| # | Title | Further Reading | LTYM # | Moral | Year | Created | Modified | Place | DocType | Ready? | Gender | Category | Questions | | |
| 4 | You Can Be Anything You Want To Be | See "We're Going to Be Great Writers," Letter #2 | 2 | Have faith in your employees | 1970 | 11/20/2016 | 02/13/2023 | Smithtown | Story | Yes | Female | People Mgmt | 1) Who believed in you the most? What difference did it make? 2) | 1 | |
| 46 | Draw Another Picture | 1) Also see "Draw Picture", Letter #3 | 3 | A drawing is worth a thousand words | 2000 | 02/27/2006 | 06/15/2023 | STC | Story | Yes | Female | Strategy | 1) Can you draw your IT strategy on a single page? Does this forc | 2 | |
| 2 | We're Going to Be Great Writers | See "You Can be Anything You Want to Be", Letter #4 | 4 | Positive expectations are powerful | 1965 | 02/27/2006 | 02/13/2023 | Smithtown | Story | Yes | Male | People Mgmt | 1) Does your manager believe you can succeed at whatever you do? | 3 | |
| 592 | The Lego Approach | See "Assemble the Components," LTYM #5 | 5 | Every IT project is an opportunity to build your library of reusable parts | 2023 | 10/19/2023 | 01/25/2024 | Advisor | Story | No | Female | Design | | 4 | |
| 580 | The Eagle and the Snake | See "How to work for a sonofabitch," Letter #17. If you can't fight on your own turf, fight on neutral ground. | 17 | Fight your battles on your turf | 2022 | 12/26/2022 | 11/28/2023 | Advisor | Story | No | Male | Politics | | 5 | |
| 578 | Downsizing | See "Rallying the Team to Die," Letter #24 | 24 | A downsizing is more than a budget and staff cut | 2015 | 11/10/2022 | 01/18/2024 | IFRC | Story | Yes | Male | Budget Mgmt,Finance,Downsizing | 1. Have you or someone you know been through a downsizing before? | 6 | |
| 37 | Teams that don't keep score | "The Good Days Score," LTYM, Story #29 Carl Sewell, "Customers for Life," Random House, Revised Edition, 2009; see Chapter 20, "Accounting for More Than Money" for relating Steve Mulvany's story about counting the lids at the canning factory during a college summer job: "After four days of keeping score, I found myself trying to beat my best day, and figuring out how many lids I would have to load an hour to achieve a record pace." Steve Hronec, "Vital Signs", "Teams that don't keep score are only practicing." --Tom Malone, President, Milliken & Company, as quoted by Steven Hronec, Vital Signs, AMACOM, 1993, p 14. | 29 | Those who don't keep score are only practicing | 1996 | 02/27/2006 | 03/28/2024 | HPMD | Story | Yes | Male | Measurement | 1) What are the ways your team keeps score? Do they have a say in | 7 | |
| 586 | The Strawman | See "Ping Pong Thinking," Letter #34
Michael Schrage, "Serious Play," HBR Press, December 1999, https://www.amazon.com/Serious-Play-Companies-Simulate-Innovate/dp/0875848141/ | 34 | Reacting is a stronger form of creating | 2000 | 06/13/2023 | 10/27/2023 | STC | Story | Yes | Female | Communication,Vision,Project Mgmt | 1. What are the risks in creating an early vision of where you wa | 8 | |
| 132 | The Scoreboard | See "Teams that don't keep score," Story #37
See "Bowling and Curtains," Story #143 | 37 | Objectives and metrics are about putting points on the board! | 1988 | 05/05/2006 | 03/29/2024 | DBC | Story | Yes | Female | Measurement | 1) Do you know, on a continuing basis, how you are doing in your | 9 | |
| 436 | 36 Factors of Delight | See "The Dinner Invitation," Story #40 | 40 | Principles guide design more than specs | 2016 | 11/28/2016 | 01/18/2024 | Sabbatical | Story | Yes | Female | Design,Innovation | 1) What are your design principles? 2) What have you noticed that | 10 | |
| 3 | Draw a Picture | See "Draw Another Picture," Letter #46 | 46 | When it comes to strategy, a picture is worth a thousand words | 1969 | 11/20/2016 | 02/13/2023 | Smithtown | Story | Yes | Male | Strategy | 1) Can you draw a one-page picture to represent your company's or | 11 | |
| 161 | The Million Dollar Pen | See "Love the Manual Solutions," Letter #60 | 60 | Don't overlook the simple, manual solution | 2006 | 06/20/2006 | 06/15/2023 | STC | Story | No | Male | Project Mgmt | | 12 | |
| 152 | Tying shoes | [1] See "The Knowledge is in the doing," Letter #64 | 64 | Sometimes the best specification is by example | 1995 | 05/31/2006 | 01/10/2024 | HPMD | Story | Yes | Female | Project Mgmt | 1) What is the way you most readily learn something new, by readi | 13 | |
| 76 | Rewrite Performance Reviews | See "Strengths, not Weakness," Letter #69 | 69 | Create the process for the goal: motivating performance | 2005 | 08/19/2019 | 06/15/2023 | STC | Story | Yes | Male | People Mgmt | 1) What was the worst performance review experience you've had? T | 14 | |
| 77 | It's Hard to Argue with Facts | Michael Porter, "What Is Strategy?" Harvard Business Review, 74, no. 6 (November–December 1996), pp. 61–78. See "Model Your Budget," Letter #70 | 70 | Win with data: It's hard to argue with the facts | 2005 | 08/02/2019 | 06/15/2023 | STC | Story | Yes | Female | Finance | 1) What data are you collecting on IT efficiency? 2) Why are effi | 15 | |
| 69 | Strengths, not Weaknesses | See "Rewrite Performance Reviews," Letter #76 | 76 | Focus on strengths | 2005 | 02/27/2006 | 06/15/2023 | STC | Story | Yes | Female | People Mgmt | 1) How many of your 1:1 meetings talk about the employee's streng | 16 | |
| 214 | Unintended Consequences | "One more time: What is Bureaucracy?" Story #89 | 89 | Too much of a good thing can turn on you | 2007 | 05/30/2007 | 02/08/2024 | STC | Story | No | Male | Communication,Execution,Paradigms | | 17 | |
| 526 | May I have a copy? | See "Talking your way through to the answer," Letter #112 | 112 | The power of the positive comment lasts a lifetime | 1975 | 09/08/2022 | 08/13/2023 | Drew | Story | No | Male | Leadership | | 18 | |
| 608 | Conversation, again | See "Talking your way to the answer," LTYM #112 | 112 | Possibilities rise from the conversation | 2023 | 11/29/2023 | 01/25/2024 | Advisor | Story | No | Male | Conversation | | 19 | |
| 30 | Why Don't Managers Act More Like Parents? | See "Accomplishing goals through others," Letter #123 | 123 | Expect your people to do well and succeed | 1993 | 12/22/2019 | 06/15/2023 | Shark | Story | Yes | Female | People Mgmt,Leadership | 1) What if more managers expected us to succeed? 2) What if more | 20 | |
| 124 | A sense of accomplishment | See "Accomplishing goals through others," Letter #123 | 123 | To be a good manager you need to take pride in others | 1991 | 10/07/2018 | 06/15/2023 | HPMD | Story | Yes | Female | People Mgmt,Leadership | 1) What brings you the most satisfaction in your job? 2) How do y | 21 | |
| 123 | Accomplishing goals through others | See "A Sense of Accomplishment," Letter #124. | 124 | To be a good manager, you need to work through others | 1991 | 10/07/2018 | 06/15/2023 | HPMD | Story | Yes | Female | People Mgmt,Leadership | 1) What are some examples of not working through others? 2) What | 22 | |
| 397 | The Cartoon Awards | See story on Sam Memberg's "Cabbage Bowling," LTYM #129 | 129 | Work hard goes with Play Hard | 1982 | 10/08/2016 | 11/29/2023 | IDC | Story | No | Male | Culture,Humor | | 23 | |
| 143 | Bowling and Curtains | See "The Scoreboard," Story #132 | 132 | With a good scoreboard, you don't need feedback from a manager | 1983 | 05/08/2006 | 03/29/2024 | IDC | Story | Yes | Female | People Mgmt,Measurement | 1) How close is the game of bowling to doing projects or other wo | 24 | |
| 620 | Metrics in the Midst | "The Scoreboard, LTYM, Story #132 | 132 | Bringing real-time metrics into the workroom can be motivating to the team | 2011 | 03/28/2024 | 03/29/2024 | Kiva | Story | No | Male | Measurement | | 25 | |
| 587 | Using the Wishlist | See "Phase 3," Letter #137
See "Saying No without Saying No," Letter #36 | 137 | All good ideas have a home; not all good ideas get done | 2023 | 06/15/2023 | 11/28/2023 | Advisor | Story | No | Male | Project Mgmt | | 26 | |
| 472 | What do I need to do to get a job? | 1) See "The Weighted Matrix," Letter #141
2) For an enlightening exercise, see the StrengthFinders 2.0 book: https://www.amazon.com/StrengthsFinder-2-0-Tom-Rath/dp/159562015X/
plus the StrengthFinders test web site: https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/
Note the "Redeem Access Code" button; you can get the code from the book. The strengths-finders test is useful to find your top strengths versus their database of 20M people. (It costs $20 or you can buy the book on Amazon and get the code free) : https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/home/en-us/strengthsfinder
3) The Keirsey profile test that clarifies your problem-solving/learning styles (it's free): https://profile.keirsey.com/#/b2c/assessment/start
4) For another comparison, see Tony Robbin's DISC assessment: https://www.tonyrobbins.com/disc/ | 141 | Build your story a credential at a time | 2017 | 08/01/2017 | 06/15/2023 | UMSI | Story | Yes | Female | Careers | 1. Were the exercises useful or not? Why or why not? 2. What expe | 27 | |
| 60 | Love the Manual Solutions | 1) Also compare the legend of the Russian Space Program solution to the pen that writes under weightless conditions: use a pencil. See Letter #161 | 161 | Manual is sometimes best | 2003 | 02/27/2006 | 06/15/2023 | STC | Story | Yes | Female | Process Mgmt | 1) Can you point to IT programs that were written for special, on | 28 | |
| 595 | Servers and Resiliency | See "Are you on the bus or off the bus?", LTYM #165 | 165 | Pick your metaphors carefully | 2013 | 10/27/2023 | 01/25/2024 | IFRC | Story | No | Male | Change Mgmt,Communication,Resilience | | 29 | |
| 43 | Lease versus Buy | [1] See "The Vest Pocket Guide to Information Technology" Kindle Edition, by Jae K. Shim (Author), Joel G. Siegel (Author). Most of the chapters look woefully out of date despite the second edition. However, see chapter 18 On "Capital Budgeting and Economic Feasibility Study of an IT Project," https://www.amazon.com/Vest-Pocket-Guide-Information-Technology-ebook/dp/B002C1AN52/
[2] Consider using the high water mark of depreciation for making capital budget decisions. See "Five ways to create budget," Letter #185. | 185 | Lowest cost is not always best | 2000 | 02/27/2006 | 02/13/2023 | STC | Story | Yes | Male | Finance | 1) How do you justify equipment investment to your budget committ | 30 | |