I hear a lot of managers worry about how to motivate people. I don’t think you can motivate people… people create their own motivation. But you can de-motivate people and unfortunately, too many managers do. Here are some of the de-motivators I see:...
A while I go I pointed out the reasons *not* to have a retrospective. There are plenty of reasons *in favor* of having retrospectives (after every iteration): A well run retrospective enables the team to:step back and take a “whole system” view of their methods and...
I attended a short presentation on listening the other day. It was an interesting experience. In the first segment, the presenter demonstrated a listening technique. He listened to a guy talk for about 3 minutes, and then mirrored back what he’d said. He didn’t use...
A friend of mine is being wooed by a potential employer. She told the hiring manager she couldn’t start a new job for 3 months. He asked for reasons. For each reason she gave, he had an excellent and logical reason for the opposite position. The more reasons she gave,...
I had a conversation recently with a guy who was concerned about the level of “commitment” in his group. “It’s always the same people staying late,” he said. “The others just aren’t committed. We can’t accomplish everything we need to unless these other people step up...
In BCD, Johanna and I wrote a section “Setup for Successful Delegation.” We wanted to help managers think through the boundaries of a task they’re delegating and be clear—with themselves and the other person—about requirements, unacceptable solutions, progress...
On Friday I gave my talk, The Value-added Manager: 5 Pragmatic Practices at the SQUAD Conference in Denver. I had a great time. One of the practices I cover in my talk is making a to-do list and a not-to-do list and getting clear on priorities. A woman in the audience...
Retrospectives are a great way for teams to inspect and adapt their methods and teamwork after each iteration and release. And they’re a great way for teams to build on success, learn from hard times, or bring closure when a project ends. But they’re not for good for...
