Is a downturn inevitable? Given all the talk in the past couple months, it seems that a downturn can no longer help but to become a self-fulfilling prophecy if it has not already set in. The only question is how long and how deep? How should companies approach these uncertain times? Most of the companies …
The Value of Process Improvement
I will be presenting at the November ABPMP event in Denver this Thursday from 4:00p to 6:00p. The topic is Using Business Cases and ROI to Justify BPM. The content is based on my work with a BPM software vendor's sales team where we built an approach and model for them to deliver customized Business …
How To Excel at Anything
I'm certainly late to the band wagon, but I really enjoyed this post from Kathy Sierra at Creating Passionate Users about the mindset to become an expert. Her intro chart alone is worth the click. And if the brain scientists are right, all the aspiring expert needs is a strong dedication to continuous improvement: "That …
Piloting for Success
Although they have value, I'm not here to talk about quick hit or proof of concept projects. I'm talking about what leaders can learn from the disciplines of piloting aircraft. I earned my private pilot license in May of 2005. This post is a reflection on that experience and how it applies to business. Coaching …
Wedding Bliss
My family visit was spectacular. We got my niece married and had a good time all around it. And, we had great weather the entire time we were there. Amazing for August in the mid Atlantic. It was good to get away and now good to be back somewhat refreshed.
The Results are In
What better way to beat the 104 degree heat in Denver than to head to the mountains for a down hill mountain bike race in Winter Park. Out of a field of about 50 Amateur men competitors, I placed first in my age group and first overall. Wahoo! I am especially happy because a while …
Fail Early, Learn Often
While moderating a panel discussion recently, one of the first questions after the introductions was asking to explain what was meant by allowing a team to fail. The important understanding that I think was misunderstood is that failure is not meant to allow releases or products to fail, but to generate learning opportunities to ensure …
Measuring Outputs Expanded
I talked at a high level in my Measure Outputs post about the types of measures that are useful. That post stated broadly that input measures do little to help improve, control or predict performance. In this post, I will expand on that concept to cover in more depth what types of measures focus on …
Why Sign on the Dotted Line
Consulting organizations often require signoff on deliverables to ensure that the client acknowledges that contractual obligations are met. Across organizational lines, these signatures, serve mostly a legal purpose. I often wondered about the use of signoff on deliverables inside of an organization where there is no external relationship. I've seen some development shops average as …
Tips for Distributed Teams
Megan Sumrell has 10 nice tips up on working with remote teams. I like that these tips include a softer side to the remote challenge. To them, I add a few fundamentals: Keep an open IM channel. One to one is great, but a team chat room is even better. Create a room that the …