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How Do Teams Define Success?
This is part 3 of a series of blog posts based on a talk I prepared called Successfully Derailed Product. It’s about the ways in which we define and talk about “success” influence what – and how – we...
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Creating Success, Together
This is the final part of a 6-part series of blog posts based on a talk I prepared called Successfully Derailed Product. It’s about the ways in which we define and talk about “success” influence what –...
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Towards Productive Technical Discussions
Note: I wrote this post for an internal team blog, but thought it was worth sharing more widely. Credit: Pixabay / congerdesign Part of getting to good code reviews is some up front discussion about...
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On Boiling Frogs and Drowning Rats
Credit: Flickr / Mad Visions Today's management lesson: "You have to boil people like frogs, not drown them like rats" — @catehstn — Beau (@beaulebens) June 25, 2018 Beau recently tweeted an...
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Understanding how process impacts outcome can help avoid useless meetings
My first article in Quartz! Earlier this year, when I was learning how to facilitate a specific type of workshop, a colleague revealed the secret to making it great: understanding the outcome and...
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The first two questions to ask when your team is struggling
My second article in Quartz… I’ve never stepped into a leadership role without it quickly becoming clear why a new leader was needed. I think it’s normal for companies to hire new leaders when there...
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Answer these 10 questions to understand if you’re a good manager
My latest in Quartz… Something I struggled with as a new manager was finding a sense of accomplishment, and as I’ve moved on to manage managers, I’ve seen this become a challenge for them, too. It’s...
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As a leader, your job should change every six months even if you stay put
My latest in Quartz… Leadership roles evolve, especially through periods of transition. As a leader, I have found my own role changing as challenges on the team change—around every four months I...
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Why a good boss likes it when people complain
My latest in Quartz… I know some managers say “don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions,” but personally I don’t subscribe to it.I love when people complain to me. Of course, complaining is a...
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How to build—and manage—a self-improving team
My latest in Quartz… A lot of things in management become clearer when you realize it’s much easier to measure a team’s progress than its state.A team produces 30 units of “x” in a week. Is this good?...
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Mastering New Leadership Styles
Credit: Wikimedia “The best leaders master multiple leadership styles”, blithely comments some post on leadership. OK, including one written by me. But how? Many leaders are overly reliant on a style...
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The only truthful answer to any question about management
My latest in Quartz… With a few other people, I run a Slack chat group for engineering managers. We’ve made some deliberate choices—for example, we don’t have a channel for #inclusion. Every so often...
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Remote-team managers can learn a lot from open-source communities
My latest in Quartz… It is truly a difficult and emotionally exhausting time to be a manager. Even those who are used to managing remotely are having to navigate the shifting expectations and chaos of...
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Remote Work Discussion on Channel 4 News
I was on the UK’s Channel 4 news talking about remote work, you can see the video which is provocatively titled “‘Economy could be at a standstill if we don’t get people back into work’ – businesswoman...
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Hotfixes for your Newly Remote Team
“Twitter 365 – Ft Yotsuba [341]” by KayVee.INC is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 As many of us accept the new reality, hair increasingly wild, and perhaps having embraced a pandemic wardrobe (daytime...
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You can fix your hiring process: Here’s your five-step plan
My latest in Quartz… As a manager who has usually taken over teams that have been struggling in some way, there is something that I’ve consistently had to do: fix the hiring process. Hiring well is a...
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Supermanagers Podcast
I recorded an episode of the Supermanagers podcast and it was really fun! We talked about many things including the importance of coachability, why you should get rid of your boring meetings, and the...
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Leading your engineering team with ‘experiments’ not ‘processes’
My first post for the LeadDev… Many teams have the same fear when it comes to a new manager: they fear the process monster.Process monster (n): a manager for whom the answer is always, always...
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Lead Time Chat
My friend Jean and I recorded a little video for her Lead Time Chat series on the topic of coaching. Some topics we covered… The difference between an external coach and a manager.Working with an...
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Empowering your engineering team with an effective decision-making process
My latest for LeadDev… A common area where managers fail to scale is in decision-making.The two extremes are: being responsible means making all decisions and enabling a team means staying out of...
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