The other day someone reached out to me with a question I get somewhat regularly, but I never really thought to write down my answer much. The question was, "How do you come up to speed quickly on new languages and technology?" Quick for me is produc...

A question I get asked a lot by the people I coach is, “Should I go back to school?” They often ask this as they struggle to navigate the ridiculous interviews companies put them through. So, should they go back? No. Before I end the article right th...

A client told me that they had recently tasked one of their subordinates to help someone else in the group. They were a little concerned with my uncharacteristic silence. After they asked why I was quiet, we talked about some of my concerns and what...

There is enough written about effective and more so ineffective stand-ups. This time I want to explore the idea of what happens after a stand-up is over. Specifically, the moment stand-up ends, what happens right after. There are two styles I want to...

A client told me that they had recently tasked one of their subordinates to help someone else in the group. They were a little concerned with my uncharacteristic silence. After they asked why I was quiet, we talked about some of my concerns and what...

Saucy title aside, I was thinking of various projects I’ve been on that had that extra bit of pressure on them. The kind where someone might lose their job if it fails. That led me to the topic of performance, not in the team sense, but instead of t...

I talked with a friend this week who was asking for some advice about if they should apply to some jobs they found recently. Before deciding now if they want the job, I suggested that they start with treating them as practice. We then talked about so...

Almost everywhere does something like Scrum these days or at least is familiar with it. Having said that, if you survey folks---and I have, you’ll find that most regard Scrum with ambivalence or animosity. Aside from consultants and trainers, of cour...

Most people I meet on their path to getting the job they want in software show me a resume that looks like something they either haven’t touched since school or full of fancy design aspects and empty when it comes to content. I quickly explain the c...

Many people know of things like SOLID, KISS, or DRY as guiding principles for good software, but my favorite is, “Tell, don’t ask.” What is it? In a nutshell, the tell, don’t ask principle is that objects should tell other objects what to do and not...