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 […]

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 […]

Have you ever felt that your to-do list was longer than what you can possibly get done?  Or your product had a ton of features that need to be developed but it still needs to be shipped way too soon?   We often respond to this pressure by trying to do more, often at the same […]

Last week, a friend and I were discussing why businesses make short-term decisions over long-term success.  I concluded the conversation with a reference to Wil Shipley‘s brilliant post on his Call Me Fishmeal blog: Success, and Farming vs. Mining.  I often mention this blog post in similar conversations, so I thought I would share it […]

Have you ever walked away from a meeting thinking you had just witnessed a thing of beauty?  It does not happen to me very often, but I was fortunate enough to witness that twice this year.

Many people I have worked with over the years have tried to tell me what the biggest problem was with whatever company we were working for. No company is perfect; there is always some sort of organizational friction. Technical people thought it was because we didn’t have the latest tools or equipment. The creative types […]