What's New for the week of April 24, 2006

Our host news this week:

Jerry will be a panelist at the Trois Rivieres Writing Conference in Farmington, NM.

Dave is playing webmaster with the AYE site, while clearing out a backlog of niggling little tasks.

Don's venturing out of the office on day runs. He'll be working with one new client. He's working on getting the preliminary schedule ready for the web site.

Steve is pleased to be back home after spending last week in Boston. He is running to catch up with things he missed while away.

Esther continues to work on the retrospectives book. She's getting closer.

Johanna is making progress on her project management book and is shuttling kids to dentist and orthodontist appointments.

"The Liar's Contest"

A new article has been posted to the AYE article page. The new addition "The Liar's Contest", by Don Gray and Gerald M. Weinberg, shows what happens when two people get involved in Schedule Games, what to do if you get caught in the game, and how to avoid the game. Follow the link from the Article page.

Johanna and Esther Announce a Management Workshop

Johanna and Esther are pleased to announce their first management workshop: Behind Closed Doors: Managing One-on-One. It will be held July 10-12, 2006 in Minneapolis. Interested? Here's the flyer (PDF).

This is a workshop for managers, project managers, and technical leads. Here's what we'll be exploring and practicing in the workshop:

• How people really take in information and where things can go wrong, how to recognize when an interaction is off track, and what to do about it.
  
• How to actively listen to what someone else is saying.
  
• How to give--and receive--effective feedback.
  
• How and when to coach and mentor.
  
• What issues to address in career development and how to address them.
  
• How to build trust with each person in your group.
  
• How to have effective one-on-one meetings.
  

If you ever work with people in a managerial capacity (whether you're called a manager or not :-), this workshop is for you. Email either of us if you have questions.

What's New for the week of April 17, 2006

Here's our host news this week:

Jerry has started two new blogs, one on consulting and one on writing. (Yes, they're already on our blogroll to the right.) He welcomes comments and suggestions and link-exchanges.
Don's recuperating from shoulder surgery. He'll be catching up on email and writing.
Dave has been hitting the books. He recommends "Working with Legacy Code," by Michael Feathers, for teams that have to wade into the legacy tar pit.
Steve joins colleagues from around the world at headquarters, Boston area, to hear product plans and share his feedback with management about the plans.
Esther is incorporating reviewer feedback for Tuning Up Teams: Retrospectives Toolkit and Recipes preparing the book for publication. She's also preparing to mail the latest issue of her sorta quarterly newsletter, insights. (If you'd like a copy, send Esther email with your postal snail mail address).
Johanna is working in her office, both on marketing her upcoming workshop with Esther and the project management book.

What's New for the Week of April 10, 2006

Here's our host news this week:
Jerry's staying home with Caro while the brave boy is recovering from surgery to remove two large bone chips from his elbow. Jerry's taking advantage of the time to put the finishing touches on three new novels, while Caro dozes peacefully under his desk.
Don will be visiting a client in South Carolina. After 4 weeks on the road, he's looking forward to being home for more than 36 hours a week.
Steve will enjoy working from his home office this week after trips to San Jose and Albuquerque during the past two week.
Esther's back in her office this week, catching up from jet lag.
Johanna is also in her office, finishing a bunch of conference preparations.

What's New for the Week of April 3, 2006

Esther will be in Baden Baden, Germany for the annual Retrospective
Facilitators Gathering.

Don will be in Phoenix, AZ. He'll be working with the company doing the building automation (Heating & Air Conditioning) at Sky Harbor International Airport so everything will be right in November.

Jerry has started a blog: Weinberg on Writing. It will contain tips and reminiscences from his fifty year writing career.

Steve had a wonderful experience in Albuquerque at Jerry's Consulting Skills
Workshop. He gained a key insight into a problem that if it was the only thing he learned, which is far from true, made the week worthwhile. He starts this week sharper and better prepared than he did two weeks ago.

Dave returned from Jerry Weinberg's Consulting Skills workshop with a collection of inspirations and action items. While there, Johanna inspired him to (finally) clean up his email inbox. [JR note: Way to go, Dave!]

Johanna is on the last college visit trip with her older daughter, and is looking forward to working the rest of her week in her office, for the first time in a month.