I like to take stock of what I did as a new year begins, and as part of it, I try to think back on examples I saw of tech teams making a difference. I’m not talking about the average we’ve gotten used to: delivering the roadmap. What I look for are cases where the […]
Take a minute and think back to one of the recent meetings you participated in. Anything with more than three attendees is likely to suffice. Was there a moment when one person described an idea and was promptly shot down? I see this happening in all sorts of meetings, from the tactical ones about software […]
It’s that time of year where many leaders across the globe are scrambling to kick off their “performance reviews” processes or whatever ritual the company has deemed correct. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t recommend to any of my clients that feedback should be a once-a-year sort of thing. Nevertheless, given that it is top […]
I like the word “myopia,” especially when analogically used to describe other issues. Being nearsighted and wearing glasses since seventh grade, I get it. I remember the first time I went out to the street with glasses and felt awestruck. I never knew that leaves were so beautiful or that you were supposed to be […]
Happy OKR season to you all. There comes a time when we hear about a methodology or process so much with any management trend, yet it seems like no one is clear on the right way to do it. If you’re going through the motions without grokking the reason behind them, you will likely get […]
Advice often heard is that one should refrain from making decisions until absolutely necessary. The logic behind it is that by keeping your options open, you will be able to make the “right” decision, as opposed to prematurely committing to a suboptimal choice. Sounds good, right? However, it’s often the wrong thing to do, especially […]
Leaders nowadays are suffering from a lot of FOMO and a constant urge to keep up with the Joneses, if you will. You see what others are doing and feel like you’re supposed to be doing the same or feel bad about not doing so. Inundated with Twitter threads, Medium posts, conference talks, or books […]
I don’t think I ever came across a manager or executive who claimed that micromanagement is a good thing in all my years in the industry. Everyone knows that the “right” thing is to let your people have autonomy. As a senior executive, you likely already know that you shouldn’t be too involved in day-to-day […]
For someone specializing in making R&D organizations accelerate delivery dramatically, there’s nothing easier than being called in when the team faces a clear obstacle. When you look, and you see that there’s an iceberg ahead, there’s not a lot of novelty required: you put all your might and attention to fix that glaring problem, and […]
Often, you notice these things while you’re doing something else and do a double-take. You’re glancing over emails trying to find a thread, and notice an update someone made. Maybe you saw a conversation in a Slack channel you rarely read. It can even be a sentence uttered in the hallway. But there’s no escaping […]