I’m proud of all my teams – good people doing great things. But I’m particularly proud of my current team because it was the hardest to form, being split between London and Berlin. I formed this team by turning up. A simple message although quite painful for myself and my family. Actually that pain is part of the reason my approach works. Leaders turn up and the team appreciates that.
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Tag Archives: management
PDCA – Plan Do Reflect Improve. Um, sorry, I mean Check Act
I’m a huge fan of the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle. It was originally intended for process improvement within manufacturing but I now see it everywhere. But, being an Agile kind of guy I wish Deming had put “Reflect” and “Improve” into the name.
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Five Reasons Why Decision Makers Don’t
I’m rather impatient with people who can’t or won’t make decisions. Here are five reasons for failing to make decisions. This is not an exhaustive list – there are more.
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Contracts do not fix incompetence
“Contracts are the least powerful in getting people to do something. A contract does not fix incompetence.” Not my words, they come from Rajesh Mathur, but I completely agree.
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Focus – “If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one”
Whether a Russian hunter or a software/project/programme team the proverb “If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one” offers useful advice.
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Shaping a team – Get good people and put them in the right role
“When will Stu stop playing with code?” The question was about Stu Fieldhouse, a Technical Project Manager working on my programme. My answer was “Never”. I had brought Stu in exactly because he plays with code. Or, more constructively, he fixes problems and lets us move on. Fast.
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Unfortunately Corporations Equate Weight of Paper with Safety
I believe in barely sufficient documentation but Corporations equate paper weight with safety.
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How to describe your Big Idea in a succinct and compelling way
Having identified “Three-Market-Forces” that highlight an opportunity, you can use the “Big Idea” format to articulate your new product development concept.
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Too Busy to Innovate
I hear this a lot.
“We want to be smarter and more innovative, give the Dev team something to stir up their creative juices. Impossible though, we’re all too busy”.
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Are you leading or just going for a walk?
If you fancy yourself as a leader, have a glance behind you … is anybody following? Are you leading or just going for a walk?
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