Cancel your meetings if you can live with the outcome
In the corporate world, many of us are having too many meetings. We feel that we can’t “get work done”.
^ADJ: Love the key messaging here "You can cancel every meeting as long as you live with the outcome"
Also had the opportunity to play with Microsoft Copilot over the weekend, we now have powerful tools to catch-up on those meetings that we missed. Some new favourite prompts (even for meetings I attended) include: Summarise meeting: [insert meeting name]. List key outcomes in bullet point and highlight actions I am responsible for
How to Lead Across a Siloed Organization
It’s long been recognized that cross-functional collaboration is essential. Still, stubborn silos that bog down execution, hamper innovation, and slow decision-making are still a common and persistent challenge. In their work with company leaders, the authors have found that, without leaders working together at the top, silos and dysfunction are inevitable. The onus is therefore on senior leaders to knock down these silos — moving beyond their ability to lead their own teams to also prioritize leading across the organization. The authors discuss what sets successful cross-functional leaders apart.
^ADJ: Key point, they connect and make a difference (action) - so often I see leaders connect, but fail to follow through with value adding action and or insights from the engagement.
Highly Profitable Engineering Teams
Up until a year or so ago, less than 5% of startups would even consider the concept of engineering being a profitable and healthy organization. ZIRP and the financial climate meant that wasn’t really a consideration. You could continue piling up more and more coders. As the industry is going through a healthy correction, you might find yourself in a team where none of your people ever had to think about such a thing. However, with some guiding principles, you can set out to create a product engineering organization that’s impactful and profitable.
^ADJ: The reason I included this article, was for three simple words: "critical success metric" applies to all teams (not just engineering or tech) - worth thinking about."
Customer service is a choice
It’s either part of your strategy or you’re paying for your mistake!
^ADJ: I see this all the time, where organisations haven't quite decided how Customer Experience (or Employee Experience fits in) and therefore they have a "muddled" solution - good opportunity to reflect how your strategy aligns with reality.
How to write more
As we enter a new year, many of us are setting goals to write more and create more content. As someone who has been writing consistently for the past decade, I wanted to share some strategies that have helped me in my writing journey, particularly in a professional context.
^ADJ: The more I write, the more I have everyone on the same page - something in that, taking the time and keeping everyone informed, but it does take effort, consistency and using the best tools - have found some real success this week using Microsoft Loop which has made a real difference on critical projects.
What is penetration testing? | What is pen testing?
Pen testing involves ethical hackers scaling planned attacks against a company's security infrastructure to hunt down security vulnerabilities that need to be patched up. Pen testing is part of a holistic web application security strategy.
^ADJ: Most insurance companies are now asking for this when it comes to Cyber Insurance - so here is a helpful guide.