Your pain is your purpose
About a year ago, I wrote “If you don’t know who you are, pay attention to what you get mad about”. Now, I think “mad” is a little too narrow minded…
Your labels expire
The more you accept that your labels expire, the smaller your identity becomes. And I think that’s a good thing!
Lower your expectations of people outside your circle
It’s like a specific flavor of the serenity prayer…
Run towards something, not away from something…?
“It generally feels better to run toward something than to run away from something. Focus on what is pulling you in, not what you’re trying to avoid.”
Unmute to laugh!
I don’t care if it’s a giggle or a chuckle or a chortle or a guffaw or a good old fashioned belly laugh. I want to hear it.
What’s the smallest step forward that you could take?
It’s a good question for challenging procrastination.
How to deal with low performers on a mob programming team?
Low performers usually fit one of these two molds…
Start sprints in the middle of the week
Why you shouldn’t end sprints on Fridays and start them on Mondays…
BLOCK SLACK
I have talked a lot lot lot lot lot lot about my crippling Slack addiction. But it all really comes down to one thing, the only thing that consistently works for me, and has for years…
The (remote) walking 1-1
With Zoom on my phone and a decent bluetooth headset, I can go for a walk AND have a (video-less) 1-1 chat.
The two minute rule for GTD
The problem I have is that most of my less-than-two-minute todos are defined while I’m on a 1-1 with someone.
The tombstone exercise. Or not?
I’ve been thinking a lot about my values lately and I came across this exercise…
Types of running workouts
Every running training plan seems to use different names for types of running workouts so here’s a little glossary.
Whiten your teeth
It’s cheap, you can do it at home, and a whiter smile makes everyone a little bit nicer to you.
Writing tasty tasks
A tasty task is one that makes you want to do it, and doesn’t fill you with “ugh”.
50 word personal README, version 2.0
In 2021, I wrote a 50 word personal README. It’s time for an update.
I barely use Google anymore
ChatGPT is better than Google at answering half of my questions, and Reddit is better at answering the other half.
The “Shut Up And Write” meeting
I know, it makes no logical sense to join a meeting where no one is allowed to talk. But it works wonders for motivation and accountability.
What I want in a job
The book Coaching From Essence talks about finding your “essence” and says to make three lists of clues…
Parroting my blog posts
Sometimes I feel like the person I’m talking to could search my blog and save us both time.
Swap out your shoelaces
New shoelaces can make boring shoes look cool and make old shoes look fresh.
Am I OK with feeling like this indefinitely?
What if I had a crystal ball that could tell me that in one year, I’d feel exactly the same way. Would that be enough for me to pursue a big change, right now?
Personal finance in 118 words
Follow these steps in this order and you’ll be in good shape financially.
Death to the BRAT diet. Long live FLUEYMASH!
We’re recovering from a wicked, wicked stomach bug in our house.
Don’t give a lot of notice when you quit
Your “I’m on my way out” phase can last months even if the actual notice is only two weeks.
The five minute rule for procrastination
Out of the bajillion methods for killing procrastination, this is one of the only ones that has consistently worked for me for years.
The crappy parts of engineering management
There are two categories of crap: good stuff you lose, and bad stuff you gain.
What’s a low job happiness score?
If someone rates their job happiness at a six out of ten, they’re very unhappy
Stop stopping at good stopping points
If you stop when something is broken but close to being fixed, it’ll be easy to get started again the next day.
Estimate relatively, not absolutely
Humans are bad at saying how many hours something will take. But we’re pretty good at comparing two different somethings and deciding which is bigger.
Pull methodology, flow time, and WIP limits: visualized
If you work on an engineering team, you should watch this five minute video on pull methodology and flow time.
Beware issues that are born in “Doing”
If a ticket is created in “In Progress” and skips right past the backlog, then it’s probably unplanned work. And unplanned work is almost always at least one type of waste.
The physiological sigh
The “physiological sigh” is an example of a bottom-up stress management technique that can be used acutely to reduce stress or anxiety.
Loading…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Mike Crittenden 