Maker to Manager

I’ll keep this brief. The most surprising part of last week’s leadership training simulation was when someone asked me: Are you really a…

I was chatting with my general contractor, and the subject of offering feedback to team members came up. See if this sounds familiar.

Last week my wife, Amy, and I ran fifteen technical leaders through two days of leadership simulations, evoking laughter, conflict and even…

I’m leading a Technology Leadership workshop in San Jose at Velocity Conference this week. Thanks to the Experiential Learning Bundle by…

Casey asked this question today:

Does this sound familiar? <start> January: “, I’m super excited to hire your team to build this. Let’s do it! When do we start?”

Quick trick question: Which is more important when running your team: being task focused or relationship focused?

Kendall wrote in with this question and was kind enough to allow me to share the answer with y’all. Hey Marcus, I’ve experienced that sort…

“You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out. You put your right foot in, and you shake it all about.”

When I was in high-school the worst phrase a guy could hear from a gal was “I like you as a friend.”

Sitting in my office, door slightly ajar, I heard Jimmy, the QA guy, talking loudly and sarcastically to of my programmers. “So, Vinuth…

At my last job, my boss told me I had the knack of “Stepping on someone’s toes without scuffing their shoes.” I didn’t understand that at…

If you manage a remote team, you need to use emojis. You probably should use them more than you think.

Eric and I sat in our one-on-one meeting, discussing his project.

“Whoa, those are some white legs!”, Wayne yelled to me as he worked on the roof. Wayne, the lead carpenter on the house I’m building, is a…

Cognitive dissonance theory shows us that when our behavior doesn’t match our intentions, we feel discomfort. For example, a smoker might…

The refactoring / rewriting decision is a complicated one, with many factors to consider. In my experience, refactoring/rewrite discussions…

When I interviewed Jamie for a position at ZenTech, he seemed like an enthusiastic engineer. With solid tech skills, ideas for process and…

I need to lose weight, so I try to walk every day. Some of you might recall that I went to Europe 18 months ago, and I’ve gained 20 pounds…

Another dev tool came out today on HN.

When I left my last job, I didn’t leave well, and that has caused me angst and regret. When you do leave well you exit gracefully, without…

“Dude, she totally ghosted me,” Ryan said. “What does that mean?” I asked. “That’s when a gal just stops responding to your texts or calls…