Reconciliation is not the responsibility of Indigenous Peoples – it is the responsibility of all Canadians. It is our responsibility to continue to listen and to learn.Justin Trudeau Word of the day = Responsibility I was in Ottawa during Canada’s second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The city was awash and aglow in … Continue reading September 30th
I hate KIA (“Know It All”) managers! There, I said it. You know the type. Those who relish any opportunity to dominate conversations. To show everyone how much they know and how little everyone else knows. To solve everyone’s problems for them whether they needed help or not. Like the Fountains of Bellagio in Las … Continue reading Glimpses Into Servant Leadership
Thomas Edison re-framed a reporter’s question about how it felt to fail so many times before finally succeeding with inventing the light bulb. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”Thomas Edison What if instead of uncovering 10,000 ways that won’t work, one could discover 10,000 different ways that will work? … Continue reading My Treasure Trove
What do the following concepts have in common? Eliminate wasteParkinson’s LawDunbar’s NumberLimit WIPDescaling That common thread is what this post is all about. With the rising costs of living brought on by the pandemic and war, some consumer packaged goods producers have been managing to keep prices from rising by selling products with less quantity … Continue reading When Life is Full of Filler
What I love about Agile ways is its empiricism. Accepting that we cannot predict and plan how things will turn out. Accepting instead, to just start, try something, learn, and adjust along the way. Accepting that “good enough” trumps “perfect” at every step. Preferring to be approximately right-ish, quickly than exactly wrong, slowly. This holds … Continue reading When Is Good Enough Not?
Management tends to get a bad rap whenever Agile ways of working are discussed. Sometimes this is warranted and other times it is not. One narrative is the manager who basks in the glory of their own magnificence. Those managers may very well deserve to be a lightning rod for criticism and blame when empowered … Continue reading Is Management a Security Blanket or Straitjacket?
I don’t envy customer service agents on the front lines dealing with customer support calls. It must take tremendous patience and restraint to deal with the onslaught of confused and often irate customer calls. All the while being recorded for quality control purposes. I know this because I’ve been the confused and irate customer calling … Continue reading An Unexpected Customer Support Story
After almost 40 years working in organizations of all shapes and sizes, first as an employee and then as a consultant, I’ve witnessed first hand how much of an influence the distribution of power can have for joy at work. More recently, I can see how the distribution of power can shape my value and … Continue reading How Are The Currencies of Power Changing?
Whenever I heard the term “pairing”, I used to think of wine and food. The process of combining certain wines with certain foods so that the unique texture, flavours and chemical compounds of one enhance the other to create a climatic dining experience. I am by no means, a wine connoisseur or a sommelier. The … Continue reading Pairing Beyond Programming
Most of the time, I didn’t see eye to eye with my late step-mother. However, on one occasion, I did. It was during the peak of the pandemic in late 2020. My step-mother was in the hospital and my dad was home alone. He was lamenting to her how it seemed everyone had forgotten his … Continue reading Get Rid of Employee Appreciation Day
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