Category Archives: People issues
Introverts and Individualists and Collocation
[Note: This blog post was published 4/29/2019. The work-from-home ideas were not so strong then. Read this and think.] I am seeing a general trend. People are saying we should bend over backwards because implementers are introverts. (Yes, way over-simplifying a complex issue, but bear with me.) That position seems a bit too much, […]
How honest should you be in Scrum?
First answer: Completely. If only the answer were that simple. Sorry, but Scrum and Agile provide no cookbook answer to this question. Some people use “honesty” to mean they get a right to be brutal to others (and also to ignore their own imperfections). More often, the de-facto thinking is, “Honesty means I won’t say […]
All business is personal
We are in the political season, sometimes called the silly season. I will avoid discussions of politics, but I mentioned politics to introduce a well-worn phrase: “All politics are local.” Whether that is true or not, it led me to the observation that “all business is personal.” That phrase and a note on this blog […]
Delivering Solutions
As I was saying earlier, in all my clients there is this divide between business and technology. “I’m a business guy, not a technology guy.” “Oh, I work in IT; go ask the business folks that.” This is not a helpful distinction. The customer does not want business or technology or even a product. The […]
Never send to know for whom the bell tolls
(See note on the title of this post below.) In my culture, this is the beautiful, daffodil time of year. When spring has sprung; and when Passover and Easter come to pass, yet again. The long cold winter is over, and the stream of life bursts forth in joy; if just to be alive again. […]
Face To Face Still Matters
Last Friday, Esther Derby wrote a blog entry that struck a nerve. Part of the reason I started this blog is because I see so many people worrying about costs without considering the benefits, or the means without considering (enough about) the ends. Esther’s entry is “Face to Face Still Matters,” and of course it […]