Agile
How to Estimate Story Points With Multiple Teams (via Mountain Goat Software)
Two common mistakes: 1) estimates that don’t reflect the abilities of the teams (i.e., estimator is too far from the work to understand how to size it), and 2) equating story points to hours. Instead, 1) get a representation of good estimators together, 2) use Planning Poker on 10-20 varied backlog items.
Business
What’s Your Company’s Emergency Remote-Work Plan? (via Harvard Business Review)
- Acknowledge the possibility that all or part of your workforce may need to work remotely.
- Map out jobs and tasks that could be affected.
- Audit available IT hardware and software, and close any gaps in access and adoption.
- Set up a communications protocol in advance.
- Identify ways to measure performance that could inform broader change.
What’s the Best Approach to Analytics? (via Harvard Business Review)
- Data science can’t happen in a silo
- There needs to be joint prioritization between business leaders and data scientists
- Leaders need to be conversant in data science
- You may need to accept “inconvenient outcomes”
Why the CEO Shouldn’t Also Be the Board Chair (via Harvard Business Review)
The CEO and board chair are two different jobs often occupied by the same person. “A board chair leads the board’s effort to excel at advising on strategy, monitoring performance, overseeing finance and controls, and evaluating management. A CEO establishes within the company a shared set of values, practices, and goals that enables the company to execute its strategic plan and build a meaningful future.” The article discusses why this arrangement has issues, citing examples from Facebook, Boeing, and WeWork.
Career
How to Bounce Back from Rejection (via Harvard Business Review)
- Understand the role of anticipation
- Acknowledge the pain without falling victim to it
- Learn with humility
- Find the courage to grow
- Have the grace to let go of the rest
Know When to Stop Overdelivering at Work (via Lifehacker)
“Once everyone you work with knows you can deliver, you can stop worrying about overdelivering.” Eventually you won’t be able to keep up. Plus there’s the opportunity cost of what you’re not spending time on (e.g., family, hobbies).
The Case for Reading Fiction (via Harvard Business Review)
“Reading nonfiction might certainly be valuable for collecting knowledge, it does little to develop EQ, a far more elusive goal.” Empathy, creativity, and critical thinking could be improved by fiction’s ability to have readers focus on social acuity and predicting people’s motivations.
Communication
What It Takes to Run a Great Virtual Meeting (via Harvard Business Review)
- Use video
- Have an audio dial-in option for those without good Internet connectivity
- Test things before the meeting
- Make sure faces are visible
- Stick to meeting basics
- Minimize presentation length
- Use an icebreaker/check-in
- Assign a facilitator
- Call on people
- Capture real-time feedback
- Don’t shy away from difficult issues
- Practice going virtual once or twice
How to Reassure Your Team When the News Is Scary (via Harvard Business Review)
- Pause and breathe; anxiety is contagious
- Put yourself in your audience’s shoes
- Do your research; don’t spread misinformation or half-baked data
- Speak clearly and confidently
- Have specific next steps
Coronavirus Could Force Teams to Work Remotely (via Harvard Business Review)
It’s important to redefine clarity once the working environment shifts. This article has a lengthy list of behaviors to adopt that will help teams stay engaged and productive as they work remotely.
Leadership
The Best Leaders are Versatile Ones (via Harvard Business Review)
- Learn from a variety of challenging work experiences to broaden perspective, promote a wider range of skills, and provide a network of colleagues with different expertise and points of view
- Pursue ongoing feedback and development
- Become a more well-rounded person (don’t just focus on your strengths)
How to Save a Dying, Low-Morale Team (via Software Lead Weekly)
- Get organized and prioritize
- Protect your people
- Roll up your sleeves
- Be positive, have fun
- Be the opposite of what killed morale
- Change the narrative, provide solutions
- Give positive feedback, share upward
Process
Don’t Let Perfection Be the Enemy of Productivity (via Harvard Business Review)
- You’re reluctant to designate decisions as “unimportant.” Instead, recognize the freedom from decision fatigue by delegating.
- You feel morally obligated to overdeliver. Instead, be easy on yourself and realize 100% is fine.
- You get excessively annoyed when you aren’t 100% consistent with good habits. Instead, have a system to evaluate whether your habits are serving you or whether it’s the other way around; it’s okay to drop habits that aren’t helpful any more (e.g., journaling for me personally)
We finished the book and shared our overall thoughts.
Working with Cross Functional Teams (via Software Lead Weekly)
This post is a fantastic playbook for cross-functional teams, outlining common problems and best practices for effective collaboration.
The Cascading Productivity System (via Software Lead Weekly)
James’ system is similar to how I’ve implemented Getting Things Done. There are cadences: daily, weekly, quarterly, yearly. His approach is more tool-oriented and is more rigorous and thorough. It’s worth checking out how people structure their lives, as it may inspire you to try something.