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Archive by category "Team Management"
It was a scrum. No, not the agile software method, but a bunch of people all racing after the current big defect found in the product. It was a badge of merit to be the first to figure out the defect and to report on its fix. My boss expected me to jump into this competition of egos when these problems happened.
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September 19, 2018 Bruce Benson
Team Management
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The most important and productive new ideas come from B-teams comprised of employees who don’t always have to be the smartest people in the room.
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January 5, 2018 Bruce Benson
Team Management
It’s easy for stand-ups, which are supposed to be brief team-sharing ceremonies, to turn into extended meetings. Limit the conversation to simple statements about things the entire team should know — what you did yesterday, what you’re doing today, and any blockers or help needed....
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June 24, 2016 Bruce Benson
Team Management
Keeping the bike in motion, just like the economy or a project, is what gives us the ability to work our way out of any problem.
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May 26, 2015 Bruce Benson
Team Management
It seems to be an axiom of modern projects that for every project team member, every minute of every day should be filled with assigned tasks. I know project managers who boast of loading themselves and their subordinates with way more than 100% of available...
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March 4, 2015 Bruce Benson
Team Management
As our team goes through various predictable stages of growth, we as project managers should often vary our approach based upon the current stage of our team.
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December 3, 2013 Bruce Benson
Team Management
Rarely does the project manager do any “real” work that adds value to the results of the project. The real work is in building the project team.
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May 6, 2013 Bruce Benson
Team Management
Managers spend all their time with their “best” folks and let their “under-performers” just kind of exist. This may be misguided if we want to significantly improve our performance.
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October 24, 2011 Bruce Benson
Team Management
Only the knowledge workers know exactly what they are doing and how they are doing it. Because knowledge work is invisible, no one else, including the managers, can understand what the knowledge workers are doing or how they are doing it.
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July 30, 2011 Bruce Benson
Team Management
I've always been fascinated by how projects and organizations populated by a lot of smart people often just didn't do well. I spent 20 years in the Air Force followed by just over 10 years in the corporate world. There was an unsettling management consistency between these two worlds. I've come to call it the "A" Student Syndrome.
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July 13, 2011 Bruce Benson
Team Management
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Would you tell your project team that it is OK to not get the product working because real-life experience is that sometimes things don’t work out?
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April 11, 2011 Bruce Benson
Team Management
Project managers can see from a kid's morning routine why using data instead of direction can often be a better tool for getting the results we want.
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March 8, 2011 Bruce Benson
Team Management
The project manager needs to control and direct her team with the help of her project management tools. The notion of a self-managing team seems to undermine the ability of the project manager to control and direct. What is really going on here?
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September 21, 2010 Bruce Benson
Team Management
You have a big project. Critical to the company. So you put your best people on it. The "A" team. Funny, you always seem to get the same results. If your company is not doing well, your "A" team still results in you not doing well. Often, I attribute this kind of consistent pattern to a cultural or major organizational issue that needs to be resolved.
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August 20, 2009 Bruce Benson
Change Management, Team Management
