Maker to Manager to Leader

In the 5 second survey I sent, I asked: What is your hardest problem at work right now?

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

In a flash, technical managers and leaders can turn from a self-actualized, empathic boss into a clueless jerk. You probably won’t see it…

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…

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

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?”

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

What do these questions all have in common?

Casey asked this question today:

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

Olivier wrote me last week: I’d be interested in tips on how to bring positivity in a team that is exhausted and stressed out. ​ This got…

When I started leading a team, I got bogged down pretty quickly in it and ran back to coding. I liked the title and the money, but I spent…

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…

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

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

Another dev tool came out today on HN.

Immature leaders ask “what’s the ultimate best solution?”. They imagine solving their problem so well it is solved forever.

Oliver told me, “My 1:1 meeting with Sean surprised me this week. It was a bit deeper, more personal. Out of the blue, he mentioned he was…

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

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…

It is filled with testers, QA managers, Test Engineers, Quality Engineers, Quality Directors and others with similar titles.

“Marcus, you don’t have the backbone for this job. You simply don’t have the balls. I’m telling you this for your benefit.”