I'm a big fan of Sam Kaner's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making, ISBN 0-86571-347-2. I highly recommend it to anyone who leads meetings. In my post on Decide as a Team, I wrote about using a method called Roman Evaluation to reach a decision. Kaner talks about a more formal concept he calls Gradient of Agreement in his book. I am less … [Read more...]
Exploring Requirements Podcast
Last year, my colleague Esther Derby interviewed me about leading requirements workshops for an Amplifying Your Effectiveness (AYE) Conference Podcast. Esther probed me about my favorite questions to ask workshop participants. I answered: What are elements of the problem? Why (is solving this element important)? What will happen if … [Read more...]
Be Ashamed of Your Silence
Robert, a project manager, told me he uses the weekly project status meeting as a bully pulpit to shame any member of the team who didn't satisfy their task deadlines. I've seen him in action -- his face becomes grotesque as he verbally assaults his teammates. I believe it's wrong for Rob or anyone else to attempt to shame another person. But … [Read more...]
An Impact of Corporate Culture
Project Managers from ABC and XYZ, which are located on the opposite side of the same street, differ in how they report project status: The PMs from ABC are forthright with their sponsors, and the PMs from XYZ are evasive. Why do the PMs at ABC and XYZ have opposite approaches to reporting status? Their very survival depends on providing … [Read more...]
Problems: Cope, Manage or Solve?
When faced with a problem, I suggest considering three strategies: Coping Managing Solving Let's apply the strategies to the situation where you have a new pet who defecates in your house. You (I hope) don't like poop on the floors of your house. You could cope with the problem by cleaning up the poop. Your strategy is to deal with … [Read more...]
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