Every Friday, I send out an email with the most intriguing or cool things I found and enjoyed that week.
“This is OK on Friday” is a free weekly newsletter that gives you tiny bits of food for thought that I personally like or find interesting and thought-provoking. Typically, these are useful tools, tips, techniques, and thought-provoking portions of information to enhance your well-being at work and in life in general.
Feeling stuck? One more post for workaholics. Chances are you have a bunch of projects that you juggle 24/7. So the “My Competing Priorities” exercise might be right for you. All you need is 9 minutes, a pen and a sheet of paper. (No, it’s not about origami.)
At first we can’t rest normally, then we procrastinate and can’t work normally, then we work longer to achieve the planned results. Vicious cycle?
We won’t talk about prioritization methods like Kano, RICE, ICE and so on. Some time ago I wrote about the ICE scoring model because it struck me with its simplicity and seemed like a handy tool on the spot. But then it occurred to me that it often happens that many activities are actually of relatively equal importance. At least in my case, but I’m sure someone else has the same. How do you prioritize when everything is important? ICE doesn’t help much with this.
Before I tell you exactly what I did—and you can just scroll down to the picture at the bottom of the page as it sums it all up—I’d like to add a little more background and also touch on the topic of decluttering.
Continue readingQ&A: “I was promoted to manager. How should I build relationships and solve problems with the team, considering we just recently were on the same level?”
“Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone.” (Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie)
My usual approach to this is that “manager” is first and foremost a role. This role, like other roles, incorporates responsibilities and certain attributes. It also has its pros and cons. Not everyone wants to be a manager. Not everyone can or should be a manager. The level in the hierarchy, unlike the role, is practically not as important in communication and problem solving. It just provides you with some tools, which is a different topic. However, when you are promoted to a manager role, you will need to adjust your communication and approach, but not quite in the way you might think.
Continue reading“On the Plains of Hesitation bleach the bones of countless millions, who, at the Dawn of Victory, sat down to wait, and waiting…”—Sam Ewing, writer
Before we dive into the topic, please note that this article is for people who manage other people. It’s like a “doctors only” warning in a medical article to avoid wrong consequences.
Q: Should I fire this employee?
The short answer I would give to this is, in most cases, “Yes”. Simplified. An additional question to ask would be “When”. But let’s break down the question and look at the framework so you see where I come from.
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It took me years to accept the introverted nature of myself. And my partner, as a true introvert, played a lot in this process. Therefore, being true introverts, we often see confusion on the faces of our friends when they hear about our “exciting holiday” during which the two of us played A Way Out on Sony PlayStation.
A common time for such confusion is, for example, my birthday or vacation. ‘Cause it’s just the time of “Where are you going?” and “How many people?” questions.
In the past, when I heard these questions, they shaped my idea of what my birthday should look like. I tried to live up to expectations. It was fun and exhausting at the same time. After such a birthday or vacation, I always needed more rest. So I eventually began to distinguish between these activities – those that energize me and those that consume my energy – and balance them in my schedule.
Continue readingHave you ever caught yourself at the beginning of a task and you have no idea where you left off? This can be especially true when you have multiple tasks and need to split them up by time.
I am sure many can recall such cases. And at the same time, what often happens when we are working on a task is we think “No, I will not forget this” or “I will work on this tomorrow, I will clearly remember everything.”
Unfortunately or fortunately, life has a very annoying habit of not following our plans, and sometimes literally anything can happen between part 1 and part 2 of your task. More days before you can reconvene, an unexpected trip, other major distractions, and so on. And here we are at the beginning of the second part, again having no idea where we left off.
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Today I came across an article on how to become a better listener. The author says that in any conversation, in addition to being able to hear what the opponent is saying, we also need to convey interest and involvement. The article covers some tips on how to convey that interest, including repeating what the person said, nodding, etc. And while all of these things can be in the conversation, just trying to do it on purpose feels fake to me.
But nodding really works, you might say. Yes, if it’s real or looks real, otherwise it might convey something else, like an attempt at manipulation or that you’re pretending to be an active listener but thinking of something else. It doesn’t help the conversation.
I have a better idea, which is also much simpler, because you don’t have to remember all the “tactics” of an active listener, but instead just be. It works for me most of the time.
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Q&A is a section where I answer frequently asked questions about project management, work relationships, business development, career management, team management, and other topics. In most cases, these are questions that I usually receive on a daily basis.
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This question has several aspects.
First aspect. We must have some communication standards that we follow in relation to each human. Customers are no exception. These standards may differ slightly, but in general it is about dignity and respect for people.
Each company has its own vision of how it positions itself in the market, what relationships it builds with customers. Company communication and collaboration standards come to the aid of individual customer success managers or account managers working for the company.
Second aspect. Different customers represent different values for the business. In personal relationships, this can be described as the fact that you like being with some people more, while you do not want to meet others at all.
Continue readingQuestion: “I want to be a PM, should I?” or other variations of this question, like “Should an engineer move to the role of a project manager?”, “I’m in my late 30-s and I want a career change, is it too late to become a PM?”
Q&A is a section where I answer frequently asked questions about project management, work relationships, business development, career management, team management, and other topics. In most cases, these are questions that I usually receive on a daily basis.
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If you are asking this question, it means at least the following:
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