Published in HackerNoon.com·Sep 3, 2018Engineering decision model: messy opinions, neat ownershipHaving founded a startup before and being now a manager of a small engineering team in another fast-growing startup, I’ve been leveraging the opportunity to experiment with a decision-making framework designed to be scalable, in the hope that the learnings we get will help our engineering organization scale on those…Leadership13 min read
Feb 26, 2018Launching While42 Chicago!Did you know that the name “Chicago” was coined by a Frenchman? Robert de la Salle heard local tribes call a swamp “shikaakwa” (“wild garlic”) because of the distinct bad smell the plant emits (yes, the initial location of Chicago initially stinked!), …Chicago1 min read
Published in HackerNoon.com·Dec 19, 2017Opinion: What is a tech company? — How to generate technical innovation?Those are my definitions, and not meant to be universal; but they have served me well in my past years navigating and advising tech companies of various stages. I hope they’re useful to you with regard to your own definitions. This is part 2 of 2, check out part 1…Startup5 min read
Published in HackerNoon.com·Dec 5, 2017Opinion: What is a tech company? — What is technical innovation?Those are my definitions, and not meant to be universal; but they have served me well in my past years navigating and advising tech companies of various stages. I hope they’re useful to you with regard to your own definitions. What is innovation? — An intersection of two things I tend to call innovation something that matches both those…Tech5 min read
Published in HackerNoon.com·Sep 9, 2017Engineers, Don’t Ever Take The First OfferOne of the least successful and yet most strategic advice I used to give my students at Holberton School was: when hunting for engineering jobs, no matter how hard it was to get your first offer, don’t ever accept it right away. Of course be clear that you’re not refusing…Jobs5 min read
Published in HackerNoon.com·Jun 12, 201710x engineers take long napsThis think piece was inspired by Jen Myers’s talk “Move at a Reasonable Speed & Balance Things” at Front-End Camp Chicago, in which she discussed, among other things, the human risks behind the “move fast & break things” approach. I’ve been bumping my head against a crazy paradox lately: I…Software Development7 min read
May 8, 2017What Americans Can Learn From The French Presidential Election.As a French transplant in the US, and after experiencing both the American and French presidential elections the past few months, I’m finding myself noticing a lot of similarities between the 2 initial situations, but very little in common about what ended up happening. …French Election7 min read
Nov 18, 2016Président Trump, ce successeur naturel d’ObamaUne fois le choc passé de ce résultat d’élection, fortement inattendu du monde entier (y compris d’une majorité d’Américains), nous voyons tous se révéler au grand jour une certaine réalité américaine que les médias n’ont jamais vraiment couverte. Mu par mon besoin de comprendre au mieux les gens derrière tous…Donald Trump14 min read
Sep 13, 2014Pourquoi les Français détestent les Américains en ce momentL’un des intérêts à lire la presse en ligne de deux pays différents, c’est de pouvoir observer leurs tendances respectives de manière un peu plus objective. …4 min read