Johanna Rothman

2026.05 Planning Miracle Happens Here - Johanna Rothman The Writing in Public podcast returns! Life, including many travel changes, etc, interrupted my normal schedule. But I'm back and starting a new nonfiction book about continual planning. Enjoy! The Po...

My Weekly #WritingWIP: 2026.05 Planning Miracle Happens Here
www.jrothman.com/mpd/2026/03/...
#Writing #Planning

How Can We Stop Waiting to Do What We Say Matters to Us? - Create an Adaptable Life I’ve had several lovely conversations over the past couple of weeks with friends and colleagues of long standing. (They’re not old people, which is why I’m not calling them old friends.) Each of them ...

How Can We Stop Waiting to Do What We Say Matters to Us?
createadaptablelife.com/2026/03/how-...
#QuestionOfTheWeek #Progress #Change

How Good is Your Backlog? Start with Ready Criteria, Part 1 - Johanna Rothman Does your team feel as if they can't really start when they take an item off the backlog? The team says the item feels too big. Or the team realizes they need someone else from some other team to solv...

How Good is Your Backlog? Start with Ready Criteria, Part 1
www.jrothman.com/mpd/2026/03/...
#StartForSuccess #Deliver #Scrum

I just had to share this video with you all because it has almost 300k views on Instagram and almost 1000 comments from people who are VERY VERY MAD to learn about this. But seriously don’t let them dull your ✨sparkle✨

A Shadow Full of Stars: A Mind-Bending Fantasy Novel The TWILIGHT ZONE meets ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST when a musician is offered a "life transplant" to cure his depression.

"All Eddie Logan had to do was take a step."

That's the opening line of my novel, A SHADOW FULL OF STARS. Which, in case you somehow haven't heard me mention it already, I'm running a Kickstarter to help fund the book's publication. I hope you can check it out!

kck.st/4rTZyne

How Will You Reinvent Yourself and Your Work So You Can Do What Matters? - Create an Adaptable Life Everyone I know wants to do good work with fair compensation. Often, that work gives them purpose and fulfills their need to do something that matters. However, everything is changing. Managers feel p...

How Will You Reinvent Yourself and Your Work So You Can Do What Matters?
createadaptablelife.com/2026/02/how-...
#QuestionOfTheWeek #Human

Yes! I could easily tell which of the answers were wrong. 😀. There was only one correct answer.

I finally found a terrific use for AI: read the (almost 3000) posts on my blog and help me find the one post I was looking for. It did!

This is what I mean when AI can help us access patterns in our (relatively clean) data.

*New* Insight? No. Access what we forgot/did not know we knew? Yes.

I understand why chatbot cheating happens but every time I read about it I want to gently remind everyone that the point of schoolwork is not for the submission to exist. Teachers are not just greedy for more essays or solved equations. The point is to do the work WITH YOUR OWN BRAIN, FOR LEARNING.

Leadership Tip 26: How to Use Critical Thinking to Make Work Better - Johanna Rothman This is Johanna Rothman's February 2026 Pragmatic Manager newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Jim, one of my trusted advisor clients, was all gung-ho on AI last year. He t...

My February Pragmatic Manager newsletter: Leadership Tip 26: How to Use Critical Thinking to Make Work Better
www.jrothman.com/newsletter/2...
video: youtu.be/VPib2pYD8Lc
#Thinking

Thank you!

How to Know the Difference Between Plans and Wishes for the Future - Johanna Rothman Several of my clients claim they have plans. But I don't see the elements of a plan in what they do. Instead, I see wishes that the future will unfold in a particular way. I also have wishes. But the ...

How to Know the Difference Between Plans and Wishes for the Future
www.jrothman.com/mpd/2026/02/...
#Plan

Three Ways to Reduce Your Uncertainty by Reinforcing Your Human Value - Create an Adaptable Life This is Johanna Rothman’s February 2026 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Steve, a long-time colleague, described how he feels about his career:...

My February 2026 Create an Adaptable Life newsletter: Three Ways to Reduce Your Uncertainty by Reinforcing Your Human Value
createadaptablelife.com/2026/02/thre...
video: youtu.be/PC5W_ZrmDuY
#Value #HumanFirst

Thanks.

I don't actually like the idea of shitty first drafts or vomiting words. Because those stink!

However, I am not a fan of perfection of any kind in writing. Perfection is impossible. Pursuing it means you don't publish.

Writing Secret 23: How to Ask for Useful Feedback on Short Writing - Johanna Rothman I'm not fond of feedback for short nonfiction writing, such as blog posts, for several reasons: Too often, the people who offer feedback are not the ideal reader for that piece. These nice people migh...

Writing Secret 23: How to Ask for Useful Feedback on Short Writing
www.jrothman.com/mpd/2026/02/...
#Writing #Feedback

Why Writing Feels So Hard and Why AI Is Not the Answer - Johanna Rothman I'm close to the end of teaching my last Free Your Inner Writer workshop. I started the workshop by challenging everything my students have learned about writing their entire lives. And these last two...

Why #Writing Feels So Hard and Why AI Is Not the Answer
www.jrothman.com/mpd/2026/02/...
#Practice #Learning #Change

The populace to the government every time there’s yet another new study saying that UBI works

My #Weekly #WritingWIP: 2026.04 More of the Carnival Short Story
www.jrothman.com/mpd/2026/01/...
#Fiction

Product Value Teams: Collaborative Leadership for Faster Learning and Delivery, Part 6 - Johanna Rothman If your company is similar to my clients, they want agility. That agility will allow their organizations to learn and deliver faster. That has all kinds of wonderful effects, such as capitalizing soft...

Product Value Teams: Collaborative Leadership for Faster Learning and Delivery, Part 6
www.jrothman.com/mpd/2026/01/...
#ProductLeadership #Agile #Collaboration

How Can We Make Sense of the World & Choose Something Useful Now? - Create an Adaptable Life Warning: This post is a discussion that includes politics and current events. I do not normally do this, but I can no longer be silent. What Does Your Tribe Mean to You? My dad described himself as a ...

How Can We Make Sense of the World & Choose Something Useful Now?
createadaptablelife.com/2026/01/how-...
#QuestionOfTheWeek #Choices

Less Than 24 Hours Remaining for the Effective Public Speaking Kickstarter - Johanna Rothman My Effective Public Speaking Kickstarter ends Tuesday, January 27, 2026, at noon Eastern. If you're on the fence, get off the fence and back it. It's time.

Less Than 24 Hours Remaining for the Effective Public Speaking Kickstarter
www.jrothman.com/mpd/2026/01/...
Back it now!
#Speaking #Kickstarter #ProjectWeLove

Effective Public Speaking: For Writers and Consultants Solve the discoverability problem & connect with your ideal readers or clients. Help your audience find you!

Less than 24 hours to join my Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/johannarothman/effective-public-speaking?ref=9u6w59. Back it now!
#Speaking #Kickstarter #ProjectWeLove

Find your ideal audience and build your author or consulting career.

Public Speaking Myth Nine: I Have Nothing to Say - Johanna Rothman Public Speaking Myth Nine: I Have Nothing to Say If you focus your writing or consulting, you might not think you have anything to say to “everyone.” You might even feel some imposter syndrome. That’s...

Public Speaking Myth Nine: I Have Nothing to Say
www.jrothman.com/mpd/2026/01/...
You have just over a day to join my Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/johannarothman/effective-public-speaking?ref=9u6w59. Back it now!
#Speaking #Kickstarter #ProjectWeLove

Effective Public Speaking: For Writers and Consultants Solve the discoverability problem & connect with your ideal readers or clients. Help your audience find you!

Want to find your ideal audience for books or consulting? Or influence an audience to consider change? Just 50 hours remaining in my Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/johannarothman/effective-public-speaking?ref=9u6w59. Back it now!
#Speaking #Kickstarter #ProjectWeLove

😂

Effective Public Speaking: For Writers and Consultants Solve the discoverability problem & connect with your ideal readers or clients. Help your audience find you!

Here's promotion for my Kickstarter, as opposed to the content marketing I've been doing:
Just 3 days remaining in my Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/johannarothman/effective-public-speaking?ref=9u6w59. Back it now!
#Speaking #Kickstarter #ProjectWeLove

I can't tell, either, but I somehow got many more followers yesterday. 😍

Public Speaking Myth Eight: Speakers Should Copy Someone Else - Johanna Rothman Public Speaking Myth Eight: Speakers Should Copy Someone Else Many less-practiced speakers think they need to copy someone else’s speaking style. But audiences can see right through that lack of authe...

Public Speaking Myth Eight: Speakers Should Copy Someone Else
www.jrothman.com/mpd/2026/01/...
Just 4 days remaining in my Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/johannarothman/effective-public-speaking?ref=9u6w59. Back it now!
#Speaking #Kickstarter #ProjectWeLove

Thanks for the boost!