Over the years this blog has evolved, as my job has changed. From software delivery manager, consulting architect, to enterprise business architect. It has often been about management and leadership because those topics have been at the front of my immediate list of problems in delivering software. Today I read this thoughtful post… by Henry…
Leadership
Jedi Talking – Five Questions Reveal Approaches to Influence
Sometimes in life and work, we become convinced of a need to change before most of those around us. Either we read the tea leaves, or we see the bigger picture, or some how we just were able to jump through the problem straight to a potential solution. Maybe we have worked through all the…
Five Lessons Learned From Consulting Engagements
In a recent post about consulting engagements, I talked about some of the challenges with consulting organizations and their standard practices. I thought maybe some might benefit from some insight. These are some specific suggestions for handling these kinds of challenges. 1) Consulting firms have “relationship” managers or “engagement” managers – these are people whose…
System Replacement Assumptions
I am in the middle of my umpteenth system replacement project. There are some universal assumptions that are endemic to the user community in every system replacement project. They are born of hope and frustration. They are almost universal. 1) The new system will do everything the old one does, only better. 2) The new…
Decision Let-down
Leadership must recognize that momentum is lost when decisions are anti-climactic. As a leader, it is tempting to focus on the decisions as your primary responsibility – but that is only half of the problem. When decisions are not incisive, are not positive, result in no obvious actions or next steps – our responsibility is…
The Way Forward
Consider this post by Seth Godin… He spends a lot of time describing the negative, which is incredibly helpful when diagnosing our current situation. But he concludes with the game changer – what happens when you do the opposite of all the bad things… Sometimes it is so easy to see “What’s wrong” with the…
Team Behaviors
In my recent post on Optimum Iteration Length, I finished by saying that iteration size is not the cure for bad team behaviors, but shorter iteration size makes those behaviors more apparent. This post is about how to counteract ineffective team behaviors, from my own experience: There are three general diseases that have lots of…
Performance Management
Its compensation season in many companies. Performance evaluations are either complete or in process, managers are deciding who will get more and who will get less. It can be a sore point for some employees, especially if their evaluation comes as a surprise. Its worse, when the employee does not have a way to fix…
Speed and Friction
In a recent news story, Paul Walker, famously of the “Fast and Furious” movie series died in a car crash when he and a friend wrapped a Porsche GT3 around a tree. According to reports, they were going too fast for the condition of the car when they lost traction and spun off the roadway.…
Decision Rights
Spinning. Wheels are spinning. We go around in circles. Progress is illusory. Just when we think we are “getting somewhere”, we realize we are right back where we started. Its frustrating. I bet you’ve been there. I bet you’ve experienced this feeling in many different ways. I have heard it called many things: “Paralysis by…