How many people make a startup? 1? 2? How many ideas do you need to have? Do you need to start with something, anything, and just get going? Do you need funding to support those you work with? Do you need to pay yourself? What are all these things and how do they contribute to what you are doing? The beauty of startups, unlike many other fields, is that they can take any form you…
A Sounding Board is someone you can bounce ideas off of. Someone you can get some advice from when what is in your head doesn’t sound right (or even if it sounds right to confirm what you are thinking). Whether it’s a project, a company, a joint venture – everyone needs a sounding board. With so much work being done remotely, we’ve lost what used to be our ad-hoc sounding boards – running ideas by…
Changes in weather, significant changes, can drastically affect the course of your day. A little rain here, some sunshine there, a bit of snow – they are all okay in proportion to what you are currently working through. But a 50cm dump you had no idea was coming your way? Plus 45C heat? That is significant, that changes things, that throws all your plans out the window, and forces you to create and find new…
This is the big question, when does the pilot end? Is it going on forever (i.e., the Beta program that lasts 2 years)? Does it end after 3 months? When does it become the “now normal” and not the hanger-on of ideas? What defines its success? What metrics matter? If you’re asking these questions while you are in the pilot, while you are doing the work, while it is happening, you are asking them at…
The point of standups is to hear what others are doing. It’s a cue for what they are doing, for others to listen and jump in on. If you’re not listening, you’re not participating, you’re not there. It’s the listeners that make standups succeed, not the talkers. Listen.