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Daniel Ritzenthaler 2.41
Description:
Dan explains how the tools you use may be preventing you from getting the results you want. There are a lot of amazing tools that work beautifully under the right circumstances, but people tend to overuse them and do more damage than good in the end. Learn how and when to use your favorite tools, and when to skip them altogether.
Links: Website
Comments on this Talk
Patrick Haney,
30 Jun 01:23 AM
Dan's talk was shorter than most Refresh Boston presentations, as he was hoping to get a lot of discussion on the subject of tools and process from the audience. This worked well, and the discussion was really interesting and informative.
That said, I see some room for improvement, much of which Dan has already pointed out above. I would've loved to see specific examples, especially during the section on process and how Dan's changes depending on the client. I was also assuming his section titled "Questions" would be on questions we could ask our team or clients, so the talk seemed to abruptly end rather than smoothly transition to audience discussion.
As a whole, the presentation flowed well and had useful content, so Dan shouldn't feel like it was a failure. Anything that generates good group discussion is a successful thing in my opinion.
Feedback I've heard from personal discussions:
1) The questions section at the end (intended for audience) seemed like a section titled 'questions'. People thought I was going to talk about questions people can ask their team/superiors. I moved into that too abruptly.
2) I made the rookie mistake of assuming everyone knew what Basecamp was. I was attempting to make a joke at their expense and a few people didn't know what I was talking about.
3) People were expecting more specific examples. I was trying to keep the talk more abstract and get into specifics during the questions. I took that approach too literally.
4) It was relevant to what a few people were currently experiencing. They could immediately use the info. Woot!