Mission For Today: Ask Someone What Is Important To Them At Work. Listen. You have been sitting next to and working with Luke for six months.  You greet each other every morning, talk about the weekend, and ask about the kids.  How well do you really know Luke?  Do you know what he likes best […]

Does this seem familiar? Months before a deadline, the team is relaxed and responds to problems with: “Don’t worry!  We’ve got months to deal with that!”  As months turn into weeks, issues get addressed along the way, but some of the really hard problems continue to hang around. Finally, when the deadline is days away, […]

For the past three days on Twitter, I have been tweeting a Mission For Today, asking my followers to do one positive thing at work.  With the holiday season, it’s a small way to create some good cheer around the office and to keep up your own morale during this busy time.  If you missed […]

Working on an intense project is hard work but in the end it is worth it when you know your team will ship something of which you will all be proud.  After each milestone, it is very important to remember to take time to renew or “sharpen the saw” as Stephen Covey wrote in The […]

It has come to that point and you can’t escape it: you have to outsource.  Whether you were part of the decision-making process or you were just told about it, you will need to adjust to a new reality.  Even if they are just down the street, working with an outside company will change how […]

A recent Management Essentials training session at work encouraged us to reflect on our experiences rather than just gave us a bunch of management tips out of context.  I have always learned a lot by observing others and I have long said that even less than stellar managers shaped who I am today. One of the exercises was […]