In one of my training classes, there is an exercise to conduct a daily stand-up meeting.  The meeting should be no longer than 15-minutes and be well structured.  In class, we challenge the leader with common distracting and unproductive behaviors.  Watch the clip, the results are often hilarious.  Disruptive and unproductive meetings are common and […]

There are many tools to help project teams manage their work, collaborate, and track performance.  The number of options is overwhelming—Capterra has published over 900-project management tool reviews.  I teach project management classes and am often asked, “Which tool should we use?”  My fundamental advice is to focus on your needs and select a tool […]

I called an old colleague just to say “hello” and see how he was doing.  We have worked together at different companies over the past dozen years.  He is an inspirational finance executive and counted on me to implement his vision.    After salutations, he remarked, “You’re that guy!  You are so good at keeping […]

This year was like living through a 500-year storm.   COVID has infected 1 in 20 Americans, and 1 in 1,000 have died of the disease.  Nearly 15 million people are still out of work.  Thirty-three million have been remote for 9-months and are not likely to return soon.  Racial and social justice issues are at […]

Balancing our work and home lives is a challenge that nearly everyone faces.  I was a single parent for many years and managed large teams and projects in Fortune 100 companies.  It was not always easy.  Recently, I was talking to an old friend and former colleague.  When we worked together, she did not have […]

Agile is now part of the general business lexicon.  On the news, non-technology leaders keep mentioning the need to be “agile” or “pivot.”  Even leaders of traditional industries, like football, use the terminology to describe their approach to their complex business problems. Agile is not magic, nor is it hard to learn.  This article shares […]

You may be a businessman or some high-degree thief They may call you doctor, or they may call you chief But you have to serve somebody … Bob Dylan No matter your role, you are accountable to someone.  As we ascend the organizational ladder, stakeholder management becomes an increasingly more critical skill. Stakeholder management is […]

We are living in interesting times. All countries are struggling to control the COVID-19 pandemic.  Societies are challenging their histories of racial and social injustice.  Fundamental beliefs are being scrutinized. Considering how we think and understanding our cognitive biases will be essential as we adjust to this “new normal.”      What we consider to be […]

“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.” W. Edwards Deming Our work and home lives our bounded by standard operating procedures and process—and too many of them stink.  We all have encountered Byzantine-like bureaucracies where the lines are long, the rules are contradictory,  and nothing makes any sense.  Poor user experience (UX) design […]

“…when faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution.”  Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow In the midst of the pandemic, we have and will continue to face numerous complex decisions where there are many unknowns and no clear choices.  Organizations and individuals are grappling with challenging issues.  […]