Blog

October 9, 2020

Greg Thomas

Conveying Ideas

You have an idea. Seven months ago, you’d march into the room, grab the marker, cover the wall with your ingenious ideas as the team behind you consumed it all. When you were done, you’d drop the marker like a mic, sit down and bask in your glory as the team reveled in all that you created for them. Perhaps it didn’t quite happen like that, but you get the idea. Conveying an idea to your team is a much easier thing on-site than off. When you’re on-site you can see the moment your team starts to drift, where they

October 8, 2020

Greg Thomas

Hiring Remotely

On a good day, hiring people for your team is a challenge. A quick look at some articles I’ve written on interviewing further confirms how tricky this can be. Running a Technical Interview One Rule for Interviews How Not to Prep for an Interview – Part 2 Now Not to Prep for an Interview – Part I Stop the Memory Questions Getting Past the Gatekeeper Hire Someone Better Senior Years but Junior Experience Selling Yourself References Used to Mean Something And that is just what I’ve written about on this site alone and not in my book – Code Your

October 7, 2020

Greg Thomas

Owning a Problem

The easiest way to becoming a leader in whatever field you are in is a simple one. You don’t need a promotion. You don’t need a title. You don’t need to wait for someone to tell you it’s your turn. All you need is a problem and a problem that you are willing to solve and own. When you own a problem, when people see you starting to take responsibility for a problem their view on you changes. You go from being someone who works on “things” to someone who can “own” things, can push them through, can figure out

October 6, 2020

Greg Thomas

What’s my Purpose?

This is the question we are definitely not asking enough of ourselves today. Which of course then begets the follow-ups… Where am I headed? How am I planning to get there? Am I on track? Do I need help? Where should I focus my energies? What do you I need to learn? Where do I need to learn it? But all these questions, they all start with that first question, that only you can answer. What is my purpose?

October 5, 2020

Greg Thomas

Stop Pushing Things Out

When you had a problem in the office, you’d walk by that person’s desk, sit down, have a chat with them and get the problem resolved. If the issue was raised in the morning (i.e., a delayed project), you’d schedule something for early afternoon to sit down and figure things out. If you passed them in the hall you might stop, have a quick 5 min chat and get things resolved. All of these involved physical cues from working on-site with your team, side-by-side, elbow to elbow – crammed into cubicles that were too small (and we all complained about).