Blog

July 23, 2021

Greg Thomas

Breezing Through Your Next Presentation

If I’m doing a presentation, I try to line up the time blockage to account for what I think will be the discussion that ensues. Scratch that. I line up the time for the discussion I want to happen. The goal of a presentation isn’t to whip through it and have no questions, it’s to generate dialog and next steps. Sure I might ask for people to hold off questions until the end so they can hear everything that is being said. But that doesn’t mean we are stifling the conversation, it means there is a great deal to cover.

July 22, 2021

Greg Thomas

Huddles vs Meetings

At the first sound of a new meeting, there is a sigh (not of relief) but of dread. Another block of time in your day is taken up by a discussion of sorts that may or may not lead to something productive. Over the past year, we’ve been inundated with meetings that have given them the worst name than they already had before. At the first sound of a huddle, your immediate thought is – “What”s that? Is that the sports thing where they come up with a plan and do something?” That sounds cool? Yeah, let’s do a huddle.

July 21, 2021

Greg Thomas

Same, Same

I generally try not to go through the motions of doing things. When I stop caring, I know that’s when I should start moving on. If you’re getting the point of things starting to feel – “Same, Same” – check how much you care and whether you are dialing it in, or giving your best effort possible that shows you care.

July 20, 2021

Greg Thomas

Where are we Starting From?

If everyone is starting from different spots, then you are not starting together, you are starting apart. On a new project, getting the team onto the page is the hardest thing going. If you get it right, if everyone is on the same page, the delivery, the direction is clear as day. If you get it wrong, everyone goes off in their own direction and no amount of standups, scrums, meetings will bring them back. The team needs to know where they are starting from, always.

July 19, 2021

Greg Thomas

Software Built on Trust

I’ve written on this topic before in a few places (actually quite a few times based on a quick search of this site). But I decided to expand on it a bit for a recent LinkedIn article. If you’re building software, if you want to build great software, you need to start with trust. To take from the article…  Software Built on Trust starts with Development but it permeates it’s way through Product Management, Sales, Finance, everywhere the organization depends on that delivery. That’s what you can do when starting with the fundamentals of Software Built on Trust.