Stand-Ups, Meetings, Procrastination and More 👀

Nov 13, 2020 8:55 pm

Hi there,

I realized I wrote a lot about career stuff lately, so I switched gears a little to write about what I do as a consultant a little more. Now, in particular there is an article called 4 Steps to Better Action that I wish more people knew about. If you're having crappy meetings at work, this one is for you.

Also, while we're talking about bad meetings there is an article on the daily stand up but from the perspective of developers. I also provide some advice to developers to turn that meeting into one that is useful into the boring status update it turns into pretty much everywhere. You can find it under the super cryptic title A Developer’s Guide To a Stand-Up That Doesn’t Suck.

I give a lot of thought and spin my wheels about how to grow our little group of people, produce valuable content, and ideally make a few dollars off it. Here's a running list of things I've tried lately.

Lowered the price of my book to $9.99
Lowered the price of my class by 50%
Made my opt-in on my main page a slide in instead of a static banner
Changed my career lead-generation from a worksheet to a chapter from my book
Started using a service called Postbox to get my content in front of new people
Tweaking my social media posts to see if I can get more engagement
Ensured my sitemap was caught by google

There're lots more I want to try, and I should get more serious about looking at analytics too, but this whole marketing thing is not my strong suit so it is an interesting challenge.

What are some things you've done that worked well for you?

Have a great weekend! Here are the articles I wrote this week in case you missed it...

🗒️ 4 Steps to Better Action

Ever been in a retrospective, and in the end, there was an action item that nobody followed through on?

Or have you been in a meeting where everyone is lobbying for their idea with no end in sight?

Or maybe you’ve been confronted with a puzzle and weren’t sure what to do?

You have reports, but aren’t quite sure how you can mentor and coach your reports?

Yep, these scenarios cover just about every job.

Click here to read more

🗒️ A Developer’s Guide To a Stand-Up That Doesn’t Suck

It is almost universal that you’ll experience a 15-minute daily stand-up meeting every day as a developer.

It is nearly as universal that these meetings will take longer than fifteen minutes and fee like a waste of time.

Well, that is because most of the time, they aren’t running correctly.

So, here are some tips to turn those meetings around.

Click here to read more

🗒️ Hacking Procrastination

Some time ago, I was on a coaching call, and I noticed that they were getting frustrated as they talked more and more about all the work they weren’t getting done.

I remarked that they seemed to be frustrated, and they then expressed that they keep putting everything off, and all this procrastination is killing them.

Click here to read more

🗒️ Behind the Scenes - First Days At a Client

I’ve arrived at the client, and after early conversations with various buyers and leaders, I’m now on the ground and ready to start my engagement.