Blog

December 7, 2015

Greg Thomas

Timeboxes are not One Size Fits All

Timeboxes are by definition the goal of trying to complete x amount of work in y amount of time.  When time is up so are you.  They have been applied to all sorts of industries and activities; Software Development Manufacturing Getting Ready for Bed The goal is to create small enough tasks that the user is comfortably able to estimate and complete in that box of time.  Can you code this in one day or in 1 week.  If you take a look at this definition from Wikipedia you can see how some project styles keep timeboxes quite small – 1

December 4, 2015

Greg Thomas

The Final Straw

Conflict in the workplace is nothing new – there is always someone you are not going to get along with, not see eye to eye with, butt heads with, etc, etc.  We’ve all worked with those people that we think are coasting through the day, leaving their work to others to pick up and take on. There are two paths to handling this situation – either confront them about it and find ways to work with them to make it better or walk away. This isn’t about walking away – that’s easy, push your chair back from the table stand-up,

December 2, 2015

Greg Thomas

Remember when you were the Newbie

I had something else in mind to write about tonight, but then in the middle of a break watched this video and immediately started laughing.  I don’t know what the context is (I don’t watch Scandal) but it brought me back to my first day starting with an ASP Hoster out of University – having other developers throwing projects and code at me and literally freaking out the whole day that I was 6 hours away from being fired when I wouldn’t be able to fix the shopping cart so customers could start buying again.  I went home that night and read all

November 30, 2015

Greg Thomas

Selling Yourself

This is the last thing anybody wants to do, it’s not easy, its awkward and everyone always worries how they come off. But it’s a necessity to life – especially in technology. Whether it be to an interview, a performance review or meeting someone at a conference for the first time, at some point you are going to have to Sell Yourself… not for the sale… but for the you. Now this not about shilling the product you just spent 8 months working on, no this is about you the person having to show your team, your leader, your peers,

November 28, 2015

Greg Thomas

Becoming an Expert

It takes so much to become an expert in your chosen field… an immense amount of learning, practical application and intense focus.  It might also require you to push aside a number of other ventures at the same time so you can hone in on it and really develop your skill set. And in the end – you will still not be an expert – not because of your effort but just become it is impossible for someone to know everything about everything.  You might be an expert for an hour or a day, but then a few hours later