This article represents ‘how’ to run prioritisation at a strategic level for a whole business or portfolio. For the ‘why’, please see my previous article: Now, Next, Future — a simple approach to delivering your strategy Prioritisation is an exercise in compromise and negotiation. Running a prioritisation session for an entire business requires that a cross-functional team […]
Running a prioritisation meeting Read More »
Many Post-It Notes died to bring you this photo Do you know just how bad the traditional interview is as a tool for choosing the right person for the job? In one research study, of students selected for medical school by an ‘unstructured’ interview (the type where someone sits across a table from you and asks
How I run tech and product interviews Read More »
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” — Sun Tzu The three steps to delivering your strategy Decide on your company’s goal; this is your purpose Determine the steps that lead towards your goal and communicate it clearly; this is your strategy Prioritise the work that you
The fairy tale approach to strategy; creating purpose and clarity Read More »
This was originally published on my blog in January 2016. It has been updated to the past tense. At reed.co.uk, we had been 64%* agile for many years. We had watched others, tried things ourselves, failed and picked ourselves up again. One of the most recent additions to our internal vernacular was that of ‘Bubble
How not to do Lean & Agile — a story from our experience of Squads, Chapters and Guilds Read More »
The importance of vision, strategy and clear objectives. “I’m concerned that we’re not delivering as fast as we should be”. Over the past few years, and in many businesses of different sizes, this is the concern I’ve heard from CEOs and board members. “It just doesn’t feel like we’re making progress with the things we
“We’re not going fast enough” Read More »
As an outrageous generalisation, there are two types of bosses in the world. Some managers make you feel more competent, more capable and more like the person you aspire to be when you’re around them. Conversely, some managers make you feel belittled, stupid and more like the person you’re worried you really are when you’re
How I became a bad boss Read More »
Before we begin, there’s something you should know about me. I love cheese and Branston sandwiches. This love of Branston pickle — a delicious, dark, unctuous, tangy turnip marmalade, means that I like to buy big jars of it. Really big jars. I even started my own business just so I could join Costco to buy their
Value for the customer — the shared history of lean and design thinking Read More »
If you can’t sell it, don’t build it If you can’t build it, don’t sell it The single necessary and sufficient condition for a business, says MIT’s Bill Aulet, is a paying customer. But that’s not a sufficient requirement for a good business; instead, to use IDEO’s Tim Brown as a guide, we need to
The two laws of building products Read More »
Nanga Parbat, by Ahmed Sajjad Zaidi The origins of Alpine climbing Over the last weekend, I helped move 250 people across London to a shining, state of the art new office. The one we left was old, tired, and still full of things we didn’t need after we left. Being responsible for getting the new office ready
The Fast & Light Company Read More »
I interviewed someone for a job for the first time in 1998. The interviewee had a slightly unnerving habit of pecking with his whole body like an absent-minded pigeon whilst answering questions. He was clearly ill-at-ease, but I think a casual observer would have been hard pressed to tell who was more nervous. I’d had
Focus on the basics — the four needs of high performance team members Read More »