leadership (10)
Emotional Decision Making
May 2, 2019
I've been reading THINKING FAST AND SLOW by Daniel Kahneman. There is a real risk this blog temporarily becomes flooded by small bits from this fascinating work.…
Culture-Driven Onboarding
Aug 7, 2018
Friends know that I endlessly talk about team values. They've made a huge difference in my career - I still have a framed copy of Obtiva's values next to my desk (complete with our Big Hairy Audacious Goal courtesy of Dave Hoover).…
Five Minute Checkins
Jul 16, 2018
Let's say you only have 5 minutes with one of your teammates to answer the question "How satisfied is this person with their job?” What do you ask and what do you look for?…
The Missing One-on-One
Jul 9, 2018
Many new managers define 1:1 meetings as something like "a regular opportunity for a manager and their direct report to check in." That's a fine starting point but it misses out on a significant learning opportunity for leaders of all skill levels: the peer one-on-one.…
Monoliths Built to Last
Jul 2, 2018
Here’s a fun fact about my career: in almost a decade of working in Ruby, I’ve never been paid to write into a console. At Groupon and Braintree I’ve helped build some of the largest and longest-lived Rails monoliths in the world.…
Leading by Example Isn't Enough
Jun 25, 2018
In a recent coaching session, a manager said of a teammate "Why can't they follow my example and act more like me?" It's a natural desire but an effective manager has to recognize a hard truth: leading by example doesn't work, at least not the way we expect.…
The Four Levels of Autonomy
Jun 18, 2018
Engineers crave explicit feedback and expectations, and yet it's often hard to provide these when coaching on ownership and leadership.…
Keeping the Lights On
Aug 11, 2011
A hundred years ago, lighting lamps was a great way to earn a living. You'd carry around a giant pole and go from lamp to lamp lighting them up.…
Spray-and-Pray Developer Resumes
Sep 28, 2009
I interview a fair amount of software developers (although not as often as I used to, sadly), and so I have people ask me about a variety of issues related to finding programming gigs.…
How Much Longer Until It's Good?
Aug 12, 2008
I have a bit of an ~~insecurity~~ obsession with the quality of my code given how long I've been at this programming thing. I know that must seem like an awfully vain thing to wonder about, the technological equivalent of thinking about every passerby "Am I hotter than that guy?" That's not quite it though.…