ago (too many) I had a professor that would end every lecture with… Questions? Comments? Criticisms? Every lecture. The class was not over until this was said. I have found myself saying it now when at a project or working with a customer. Questions – Did I skip over anything? Need anything else explained? Comments – Could I be doing something better? Criticisms – What am I messing up that I need to get…
If you are doing it right, you know what the Hidden Feature is. It’s the thing that makes your client fall off their chair. When they talk about it, their voice goes up an octave and they start waving their hands around in the air. It keeps them up at night as they worry about it. It’s their baby of the project and they know, deep down they know, that if it comes to light,…
The problem with every pilot is always the date. Always has been, always will be, primarily because when we agree on a pilot we are doing it off of what we know at a certain point in time before the pilot begins. We think we know what we are going to build and be able to get done. By that date. As you approach the pilot, you realize you might not get there – either…
App. Game. Project. Team Member. Opportunity. Book. There is always a “NEXT” something, and if you want it to succeed, you better make sure you are prepared to do the work that goes into that NEXT thing. Because if you’re not, it won’t be the NEXT thing, but just a thing you put some energy into that didn’t go anywhere.
Having a pile of work, coupled with a fully booked calendar is enough to make you start hyperventilating. After all, you have deliverables that need to be done, and discussions that need to be had. The two are not mutually exclusive, both need to get done. The tendency is push one of the two off. “I need to work, these meetings can wait a week” And then those meetings turn into more work, fires, and…