Blog

March 29, 2016

Greg Thomas

LinkedIn Connection Requests

I receive a few unsolicited connection requests a month from people I have never met. Maybe they have read something I wrote (that’s cool). Maybe they want to partner or work with me (that’s cool too). Maybe they want to sell me something (sure why not, that’s what it’s there for). Maybe I’m a small part of them trying to grow their network with like minded people (all sounds great). When I receive these requests where the profile is incomplete, no photo, no experience, no effort in trying to create something – I’ll always reject them flat-out.  The goal of

March 28, 2016

Greg Thomas

Oranges and Innovation

It’s not about how you grow a great orange.  In business schools, we really teach people how to squeeze oranges – how to manage for greater efficiency and economies of scale – not how to grow new and better oranges, which requires a different kind of thinking.  Business schools may offer a few selective courses in innovation, but they foster a mind-set that promotes way more obsession with how to make money than how to create a truly great, innovative product, and that obsession will suck the life out of the organizational pursuit of innovation. From the book – Creating

March 25, 2016

Greg Thomas

Own your Niche

Speciality or Everything – it’s always the same battle. Will being a generalist at everything be what propels my career or will focussing on my niche give me the expertise I need to be “that guy” that everyone comes to for answers. When you are a generalist, you need to get used to being spread thin, there is no ifs and/or buts about.  You know a bit about everything, people from all over the place will start coming to you for a variety of things – sales questions, product management ideas, design problems, code reviews, platform integration, etc, etc. When

March 24, 2016

Greg Thomas

Out the Door vs Off your Plate

There is a difference between getting something out the door vs getting it off your plate.  You might think they are similar in part because they both involve completing something, to some degree, however with closer inspection you start to see the difference. Out the Door You’ve been on this for awhile and now’s the time to make the push. Build something and deliver it. Work hard towards the end to push something out the door for people to use. Bring the team together to drive towards an end goal that needs to happen. Get customer feedback through the trial process to

March 23, 2016

Greg Thomas

Doing work in Typical Time

When something comes across your desk, that something being; Bugs A new feature A napkin with some requirements on it A blackbox that no one has ever seen but has to be tested That new project that doesn’t push the envelope, but takes it, rips it up and creates a new one. The first question is always the same; “When can you have it done?” And the first thing that goes through your mind, everyone’s mind is always the same… “Wasn’t expecting this today, got a lot on my plate, how do I fit this in?” And from there we