Articles for category: Initiative

March 5, 2021

Greg Thomas

How do you Show Up?

Do you come prepared for meetings? Are you always late to ZOOM calls? Does your work get pushed out from sprint to sprint? Do you ignore the big problems hoping go away? Do you appear with unbridled positivity? Do you take feedback or only seek validation? How you show up, how you present who you are to people, is how you will be seen. If you are always unprepared for meetings, showing up late and derailing meetings, you probably won’t get asked back – that’s how you decided to show up that day – maybe there was a reason, but

March 4, 2021

Greg Thomas

You’re always Catching Up

I wrote this on Impostor Syndrome awhile ago. You know what it is right? That feeling of being somewhere you don’t belong but wanting so bad to be there and yet you are filled with this feeling of not belonging and being found out… to be a… gasp… “Impostor”. It’s incredibly reminiscent of the game “Among Us” where the goal of the game is to root out the Impostor (because they are trying to kill you). As long as you aren’t malicious, misleading or lying to people, you’re not an Impostor, you’re simply learning, in the best way possible –

March 3, 2021

Greg Thomas

Getting Traction

Traction is what we all want, but is the hardest thing for us to get. We want our code to take to take root and run perfectly. We want our ideas to find meaning with people and make an impact. We want everything we are building to be rejoiced and admired by our customers. However long it takes or when it happens, it has never happened overnight. Showing up, putting in that effort, making those incremental gains, each and every day. That’s how you gain traction, now how you keep it and maintain it? That’s for you to decide.

February 26, 2021

Greg Thomas

What’s Their Motivation?

I forget about this from time to time, but was reminded by a colleague last week. When trying to find a way forward with colleagues, or a common ground, the first step forward can be in taking a step back and trying to understand what that team member’s motivation is. What are they focused on? Where are they starting from? What do they need? Where do they need to go? All these questions and more can help you understand the next steps of someone you are working with and how best to engage them to help them (and yourself move

February 22, 2021

Greg Thomas

But that first step…

Each time I sit down to write new code. Learn a new API. Write a new Post. Learn a new technology. Anything, whatever it is that is brand new, there is that first 5 minutes of “I have no idea what I’m doing and this is going to be a complete and utter mess” that goes through my head where I try and talk myself out of the work that I should be doing but am not. I sit there and stare at the screen and mentally go through all the things I have to do and my mind becomes