Articles for category: Leadership

November 16, 2017

Greg Thomas

The Clueless Leader

Isn’t the most demotivating feeling in the world when your leader has no idea what you are doing, how you are doing it, why you are doing it and as a result why it’s taking longer than expected. After all, aren’t they the ones that identified the work to be done and triaged it to you? Aren’t they the ones responsible for the end deliverable? Shouldn’t they have a little more knowledge in what they are responsible for so they can talk about it with confidence and passion to others and understand how and why you might be taking longer

November 15, 2017

Greg Thomas

The Angry Helper

The Angry Helper is the person who begrudgingly agrees to help you. They bemoan the process the whole time, bitter in the fact that they have to take time out of their day to help you figure out this “simple” problem that only they can understand. What you say and do is never enough to help, it was done wrong the first time and it will be done wrong the second and third and fourth time. And then they leave, sure whatever it was might now work, but you can see the wake behind them as they walk away, onto

November 8, 2017

Greg Thomas

The Final Hack

If you were to measure the amount of hacks shipping in the latest release of your product by the date they were created. You would probably see a hockey-stick style graph. Up until that moment, you’ve done everything right, laid the foundation, put in the effort, plowed through your grunt work – making gains all day every day. But now the end is in sight and everyone is getting excited or worried about what is going to happen next. Excited because they are finally going to be done. Worried because will it work and will customers like it. It’s the

November 7, 2017

Greg Thomas

Do you Trust your Team?

Then how do you expect to work together? If you can’t trust the person beside you, in front of you or behind you to be there when you need them the most. Then how can you lead them? You can’t. You need to know that when you ask for their help they will be there for you, or when the workload is too heavy they will all chip in to help or when it comes down to do their review they will know that you have their best interests at heart even when the news is sour. You can’t do

November 3, 2017

Greg Thomas

It’s Always a Good Job

If you know something today that you didn’t know yesterday – you did a Good Job. If you tried something new, fell on your face and want to get up tomorrow and try again – you are doing a Good Job. If your work is making people, think and question their approach – you are doing a Good Job. If your quiet actions are drowning out the deafening sounds of negativity – you are doing a Good Job. If you show up early, leave late and never complain about it – you are doing a Good Job. It’s not always