If you’re like most people, you’re probably living far too much in category three — filling your time responding to people because, well, that’s what we’re supposed to do, right? People ask for our time and we give it.
Category: BigCos
No Manager Ever Wished They Waited Longer to Fire Someone
The first step is to take a look at your corporate values, and determine if the employee shares them. This assumes of course, that you have corporate values. And honor them. Companies have values in order to give employees a north star when faced with complex decisions.
User Stories Not Wireframes
Starting with wireframes is the equivalent of “Ready, Fire, Aim”. Even before you’ve spent the time to capture all of the user needs, you’re off to the races, drawing pretty pictures.
“That’s Interesting” is the Kiss of Death
“That’s interesting” does not in any way, shape or form mean the person is excited about your company or wants to buy your product. All it means is they don’t want to be a dick. “That’s interesting” is what people say when they’re trying to be polite.
Simple Ain’t Easy
Think about the last time you tried to get into an exercise routine. Or consistently wake up earlier. Or quit smoking. None of those things are complicated, but all of them are hard to accomplish. We don’t fail at them because they’re complicated, we fail at them because we don’t prioritize them and think about them (let alone do them) on a daily basis.
Software is the Easy Part
Software you can fix, because it is cause and effect. If something isn’t working properly, there’s some bad code somewhere that just needs to be hunted down. But when your code is working and no one cares, that’s harder.