What would happen if we send all of the managers away for a day…or more? This is one of the many counter-intuitive yet enlightening topics that are part of AgencyAgile’s leadership workshops, and also part of Jack’s new book, Unmanaged,Master the Magic of Creating Empowered and Happy Organizations, launching November 1st on Amazon. The answer may surprise you, or at least make you laugh, especially if you are a manager. Jack is joined by Steve Prentice in this podcast short on managers, managing, and productivity.
Lazy gets a bad rap. Managing and managers can be costly to your organization’s productivity (listen to episode 2.1, The Natural Tax of Managing) and in fact less
Can you be a better manager by stepping back and letting teams manage themselves? As strange as this may sound, the answer is yes. Often managers stop all over the
The answer is a pretty-much unqualified “yes.” Does it need to be that way? Of course not, but it is not easy. Meetings were horrible prior to 2020, and though
Many meetings are like unpleasant dinner guests who have come uninvited. They intrude on your productive time, drone on with unnecessary conversation, and you can’t wait for them to
If we are going to redesign organizations for an AI era, we need to be clear about one thing up front: Tools have almost always pulled people apart.
In organizatiomns,
As organizations rush into AI adoption, most of the attention is on productivity gains. Less visible—and far more consequential—is the erosion of the one capability that will actually
Every few months someone else does a "Sam Altman" and announces that AI will make agencies obsolete. The case always sounds the same. AI can research faster. AI
Software Agile’s Manifesto famously dismissed the need for intermediaries, espousing “Individuals and Interactions” and “Client Communication.” over the use of managers, contracts and tools. So I’ve always been
