Month: July 2020

July 31, 2020

Greg Thomas

Learning by Doing

There is a reason why coop programs are so valuable to our learning, growth and development. It’s because in addition to learning the academics, you are applying the theory and what you’ve learned to the practical and seeing what works for you. Junior developers spend their formative years putting what they’ve learned to the test. They don’t have time to focus on team leadership, project planning or delivery schedules – what they need to focus on is delivery and drive – learning platforms, understanding code, building unit tests. All that knowledge that when they are leading a team and the

July 30, 2020

Greg Thomas

Adding Fuel to the Fire

When you have a problem, you don’t need more fuel on the fire. What you need is for everyone to realize there is a fire. If everyone is on board that there is a fire then everyone will be on board to put it out. When we’re all adding fuel to the fire – venting about problems, complaining about apps going up and down, decrying bad practices, focusing on what team members do incorrectly or not the way that we want. All we are doing is throwing fuel onto the fire, ignoring the fire completely. Focus on the fire, not

July 29, 2020

Greg Thomas

Losing a Team Member

If you thought losing a team member who was sitting right beside you was hard. Wait until you lose one that you have been working with remotely for the past four months. To be honest, it doesn’t matter the timeline, what does matter is a member of your team is moving on. There are a lot of things probably running through your head – who are we going to find to replace them, how will we train them, what knowledge is going out the window, how do we get their equipment, etc, etc. These are all logical questions but the

July 28, 2020

Greg Thomas

Keeping your Team Motivated

Keeping your team motivated while they are remote is going to require you to get creative. When you’re in front of the room, when you have the company’s facilities behind you, you have a swagger that you can bring to the party. Right now, it’s you, a laptop and a camera. So what do you do? They aren’t robots – if they are, validate some captcha phrases just to be sure. But they aren’t so don’t treat them as such. Yes you need to manage your burndowns and delivery schedules, but you don’t need to overdue it. Now is not

July 27, 2020

Greg Thomas

Managers Need Not Apply

If you’re a Manager, what you really are is a Leader. This was my favourite section title from Code Your Way Up. Why? Because it sums up precisely what we need now, today, this instant – leaders, not managers. Your title might say Manager but you are anything but, it’s time to raise your game and realize you can be more and your team needs you to be more. The saying isn’t – “Take me to your Manager” – it’s “Take me to your Leader”. Don’t get one confused with the other.

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