March 4, 2025
It’s the only way to get better. Use a spreadsheet, get a notebook, whatever works – build something that keeps it together. Scattered papers work for the day, not the week, not the month, not the year. Getting Organized is key to moving forward, it’s the only way to move forward, because it gives you the direction to move forward in, mapped out in front of you.
January 8, 2025
But is it your job to know how it works? If the answer is no, then why are people asking you how it works? If the answer is yes, and you are responsible for it than how does this problem get resolved? You can’t hide in a sea of unknowns if you are supposed to know how it works – no amount of diagrams or technical jargon will keep the problem hidden.
August 25, 2024
You know the question, go find the answer. Tickets are good for work that is going to take more than 30 minutes to an hour. Anything else? Do you need a ticket? Don’t get me wrong, I’m big on describing my work so people can know what I’m doing. If it’s anything less than 30 mins, I group it together. I don’t create tickets that say – “Apply Bold”. If I’m working on Task X, and I get asked a question, I’ll answer the question, not create a ticket to answer the question at a later date. Presumably, you need
July 6, 2024
How many times did you say this PC? (Pre-Cloud) I remember physically going into someone’s office to pick up their machine so we could debug why some code wasn’t working on their machine. You can’t do that anymore, it’s not possible. Now instead of “My Machine”, it’s “My Environment” – things can work in one and not in the other, but the steps remain the same. What’s the difference? What’s there that isn’t here? How can you step through things? Can you step through things? What would make this easier? Based on WordPress URL naming, I’ve written on this topic
March 5, 2024
I wrote this article originally on Medium – Team Leads vs Technical Leads – and have been stumped figuring out a follow-up for it. When I wrote it, it drove me home because I see so many developers stuck between being a Team vs a Technical Lead – thinking if they go one way, they close the door on the other role forever – which is furthest from the truth. If anything, it will make you better in the latter, knowing what the other one does.
