management
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Scaling Teams: People, Projects, and Process
→: Scaling Teams: People, Projects, and ProcessScaling teams is one of my favourite things to do – probably because it’s where people meet systems, with ever-changing questions about what makes teams effective and how to balance now versus next. Sometimes this gets presented in a pure numbers way, but I like to come at it from a systems perspective: Engineering teams…
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Getting More Strategic
→: Getting More StrategicStrategy – how to be strategic, and how to be seen as strategic – is one of my ongoing obsessions. Years ago, I read Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, and it’s guided my thinking ever since. One of the things that book helps clarify is that being strategic and being seen as strategic can work against each…
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Podcast: The Confident Commit on Strategic Career Decisions
→: Podcast: The Confident Commit on Strategic Career DecisionsI had a great time recording this episode of the confident commit, and you can listen to it on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Things we covered:
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How I’ve Been Using AI
→: How I’ve Been Using AII feel like the whole AI conversation is dominated by two extremes. Those who believe in AGI, and AI skeptics. I’m trying to approach it as a tool that may or may not be useful. Here are some things I’ve found so far. Useful as an editing partner. For things where I have a clear…
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Decisions
→: DecisionsRecently, someone asked me for my “Leadership philosophy”. My initial reaction was to panic, but after taking a deep breath and a bit of time to think, I came up with this answer: “My job is to make it easier for people to make good decisions.” What does that mean? Firstly – that my job…
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Questions for the End of a 1:1
→: Questions for the End of a 1:1I have a set of questions I ask in some variation at the end of my 1:1s. What are you taking away?What was most useful to you? These two I got from my coach and I use them both at work and in my own coaching. The concrete questions are useful, but it can also…
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What Makes a Good Team?
→: What Makes a Good Team?No team is perfect, but I think it’s often kind of obvious when a team is bad – there’s usually a level of chaos or drama, a sense that they can’t be relied on or don’t really deliver the value that the organization needs. I think it’s also quite obvious when a team is good,…
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DevZero Podcast: Metrics that Matter
→: DevZero Podcast: Metrics that MatterWe talked about decisions, communicating, and what makes engineering teams work well. Watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify.
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Four things I learned from coaching that made me a better leader
→: Four things I learned from coaching that made me a better leaderAbout two and a half years ago, I finally completed CTI’s coach training courses – about 18 months after I started them, and much longer thinking “I think this would be useful and one day I will take it”. I find some people conceive of coaching as being a professional advice giver, or asking questions,…