A lot of people have free time towards the end of the year. This year some of us are neither traveling nor able to do other outside activities. Below is an eclectic list of some of my favorite blogs and videos you may find interesting. Some are old so you may have missed them.  They are still relevant today.

Blogs

How to Make Someone Feel Extraordinary by Saying Very Little by Barry Davret. “demonstrations persuade more than words.”

Questions For Our First 1:1 by Lara Hogan. Just read it, trust me.

The Three Ways: The Principles Underpinning Devops by Gene Kim. DevOps and Lean in a 10 minute read.

A Scrum Master’s Guide to Working With a New Team by Tanner Wortham suggests a simple and powerful approach to learn about a new team.

Do You Make This Mistake In Conversations?  by  John Weiss. “What I seem to notice, increasingly, is the poor quality of conversations today.” “There is a difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak.”

Read Principles of Engineering Management by Tilo Mitra before deciding whether to become an engineering manager.

Not every team has, or needs, a product owner. Read Is It Time to Do Away with Scrum’s Product Owner Role by Michael Cohn to see what this means for your team.

Here’s a Simple Way to Hold Your Team Accountable by Dave Bailey. “Resisting the urge to solve the problem will feel unnatural. But it’s important that you get used to it.”

A Survival Guide For Navigating Conflict by Tanner Wortham is clear and seems obvious. Why don’t we do this better though?

Engage Everyone Simultaneously in Generating Questions, Ideas, and Suggestions with 1–2–4-ALL by Christiaan Verwijs explains a powerful tool to avoid group think and engage the entire team.

Addressing The Elephant by Christiaan Verwijs   “the common belief that ‘conflict is good for teams is not supported by data”

Videos

Decisions, Decisions is an amazing presentation by Dan North challenging our assumptions. E.g. the cost of automating your build.

Startup Lab workshop: How Google sets goals: OKRs presented by Rick Klau is a very clear explanation of OKRs

The surprising truth about what motivates us by Dan Pink is a must-see if you still think that money and bonuses drive innovation.

In Grow a Solid Agile Team Gil Broza presents how to grow an agile team. It sounds so simple but is so difficult. And, try to ignore the piano.