Posts from Awesome Folks #128

A weekly round up of blog posts I've been reading

Emily Webber
November 01, 2024

Hello folks,

It’s been half-term this week, which generally means we get on with house-fixing things. So we finally have some actual wardrobes and a newly organised world, which is very satisfying.

A rectangle of bright wallpaper with illustrations of animals including a cat and dog, in between flowers.

We uncovered this 1970s Wallpaper behind a radiator, it’s called “Spot and Friends”.

Organising things reminds me of an icebreaker I ran at Agile in the Ether a couple of weeks ago. In celebration of the every day, I asked people to share things they enjoyed that were mundane and normal. The answers included folding clothes, watching the world outside the window, making tea or doing logic puzzles. It is a lovely, wholesome, and low-stress icebreaker.

This week, I also published a board on the Miroverse for a retro I designed last year called The Suitcase retro: closing a phase of work.

Enjoy this week’s posts, share any comments below and happy Friday

Emily

People and Culture

The joy of awkwardness

Cara Bermingham

Why we should embrace it instead of avoiding it.

carabermingham.com/2024/10/28/the-joy-of-awkwardness

Switcheroo for Practicing Difficult Conversations

Christina Wodtke

A great role-playing exercise for practicing difficult conversations is The Switcheroo, which helps participants step into different perspectives and build empathy. Here’s how you can run it effect…

eleganthack.com/switcheroo-for-practicing-difficult-conversations

How do bias and inequality hold back female product managers?

Eira Hayward

The ways in which bias and inequality hold back female product managers with advice for overcoming bias and casual sexism

www.mindtheproduct.com/how-do-bias-and-inequality-hold-back-female-product-managers

Cooking up a culture of continuous learning

Bill Doerrfeld

Continuous learning is an important part of building a collaborative culture.

leaddev.com/culture/cooking-culture-continuous-learning

Real Time Performance Management: A Modern Approach To Employee Success

David Rice

Real time performance management is gaining popularity as traditional performance reviews prove ineffective. Learn more in this guide.

peoplemanagingpeople.com/topics/employee-experience-design/performance-management/real-time-performance-management

Organisations and Systems

Transa's Organic Transformation: From Hierarchy to Self-Management in…

Tine Bieber

While exploring the website of Swiss outdoor company Transa, it was hard not to draw parallels with the California-based giant Patagonia. But where…

www.corporate-rebels.com/blog/transas-organic-transformation

One Company A/B Tested Hybrid Work. Here’s What They Found.

Nicholas Bloom, James Liang, and Ruobing Han

Since the pandemic, executives have had to rethink their work-from-home policies to better support their companies’ bottom line. Recent research conducted in a real company showed that employees who worked from home three days a week experienced higher satisfaction and lower attrition rates compared with their colleagues who worked from the office. This reduction in turnover saved millions of dollars in recruiting and training costs, thereby increasing profits for the company.

hbr.org/2024/10/one-company-a-b-tested-hybrid-work-heres-what-they-found

Outcomes and Objectives

10 things nobody tells you about OKRs, part 1

Neil Vass

I gave a talk on OKRs (Objectives and Key Results, a goal-setting framework) after years of using them and looking into how to make them work better for me. I’ve written before about how useful I find putting this kind of talk together: The act of just getting a talk together helps summarise and bring […]

neil-vass.com/10-things-nobody-tells-you-about-okrs-part-1

Innovation Doesn’t Have to Be Disruptive

A conversation with INSEAD professor Renée Mauborgne on how to spot a nondisruptive market opportunity and evaluate its potential.

hbr.org/podcast/2024/10/innovation-doesnt-have-to-be-disruptive

Approaches for Teams

What does visibility really mean for engineering teams?

Himanshu Saxena

Some managers may not know the line between micromanaging and good visibility. And it all depends on what kind of leader you are.

leaddev.com/management/what-visibility-mean-engineering-teams