Over the past year, I've been exploring various coaching methods, and integrating self-directive coaching has significantly impacted my day-to-day interactions with the incredible teams and guilds at Potato. In line with the ethos of my recent article, I'm eager to share my insights with the community. Before we delve into the details, let me lay down the fundamental principles. Understanding the Heart of Self-Directive Coaching The essence of self-directive coaching ...

Building confidence in your role is an ongoing journey characterised by learning, growth, and the steadfast support of a robust community. Whether you discover this community within your organisation or by connecting with peers in similar roles outside of work, the significance of cultivating it through community engagement cannot be emphasised enough. The Power of Community: Despite the solitary moments that come with your role, the truth is that you ...

As a Delivery Lead, I play a crucial role in building meaningful relationships with our clients, going beyond the conventional focus on timelines and deliverables. When it comes to client management at Potato, empathy is my secret sauce. It's about understanding clients on a deeper level, beyond their business objectives. It's about appreciating their precise demanding situations, aspirations, and the human aspect of their expert roles.

Let’s dive into an extraordinary and somewhat unconventional technique that promises to transform the way Delivery leads can tackle uncertainties during the project life cycle – the Stinky Fish Session. Now, before you turn up your nose, let me assure you that this unique approach is not about actual fish (thank goodness!). Instead, it's a metaphorical representation of those tough and unpleasant issues we often shy away from and how ...

Having multiple designers on a team is awesome. You get feedback easily as everyone has the same context, you can bounce ideas off each other when stuck, and generally have a great time designing together.

When I started at Potato in 2018, I was given the opportunity to take on a project which at the time was excluded from any business strategy or future vision, including limitations to management frameworks. Fast forward 2 years and we have a successful, self-organised team using Scrumban. It was my first time working for a digital product studio. It soon became clear to me that I needed to adapt ...

In my experience of leading agency delivery teams, I have regularly been invited into meetings to meet senior client stakeholders as a one-off, or intro, but noticed this engagement is rarely followed up with a more regular meeting. These people are often the most important decision makers in the project, and only get to understand second hand information or review deliverables at the end, when it’s too late to provide ...

Learn how to change direction quickly!

Over the course of your career you will have probably heard questions like “When will feature X be available?” or “What’s our plan to solve Y?”. You may have also spent hours in status meetings or steering committees reviewing feature specs. And justifying what your team is working on now, and what they were going to focus on in the upcoming months. You’ve probably tried some ways of having people ...