Each year, I take stock of where I was one year ago and what I accomplished in that time. This servers to answer a number of questions; Have I grown as person? Have I challenged myself? Am I proud with how I have conducted myself with others? Was everything I accomplished worth the sacrifice to other areas? Did I choose wisely? Am I on the right path to what I want to accomplish? For everyone…
We’ve all been on “that” project, the one that is plagued with problems, the one that you’ve been on for 6 months and you can’t seem to the team motivated on. It’s not a problem with the team or the purpose, somewhere it just waffled into what is today – people are doing things but it’s not really going anywhere. No one wants to set an end date to walk a way from it, it just…
A complaint always comes to you in a few ways – in most cases it is either very loud (i.e., an explosion in a meeting) or very soft (i.e., someone coming into your office, slumping down in their chair, feeling dejected). Whichever the case I’m constantly amazed at the overall contrast between the need for people to make the complaint vs the desire to do something about it. These are two very different things and they…
There are times, when the unpopular call is the only call to make. However, it’s unpopular for a reason, because it most likely causes any of the following; The team wonders why we are making this change? It may work, it may not, you don’t know. It’s probably late in the game and something needs to give. Initially, it causes confusion and fear – why what did we do to get here, surely there is another…
I’ve read a number of blogs and articles on the horrors of overtime and what it can do to your mind, body and soul. They are all true. Working 16 hour days is a schedule you won’t always be able to keep up. Staying in at lunch to code a few for bugs might give you a crick in the neck and make you moody. Helping someone over that hurdle of how to run the…