Management

How do you know your impact?

Today I have questions. For no one in particular.

Is there a difference between micro-managing and course correcting as a means of guidance?

No one wants to be called a micro-manager, but many seek to assert their influence on…

The undoing work

Sometimes it’s tough to step back and reevaluate. When you’re so familiar with a thing you become color blind to its imperfections.

What may seem obvious to an outsider is routine and normal.

The leader and the boss

You can be a leader without being a boss. You can be a boss without being a leader. They do not always equate.

You can choose to be a leader, regardless of title and role, but you do have to work for it. How you think and behave will tell that story.

Servant leadership

I am fascinated and encouraged by the concept of servant leadership.

For those who may not know of servant leadership, I’ll let Robert Greenleaf, who coined the phrase, explain it:

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the…

Culture

It’s great to preach your culture when everything’s coming up aces. You can hang your posters and tout your awards. How every boastful of you!

But, your culture is who you are. Not who you say you are.

It’s as if you don’t want to be here

It was 2009, and I was about 9 months into my first real job. For those first months I had an easy job. Each week I would design and slice up marketing emails that would get sent out to our customers.

Dismissed

The worst thing you can do to someone is write them off. Unworthy of your time, support, and empathy.

I’ve watched younger designers and developers starting out. Eager to learn and grow be completely mismanaged.

In retrospect

In the agile development world one of the ceremonies is a retrospective. At the end of a sprint, a cycle of work, the team meets to discuss what they did well and what they could have done better.

This aims to continuously improve the development process, the output, and the…