It’s easy to hide behind big aspirations
If you’re not making progress on your lofty goals, make them less lofty. That way there are fewer places to hide.
The working workout
On any given week, I have a few hours of double booked meeting recordings and trainings. In the past, I’d listen to those at a computer, meaning I’d be distracted by Slack and email. So I’ve started listening to them on my phone while running or working out. There’s no distraction so I get more … Continue reading The working workout
Shame vs. guilt
It’s another cliched Brené Brown instagram-meme-ish topic, but the core is simple and useful.
“It’s one of the great fallacies that time gives much of anything but years and sadness to a man.”
There’s a lot to unpack, and I can’t decide how I feel yet.
Lose touch with people
It doesn’t mean I don’t like you, it just means you’re not on my square squad and I’m probably not on yours either.
Ask three questions before you share an opinion
If you want to be heard, listen. But that’s easier said than done.
“Do you take pride in your hurt? Does it make you seem large and tragic?”
Why should we feel anger at the world? As if the world would notice.
An ordinary day, ten years from now
I’m a big fan of life goals but I’d never heard this framing of it.
Do I like it, or do I like being seen as a person who likes it?
There’s a sticky gray area between liking something and liking the reputation it brings. How do I separate that?
Road trips: a metaphor for Scrum
It’s not a perfect comparison but it can help a Scrum newbie understand the basics.
Schedule 1-1s right before standup
Here’s why: You both need to leave on time, so there’s never any “ah, we’re at time, do you need to run?” funny business. I’m very guilty of that. Butting a meeting up against another meeting is better for the maker’s schedule than lots of choppy meetings spread throughout the day, killing any hope of … Continue reading Schedule 1-1s right before standup
Minoritized people are over-mentored and under-sponsored
But the problem is that sponsorship is both harder and riskier than mentorship.
Why isn’t mob programming everywhere?
Mobbing is some silver bullet insanity, so why aren’t more teams doing it?
The Stress List
If you feel vaguely stressed and you can’t figure out why, try making a stress list.
House painting and team focus
Your three room apartment needs its walls painted so you get (i.e., beg) two friends to come help.
“You run like a big cat.”
“A race?” The child laughed again, obviously wary of being teased. “But where are your opponents?” He said it oh-po-nuts.
Do the stuff nobody else is doing
I became an engineering manager about eight months ago and immediately had no idea what I should be doing.
Brady Grapehouse
“You weren’t allowed to hide behind your own illusions because Brady did not hide behind his.”
The simulation
If someone gave you a perfect simulation of today’s world to play in and told you that it’s all fake with no actual consequences…
An outage is just expensive knowledge
If your company does post mortems well, then that outage is a gift.
Death to meaningless business-speak
There’s some top secret training course out there called How to Speak Professionally Without Ever Saying Anything. I’m sure of it. And senior leaders of medium to large companies are legally required to take it.
There’s STILL too much text on slide presentations
Every “how to present” guide in the history of slide decks has said this. So how is it still a thing?
Good at the job vs. good at the company
Since you’re improving in your job overall, you can’t tell that you’ve stagnated in the stuff that really matters
Fear rules the world
I once read an article somewhere that said fear is the determining factor in the average person’s career path.
Rant: being bad at something doesn’t make you special
If you’re bad at something, you can work on fixing it or you can work on living with it. But it shouldn’t be socially acceptable to brag about it.
Am I doing a good job?
I spend each day wondering how I’m really doing (and worrying that the answer is “not great, dude”) and it’s exhausting.
Getting serious about breaks between meetings
Microsoft did some research about what back to back meetings do to your brain. It thoroughly freaked me out.
Severe clear
Severe clear: an aviation term airline pilots use to describe a bright blue sky with seemingly unlimited visibility. Severe clear conditions usually occur following a storm.
What type of accidental diminisher are you?
Lots of well-meaning leaders are diminishing their people instead of multiplying them.
Stop shaming people for checking Slack on vacation
I like knowing that I’m not going to come back to a bajillion DMs and thread replies to catch up on.
The five BS rules for life
When they’re written out, they’re obviously toxic. But most of us spend our entire lives following them.
Speaking more while speaking less
The other day, I realized that the more-often-but-smaller principle applies to me with speaking in meetings.
What’s your native genius?
And the more interesting question: how can you take two or more of those talents and combine them?
Assume they’re venting
Nobody wants to say “stop helping me, I’m just venting.” But it’s easy for them to say “so what should I do?”
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