Rules of Thumb

Kent Beck and Don Reinertsen on Value of Storytelling

What follows is an exchange on twitter between Kent Beck and Don Reinertsen on Dec 12-2013 about their experiences as speakers at the Lean Startup Conference 2013 that I thought was worth preserving. Kent Beck and Don Reinertsen on Value of Storytelling Kent Beck (@KentBeck) Dec 12: The beauty of teaching through storytelling is that …

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Discerning the Future

Discerning the future is hard work, we travel facing backward into the past so that it seems to sneak up from behind us. Some insights on discerning the future using Robert Pirsig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” as a point of departure.

The Likely Consequences of Entrepreneurship Require Perseverance

Justin Kan (@JustinKan) wrote “Startups Don’t Die, They Commit Suicide” in 2011″ (mirrored on his blog here)  reflecting on what he had observed and learned as a serial entrepreneur. It was reposted on the Philly Startup Leaders list earlier this week which led me to write the following comments mixed with excerpts from Kan’s post.

Tom DeMarco on Leadership, Trust, and Training

I re-read Tom DeMarco‘s “Slack” over the Thanksgiving break and came away with a couple of good ideas worth sharing. Slack: Speed Difference Between Prudent and Breakneck Tom DeMarco offers the following definition of slack in the second to last chapter “Working at Breakneck Speed” Back in the time of sailing ships, going anywhere by ship …

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Preserving Trust And Demonstrating Expertise Unlocks Demanding Niche Markets

Preserving Trust And Demonstrating Expertise Unlocks Demanding Niche Markets Q: We are preparing to enter a B2B  market where the potential buyers are high-value but relatively few in number and close-knit. I am concerned that they will have a low tolerance for a minimum viable product (MVP) approach; much less pre-MVP research that misses the …

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Lisa Solomon: Effective Meetings Choose One of Reaching Understanding, Generating Options, or Making Decisions

Lisa Solomon says that an effective meeting can do one–and only one–of 3 things: build a common understanding, generate option, or make decisions. In this talk on “Designing Time: Make Meaning” she elaborates on this and challenges the person calling the meeting to work backward from the end of the meeting and define: what has …

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Mission Often Matters More Than Monetization In An Early Market

Q: I am a newly minted entrepreneur who has been developing a technology product for an emerging market (state-legalized marijuana) that is proving especially hard to crack. I am a long-standing business strategist who understands and appreciates the imperatives of customer development, however have been very unsuccessful in getting business owners and consumers to open …

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