A while back I did some work for a company that prided itself on being a “process organization.” One of directors was particularly remarkable. He was receiving an average of 130 pages a month related to problems in the production systems. That was after...
I ran into some of my rules last week… you know…. rules like “I must always be able to think of a solution when someone asks me for help.” Obviously that’s not possible, but rules don’t work that way. Most of our rules were cemented...
Yesterday I came across an article by Stever Robbins on the HBS site that talks about handling strong emotions at work. Progress!I wrote a little piece for stickyminds a while ago, First Things First. My premise was (and is) that believing emotions have no place at...
I came across this post on Brian Marick’s blog: In his second post, Jonathan [Kohl] quotes James Bach: “… testers are critical thinkers — and critical thinkers are disruptive.” I don’t think that need always be true. One can be a...
I’ve talked to a bunch of people lately who tell me they are doing iterative development. When start asking questions, it sound more like they’re doing something between iterative development (as I think of it) and waterfall: All the requirements are done...
From Fast Company, Elizabeth Pagano offers a handful of reasons that managers avoid having conversations with employees about performance:”Eleven Things We Tell Ourselves to Avoid Giving Bad News.”I don’t think she can handle it. I’ll hurt his...
I came across Joyce Wycoff’s site this morning. She’s got a couple of riffs on phrases that shut down thinking. You’ve probably heard most of them… Yes, but….We tried it last year.It’s not in the budget.It won’t work.Management won’t buy...
Back in January, I posted a bit about management behavior that drives people out the door. Managers don’t have a lock on jerk behavior. Just look at this thread on Ask Joel. There’s a lot of energy there.I am particularly struck by a couple of people...
I recently heard two stories involving managers who hired friends. Both had bad endings.In one case, a senior manager, Becca, filled her staff with people she’d known for years and considered friends. Several of her friends floundered in the new jobs. Becca...
Phil Stubbington (a good guy), pithily describes Best Practices on the AYE Conference wiki:Best PracticeA completely fatuous concept based on two dangerous assumptions:- a) someone else knows what’s best for you b) you don’t have to think about your...
I’ve been thinking about something Charlie Seashore said when he was in town in December: People are more likely to hear feedback that isn’t about an area where they’ve already done a lot of thinking and formed an opinion.This seems true to me, and...
I ran into a friend the other day who I hadn’t seen for a while. Last time I talked to him, he’d just started a new job. That was about 4 months ago.”How’s it going?” I asked.”It would be great if it was just one job,” my...
From Jerry Weinberg on his SHAPE forum: Don Gause taught me the wonderful substitution algorithm:Whenever you see “should” in a requirement, change it to “probably won’t.” (Don Gause and Jerry are co-authors of Exploring Requirements:...
I recently witnessed a manager in a store upbraiding a salesperson for wearing an outfit that didn’t fit her definition of appropriate. It reminded me of the importance of basic management ettiquette.Management etiquette isn’t about using the right fork...
I came across this story on Roy Osherove’s blog (via Laurent Bossavit on the AYE Wiki).Roy describes his experience solving a technical problem that took longer than expected:After showing this to my team leader and getting a fairly lukewarm response I headed...
This excerpt from Art and Fear showed up on Chris Corrigan’s blog (via Kevin Kelly):”The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on...
One of the local NPR call-in shows featured an advocate for child protection reform this morning. I have some interest in the topic (another story) and I wanted to hear the discussion.I found myself feeling really put off by the guy, not because of the content of what...
…from Jerry Weinberg, in an interview posted on the Borland site:Clay Shannon: Would you recommend a career in programming to young people today?Jerry Weinberg: It depends on what the young person wants to do. I always give the same career recommendation:...
I came across this piece about having tough conversations with your boss at the Fast Company site.The article suggests you ask these three questions before you launch:Have I focused on reality?People often put off having difficult conversations (and not just with the...
Beverly Kaye of Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em fame has a post on Fast Company, Jerks at Work. It’s about bad bosses. Here’s an interesting stat quoted from “Monster Managers” in American Way: 42% of US workers reported incidents of yelling...
