Saturday 26 June 2010

Captain's log #3363 - On leading and listening


I have been wondering - can I ever truly be a good listener? I have to take in a lot of stuff from many people and then form an opinion to make a decision (which is not a democratic decision, but needs to be even handed nevertheless to enable people to buy into what needs to be done). It is tempting for me to form my opinion quickly and then be dismissive of additional inputs, but I am trying my best.
I've read somehwere that the role of the leader is to not play the hero (because reality is way too complex), but to
- face the complexity
- reframe the problem so it is simpler (but not simplistic)
- then encourage people to help solve the devillish details
The listening part comes into play when facing the complexity - I got to listen to people who are a lot more detail minded than I am.
I guess I am not finished with this one for a while yet.

Thursday 17 June 2010

Captain's log #3360 - Baroda Day 12


How can we make "giving feedback" fun?
- Ask for the top 3 good and bad things about the project
- Only ask for verbatim comments and code them up later
- Publish the results to the entire community all the time
- Reward prizes for the best feedback performance
- Make it really easy
what else can we think of?