December 1, 2021
The last thing anyone wants to hear at a meeting – someone is here solely to say we had the meeting. If this is the case, show them how to create a form, how to track that boxes are being checked and iterated over. Do anything and everything, so that this statement is not uttered in your meeting when you are trying to lead people to work through a problem and deliver. Your people need (and deserve) leadership, not checkboxes.
November 25, 2021
There is no point in having a plan if you’re not going to follow it. But there is also no point in avoiding making a plan, simply because you didn’t follow it in the past. Not having a plan is okay for you – “I’ll wing it and figure it out when I get there” – but definitely not good for your team and you as a leader. If it’s your first time planning, getting started is easy – ask your team what they need to see and start working through that list, inevitably you will add other pieces that
November 24, 2021
Aiming for a moving target is easy – we do it every day as we try to line up plans and delivery schedules to get to where we need to be. At some point, there become too many variables in play that you are no longer planning for delivery but instead trying to figure out how everything comes together. If you’re finding yourself overwhelmed by the variables and not the output, focus on removing variables to stop the constant moving around and provide you bigger focus. Aiming is like putting a plan in motion, it’s easy to aim and say
November 22, 2021
I did a presentation a little while ago that was a deep dive analysis on the probability of delivery of across a variety of factors. It looked pretty good on paper but then we got to the last page with all the caveats. Numbers are good, but caveats drive it home. Caveats are everything that needs to be in place for you to be a success, for you to align your team, for you to make things happen, and actually give this plan a shot at success. Caveats are the baseline for your success and if you don’t know what
November 14, 2021
You start with Notepad. But you get better. You move onto Excel/Sheets. And you keep getting better. And then you bring in Trello. In doing this you don’t stop figuring out a better path. And then you move on to Azure DevOps or JIRA. You use the tool that makes the most sense, for the team you have, for the project you are trying to deliver. If you need JIRA and are using Notepad, you’re going to have a problem. Find the tool you need that helps your job, and doesn’t hinder it.
