Category: operations
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Why Management Talent Is Harder to Find Than Engineering Talent
Companies are drowning in engineer resumes but starving for managers who can actually make those engineers deliver. The real bottleneck isn’t code or AI skills, it’s coordination. Headlines scream about tech talent shortages, yet the data tells a different story: great managers are as rare as a lighthouse keeper in the desert. Gallup says only…
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Agile vs. Waterfall vs. Others. Scale matters
Shortly after a recent reorg at my company, I found myself discussing the merits of different project management methodologies, rather than focusing on the work to be done. That got me thinking, at the scale of small- to mid-size projects, are the benefits among methodologies even noticeable? Read the article and find out how scale…
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Duck Assisted Management
People often approach me and ask how to deal with a manager who feels compelled to make frequent “contributions.” A technique used once in the development of a chess game may be the closest solution to date for this predicament. In this article I will show you how to handle those situations, keep a good…
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Why do meteors fall in the center of craters?And other misunderstandings between cause and effect
After having been awaken by a meteor impact, a young boy developed a passion for astronomy and sought to understand the formation of craters and how they attract meteors. In this article I explore instances of confusion between cause and effect, and how they also compromise discernment—especially in business. In light of new information and…
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Refactoring a bureaucratic process
The post discusses the challenges of changing an established process within a company, using an example of refactoring the process for releasing products. It describes the difficulties, resistance, and steps taken to implement change, eventually leading to a successful pilot and the adoption of a simplified process. The key principles for refactoring a bureaucratic process…