by Esther Derby | Dec 6, 2010 | Leadership & Management
Sometimes, when I hear people talking about “resources,” I ask if the speaker means people. When I do, the responses fall into three groups. Some people look a bit blank for a moment, as if coming out of a trance. They realize resources isn’t the...
by Esther Derby | Nov 2, 2010 | Leadership & Management, Organizational Change
I’ve seen lots of managers struggle to help teams. Often, they are driven by deadlines and goals set by their managers. They do what they think will help, acting out of their current view of how things work. Sometimes they look for new ideas on how to manage....
by Esther Derby | Oct 28, 2010 | Leadership & Management
In two recent posts, I offered cautionary tales for managers of self-organizing agile teams: Tale of a Yo-Yo Manager Tale of a Too Hands Off Manager. So what is it that managers should do to move from big boss to partnership? It’s actually quite a long list, so...
by Esther Derby | Aug 13, 2010 | Leadership & Management, Systems and Complexity
Questions matter. The questions we ask open one avenue of inquiry, but close others. If we want to change the way we manage, we need to change our questions. And so, here are my slides from my talk at Agile 2010: 14 Essential Questions aimed at refocusing...
by Esther Derby | Apr 24, 2010 | Leadership & Management, Musings
If you have ever said to yourself “It couldn’t be X, Y, or Z” when trying to find an exploration, you’ve put options beyond belief. And that hampers problem solving. Let me tell you a little story, a true story. The Facts Some time ago my...
