#cutlefish

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TBM 245: The Magic Prioritization Trick

Here is a fun prioritization exercise. Some have described it as a Jedi mind trick. It is very simple but it plays with people’s head in a good way. It draws heavily from Joshua Arnold's work on cost of delay, particularly this article on qualitative cost of delay

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TBM 239: "Get Creative"

Quick tip. When you tell a team to "get creative," let me translate what your team hears: You aren't being creative We're not giving you additional help or budget But we still expect the same (or better) outcomes The tough thing here is all of these may be true. Maybe the team isn't exploring creative ways to solve the problem with limited resources, and perhaps you believe it is possible to achieve equal or better outcomes despite the constraints. The challenge is that you aren't saying that.

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TBM 233: Coffee & Complexity

Sunday coffee thoughts. At my day job, I have been working on a proposal to redesign how we do something. To prepare for the questions I exp

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TBM 225: Milestones and Stepping Stones

I will be in Edinburgh and Hamburg in late June for Turing Fest and Product at Heart. Both are great conferences, and it would be great to connect in person while there. Short post this week. I strongly believe in the power of language to "hack" organizational challenges.

My favorite twist lately is thinking of milestones as stepping stones. I asked a team, "What are your stepping stones to get from here to there," and it clicked. It captures the idea that you are building a foundation and have options.

[dianas]

TBM 204: 40 (Roadmap Item) Questions

Here’s a list of potentially helpful questions (and multiple-choice answers) to help you explore the ideas, strategies, opportunities, problems, bets, initiatives, and projects on your roadmap. Some notes: Embrace uncertainty. Saying “I don’t know” is a great outcome.

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