Five for Friday – August 3, 2018

Time again to share a few things I found interesting this week.

  • I’ve been reading Bad Blood (currently about 30% of the way through). So far, it’s a pretty damning investigative review of Theranos, but I’m still waiting for the plot twist :}. Wikipedia tells me that Jennifer Lawrence will star in the film adaptation.
  • Steve Denning is at it again with this article on Agile Is Not Just Another Management Fad.
  • A wonderful article on “Delivery Teams” from Janet Gregory.
  • This (yet another) article on the failure of open plan offices is making the rounds. Buried in the end of the article is this quote:

    “And probably least bad is small team rooms of fewer than ten people, preferably fewer than six. I’ve sat together with really small teams before and that’s been OK. Some people who don’t like the open office at all might even still enjoy this configuration.”

    This setup (a “team room”) has been, in my experience the hands down winner of the most productive work environment I’ve ever worked in – and I hate that it’s lumped into the valid arguments that go against barnyard style work seating.
  • Finally, a nice article on critical thinking and problem solving that I’ll probably re-read and refer to frequently.

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