Articles for category: Leadership

September 10, 2019

Greg Thomas

Good Teams Gone Bad

Good environments, great teams, amazing delivery environments, go bad. In can be a result of any number of factors; familiarity, history, hubris, laziness, indifference, whichever the factor you choose. But good teams can go bad. The goal is to make sure it doesn’t happen to yours and to always keep the focus where it should be. To that end; Keep them on target – distractions are a team’s worst enemy. Remind them why they are here – we all forget. Keep Levelling Up- don’t let them rest on their laurels, encourage them to reach for more. Focus on each member

August 28, 2019

Greg Thomas

The Successful Software Manager

When I first became a Software Manager, I was pretty lost, not sure what to do or where to start. I was pretty lucky in that I had a strong supporting environment and picked things up over time. Recently I was reading the book – “The Successful Software Manager” by Herman Fung and this brought me back to that first day to when I wasn’t sure where to start, what to work on, where I should be focusing my time and what I should be looking to do next week, month, year, etc with the team. Over the years, I’ve

Who do you Surround Yourself with?

You can’t always choose the best of the best of the best to surround yourself with. And you shouldn’t. You won’t learn as much when everything is perfect and everything is awesome. You need the struggle. You need the hiccups. You need the ups and downs and the disparate personalities to help you get better and grow. Those are the conditions that will help you grow and will help you teach other people how to level up and grow as well. Don’t go for perfect, go for tough, challenging, complicated opportunities – that’s where you grow, that’s where you deliver

Actions are where it’s At

It doesn’t matter, what you say or how many times you say it. How often you stand up in front of people to deliver that slick powerpoint that checks all the boxes for how good you can be. It doesn’t matter. Because no one will remember. They will remember how you acted and that’s what matters. Translation: Words are nice, but when not backed up by actions they mean very little and are only taken at face value.

The Long Road Back

If I can, I will take the long road back after a customer trip. The whole, hassle to get there, rush, rush with barely a moment to catch our breaths does nothing for me. I don’t get to think about the customer visits that just took place. I don’t get to think about what comes next and how we should attack it. I don’t get to focus on what needs to be done and what can wait. I don’t get to do any of it and that’s why the long road back can be better then the quick flight forward.