TL; DR: Clarity saves time. Consensus feels safer, but it’s expensive. Clarity feels hard because it risks disagreement. Consensus feels easier because it avoids it. Instead of naming what’s there, leader hedge their views mistaking politeness for progress. Consensus becomes a way to obscure instead of decide so confrontation gets avoided at the expense of […]
Clarity Before Consensus Read More »
Some teams are like plants that never take root. We can water them, move them to better soil, even talk to them every day, but nothing grows. The team’s output is low. Accountability is spotty at best. The work gets done, but never in a way that pushes quality or the mission forward. Performance plateaus,
Let the Dead Teams Die Read More »
I know a three-step way that’ll help you be an effective agile coach or scrum leader anywhere you go and improve your agile teams in the process. In fact, I’m surprised that I’ve never seen anyone offer this up previously, and it’s actually quite simple. The devil is in the details, and navigating the nuance
Perhaps You’re the Problem – Let’s Fix That Read More »
Can we agree that most people are terrible at asking questions? I understand why. Promotions come because we’re quick to solve problems and arrive at answers, not for our skill at staying curious. However, what got us where we are isn’t what will get us to where we want to go next. As a leader,
Asking Better Questions And Why It Matters Read More »
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the Marine Corps decentralizes decision making via the Rule of Three. I talked a lot about how information moves down the chain of command to those in the trenches, and a few readers reminded me that I glossed over the flow of information from the trenches to
General Mattis on the Flow of Information Read More »
I have a confession to make … I’m forgetful. Incredibly forgetful, in fact, and it’s a real problem for me. Still, the people I work with are astounded that nothing ever falls between the cracks. It’s my task list that’s doing the heavy lifting though, and I’m almost religious about it. My whole day is
How To Fix Your Broken Task List Read More »
I was catching up with Chris Murman* and out of nowhere he said something that’s stuck with me. He said this more kindly than I’m summing up here, but this is what I took away: Change fatigue with Scrum is what someone says when they don’t want to do something. It caught me off guard,
Change Fatigue Versus Choice Fatigue Read More »
I’m a career, life, and executive coach, and I was recently laid off. It was a shock to say the least, but it wasn’t near as soul crushing as I would have expected. Let me tell you how I’ve decided to approach my circumstance. Maybe there’s something here that’ll help you too. Before we start
Being Laid Off, Bruised Egos, and How To Recover Read More »
When I first meet with clients, we talk about the difference between mentoring and coaching. These two spaces share a lot in common so they’re easily conflated, and I’ve shared previously my pithy way of approaching the topic: Mentors answer questions. Coaches question answers. Even after we had talked it through, clients would struggle. I
The Four Levels of Coaching Read More »
I almost didn’t publish this post since it felt derivative. People much smarter than I have covered this topic in greater depth and elegance than I ever could. Lyssa Adkins comes to mind. Nonetheless, I think André Gide sums up why we’re here: Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since
Are Agile Coaches Actually Coaching? Read More »
