Month: September 2016

September 30, 2016

Greg Thomas

The Real Cost of losing a Team Member

I’ve struggled with this topic for awhile – how to quantify when someone leaves your team or company – what is the impact to you, to start all over again, even with the best of best hires. NOTE: THIS IS NOT A SCIENTIFIC OR PROVEN FORMULA. The biggest hurdle is always the investment through training, domain knowledge and overall cohesion with the team.  Measuring your external training investment is easy, but measuring internal training, knowledge transfer, etc over the course of their employment with you is very difficult. Until now. The variables X is the amount that you invest in this resource

September 29, 2016

Greg Thomas

Career Lines vs Career Paths

A Career Line is a step-by-step instruction manual that will take you from A to B in the most efficient manner possible – don’t go to jail, don’t stop at GO and collect $200. A Career Path is a trajectory that can lead you to many stops along the way, some good, some bad, some regret, some you wish you could visit again and again.  It doesn’t go straight, it’s not an arrow, it’s not the direct route to get you from A to B. The Line is a highway that’ll get you there in a pre-known point of time,

September 28, 2016

Greg Thomas

What you need to be a Great Team Lead

Whether you are a developer becoming a Team Lead, an Architect becoming a Team Lead or you’ve been hired as a Team Lead, the skills you need are always the same. Learn the People – you might know everyone’s work, but you don’t know their style, take a moment, breathe it in and figure out a strategy for how you are going to work with everyone. Know the Technology – Team leads are generally closer to technology problems than their managers, often doing active coding while working with the team side-by-side.  Your learning doesn’t stop here, it’s just getting started,

September 27, 2016

Greg Thomas

Project Support

Getting a project off the ground, especially when it is… Something new Personal Represents a big change in direction Goes against the status quo? Is never easy. We get down on ourselves, we feel like we aren’t making enough progress, it doesn’t work the first time, etc, etc. That’s where Project Support comes in. Project Support is someone (or ones) that are there to support you in making it happen.  Now don’t confuse Project Support with someone who is aligned with your vision and goals and votes with you at a meeting. No Project Support is very different. The Project