Hallway Studio

How the orange juice test can teach you how to manage a tough situation

Market in Barcelona

I’m a huge fan of the content Intercom puts out and through them I discovered Gerald M. Weinberg’s The Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully. It’s full of amusing and good advice. One of the best bits is about the orange juice test and it’s something I’ve used to teach my team how […]

How to Manage Up

Lights from a building at night from a train creating a abstract view

Everyone has a boss. Even a CEO needs to manage their board or important customers. Knowing how to manage leaders in your organization or your client’s is a pretty important skill and one I did not come by naturally.  I’ve been luckily enough to have people knock sense into me. Know how your boss works  […]

Meeting people where they are

ScottishLandscape

I took some friends skiing not long ago and one of them was having trouble making turns. Years of training and experience have taught me how to quickly look at someone and immediately know what one to two things would help him have a better day. With some coaching and practice he did much better and […]

How to deal with a bad idea

ChicagoLights

So my friend wanted a dog. I didn’t think it was the best idea since he had a small condo and a job that involved a lot of travel. I knew that saying it was a bad idea would be met with stubbornness, so I asked a bunch of tough questions to get him to […]

Saying “We” instead of “You”

When I work with clients I always say “we.” It’s not “your” problem, “your” customers, “your” value proposition, what “you” need to do. Instead it’s “our” customers, “our” value proposition what we need to do together to be successful. However long we work together, be it hours, days, weeks, months or longer, I’m on your […]

How I use canvas exercises to understand, align and assess

I use canvas exercises like the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas or a variation of my own design with new clients or prospects all the time. It’s one of the most effective ways to quickly and comprehensively understand what your client is trying to achieve, align the product team and asses what they need. Typically I […]

My favorite question: What does that mean to you?

If we are having a business-related conversation I will probably ask “what does that mean to you?” more than once. I’ve learned the hard way, that words don’t always mean the same things to everyone. MVP (minimum viable product) is a word coined by Eric Reis of The Lean Startup fame and it’s a bit of […]