Zef+ (Page 3)

on management, people, plus more

Recent posts

No More Brainstorming

So, here’s a silly idea. Let’s do some brainstorming! We’re going to all get into a room (remember those?), and then I’m going to give you all a problem to solve. You think about it for a minute, and then we’re all going to yell

More Advice

> HBR [https://hbr.org] articles are a bit like comic books for execs in that they always seem to be exactly what you want to read. That’s the style. If you read enough issues of HBR you can pretty much prove or disprove any management technique you can imagine.

Plus is the new Stack

I like like to shake things up from time to time. Something’s been working, so… let’s change it. Sometimes without overly solid reasons. Any change is good, right? Then, only once the change has been made, I come up with a rationale of why this was a necessary

No More External Assessment

You take your driver’s license practical exam. You’re almost done after half an hour of high-adrenaline driving. You park the car, right in-between the lines. You step out, so does the examiner. Then, you await your assessment. What is the verdict? You’re taking your high school final

No More Advice

> I’d like to learn how to write automated tests! I was excited to read this in the self reflection form of one of the QA people in my team. Yes! I know how to do this! I went through the beginnings of software development myself (albeit some time ago)

No More Power Hierarchies

Every performance review cycle I die a little. However, even death is an opportunity — as my grandma used to say. Actually, she didn’t say that as far as I know. Maybe she should have. It’s the type of wisdom that grandmas tend to share. But I digress. My

What Can We Do?

A Dutch comedian [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Finkers] once said: > You can split the world population into roughly two groups. But… I wouldn’t do it. It’s a lot of work. Nevertheless, just for funzies at this last day of the year, let’s go through a

No More Productivity Hacks

I hear you. You’re busy. Not enough hours in a day. I hear you. So, let’s do a mental exercise. I’m going to grant you a wish: some extra hours in your day. You used to work eight hours per day, but since you’re now working

No More Premature Organization

I have now been in two companies trying to implement guilds. In both cases the first attempt failed. Before we get to my theories around the reasons why, let’s first start with some background. A guild is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild] “an association of artisans and merchants

No More Real Work

> Nikola Tesla visited Henry Ford at his factory, which was having some kind of difficulty. Ford asked Tesla if he could help identify the problem area. Tesla walked up to a wall of boilerplate and made a small X in chalk on one of the plates. Ford was thrilled, and