I did a short presentation at work last week and I thought it would be good to reproduce it here. The talk was titled "Disagreeing with nice people". Why nice people? Disagreeing is, well, disagreeable. But disagreeing with "meanies and fools" sounds more satisfying than disagreeing with nice people who might be right. You don't… Continue reading Recent talk – Disagreeing with nice people
Author: James King
I coach organisations in how to better make use of the untapped talent they have in their people and to explore new ways of understanding and solving new and old problems
I live in Sydney with my wife and daughter and have no real hobbies beyond the usual boring ones of reading, writing and watching tv.
Collaboration or collective monologue?
I heard a great term recently - "Collective Monologues. The context I hear it in was where young children first attend day care, preschool or kindergarten. Apparently they all happily play together and have a great time. But if you listen carefully to what is going on then you realise that they are not all… Continue reading Collaboration or collective monologue?
Remember that agile thing?
Many years ago, I stumbled into "agile" and instantly found myself at home. I felt like I was part of "a small group who could change the world", to paraphrase Margaret Read. Originally, I thought it was an approach to running projects based on reality rather than theory. A few years later, I realised that… Continue reading Remember that agile thing?
Do I know your team better than you do?
I was pondering the value of team coaching recently. My conclusion was that coaches are awesome and you should definitely hire them. If you are a hiring manager then there is no need to read on - just be assured that you will get a positive ROI on agile coaches - the more you have… Continue reading Do I know your team better than you do?
Should I have a not-to-do list
I have a reasonable todo list going now. I use paper and pen and force myself to write a fresh list every day. That works well for me because I have writing things into my list when I already listed them. The pain of doing so actually forces me to do small things rather than… Continue reading Should I have a not-to-do list
It turns out I plan backwards
I was raised to be resilient, grateful, persistent and willing to make the best of things as they are rather than complain about how they should be. Having this constantly reinforced has been a real strength during my life - giving me a optimism and a pragmatic acceptance of the challenges I face from time… Continue reading It turns out I plan backwards
Failure modes revisited
I ran a retrospective lately, to look at when something went wrong, rather than just looking at a sprint and asking what was good or bad. In doing so, I went though how something had failed, but I realised that I was drilling into what had happened, not what could have happened. This is OK,… Continue reading Failure modes revisited
Time, energy or focus?
I was thinking about time management and I realised I was just sitting there, letting my mind wander. Is that good time management? When people talk about time management I often assume they mean "planning how to allocate our time." I think that is valuable, because I have often found myself the victim of my… Continue reading Time, energy or focus?
Decisions in the distance
In the movies, when the hero is often on a long quest. At the beginning they are uncertain and even uninterested, but at the end of the quest, they are motivated, focused and charging forward. The hero struggles and then finds their purpose, realising through their struggles that they now know what is important and… Continue reading Decisions in the distance
Reading You’re not listening
I am reading the book "You're Not Listening," by Kate Murphy. Start with curiousity Early in the book the author mentions that most books on listening are written by coaches, consultants and people talking about listening more effectively to achieve a goal. Those books teach, according to Murphy, techniques that help us to listen. However… Continue reading Reading You’re not listening
James King 