There is a funny thing that happens when consultants are around each other. They keep using big important words. One such set of words that get thrown around a lot is strategy and tactics. I heard these words over and over. Even people had it in thei...

Let’s talk about a situation that happens in almost every team I see. After meeting everyone and getting access to things, I will look at whatever tools they use to manage their work. I do this because while most people are adamant they use the tool,...

My favorite chef, Jacques Pepin, says that he judges a chef by what he does with eggs. That eggs are so simple in concept, but require precision to get right. He goes further to talk about the importance of technique, and that learning to perfectly h...

The other day someone was asking for an activity to help experience what happens with smaller batch sizes. He might also have said limiting work-in-process, but I do have a small activity that I do to help people experience the impact of limiting how...

It was about three years before I saw a retrospective that didn’t have the basic three-column setup. You know, the one where you have +, -, Change. Maybe yours is start, stop, continue. That was seven years ago, and I’d say 95% of the time that three...

**Scattered across almost any consultant's PowerPoint decks will be several quotes. There's the infamous, "If we asked what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse," and "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth," and the one I'll...

**Scattered across almost any consultant's PowerPoint decks will be several quotes. There's the infamous, "If we asked what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse," and "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth," and the one I'll...

At some point in one’s career in tech, you’ll wind up leading a meeting and need people to take part in some facilitation activity. That might be a retrospective or an activity where you hold a vote. If you’ve ever felt awkward introducing the activi...

An article just surfaced on CNN where the top executives of SolarWinds essentially shifted the responsibility of a password leak to an intern. This infuriates me, but I think it serves as an excellent reminder of some hard truths about working for a...

One of the golden rules of negotiation is whoever speaks first loses. What are the other rules that exist that, if you use them well, will lead to at least a ten percent increase in your salary? There are a few, but before jumping into those, can you...