Scrum Masters are farmers whose seeds are employees and whose crops are people. Let me give a quick explanation of this. Think about any time you have called customer service or support. I think, that psychologically you begin this interaction by loo...

Every software developer and engineer I've ever worked with, myself included, has remarked at how romantic it is to do yard work. We remember fondly how our bodies felt tired and satisfied after a hard day of labor, and how when the task was done we...

It’s time to talk about your lifestyle, and what you’re doing to make sure you’re working towards it. Take some time aside from your busy activities. Let’s say thirty minutes, and begin ask yourself this question: You wake up in the morning sometime...

You’re probably noticing my emails are a bit different. I’m trying out a new provider. Let me know what you think about the new experience! I’ve been thinking a lot about how many people, teams, and groups go about doing work, how they decide they ar...

The adjustment to everyone working remotely continues, and companies everywhere are experiencing a lot of hard decisions as their main lines of business are interrupted. My clients and others I know are reporting layoffs, furloughs, and other work in...

Getting ready to change jobs takes a lot of effort and courage. After you’ve made up your mind, then comes all details of getting ready: Searching for jobs, asking friends, updating resumes, LinkedIn, and so on. But, there is a habit that if you star...

This week I wanted to write about a technique that I use pretty regularly. The Pomodoro Technique. While I suspect many of you are familiar with it, I want to go over the basics so that if you want to find a way to make the most of the time you have,...

When I first became a Senior Engineer and was told that I was now expected to mentor my juniors I had no idea what to do. Soon my own panic was replaced by a greater one. None of my juniors were asking for anything and I had no idea what was happenin...

It seems like there is always another meeting coming up for most of us. And if your experience is like mine and many others, that thought doesn’t bring a lot of joy. The fact is, most meetings are a boring chore that struggles to accomplish much. The...

I’ve found myself in the past 2-3 weeks, well, unlike myself. I realized that who I am now is a lot more like the person I used to be, and I have been thinking about how I’ll move past it. One part of that is the idea of creating a stance. Years ago,...