In a previous post I wrote about the "No More Feedback" book [/musing/no-more-feedback/]. I'm not done with this topic yet. In fact, I skipped a concept Carol Sanford focuses on quite a bit in the book: your essence . I realize how hippie this may sound,
No More
Last weekend I read Carol Sanford’s “No More Feedback” [https://amzn.to/2S2OZ2C] . It’s an intriguing book, and resulted in a “falling of my faith” type of situation. She challenges many “core beliefs” that I hold (or have been taught to hold). As a means for me to
No More
> “The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.” — Jiddu Krishnamurti Some years ago I shared feedback with a customer on our cooperation thus far — all with very constructive intentions. However, I made a mistake. I slipped in a piece of judgement, and that ended up
Decisions
I sometimes joke that one half of my job is approving things, the other half is asking questions. Of course, asking any question isn't all that hard, asking the right question is a skill. However, there are a few tricks. There are a couple of questions that prove
One thing I learned to do before giving a talk is to practice it beforehand. I figured this out in high school after blacking out fairly consistently during presentations in front of the class. A harsh start to my career as a speaker. To avoid this from happening again, I
A few years ago I wrote Reading for Busy People [/musing/reading-for-busy-people]. Last week somebody asked if I cannot write something similar, but about writing. While it may not be visible online, I actually have been writing a lot recently, but most of it is internally focused (we use Facebook’
This happens too often: Employee has an idea for a new initiative (e.g. feature, workshop, hackathon, event storming session, newsletter, offsite, recurring meeting). Manager: “That’s great, we support initiatives, let’s do it!” Initiative happens; people participate; success is declared: “Initiative happened, lots of people participated, it was
Or: how not to look like a dick in meetings I have terrible handwriting, always have. The moment I left school and managed to get away with either making notes and writing on either laptops, phones, or tablets I was a happy man. No more pens. No more paper. Hello
Books
There are a couple of books that I reread, every year or few years. I reread them, because they contain ideas that have had a huge impact on me. An impact either on my thinking, life and work philosophy, or ways to get things done. As I write this, I’
It’s rare, but sometimes I struggle to find a good solution to a problem. However, I found a very simple technique to help me in such situations, and it’s very straightforward to execute. I usually apply it during 1:1s, but if you don’t have direct reports,
I don’t like the term manager. It has connotations I really don’t identify with. Probably in part due to Dilbert and Office Space. In fact, when I looked it up, I found that it even the denotation is far from what I feel is the essence of the
If you would have told me 7 years ago I’d end up in management, I’m not sure I would have been happy with the prospect. I always considered myself a hardcore tech guy, perhaps not a nerd, but at least geeky. I started programming when I was 9,
