In the corporate world we often reach for training as silver bullet solution to performance problems. But building and practicing new skills is hard and if we don’t recognise the real-world difficulties people face, it’s likely that many skill-building initiatives will fail.

The “whiteboard effect” refers to a deep work phenomenon that occurs when two or more people problem solve together in spells of intense focus. The presence of this effect doesn’t mean, however, that we must always be in whiteboard mode.

Advocates of in-person work often say they need to get their teams together for brainstorming sessions. This is a waste of time. The effectiveness of brainstorming is a corporate myth.

We often reach for training as a solution for behaviour change or skill development. But most training programs don’t achieve their objectives. How do you facilitate learning then?

You don’t want work to feel mechanical and for people to feel like robots. The team should be able to balance efficiency at work with their sense of being human. In this post I want to show you how being intentional about synchronous communication can help you build a tightly knit async-first team.

Agile inceptions are a workshop oriented process to help you get your project on the road. Remember Mr Miyagi? It’s all about ‘balance’ in communication. Given the time-boxed nature of inceptions, mixing synchronous and asynchronous communication is an effective approach. In today’s post, I want to tell you how this balance can be a mighty good thing for your project.