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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 | 0 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 | 2 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 | 1 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 | 1 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 | 5 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 | 2 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 | 5 Comments   
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Harvard Business Review and The Economist
I'm always on the prowl for sources of profound insight. At my leadership workshop last week, I noticed the instructor had a wealth of practical insights and distinctions that aren't common knowledge. I asked him his favorite sources of information and Read More...
Posted 19 November 07 12:19 by J.D. Meier | 2 Comments   
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Results-Focused Teams Over Role-Focused Teams
In my experience, talent and passion are the keys to effective teams. It's not better defined roles. In PM Tip#14: Great teams have members that defy roles , Brad Abrams writes that the best teams defy traditional roles and responsibilities, and I agree. Read More...
Posted 25 October 07 09:02 by J.D. Meier | 4 Comments   
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How To Use Time Boxing for Getting Results
Time boxing is a way to chunk up time and get results. If you continously miss windows of opportunity or spend all of your time in one area of your life at the expense of others, time boxing can be one of your best tools. A time box is simply a limited Read More...
Posted 21 October 07 10:46 by J.D. Meier | 6 Comments   
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Patterns and Practices for New Hires
Whether you're a new hire or taking on a new job, here's some principles, patterns and practices to be more effective. They're lessons learned from the school of hard knocks and they represent some of the proven practices that have worked for others and Read More...
Posted 08 October 07 04:44 by J.D. Meier | 6 Comments   
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Thinking About Career Paths
I'd like to share some of the insights that others have shared with me over the years about choosing paths. My favorite insights have always been guiding questions that help me choose my own adventure. Mentor #1 Do you want more fame, fortune, time, or Read More...
Posted 16 March 07 05:47 by J.D. Meier | 2 Comments   
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