This is how I imagine the beginning of any software release. Birds chirping because it’s the first thing we’re doing this morning is kicking this project off. There is fresh fruit and bagels on the table because nothing reminds you more of something brand new than fresh fruit. Everyone is in a great mood, primarily because nothing has had a chance to go wrong yet. Everything and anything is possible – any risks that exist…
Here is the question we are all asking ourselves daily now that our calendars are littered with them – do we need this meeting. Worse – when we leave the meeting and have the answer – “we didn’t need that meeting”. Here is how I’m trying to break up my meeting schedule these days to get back the time to do work; Is there a problem/goal in mind that we are trying to solve? Yes,…
If you are not asking yourself each week what you can be doing your team. You’re not leading your team. Every week, you need to take stock of where they were the week before and what they need to be focused on this week. You need to look at what is on their plate and judge if it is plausible for them to finish. You need to be identifying where the gaps in your team…
When joining a new team the best way to make an impact is to volunteer for something. Anything. Can I test bugs? Can I fix some bugs? Can I review your code? Can I write some docs? These are the grunt work tasks. When Grunt Work doesn’t gets done it manifests into heaping loads of technical debt. Technical debt costs your team in the longrun. So if you’re looking to make an impact – pick…
It’s been like this forever. By the time Thursday comes around in the week, I’m exhausted – I’ve given my all, I need to recharge. The new week starts on Friday.