Spherical Cow Consulting Archives
It’s a Wrap! Keeping Track of What You Learn From Your Clients
Posted on August 29, 2022 Leave a Comment
As a freelancer, do you ever stop and write down what you learned from a project as it closes? What made working on that effort awesome? What do you want to make sure you never have to deal with again? Project managers often (but not always!) include a “lessons learned” exercise at the conclusion of […]
A World of Only Carrots
Posted on May 14, 2020 Leave a Comment
There are a wealth of books, blogs, webinars, and even inspirational tweets about motivating a team. Most of the ones I’ve read, however, assume a rather traditional model of a manager motivating their employees. This motivation takes on an entirely different character, though, when you are working with volunteers. I’ve been coordinating technical projects entirely […]
Open-source Projects: Potentially the Best Potluck Experience Ever
Posted on May 12, 2020 Leave a Comment
Have you ever been to a neighborhood potluck that overwhelmed you with some of the best food you’d ever had? Where you tried to track down the recipe for the most amazing fried chicken – a food which had defeated all previous attempts in your household to create? Or when you’re planning it, and you […]
Publishing – it’s a character-building experience!
Posted on April 9, 2020 Leave a Comment
As a contractor, I help my clients — often standards development or digital identity groups — with whatever process they need to get to their end goal. Sometimes that means I’m a team facilitator. Other times, I’m a copy editor. Almost always, I’m a project manager. This week, I’m the publisher of a new resource […]
Get Inside Their Heads
Posted on March 30, 2020 Leave a Comment
Last week I put together a presentation on various tools people new to working from home might find useful, and where to find more detail on how to use those tools well. The audience I had in mind for that post were the wonderful women I went to college with, particularly the ones who were […]
Remote Project Management 101
Posted on March 23, 2020 Leave a Comment
The world has entered a new and unusual time. People are experiencing ways of working that are, sometimes, entirely outside their experience. I’ve been fortunate in that my work for the last ten years has been predicated on being remote and coordinating with a variety of people who may or may not themselves be remote […]