Blog

March 23, 2021

Greg Thomas

What a Difference a Year Makes?

There are about to be some weird and interesting posts popping up on Facebook Memories over the next few months. Where we started is not where we now are. We’ve all gone through that long project where it starts off with good intentions, gets a little muddled in between and then starts to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Or for many of us our year was not like this and took very many different paths. We’ve all had to deal with something go wrong over the last year. Whatever it is was, you made it through,

March 22, 2021

Greg Thomas

Let Them Speak

When discussing an issue with a team member, you already know there is an issue – that’s why you setup the meeting. But when you get the meeting, your role isn’t to talk, your role is to ask a question and wait. Wait as long as it takes, but wait. The silence will be deafening, good, that’s the point. If you keep filling the air with words, you are never going to let them speak. Even if what they are saying is wrong, take notes, let them go on and wait until the end. You need to hear from them,

March 21, 2021

Greg Thomas

Elbows No More

We used to be elbow to elbow, and it’s looking like that won’t happen until late Fall, maybe early winter. And honestly, who really wants to go back to work starting in November when its rain and darkness city? But we’re no longer elbows apart, we’re no longer rolling our chairs around to talk to someone. We’re apart, and we’re trying to replicate that or create something new. Your old values might have been about being close to one another, but now it’s changed, and if you’re implementing that change (great) just don’t forget to reflect them in your core

March 20, 2021

Greg Thomas

Who is doing what?

The question you always need to ask at any point in a project – Is who is doing what? Who is on that feature? Who is on that user story? Who is working on that bug? What are they moving onto next? It’s the toughest question to ask because immediately the person doing the work thinks – “how do you not know what I’m doing?” But they do, and they will because perhaps a few weeks ago you all decided on what was to be worked on, but things have changed since that time (perhaps even if it’s a week)

March 19, 2021

Greg Thomas

Breaking the Flow

Flow state is good, being in the zone is great. When you’re in it, it takes you down a path, and as long as you are in it, you keep moving down that path, you keep pushing, you keep delivering. Until, you find yourself down a rabbit hole, until you realize you’ve been flowing too long. So then you come back to the rest of the world with your plan, with all your work and you present it to everyone, and it’s at that point you realize something – you were gone too long, you didn’t check in, you missed