Comments on: Swing, Batter-Batter-Batter!

By: Steve Berg

Steve Berg — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:44:17 +0000

Chuck – great post. I was just in a situation this past week where a rift has been created between two people in different teams within the IT organization that could have been prevented with better ‘chatter’. They were not communicating with each other, even though they literally sit within 20 ft of each other! I’ll be keeping my finger on the chatter pulse much more!

By: Brian Blanchard

Brian Blanchard — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:10:52 +0000

Another great source for generating chatter is a periodic game day. I have been guilty of hosting Rock Band competitions on a few client sites. This stress free 1/2 day of fun and entertainment will spawn laughter and chatter for weeks to come.

If you can secure the planning area for the competition, you will even see people sidebar after sets to talk about project challenges. These casual, risk-free conversations produce more innovation in 20 minutes than days of memos and project plans.

By: Chuck Musciano

Chuck Musciano — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:24:42 +0000

@Joe, @Lui: Thanks for the tips on creating chatter. I’ve gotten a few others, enough for a future post. It isn’t hard to create chatter; but you do need to work at it.

By: Lui Sieh

Lui Sieh — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:33:12 +0000

What worked well in the past for me was to brew fresh coffee around my office area. Nothing like having a “coffee club” in the office to gather people around. And it’s cheaper than Starbucks.

By: Joe Williams

Joe Williams — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:41:03 +0000

My team and I have a conference room, where I spend the majority of my time. Often, it becomes the social gathering location; because of that, I hear a lot of useful chatter. We laugh a lot and share personal experiences from the night before or the weekend. It’s a great environment!

By: Krishna Moorthy

Krishna Moorthy — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:41:41 +0000

Interesting. Reminded me of the “Cluetrain Manifesto” and its emphasis on “conversations” (though you use it in a more literal sense…)

By: Lui Sieh

Lui Sieh — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:30:34 +0000

Hi Chuck,

You let out one of the “secret” leadership ingredients out of the bag! This is axiomatic and hence why I’m a strong believer in open work spaces for IT groups. Especially for the senior IT person to be out of the office and with the troops so to speak. It really does help set the right tone and establish a positive cultural setting for individuals to contribute to the group’s success.

Thanks,

By: Wally Bock

Wally Bock — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:02:10 +0000

You just nailed one of my stupid consultant tricks: making a quick assessment of the health of a team by observing how they interact. The top teams are chatty (as much as the work allows) and friendly. The others, not so much.

Years ago I was in a new client and watched one team member write, print, and send a memo via office mail to another team member sitting six feet away. There was nothing special in the memo that might call for formal documentation. I knew then that it would be a tough assignment.

By: James Governor’s Monkchips » Chatter as goodness, the danger of cliques

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:50:48 +0000

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