Strategies for the Workplace

Should you need to announce a decision to a team or organization, you have several options:

• Tell each person individually, in private.

• Tell everyone at the same time.

• Tell some people, charging them to tell others.

• Tell only those who nee... more

Analyze every task before proceeding.  If you have no choice, at least you know what you might be getting into.  If you have a choice, the analysis may lead you to embrace or avoid the work.

“I’d rather have spent more than I needed to than less than I should have.”

While this advice may seem self-evident and trivial, the point is to pause and evaluate risk rather than simply agree that risk exists and then dismiss adverse events as unl... more

Determine whether you might benefit from historical data and can gather it or whether you have a novel situation where historical data has no bearing on a forecast.

By adopting a standard, each party, gains access to the other parties — no need to incur a customization cost for each integration.  As the network grows, competition reigns, innovation is rewarded, and efficiency is maximized.

Recognize that single points of failure and other concentrated risk can exist and to mitigate them through redundancy, distributing authority, and so on.

Approach others’ statistics with a degree of skepticism and try to understand what is being reported, and perhaps why it is being stated a particular way.  Similarly, consider how you should report your statistics.

As an exercise, before you are about to send an email, consult a thesaurus and throw in a few synonyms.  Substitute a few less-common words for ordinary ones.