Meetings with others are productive — work you do on your own should be as well — As a follow-on to my last post, Make Meetings Work, I wanted to explore the nature of getting things done when working alone. Despite all the grousing about meetings that generally happens, people find that they are necessary and in fact productive. The necessity comes from having to coordinate the…

Some people say that work is what you do in between meetings. This implies that meetings do not represent an opportunity to get actual work done. Well, if that’s the case, then don’t have the meetings! …

I have written before about using an Agile approach and about Making the Impossible Possible. The core of Agile lies in breaking down large projects into small batches that you can deliver completely, learn from, and use that learning in delivering the next batch. The Agile approach is fundamentally a…

Aim to delight your customers and colleagues, not take them off-guard — It’s wonderful to ‘outperform’ for your customers and bring them delightful innovation beyond their expectations. However, you should aim for ‘no surprises’ with your customers. Set expectations appropriately at all times, deliver completely to those expectations, and be proactive in your communications to give clients plenty of head’s-up when something…

“Keep your mind open, but not so open that your brains fall out” — An excellent article in The Atlantic has been circulating recently: Changing Your Mind Can Make You Less Anxious. It’s all about being open to information and open to changing your mind in the face of information. …

As you think about performance, focus on the habits you need to get you where you want to go — We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. — Aristotle Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. — Vincent van Gogh We all want to be better at things that matter to us, whether that’s getting into shape…

Slow is smooth and smooth is fast — In business, as in many things in life, we want and need both to do things correctly and move fast. To do these seemingly opposing things requires an appropriate balance between thoughtful analysis and decisive action. Analysis is critical. There is a saying in the US Navy SEALs: “Slow is…