management
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A good onboarding experience for new hires requires two key things
→: A good onboarding experience for new hires requires two key thingsMy latest in Quartz… In my time as a manger, I’ve encountered quite a few people who were badly onboarded. As a rule it takes as long a time or longer to fix it as it took to poorly onboard them. Sometimes we’re able to re-onboard people and make them successful… and sometimes it’s too…
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Every manager needs the magic of a work BFF
→: Every manager needs the magic of a work BFFRecent piece in Quartz… One of the few pieces of advice I feel good about giving to everyone is this: When your job gets harder, the best thing you can do is make a friend. This is also backed by the data. Gallup research has consistently shown that having a best friend at work leads to better…
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Distributed: How to Build and Strengthen Distributed Engineering Teams
→: Distributed: How to Build and Strengthen Distributed Engineering TeamsI recorded an episode of my boss Matt’s podcast with him, it was really fun and we covered some interesting topics! They also write up a nice piece to go with it, which you can read here. [Transcript] [Apple] [Radio Public][Overcast]
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How to build—and manage—a self-improving team
→: How to build—and manage—a self-improving teamMy latest in Quartz… A lot of things in management become clearer when you realize it’s much easier to measure a team’s progress than its state. A team produces 30 units of “x” in a week. Is this good? Well, we could start by asking what the value of each unit is, or by looking…
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Why a good boss likes it when people complain
→: Why a good boss likes it when people complainMy latest in Quartz… I know some managers say “don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions,” but personally I don’t subscribe to it. I love when people complain to me. Of course, complaining is a national past time for the British, and we don’t just limit ourselves to complaining about the weather, or the poor…
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As a leader, your job should change every six months even if you stay put
→: As a leader, your job should change every six months even if you stay putMy latest in Quartz… Leadership roles evolve, especially through periods of transition. As a leader, I have found my own role changing as challenges on the team change—around every four months I realize everything is fundamentally different, and the way I need to spend my time changes, too. Recently the number of my direct reports more…
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Does your team need to rebrand?
→: Does your team need to rebrand?My latest in Quartz… Some leaders are fantastic at “team branding”—communicating about their group in ways that give the rest of the organization a good understanding of what the team is all about. Others are squarely focused on “team public relations”—telling a great story about a team that, if we looked more closely, we might…
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Where do you start when a team is broken?
→: Where do you start when a team is broken?My latest in Quartz… One of my friends just took over a new team and found… far more of a situation than she was expecting. She faced a choice: commit to the turnaround, or switch to something that seems like a better bet. Of course, I advocated for the turnaround. Struggling teams are places of opportunity, both…
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The five types of communication problems that destroy company morale
→: The five types of communication problems that destroy company moraleMy latest in Quartz… There’s a saying in software that all bugs are eventually user interface bugs, because someone has to see them to report them. In organizations, it often seems like all problems are eventually communication problems, because communication is the way we interface with each other—and the way most problems surface. There are…