May 25, 2017 | Cardsmith, Productivity, Project management, Strategy, Thinking tools, Work
I have a confession to make. I’m a productivity geek. I love to learn about Lean, Theory of Constraints, Kanban, Agile, Scrum, and all of the hybrids of these out there. But what I love more than any of this is creating and perfecting my own productivity tracking... 
Mar 8, 2016 | Cardsmith, Strategy
What distinguishes a creative, productive, and fun brainstorming session from a waste of time and energy? There are plenty of articles online that tackle the issue by offering endless advice—“ask the right questions,” “set constructive boundaries”—or enumerating a... 
Jan 28, 2016 | Cardsmith, Productivity, Project management, Strategy, Work
If you work as an independent consultant, you understand the challenge of playing two roles at once: consultant and salesperson. It’s a uniquely frustrating cycle. First, you submerge yourself in nonstop selling and networking activity. You keep at it because you know... 
Jan 26, 2016 | Cardsmith, Productivity, Project management, Strategy, Thinking tools
We’ve all been there. You conduct a lively group brainstorming session during which your team members contribute a bunch of interesting, creative solutions or ideas…but nothing actually comes of it. Instead, the results merely stagnate on a photo you took of the... 
Jan 19, 2016 | Cardsmith, Creativity, Productivity, Project management, Strategy, Things we love, Thinking tools, Uncategorized, Work
Can we all take a second and appreciate that our current reality looks a lot like the future we predicted ever so long ago? A moment in time with actual hoverboards, self-aware robots, and a new (good) Star Wars movie? Yep, the future is now. So why, on a daily basis,... 
Jan 12, 2016 | Portland, Startups, Strategy, Uncategorized, Work
A couple of weeks ago, I discussed using the concept of project milestones in unpredictable creative project like starting a business. This post is a quick follow-up and shout-out to our mentors at TenX in Portland, who have cleverly built a whole program that helps...