Got rid of more stuff (some to charity, some thrown away) as I become more minimalist.
Read some more of BVSSH. I don’t think I’ll get it finished my the end of the month but it’s progress towards my target. I’m going to try to read four books and complete six courses.
Redesigned my home page a bit.
Completed the GitLab TeamOps Foundations course.
Played with Gitbook for documentation.
What an interesting day of polar opposites.
Dave Briggs shared his slides on good decision making. I’m normally in complete agreement with Dave, and there’s lots of really good stuff in there… until the approach. I know it’s just an example and context specific, but the idea of treating digital like an IT service desk that is triaging tickets fills me with dread. Better for digital to a strategic partner, be such a part of what everyone does that it’s involved from the start. So many problems occur when digital is looked at as ‘the implementers’ of work that achieves other people’s objectives.
Thought a bit more about ‘just enough’ and ‘good enough’ approaches instead aiming for ‘best’ or even ‘good.
Wrote my weeknotes.
Thought about whether I should start using monthly delivery planning to help me focus on achieving my roadmap for the year.
If ‘Definition of ready ‘ sits between ‘To do’ and ‘Doing’ to tell us that a piece of work is ready to start, and ‘Definition of done’ is between ‘Doing’ and ‘Done’ to tell us that a piece of work can be said to be finished, what sits in front of ‘To do’ to tell us that a piece of work is worthy of being worked on in the future?
Read some BVSSH.
Chatted about doing work to deadlines and how to avoid Parkinson’s Law, which says that work expands to fill the time allowed for its completion. So a couple of seemingly useful rules to follow:
The more I think about it, the more I realise that our work is to unblock the flow of value, and the way we do that is to complete tasks. Every uncompleted task blocks the flow of value, and every completed task, even a really really small one, removes a barrier. Thinking in that way, the number of tasks completed becomes a proxy for value.
Of all the things that bring a sense of dread to the workplace, “We’re forming a committee” must be on a list somewhere.
Had an interesting interview. I love talking about product management, I have to contain myself and remember that most people I talk to don’t have all the history and context I do.
Struggled to plan my week today so need to spend some time on it tomorrow.
Had a few meetings all about lining up upcoming work. Yes, meetings about meetings…
It’s been an interesting day (well, few days really). One of my dawning realisations is that controlling work-in-progress must be done by everyone, at every level, at every opportunity. It seems weird to say it, but I think I assumed it should only be done by leaders when planning big stuff, and if that was done correctly eveything else would be ok.
I led a project kick-off meeting, partly because it’s a good opportunity to limit the scope and focus on the core value. I think I’m starting to realise how much of a skill it is to get the trade-offs right. I’ve always done it, but it’s such a part of product thinking that it almost happens without being aware of it.
Updated my roadmap.
Reorganised my books. Not sure the kanban-ish way of organising books on a web page works, but I’ll give it a try.
Thought about whether I want create a page on my site for product management videos. I kind of do, but I’m not really sure I have the time, and the time I do have I’d rather focus on other things on my roadmap.
Finished reading The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Highly rated.
Tried to use the systems thinking iceberg to map how internal politics of exclusion causes a lack of collaboration. I haven’t quite figured all the levels but I definitely think there’s a connection.
Got a nice thank you card from the team for managing them over the past few months, which is far more than from the leadership team.
Thought about some stuff I want to focus on this year. These are resolutions or goals, just stuff I think I’ll find interesting or will make my life better. They include: