Articles for category: Leadership

December 5, 2016

Greg Thomas

Would you still be willing to try?

If you knew how long a project you were just assigned was really going to take would you take it on? Would knowing up front all the heartache, late nights, early mornings, frustrations or setbacks change your decisions? Would you go forward with a new plan to try and mitigate all those factors and make it better or just jump in with reckless abandon? It’s not a question of whether you’d pass or fail, but rather whether you’d still be willing to try? Sometimes that all it is, even when you know the answer, would you still be willing to

December 2, 2016

Greg Thomas

The Question Killer

Ever been in a meeting or session where the door is swung open to have as many questions asked on the content that is being presented? Ever been there to see all the denizens of questions being asked? Ever watched as the presenter/speaker shut down every question? The result? The next meeting you hold, there will be no questions, there will be no hands going up in the air, there will only be silence and nodding acceptance (even if none exists). Want to make sure this never happens to you? When you ask for questions, when you ask for feedback –

December 1, 2016

Greg Thomas

When Everyone is afraid of Failing, No one Succeeds

Have you ever watched  a sporting event where one team is really playing it safe.  Perhaps they have the lead, maybe they need a tie, maybe they can’t lose by too much.  Whatever the reason, they are not playing to succeed, they are playing to not fail.  All this talent that has brought them to this game and here they are afraid that someone could make a mistake and they’d fail. Trying a new move or breakout is too much risk, the cost of failure to high. Sure sometimes you need to play it safe – but when you start

November 30, 2016

Greg Thomas

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Sometimes you write really good code (or posts), sometimes you write bad code (again posts) and sometimes you write really, really ugly code (yup, posts too). The Good is amazing, you sit back in your chair and think – “I am a genius”.  Remember that clip from Golden Eye where the Russian Hacker makes it all work?  That’s how you feel. The Bad is still a pretty decent feeling, because you still feel good (not great though) because you accomplished something – “It’s not pretty but it does work… but it needs a little polish… later”. The Ugly is where

November 25, 2016

Greg Thomas

The Grinder

It’s not a place, it’s a point. A point in the project when there is so much to do, that all you can do is grind on the work that has to be done. It doesn’t matter what the work is, how complex it is, what needs to be done, etc. All that matters is that you’re at that point and you need to Grind. The Grinder doesn’t care about design patterns, frameworks, best practices or methodologies; it only cares about getting it done. Some people excel at Grinding, some don’t – it can be stressful and non-forgiving. There is only

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