“Why are we doing that?” It sounds like a simple question. It often has a very complex answer. Getting to the essence of why is important for project success, but how we usually think about projects often gets in the way. Reframing the questions to get the answers that we need.
Process Can’t Compensate For Culture
Process is appealing. It provides structure and guidance and rules and boundaries. The challenge is that organizations are messy and complex. Projects are difficult. They require work and adaptation. You can’t just take process from one place, apply it to another, and expect it to work properly. You need to do something else.
Best Practices Usually Aren’t
There are few terms that have the same unbridled acceptance in business as “best practices.” Except that, for many organizations, best practices fail to deliver on the theoretical promise implied by the term. Best implies one superior way of working, where in reality there are many practices dependent upon many different things.
Next Webinar: Making Learning Stick
We live in the Information age, and while it’s great to have Google, Siri and Cortana at our beck and call – there’s also a pressing need for we as people to know stuff, to learn new things, and to be able to do so as effectively as possible. In a world that changes daily, […]
On Working Out Loud
Working out loud is not something we normally think of doing. In fact, we’re taught to do the opposite. Knowledge work is often quiet, solitary and independent. But working out loud—and objectively and meaningfully sharing status—can have some important and valuable benefits.
Scary, Monstrous, Overwhelming Deliverables
Deliverables are powerful demons. When we don’t pay attention to them, they grow in size, ferocity and monstrosity. Particularly when deadlines start to loom. And while intense focus can be a productive mindset, it shouldn’t be a perpetual one. Slaying our subconscious workload beasts.