- For some companies organizational learning is their number one competitive DISADVANTAGE - @.
- @ & @ discussing agile practices principles and values over breakfast.
- RT @: Org. Structures, policies, practices are never value neutral, but come laden w assumptions, values, beliefs abt ppl.
- @ So there is. my guess is you know better than most that there's more to it than "installation."
- @ @ whoa. step away from twitter for an hour and look what happens.
- @ more interested in dialogue that "convincing" in 140 characters
- RT @: Who Is At Fault for the Skills Gap?
- @ we'll experience agile project management. try agile projects and debrief. Experiment
- We Have Created Our Own Shortage of People, @
- @ We're looking forward to having you with us.
- @ 1st thing to share is the multitude of meanings of "learn a programming language"–e.g. read, write, critique, improve...
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Author Archives: Steven M. Smith
Stop That Mole Now
©2010 Steven M. Smith Do you have a mole undermining the work of your team? Someone who constantly complains privately to any teammate who will listen but refuses to bring that same complaint publicly to the team? Someone whose actions … Continue reading
Framing Your Thoughts for Management
©2009 Steven M. Smith, www.stevenMsmith.com You have what you believe is an important thought to share with management. You’re concerned though that management may dislike what they hear. How do you assess how safe it is to share your thought … Continue reading
Coaching Whiners
Ban whining. It’s destructive communication inside organizations. Read this story about how a manager coached an employee to transform a whine into a complaint with recommendation. Continue reading
Facilitating a Temperature Reading
I have posted my article about facilitating a Temperature Reading. The article was lifted from the handouts for the AYE Warmup Tutorial so it also serves as an example of the quality of the material that Don Gray and I … Continue reading
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Temperature Reading
©2009 Steven M. Smith, www.stevenMsmith.com Virginia Satir developed this method for discovering a group’s temperature — what we in technology often call the system’s state. A facilitator leads the discovery. He or she keeps the group focused on each agenda … Continue reading
The Art of the Discovery Interview
Interviewing is an art. I suggest many ideas for conducting more effective interviews in the article Drawing Out the Facts: The Art of the Discovery Interview. If you can only do three of them, I recommend: Building a foundation of … Continue reading
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Drawing Out the Facts: The Art of the Discovery Interview
(c)2007 Steven M. Smith “What?” raced through Janet’s head as she read the email. “Now that’s a surprise.” The message was from Jack Johnson, vice president of development. It said she would receive a meeting request from Rajan Alak, an … Continue reading
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Tagged Communication, Feedback, management, Organization, Problem Solving, team
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Catch Them Doing It Right
(c)2008 Steven M. Smith A smile formed on Eleanor’s face as she saw me approach her doorway. She and I were meeting to discuss her views on recognizing and rewarding employees. She had been my manager for three years when … Continue reading
Waiting For People Who Arrive Late
©2007 Steven M Smith What does it say about the participants of a weekly meeting when the meeting consistently starts 5-10 minutes behind schedule? Answer, the participants are cooperating with each other to start late. Starting late is the status … Continue reading
Twenty Years Ago
©2000 Steven M. Smith I’m forty-five, with a mainframe background. I often hear complaints from colleagues — associates who are my contemporaries — that younger workers with experience in hot, new technologies are getting paid as much or more then … Continue reading
Tell Him?
©2006 Steven M Smith It’s ironic that the Baseball Writers Association of America named Joe Girardi the National League’s 2006 Manager of the Year. Giardi was recently fired by the Florida Marlins despite managing a young, low-rated team into contention. … Continue reading
Safety Margin
©2005 Steven M Smith Jake tossed and turned. He looked at the bedside clock. 3 AM. “I need sleep,” he thought to himself. But sleep would not come. Only worry about tomorrow’s meeting. Edmund, Jake’s manager’s manager, enjoyed probing managers … Continue reading
Safety Check
©2005 Steven M Smith He is wearing his traditional garb — dark suit, white button down shirt, red tie, and black tasseled shoes. The glare off his wire rimmed glasses makes it difficult to see those steely blue eyes. Harry … Continue reading
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Tagged Communication, Facilitation, Feedback, leadership, Problem Solving
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Rethinking Stand-Up Meetings, Part 2
©2007 Steven M Smith I argued in my first article about stand-up meetings that the right participants were the key to a successful meeting rather than whether the participants were standing up or sitting down. Despite my dislike for forcing … Continue reading
Rethinking Stand-Up Meetings
©2007 Steven M Smith Stand up meetings are popular in software development organizations now. What makes a stand-up meeting more effective than a traditional meeting to socialize status information? Nothing. The effectiveness of a stand-up meeting, like the traditional status … Continue reading
Don’t Tell Doreen
©2005 Steven M Smith Jarrett, Doreen and I were on the verge of a closing a big sale. We had crafted the Statement of Work (SOW) for two weeks and had finally reached the point where it satisfied both the … Continue reading
Decide As a Team
©2007 Steven M Smith Do some members of your team make agreements during meetings but fail to support them afterwards?If this behavior is happening, I suspect your team is using an obscure process to make decisions. Identifying Obscure Process An … Continue reading