Do More Great Work. Stop the busy work and start the work that matters.Michael Bungay Stanier. 2010. ISBN 9780761156444.   This is the expanded book that follows Find Great Work,  I reviewed Get Unstuck and Get Going and this is a worthwhile adjunct to it.  The book has utility for the employed and self employed.  I think it speaks strongest to those who seek to get going in an organization.  For the legions of Gen Y and Millennials out there, here is the what color is your parachute,   for your generation.   Short and concise the book is a very useful read, full of get-to-the-point-quickly activities.  Check out his website,  domoregreatwork.com

• Work Smart Video: When to Hold and When to Fold (smarterware.org)
• Work Smart 2: What Projects Are Worth Working On (fastcompany.com)
• Work S mart 2: How Do You Know When to Kill a Project? (fastcompany.com)
• Focus: My new book on simplicity in the age of distractions (zenhabits.net)
• Personal Branding Interview: Paul Sullivan (personalbrandingblog.com)
• Person al Branding Interview: Marcus Buckingham (personalbrandingblog.com)

Are you still using Groupthink to set prices?   I mean, the big meetings where the products group with perhaps marketing sit around a big conference table for a really good naval gazing session.  We are still finding companies that set product value and pricing without any independent 3rd party validation.   If you are guilty, you have lots of company.  Most are really busy with “doing the business”.  Getting a realistic view of the market is almost impossible in the hothouse atmosphere of fast moving companies.

Compounding group think is the  cart-before-the-horse setting of the product price at the end, not the beginning of the product development cycle.  To do this properly, companies would need to acknowledge their bad habits around poor customer requirements setting which leads to vague estimates.  Improper/inadequate estimating is most  likely responsible for holding 90% of technology companies back from a break through to profits and eventual market success.   News flash to dev teams, the sales and marketing folks are positioned to really understand the customers and what they value vs need.  Even if your dev team is  talking regularly to customers, they still should be joined-at-the-hip to sales and marketing.  You must build value, not features.

Related articles

• Groupthink Conflicts and Norms (brighthub.com)
• Groupthink at Zappos? (ikiw.org)
• Groupthink in Society (socyberty.com)
• The inevitable 10:10 remix (hotair.com)
• Has social media caused Groupthink & shift away from pattern recognition/analysis? – Ahead of the Curve (fredzimny.wordpress.com)