Archive (Page 2) • Staying Human with Tech • Buttondown

How not to be clobbered by the the next wave shifting your work

We’ve all been clobbered by the waves of 2020. To watch for that next wave, I try to keep an eye on business and technology news. But, I’ve also been looking...

Return Gently to the Office - Rebuilding with Reflection

kg-card-begin: html I hope many of you are reflecting on “returning gently” to the office. We might want to rush back to “normal”. However, in my last post,...

Return Gently to the Office - Rebuild Routines Slowly

kg-card-begin: html Can you feel it? We are so close to going “back”. Or are we? Whenever I faced something major that disrupted my normal routines, I’ve...

When do you challenge assumptions?

Hello distributed friends: After giving a talk today, I started thinking about how often I challenge my assumptions. Why? Because we often have to challenge...

The power of soft starts online

Hello location-free friends: As I answered some questions of other readers recently, I was reminded of a very simple technique to help you build a friendly...

A March Mashup of Remote Facilitation

kg-card-begin: html On 18 February 2021, a bunch of facilitators and coaches got together from around the world to share stories from some of their favourite...

Avoiding Dangerous Side Effects of Frameworks

kg-card-begin: html Recently, I completed an inaugural course on a new business marketing framework. Why? Marketing always made me feel uncomfortable because...

The Best Way I've Found To Keep Your Remote Team Connected

Hey worldwide friends, Some things happened recently that reminded me of you and some of the struggles you may have faced keeping your remote teams...

When chat is quiet, it may not be

February 25, 2021

Recently, I had two similar conversations with leaders about disengaged remote teams. One was with a reader of this newsletter (who I respect greatly as an...

The key to better hybrid-remote work environments

February 18, 2021

kg-card-begin: html In my prior posts, you may get the impression I don’t see hybrid remote as a viable path. You would be partially correct. As I stated in...

Are you burning the meal or feeding your remote team?

February 11, 2021

In my home, we have one tradition around Valentine’s Day: I cook my wife a Beef Wellington. I made this for my girlfriend (now wife) on our first Valentine’s...

Is hybrid-remote going backward or forward?

January 27, 2021

kg-card-begin: html As new vaccines emerge and political transitions move forward (deep breath), I still hear many talking about “going back” to the way...

Do you plan with questions?

November 6, 2020

I’m always fascinated with how we can use questions to explore new possibilities. My first hint of this was when I started facilitating years ago. A...

Your Next Workplace - Any, all or inclusive remote?

October 14, 2020

kg-card-begin: html We are all ready to go back to the office. Or are we? As mentioned in my previous post on resilience, your next workplace may adjust work...

Buddy System, Copilots, and Async for Hybrid Remote Work

October 6, 2020

kg-card-begin: html You may have heard of the working agreement that “when one is remote, all should be remote”. This agreement applies to remote hybrid...

Your Next Workplace - Office, Remote, or Resilience?

September 9, 2020

kg-card-begin: html 2020 presented many twists and turns for all of us, and there are more to come. In August 2017, I began to co-author a book on successful...

What's the best way to learn and collaborate?

August 13, 2020

Continuous learning becomes the first thing I look for when I’m asked to work with any knowledge work team. If the teams are not constantly finding ways to...

Your next workplace - 3 considerations

As we are now half way through 2020, I’ve wondered what the workplace will be like for many of us? Will we all be remote? Will we all be in little clear...

Remote Amplifies

kg-card-begin: html Over this first half of 2020, most of the world now knows what long-time remote workers have known for years: Remote amplifies. Remote...

Can you control the change?

You may not have caught my talk about Navigating Change while (Rapidly) Remote. You can find my slides on the Talks page of my website and related blog...

Is there a silver lining to being remote in 2020?

Hello my distributed (but not distant) colleagues. While dark clouds have lingered in 2020, some of us see a silver lining. First, there has been rapid...

Exploring Who Controls Your Meetings by Process and Tools Used Online

kg-card-begin: html As people moved to completely online and distributed work in the early part of 2020, interesting patterns in training and collaboration...

Where are you on your team?

This will be a short update today. I'm working with a new team and was reminded of some things I wanted to share with you.. Often I come across remote teams...

I'm not accepting the new normal in 2020

Me, my 3 kids, and 2 of our cats. I've worked remotely for years. I truly enjoy it. But these last couple of months has even challenged me. Many things have...

Oh no! This group doesn’t use video!

What do you do when you only can only share a screen, an audio line, and chat? How can you possibly keep people engaged? Set up feedback loops where you can....

Converting Exercises for Online Facilitation - the Dot Game

kg-card-begin: html In a previous post, I described a process for converting a location-based exercise into an online exercise and walked through an example....

Converting Exercises for Online Facilitation - the Jumpstart Storytelling Exercise

kg-card-begin: html Many coaches and trainers new to the virtual workplace ask many “how to” questions around virtual facilitation and exercises. I’ve...

Where are you now in going rapidly remote?

This has definitely been a week of lows and highs. I don't think I need to point out the lows to you. We all hear them on the news each day. I'd rather give...

Navigating Change While Being Rapidly Remote

kg-card-begin: html As we currently face the challenges of the COVID-19 (corona) virus, I see many individuals and teams being forced to rapidly go remote....

Navigating the Change Curve - Favorable Conditions

December 24, 2019

kg-card-begin: html From my last post on describing the basic properties of the change curve, you may be wondering how you avoid unplanned change or how you...

Navigating the Change Curve - Basics

December 6, 2019

kg-card-begin: html The more I coach teams and organizations, the more I see people struggle with change. I sometimes discover “change agents” (i.e., people...

Thanks to those who dare

November 28, 2019

kg-card-begin: html Today marks the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA. I would like to thank those who are rarely thanked. Thanks to those who inspect and...

A Distributed Team Stroll Through Agile2019

August 21, 2019

kg-card-begin: html Agile2019 showed a subtle theme of supporting distributed teams this year. As you may have heard in some of the podcasts I’ve joined, our...

Join me at Agile Open Florida on Friday, Oct 25, 2019

kg-card-begin: html 2019 marks the sixth year of the Agile Open Florida conference. This conference brings agilists from across Florida (as well as outside...

You always lead by example

kg-card-begin: html Whether you realize it or not, you always lead by example. If you set a vision and focus everything on that vision, others will follow....

I appreciate Ben Clark on #ThankfulThursday

kg-card-begin: html It’s time for me to reboot a practice I started a while ago and it’s inspired by Ben Clark’s Twitter post. I'm irked by the # of...

Distributed Facilitation at MileHighAgile2019

kg-card-begin: html Taking my Facilitating Distributed Agile Teams talk back on the road. I’ll be at Mile High Agile today and I’ll be speaking tomorrow at...

How can remote work be wrong and right for you?

kg-card-begin: html Recently, a friend pointed me to yet another long online conversation debating whether remote work is good or bad. Who was right? Both...

Time to get back to blogging

kg-card-begin: html You may have noticed some small changes to my blog. A new look and a few things rearranged. Also, a new newsletter is available as well....

Update on the Distributed Agile Teams Book

December 13, 2018

kg-card-begin: html Many have asked when the book will be available. You can actually get an early release now at...

November 9, 2018

kg-card-begin: html Today marks a sad day but also one more call to collaborate. Many former Rally Software employees are being let go in Boulder, Denver,...

Why my Distributed Agile countdown for Agile2018 is 8-3-2-1

kg-card-begin: html I know it’s been quiet on this blog, but much has happened behind the scenes. In fact, there has been a countdown happening as I prepare...

FYI - Virtual facilitation options beyond #SGMSP18

kg-card-begin: html Taking a break from book writing today, I saw on Twitter there was a conversation in the open space at Scrum Gathering Minneapolis...

First 4 chapters of our distributed agile book are available on Leanpub!

kg-card-begin: html Johanna and I were able to get the first few chapters into a “shippable” state (i.e., it met a sufficient level of quality for us). The...

Create your Distributed Team’s Workspace with These Six Tools

kg-card-begin: html Many people ask me what is the best tool for distributed agile teams. It’s the wrong question. What many people miss is that a...

What's in a name? For books, more than you know.

kg-card-begin: html https://flic.kr/p/g3BKE (CC BY 2.0) As Johanna Rothman and I prepare the early release for our book on distributed agile organizations,...

Why so quiet? Book in progress

kg-card-begin: html Work in Progress You may have noticed that my blog has been very quiet since the Agile2017 conference last August and for good reason....

Connect at #Agile2017

kg-card-begin: html Monday is the official start of the Agile2017 conference. It can be overwhelming to be with over 2500 people, choose from over 200 topics...

Many Learning Opportunities Outside of Agile2017 (Aug 5 update)

kg-card-begin: html There are many people planning to come to Agile2017. This year is estimated to be more than 2500 attending. Others find this conference...

Agile Open Florida Seeking a New Home

kg-card-begin: html We have begun planning our fourth year of Agile Open Florida and we are looking for a new venue to comfortably hold the energy of 200...