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It's time to Skip 'Lunch and Learn'

When organisations want to invest more in learning, a common suggestion is Lunch and Learn—a Brown Bag session. However, this may not be sending the message we think it is. Find out why in my latest.
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Recent posts

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The Complicated Relationship Between Doing and Thinking
A consultant colleague provided me some feedback on a post and some relevant examples from their work with clients. It got me thinking about the…
 • 
Daniel Walters
A CTOs Guide to Time Management
To be strategic, CTOs need blocks of time available for deep thinking and collaboration to maintain a standard they hold themselves to. Here's how to…
 • 
Daniel Walters
Are you complicit in 'Agile-washing' cost-cutting?
Digital Transformation became a big business in the years before the pandemic. The Agile Certification Industrial Complex rode the wave. Were you…
 • 
Daniel Walters
1
Celebrating the independent developers
In a world where the resilience of cross-functional teams prevails and hero cultures are rightfully criticised, I thought it would be interesting to…
 • 
Daniel Walters
OKRs vs. KPIs: How CTOs Can Leverage Both for Lasting Improvement
A common question about OKRs is how they are different from KPIs. At first glance, they involve measurement, so they may look similar, but there are key…
 • 
Daniel Walters
Questions light the path for leader's learning
Questions are a leader's sensing system. Asking great questions, actively listening to questions, and clarifying questions help you better understand…
 • 
Daniel Walters
CTOs considering coaching common concerns
It's common for CTOs to reject coaching initially - I know I did - because they have preconceived notions of how it works and how busy they feel. Let me…
 • 
Daniel Walters
My business toolbelt
I often stumble upon someone using an indispensable tool I had never heard of. If there's a tool in my toolbelt that might help you, let's not keep it…
 • 
Daniel Walters
Creating the conditions for great teams to form
Great teams can just happen but that would be by chance. In our experience there are areas leaders can invest in that support an environment where teams…
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Daniel Walters
Guiding principle: We will share our intentions early
A guiding principle I have for leadership teams I've led and often also for the entire organisation, once leaders are 'walking the talk', is 'We will…
 • 
Daniel Walters
Using principles to help scale decision-making across the organisation
Principles can help tip the scales in favour of decisions that affect the organisation's direction and are made at every level. Principles can help…
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Daniel Walters
How a CTO can reduce friction amongst teams
It's common for friction between groups of people and for malicious intent to be assumed when none exists. Directly identifying when this occurs and…
 • 
Daniel Walters
2
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It's time to Skip 'Lunch and Learn'
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Great CTOs Focus on Outcomes - Monthly edition
Each month I edit the top posts from this substack and republish
Top posts
Improving OKRs
 • Daniel Walters
How leaders should invest their time: Walters' Lever of Improvement
 • Daniel Walters
A CTOs Guide to Time Management
 • Daniel Walters
OKRs vs. KPIs: How CTOs Can Leverage Both for Lasting Improvement
 • Daniel Walters
The Complicated Relationship Between Doing and Thinking
 • Daniel Walters
Great CTOs Focus on Outcomes
Great CTOs Focus on Outcomes
Be a more helpful leader by providing your teams with the context they need to do their best work. Practical advice and proven practices for setting direction with goal-setting and ensuring everyone can make the best possible decisions, every day.

Leadership

View all
It's time to Skip 'Lunch and Learn'
When organisations want to invest more in learning, a common suggestion is Lunch and Learn—a Brown Bag session. However, this may not be sending the…
 • 
Daniel Walters
Are you complicit in 'Agile-washing' cost-cutting?
Digital Transformation became a big business in the years before the pandemic. The Agile Certification Industrial Complex rode the wave. Were you…
 • 
Daniel Walters
1
Celebrating the independent developers
In a world where the resilience of cross-functional teams prevails and hero cultures are rightfully criticised, I thought it would be interesting to…
 • 
Daniel Walters
OKRs vs. KPIs: How CTOs Can Leverage Both for Lasting Improvement
A common question about OKRs is how they are different from KPIs. At first glance, they involve measurement, so they may look similar, but there are key…
 • 
Daniel Walters
Questions light the path for leader's learning
Questions are a leader's sensing system. Asking great questions, actively listening to questions, and clarifying questions help you better understand…
 • 
Daniel Walters

Focus with goals (OKR etc.)

View all
'Are OKRs Management Malpractice?' Part 5: How practitioners and OKR experts recommend OKRs be practised is poorly understood outside those…
There's been an evolution of OKRs are recommended to be practiced over the last decade but this shift is more apparent within the OKR practitioner…
 • 
Daniel Walters
2
'Are OKRs Management Malpractice?' Part 4: It strongly depends on what you hire OKRs for—management vs alignment.
OKRs appear to present a solution for two distinct needs of executives. One enables the empowerment of their teams, and the other is something much more…
 • 
Daniel Walters
'Are OKRs Management Malpractice?' Part 3: The worst forms of OKRs may be the most popular.
The growth in OKR's popularity attracts the certification industrial complex and tool vendors keen to cash in on the interest. Bad managers reach for…
 • 
Daniel Walters
'Are OKRs Management Malpractice?' Part 2: It’s hard to know which flavour of OKRs we are discussing
When OKRs are criticised (which is fair enough; there's plenty to criticise), it can be hard to know which version is being referred to. OKRs are a…
 • 
Daniel Walters
7
Are OKRs 'Management Malpractice'?
A recent discussion of OKRs highlighted how little awareness there is of their current state compared to how they originated. Why does that matter and…
 • 
Daniel Walters

Group CTO coaching

View all
CTOs considering coaching common concerns
It's common for CTOs to reject coaching initially - I know I did - because they have preconceived notions of how it works and how busy they feel. Let me…
 • 
Daniel Walters

Outcomes

View all
It's time to Skip 'Lunch and Learn'
When organisations want to invest more in learning, a common suggestion is Lunch and Learn—a Brown Bag session. However, this may not be sending the…
 • 
Daniel Walters
The Complicated Relationship Between Doing and Thinking
A consultant colleague provided me some feedback on a post and some relevant examples from their work with clients. It got me thinking about the…
 • 
Daniel Walters
Celebrating the independent developers
In a world where the resilience of cross-functional teams prevails and hero cultures are rightfully criticised, I thought it would be interesting to…
 • 
Daniel Walters
OKRs vs. KPIs: How CTOs Can Leverage Both for Lasting Improvement
A common question about OKRs is how they are different from KPIs. At first glance, they involve measurement, so they may look similar, but there are key…
 • 
Daniel Walters
CTOs considering coaching common concerns
It's common for CTOs to reject coaching initially - I know I did - because they have preconceived notions of how it works and how busy they feel. Let me…
 • 
Daniel Walters
Estimation does not help us learn how well our software will meet its aims; putting software into use does.
Software Estimation is a response to a range of often unexamined questions, and it's rarely the best answer to any. Yet many hold onto it like a life…
 • 
Daniel Walters
Comparing approaches of present and future focus in organisations
Different approaches to how work happens in organisations significantly impact the effectiveness of prioritisation and the value of the work itself…
 • 
Daniel Walters
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