Managers love pie charts. Unfortunately, my initiation to the Dark Side did not include the Handbook of the Art of Pie Charts. When I see a pie chart in a presentation I usually wonder “What’s up with this pie chart?” or “What is this really trying to tell me?” It usually flashes up on the […]

Who owns quality for your product? Whenever I ask that question, I am often met with one or more of the following reactions: A blank stare “Testing/Quality Assurance/Quality Control, of course!” “Management.” (lots of variations on that) “Creative/technical leadership.” So, maybe the better question is: Who defines quality?

Mission for today: find one positive thing happening at work and tell people, including your manager, about it. Ever notice how fast bad news travels around the office? What gets shared first: problems or successes? Particularly on difficult projects, most conversations about work tend to be focussed on the problems being solved rather than successes […]