Solar Wind Up?

Cognitive dissonance, dental hygiene, and why you should seek out your friendly security gal (or guy).

On Programmne Paradoxes

I actually quite like Prince 2. It takes me back to the 1990’s and Britpop and cheerier, more optimistic times. As a project management method though it does have quite a few problems. Nothing wrong with stage containment as a way to manage risk, but endless debates about roles and reams of paperwork… not so…

Talking about the programme endgame – James C Collins

Keeping the end in mind seems to me to be a pretty good maxim for any tech programme. How will the benefits be sustained when the initial programme objectives have been met? How will day-to-day operations fit within the wider organisation? How will the solution be further improved?

Talking about agile – Dan North

Agile. Has a word had more interpretations, more connotations, more expectations? When the pioneering souls first wrote down the Agile Manifesto – a simple but deceptively subtle definition of what agile means – little could they have realised how the concept would be used and sometimes misused over the subsequent years.

Talking about teams – Patrick Lencioni

Team Building. Anyone who has worked in corporate life will, at some stage, have been on a Team Building Exercise. Well meaning, sometimes fun, often teeth grindingly awkward and mostly useless. Yet most of us know that a great team with everyone pulling in the same direction can do amazing things.

Talking about capability and people – Laszlo Bock

Google have truly been the business success story of the 21st century. In his book “Work Rules”, Lazlo Bock who was a senior HR VP there, gives a fascinating account of how Google created a very powerful people-centric culture.

Talking about outcomes and value – Simon Sinek

Sometimes words get used so much it is easy to lose sight of their true meaning. Simon Sinek wrote a brilliant book called Start With The Why. It makes a lot of sense doesn’t it, you need to have a good view of why you’re doing something to know whether it’s worthwhile, right?

What I talk about when I talk about… turning round struggling tech programmes

“Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional” wrote Haruki Murakami in the book from which I have shamelessly ripped off the title for this series of articles.