I was recently interviewed on "This Project Life" about Project Kickoff and project closure best practices. Click play above to listen. Here are some takeaways from the episode as highlighted by the host, Jeff Plumblee. Summary of the Key Takeaways from the Episode Hassan explains the 18 steps of a project kickoff meeting. Hold an internal kickoff meeting before the client kickoff meeting. Follow up with an agenda. After the meeting, follow up on action items. Preparation is ... Read More

Henry Kissinger was known for being an uber-perfectionist politician, especially when it came to writing speeches. He believed every word in a speech counted and didn’t consider one done until it was revised 20 times. He also demanded the same level of perfection from his staff and colleagues. Here’s the story of Ambassador Winston Lord handing Kissinger a report (from Walter Isaacson’s book Kissinger: A Biography): One oft-told tale about Kissinger . . . involved a report that ... Read More

During World War II, military leaders had a challenge. They wanted to add more armor to American planes to minimize the chances of getting shot down by enemy fighters. The challenge was that armor is heavy. Too much of it makes the planes go slower and use more fuel. Too little of it doesn’t protect them. So to optimize its placement, the military looked at data of bullet holes on returning planes. Some deduced that they should concentrate the armor on the red dots because ... Read More

Liam Martin and Rob Rawson recently published "Running Remote: Master the Lessons from the World’s Most Successful Remote-Work Pioneers," and I had the opportunity to ask Liam a few questions about it. As a side note, I read the book and think it's fantastic. I highly recommend that you pick up a copy. Here's a short interview with Liam Martin about Running Remote Q: You mention in your book that the content is not really about remote work, but more about this concept called ... Read More

Dogs who help blind people go through some of the most sophisticated training. They need to be smart enough to navigate their owners safely around low-hanging obstacles and narrow paths—routes that a dog can easily pass through but not a human being. They’re also trained to pause when they come across small steps. They wait for their owner to acknowledge the minor obstacle before proceeding. But what if that small step is on the side of a road, and there’s a car speeding toward them ... Read More

Jeff Bezos has a simple decision-making framework.[i] He thinks of decisions as doors. Some are one-way doors. Others are two-way doors. One-way doors are irreversible. You have no idea what’s on the other side. And you can’t get back through them if you make a mistake. Two-way doors are reversible. You can go back by reopening them if you make a mistake. ***** A few days after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, scientists were worried about a new problem unfolding below the nuclear ... Read More