Articles for category: Leadership

April 5, 2023

Greg Thomas

What Matters Next?

This is another question that a Dev Manager should always be working on in the background in anything they are doing. What matters next? Talking to QA, PM, and other development teams – the goal is to get ahead of what needs are coming at the team next and ensure that it is prioritized and laid out for them in a way that matters and a way that they can be successful. It’s not the team’s job to know the answer to this question, it’s the Dev Manager’s to have it answered for the team to act on.

March 30, 2023

Greg Thomas

How close to Release are you?

The Dev Manager should always have this number in the back of their head.  They should always be working towards it. They see the big picture, they see how the requirements are flowing in, they see how QA is testing, they see how things are working, what is doing well, what is doing poorly, what is slowing down the team, and where they are excelling. They should always have this number in their head + 1. The “+1” is their own internal buffer, it could be a week, a sprint, a month – whatever metric they have, it’s “+1”.  The

March 27, 2023

Greg Thomas

Chaotic Leadership

When we think of Chaos, we think of everything here, there, everywhere, and all over the place. Such is the place with Chaotic Leadership – we don’t know where we are headed, we barely know where we came from and we aren’t sure what’s next.  From day to day, our priorities change leaving us confused, unsure, weak in confidence, worried about what is next, and most importantly frustrated with what we are doing. The good news is there is a quick fix for chaotic leadership and it can be handled by anyone on your team. Stop, take stock of what

March 17, 2023

Greg Thomas

Validation vs Feedback

Validation is the pat on the back that you did a good job (irrespective of whether you truly did do a good job). Feedback is the understanding that you didn’t do a good job, but now you know where to focus next time to not only do a good job but surpass what you did. Not everyone wants feedback, even when they are begging for it, they want validation because they did a lot to get there – regardless of whether it was right or wrong. The tricky part of the leader is to crave a team that wants feedback,

March 16, 2023

Greg Thomas

But What’s Happening?

If you receive different answers and varied responses to the question “What’s Happening?” – then the answer is – “No one knows.” And that’s where you need to start to make things better.

© 2025 Rambli by Greg Thomas. All rights reserved.