Discover great authors from HEY World

20. Framing

Over the last few months I've worked with teams to help them adapt Shape Up to their specific context. Talking to a wider variety of teams has been eye-opening. It's helped me discover many hidden factors that were present at Basecamp when I first wrote the book. This is now leading to a whole new iteration of the process and steps tha...

The gift from my 88 year old friend

During covid lockdown, many have experienced isolation. From those living alone, to those missing their family members in a different suburb, a different state, or even those locked up in nursing and institutional care. I thought if I want to find out how to help more senior people, at least I should start doing something about it. So ...

Attempt 1& 2 - Connect with the community

During lockdown, many were visiting my neighbourhood park. There are many who might be suffering in silence at home, I wanted to reach out to them. There isn't a community facebook, nor a place where lonely people go? So how would I find them? I created flyers and decided to drop them off at mailbox, but so many wrote 'No junk mail' an...

Digital health needs to embrace clinical complexity

In online discussions around digital clinical systems there are some evergreen positions that have recently resurfaced... Why can't my EPR be just like my Apple/Google/Other product. These "just work" and don't need to be taught to users... Any clinical system that needs users to be trained is too complex and shouldn't be used... Whils...

User Experiences informing Digital Governance

Many NHS organisations, from NHS England to provider organisations, use patient stories to help drive improvement. These are described as: personal accounts of healthcare experiences, shared in a patient's own words These stories can be positive, negative or mixed. Used well, patient stories allow staff to better • learn about real lif...

A draft data strategy (or manifesto)

Recently we've been revisiting our thinking around an organisational data strategy. For me, this means getting some sound principles discussed and agreed. A first pass at writing some ideas down feels a bit more like a data manifesto but (I think) gives a possible starting point. As a disclaimer, while I refer to my organisation, the N...

19. Two kinds of usability

A reader asked on Twitter: “Any recommendations on how to combine Shape Up and usability testing? When is the good timing for it? Should it be included in the cycle? Who should take responsibility for it?” To answer this, I first divide usability problems into two kinds: 1. Perceptual: "They couldn't figure out what to do next", "they ...

18. Dependencies vs. unknowns when sequencing

A good question came up from a long-time Shape Up adopter: “ I’ve noticed you mention two slightly different methods for sequencing: • The interrelationships diagram • Getting to the most unknowns first Have you landed on a preference yet? Are there circumstances where one is better than the other?” To answer, here's an example from a ...

News: I'm giving a workshop on how to hand off and break down work

I'm interrupting the normal newsletter format to let you know about a workshop I'm giving. It's called The Confident Handoff. I'm giving it remotely to a small group of early adopters on November 22-23. Handoff is that point in time where the pitch goes to the build team to start the cycle. Why give a workshop about it? Whenever I ask ...

Prince Martin and the Pirates is here!

The sixth book in the Prince Martin Epic series is now available at Amazon.com and Princemartin.com. We're really proud of this one—it's the longest book yet and has some of my favorite illustrations in the entire series! My friend Brandon Hale and I have been creating and self-publishing these books since 2017. They're written by Bran...