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CHOW # 232 – Can a leader overcommunicate?

Jagdish came to me with a question – can a leader ever overcommunicate? I remember reading a mail from the CEO to all managers in that organization that they are going through a major shift in their business strategy and that all managers should follow the three rules...
Chow #216: How best to multi task?

Chow #216: How best to multi task?

Raveesh was the chief architect at 9to5 corporation. He company had seen significant growth in the last 4 years in a very niche market of Enterprise Application Integration. Their eBbus – or the enterprise business bus, was highly scalable and modular in design and...
One (Team) size and structure does not fit all

One (Team) size and structure does not fit all

How does leadership determine how big a team they need (may be organized in multiple scrum / kanban teams) to support a given demand in a portfolio or a program? This is a very involved answer, and, like most answers related to adopting Agile practices, it depends. If...
Chow #189 – Getting over the lockdown fatigue

Chow #189 – Getting over the lockdown fatigue

The last 3 weeks now felt like an extended honeymoon. Janardhan was happy, his team was also happy. Everyone enjoyed the freedom of working from home – in their pajamas and still be fully engaged in the work. Team productivity was higher than when they were together...

3 bucket formula for time management

Haven’t we all tried multiple techniques to manage our time better?I have.I have tried different tools, techniques and, almost every time, given up after a few days to few weeks.I have been getting a lot of questions related to time management, with the WFH model...
7 Lockdown Lessons on Agility

7 Lockdown Lessons on Agility

The covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown in many countries was a significant disruptor to BAU. In this chaotic time. This was also a great opportunity for creativity, discipline, and empathy. These notes, collated from the experiences of various professionals from...

Tips for a suddenly dispersed team

Agile teams are about effective teamwork.While classical agile models prefer co-located teams, many have evolved to handle distributed teams as well.By adopting principles of fractal organizations, of replicating small, self-organizing teams and structures such as...
CHOW # 174 – De-stressing in an open office

CHOW # 174 – De-stressing in an open office

Sriram was very excited and totally fascinated by Vignesh, the coach who had conducted a 45 minute immersion session on mindfulness at work. He felt very refreshed and even though it was close to the end of the day and there were a few escalations to be handled, he...
Empathy fatigue.. and 3 tips to handle it

Empathy fatigue.. and 3 tips to handle it

I recently had an opportunity to talk to a hospital administrator. I had met him in the context of understanding how they approached customer focus in their organization. He explained his role and the challenges his team needs to handle on a daily basis and how his...