What is the root cause of a 10x engineer? Are “10x Engineers” mythical creatures that exist only in our imagination or are they real? Read More
10x Engineer – The Root Cause
New Hires
New hires present the best opportunityto put employees on their path to achieve their greatest potential. There are three very impactful people in determining the joy, success and fulfillment an employee finds in their job… Read More
New Managers
In developing talent within an organization, there are times where an individual contributor , often one that has excelled as an engineer, may be interested in becoming a manager. Read More
Building Bridges Between Product and Engineering
This “Build a Bridge“ question is from my list of interview questions I like to ask.It works for best for a Product Manager role, but can also be used for an Engineering leadership role… If, as a product manager, you wanted to have engineering build a bridge, how would you convey that to engineering? If… Read More
Radical Candor, Meaningful Conversations
Radical Candor is an overlooked asset in creating high-performance teams when that candor is built upon a foundation of trust. I’ve discovered that evoking transformation can often require radical candor. However, when properly applied, the transformation can resemble a metamorphosis. Read More
Data: Trust but Clarify
Trust but Clarify is a valuable practice often overlooked in analyzing data. We may follow best practices for bringing the most value to customers. Yet, we may still go awry if we simply follow principle and trust completely what the data is telling us. In his book, The Lean Startup, Eric Ries writes about the… Read More
Lean Out “Down” / Lean in “Up”
The WEF estimates that it will take the U.S. another 208 years to reach gender equality. So, women and minorities may need to lean in for some time. As leaders though, we should lean out to create space so others may lean in. Read More
Talent Code Applied
In Talent Code, Daniel Coyle describes deep learning via short repetitions, feedback loops. I have applied this approach in coaching sports and in business. Read More
Confidence Villains
Leaders inspire people to persevere in the face of adversity and ultimately derive energy from the challenge of confronting their villains. Read More
The Dark Side of Agile
Along with the virtues of Agile Software Development also can come some destructive downsides that can erode trust and effectiveness within your company culture. I recently attended a 3-day Scrum certification class where the founder of the particular methodology was the instructor. He insisted that managers not participate in standup meetings, planning meetings, grooming sessions,… Read More
Death Crawl
Lessons from the inspirational Death Crawl scene of Facing the Giants are applicable to various forms of leadership. Read More
Vectors of Influence
Vectors of Influence come from all sides in a changing world and tension easily arises that hinder effective Human Transformation. Read More
Different Stokes for Different Folks
My high school history teacher Mr. Hupert always used to say “different strokes fo different folks” in explaining how under different circumstances in different times with different people, different forms of government were effective. So, too, I discovered, it is with effective software development methodologies. When I joined IMVU, we were continuously deploying to our… Read More
Handling Interrupts
For any team that is responsible for existing systems that are already in use while also iterating on those systems to enhance and/or improve them there is also typically the burden of interrupts from the existing system. Forward progress is best made with concentrated effort that is focused and uninterrupted. How does one balance these… Read More
Lean Staffing – It’s about the People
The notion of Lean Staffing is best paired with the concept of The Lean Startup. In his insightful book The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, Eric Ries speaks of his startup lessons learned at IMVU and from many other companies he came to know afterwards including Intuit.… Read More
Start with Trust
Start with trust to set the foundations of a relationships when a new person joins your team. The first impression you make on them sets the foundation for the rest of your journey together. Read More
The Room Where it Happens
As leaders, much of the magic happens in the one-on-one conversations either in the privacy of a physical of virtual room (think Skype or Zoom) or on a walk-about as a more neutral setting and where you also benefit from the energy of being in Motion. These conversations should sometimes be as non-threatening as a… Read More
Where to Begin the Journey?
When a new person joins your team, the first impression you make on them sets the foundation for the rest of your journey together. So, the question arises: Where to Begin the Journey? Before you impress upon them your intentions and objectives as a leader, you should first establish with yourself what you believe to be the foundation of such as relationship. Read More
Aliens as Customers
Imagine you had aliens as customers. From my experience, this is much better than assuming we know them well and completely understand what would best serve them. If they are alien to you: Start Small and Iterate build-measure-learn Get to MVP quickly. Validate by testing variants. Use small steps to continuously innovate and iterate to… Read More