This week I have learned:
- never assume that people are managing up, out or around. Stakeholder management needs to be intentional at all times.
- factor in a few iterations if you are delivering a report. Hopefully before the end of the initiative.
- in a strange course of events, Random the Book has a new format. It’s bookish.
- I’ve learned that sometimes my manager sometimes just shuts me down. This is my internal manager, not any external person. It’s a safety valve. The strangest things can trigger it.
- 4D brain chess explanations of what’s going on in US politics seem increasingly desperate.
- in the space of 8 days I’ve lost 3 teams, each of them finishing as expected. I’m realising that the sense of loss I get when a team wraps up is quite intense, and three teams more or less at the same time is really hard work for me.
- what people sell, what people buy, and what gets delivered can often be quite unaligned.
- the ducks came into their own this week.
- is engineering the opposite of systems thinking?
The week in media:
Read:
- No Bad Parts by Richard Schwarz is fascinating and slightly scary
- Inventology by Pagan Kennedy continues to be great
Listened:
- a particular episode of The Allusionist that was particularly inspiring for the book project
Watched:
- Jon Culshaw at Richmond Theatre. A strong first-half performance which fizzled out in the second.
- Watford at Vicarage Road v Plymouth. A weak first-half performance followed by a stronger second, but without goals. Classic mid-table end of season Championship fodder, basically.
Next week:
Thinking about the things I’ve been doing in the last 2 months.
The week in photos:
mmitII 