Optimizing for our own effectiveness

One of the mistakes we make is assuming that people will make logical and rational decisions to optimize for the perfect overall outcome. People do make decisions that seem logical to them, however they do so within their own context. They do what’s right for them, not what’s optimal for the overall situation.

Improving learning with neuroscience and LEGO

In a training, the goal is to have people learn. That should be obvious and yet we frequently see sessions where people walk out, having been entertained, but not having learned anything.

Knowing when to Quit

In general, none of us are as good at decision making as we like to think we are. In particular, there is one mistake that we make frequently and that’s not recognizing when it’s time to quit.

Hero culture

It’s fairly common to have a junior team of people, with one far more senior person leading them. This can be an effective way to grow skill across the org.

Mental Health and GenAI

I’m seeing more and more stories about people having mental health conversations with various GenAI tools.

What aren’t we hearing?

A few nights ago, my son and I went for a walk at Dilworth Mountain Park to admire the sunset. At one point, I noticed that he had his hands covering his ears and I asked him why.

Cross training

When we see “fractional people”, people who are spread across teams, the most common reason is that they’re one of a limited number of people with a specific skill. There is a real cost to having fractional people in the environment, so when we consider how we could make the overall teams better, “cross training” is often brought up as an action. Let’s hold a training session or write up some documentation so that other people can learn.

Getting out in nature

There are real neurological benefits to getting out in nature. Let’s look at four of those.

Using dates to motivate

I sometimes see teams that make up arbitrary dates to “motivate” the teams to get work done faster. Not only does this not work over the long term, it often makes things worse.