Articles for category: Leadership

March 26, 2020

Greg Thomas

Focus

It’s getting harder to maintain our focus on what needs to be done vs what is happening all around us. We are being torn in fifteen different directions at once with everything breaking at the same time. Our initial reaction is and always will be to yell out – “Hold on, let me think about this.” – but we don’t have that luxury around us. It reminds me of a release that is going sideways, customers are calling because things are breaking, vendors are calling because software is failing, managers are angry because it went out the door – there

Stay Still

With all that is happening in the world around us, everything is being affected, even our daily discourse and what we write about. Staying still is very hard to do. Our parents have been trying to get us to do it since we were kids – “Sit Down, Stay Still, Don’t Move!” How long did you last? Not long I imagine, I sure didn’t. But now we are having to stay still for a different reason, one that not only affects us but those around you. It’s hard, but if you think of those around you, it gets easier. Code

March 19, 2020

Greg Thomas

The Roles in a Team

We can’t all be leaders on the same team, it doesn’t work. Everyone would be suggesting their own approach and we would get nowhere. We need skills, we need people who can get things done, others that focus on short-term and long-term goals. We need people who are working with other teams and coordinating efforts and we need people who are on the bench ready to jump in when the moment arises. That’s what a team does, that’s what happens when you form teams within your community to support each other and what you put them together, you build a

March 16, 2020

Greg Thomas

Run With the Team

Not to be confused with – “Run the Team”. Leaders run with the team, before they ask their team to do something, they are doing it with them, they are trying it out before they ask them to, they are considering it before asking the team to do the same. Managers don’t run with teams, they run teams, they ask teams to consider options, ask them to try new things out and do things. It’s harder to spot in an office setting, but in a sports setting it’s simple. The leader who runs, is running, up there with this team.

March 13, 2020

Greg Thomas

New for the Sake of New

When you’re working with all the “new” stuff, everyone wants to use it. Everyone wants in on it. What was new is now old and who wants to work with that. This is great for learning and great for advancing your software and it’s capabilities. But if you don’t know why you are using it? Well then you are just doing some new because it’s new and not because it can actually help you out. Code Your Way Up is available today for purchase as an eBook or Paperback on Amazon (CAN and US).