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:
Read product managers as navigators of uncertainty and thought about how kind and wicked learning environments can help us understand how uncertain that uncertainty is. I also think there might be some weak signals thinking from Dave Snowden to help make sense of which aspects of a wicked learning environment might be ripe for making kinder.
Read a bit of John Cutler’s How to think about Bets, Success Metrics, and Roadmapping.
Went for a run in the wet, dark, muddy woods.
Watched Alan Watkins talk about how much our performance under pressure depends on our ability to control our physiology.
Made some notes about how to do impact/effort mapping in a better way by only adding the high/low boxes after you’ve mapped the work and adjusting the size of boxes to fit your situation.
Went for a run up a hill in the dark. It helped me feel more at home and bit more like my old self.
Started learning more about OKRs and thinking about whether I could apply them to my work. At the moment, I think not, but I’ll keep exploring.
Empowered teams can’t exist without empowered leaders.
Maybe the measure of agile is levels of confidence.
Worked on my yearnotes. Then decided not to finish them.