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10 Years at patterns & practices
I never imagined I would invest 10 years on the patterns & practices team at Microsoft.  Life is short and I always imagined I would spend it across so many more adventures.  What surprised me is how much you can grow yourself, and grow Read More...
Posted 02 October 09 07:56 by J.D. Meier | 1 Comments   
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Sources of Insight is 6 Months Old
Sources of Insight is 6 Months Old .  It's growing up fast.  I'd like to say I have the perfect plan, and everything's gone as planned, but I don't and it hasn't.  Life's funny like that.  What I can say is that I've made the most Read More...
Posted 18 March 09 05:52 by J.D. Meier | 1 Comments   
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People I've Worked with On Past Projects
One lesson I've learned time and again is that it's about the people.  You can be on a lousy project with great people and still have a great time.  The reverse is not always true.  Of course, the ideal world is a great project with great Read More...
Posted 09 February 09 07:00 by J.D. Meier | 1 Comments   
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Precision Questions and Precision Answers
I shared my notes from Precision Questions and Precision Answers training on Sources of Insight .   It's one of the most effective training sessions I've taken at Microsoft.  My notes are bit old, so they're a bit rough, but you can get Read More...
Posted 14 January 09 07:42 by J.D. Meier | 0 Comments   
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3 Great Results for Today
What are 3 great results for today?  That's the question I ask to bootstrap my day.  As simple as it sounds, I find it's the most effective way to cut through the fog each day.  There's a lot of things I can do and there's lots of activities Read More...
Posted 29 October 08 04:59 by J.D. Meier | 1 Comments   
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Tests for Success
How do you identify the bull's-eye among your stakeholders?  Nothing's worse than finishing a project and missing the mark you didn't know was there. At patterns & practices, one of our effective project practices is to use "tests for success" Read More...
Posted 26 March 08 03:28 by J.D. Meier | 1 Comments   
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Turning Chickens into Pigs
Have you ever been on a project where key stakeholders don't have skin in the game, but they have a controlling vote?  This is a bad situation.  It's like multiple backseat drivers, except they won't be there if the car crashes.  What's Read More...
Posted 25 March 08 04:49 by J.D. Meier | 3 Comments   
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How To Differentiate
How can you differentiate what you do?  This can be particularly difficult in problem spaces that seem over-crowded.  It helps if you have a frame.  One of my mentors gave me a useful lens for differentiating that helps solve this problem. Read More...
Posted 24 March 08 03:50 by J.D. Meier | 1 Comments   
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Life Frame
What is your life frame? What are the key buckets in your life that you need to balance across? If you have a frame, you can balance your life through thick and through thin. If you have a life frame, you can more thoughtfully allocate your time and energy Read More...
Posted 20 March 08 05:53 by J.D. Meier | 3 Comments   
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Monthly Results
It’s mid-year at Microsoft. In the past it would take me a bit of work to figure out what I had accomplished and where I want to go. Not this time. For the past several months, I’ve been using a practice I’ll call Monthly Results. Each month, I create Read More...
Posted 21 January 08 04:50 by J.D. Meier | 2 Comments   
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Leadership Styles and Development Levels
One leadership style doesn't fit all. According to the Situational Leadership II model, the leadership style depends on the development levels within the team. Here's a summary: Scenarios If there's high competence and high commitment, use a "Delegating" Read More...
Posted 03 January 08 04:27 by J.D. Meier | 5 Comments   
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Reward Yourself in the Moment
Happy New Year! It's a new year and many of you will be setting new goals for yourself as part of your New Year's resolutions. I want to give you an important nugget you can use when you implement your goals and start to face some potential discomfort Read More...
Posted 01 January 08 10:36 by J.D. Meier | 1 Comments   
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Rituals for Results
Routines help build efficiency and effectiveness. Consistent action over time is the key to real results. If you add continuous improvement or Kaizen to the picture, you have an unbeatable recipe for success. The following are some of my rituals for results: Read More...
Posted 27 December 07 03:56 by J.D. Meier | 6 Comments   
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Forcing Functions
Do you have a favorite set of forcing functions? In patterns & practices, one of our forcing functions is building a slide deck. Building a deck is a forcing function because it forces us to distill the points, close down on issues, identify what Read More...
Posted 26 December 07 11:42 by J.D. Meier | 3 Comments   
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Kaizen
Kaizen is a Japanese term for continuous improvement. A little Kaizen goes a long way over time. From a personal development standoint, it's key for overcoming resistance . Read More...
Posted 25 December 07 04:48 by J.D. Meier | 6 Comments   
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