How Am I Doing?

Ed Koch the mayor of New York City from 1979 to 1989 is renowned for walking around NYC and cheerfully asking everyone "How Am I Doing?" Actually, it was closer to "How'm I doin'?" but it's hard to type with a New York accent. Koch was ahead of his time since what he was doing was a version of a Gemba Walk.  The whole point of his question was to engage his constituents to find out what was important to them and to see how he measured up against their needs and expectations. What an excellent idea! Sometimes all you have to do to find out what people are thinking is ask.  It really can be that simple.

This is a great tool to use at work with our key stakeholders, customers and employees. This can also work at home although I'd advise against referring to your family members as key stakeholders or customers and don't even think of using 'employees'.  You may not like what you hear but at least once you know about an issue you can address it.  After all, you can't address a concern that you don't know about.  I think it can also apply to blogging.  And so dear readers I ask,

"How am I doing?"

Please leave a comment with your name or anonymously, good or bad. Tell me what you like or dislike, what you'd like to see more in my blog or less of. Let me know what's on your mind.  I can't promise that I'll be able to do anything in response but I can promise I'll listen.

Comments

[Daniel Johnson Jr]

Hi Mike!

I found your blog through Jason Alba's JibberJobber blog about a month or so ago, and I subscribe via email to your feed.

I've been working in IT for almost 10 years, and I subscribed to your blog to get more of the manager perspective. Some recent posts I've enjoyed are "IT is NOT Your Mother" and "Why it's time to lose the snide IT attitude".

Whenever I get the email, I open it, scan to see if anything readily strikes my eyes as meaningful right then. Then I archive it, whether I immediately find something I can use or not, so that I can search for it later.

[JibberJobber Guy]

Like Dan, I have been in IT for a number of years. I love your perspective, and the practical wisdom that you share. I can't read a 100% techie blog because that isn't my interest, but I have always been interested in executive strategy + IT and this is a terrfic blog to get good, meaty content.

I don't have any requests to change, just wanted to share what I like about your blog.

[Mike]

Daniel, Jason,

Thank you for the feedback.

Mike