A real conversation I had two weeks ago: Executive: “What project management method do you use?  Please don’t tell me it’s Scrum.” Me: “Actually, we are Agile and use Scrum.” Executive: “Oh, no! I have seen so many Scrum projects go bad!” Other Executive: “Well, this is more of a hybrid project…” Me: “We could […]

Over the last couple of months, we have had quite a few conversations about how to create an innovative, creative environment for our team and in our company. It all started when the Creative Director for our project circulated a 2008 Harvard Business Review article on How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity.  This article has circulated […]

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 […]

When converting to Scrum or other Agile techniques, managers often wonder whether it will really improve productivity.  The whole process seems chaotic, so how can teams be more productive than traditional project management and development practices? This is the story of three teams in the same department and how we were able to measure their […]

Have you ever found yourself in a “can’t win” situation at work?  You are working hard, doing your best, but yet things still seem to be going wrong.  What do you do?  Be a superhero and try to fix it yourself?  Or do you reach out and ask for help? Contrary to popular belief, asking […]

I’m in the process of writing two large articles: one for this blog and one for an online magazine.  Since my last blog post was a wild success, I thought I would follow it up with something more low-key.  Plus, it gives me more time to work on the other two articles 🙂 As my […]