Leadership, Software Development, Tech Industry, &c
Much of today’s task management issues stem from using the email inbox as a task management system. Thus far, solutions have revolved around re-educating ourselves on inbox management. Now, a couple startups (and at least one large email player) are actually rethinking the way our inbox works. As they carefully tread new ground, task management laypeople will benefit immediately, while productivity experts will initially struggle with this new paradigm.
Read more →If you enjoy working with micro-managers, you can skip the rest of this post.
OK. Now that I have your attention, let me offer a suggestion for dealing with the micro-managers in your environment by approaching them with a genuine intention to help with –not correct– this trait. Help them deal with the impact it has on their time, as opposed of making it about the way they control their duties.
Read more →Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of being part of a few teams: development teams, architecture teams, management teams. I’ve also been privileged to manage a few teams of my own. In my experience, I’ve seen that staff meetings tend to fall within two distinct styles or “colors”, and of course there’s room for many intermediate shades as well. In this post, I outline the styles and make the case for my favorite meeting color.
Read more →As an IT leader, I often find myself walking a thin line: I am the company’s voice before the employees, and the employees' voice before the company. This extends to mediating between internal parties and vendors, auditors, consultants and other external entities as well. While not an absolute situation (and certainly not at my current workplace), it is often the case that higher leadership pushes an IT management model that is ultimately a fallacy. Curiously enough, other parties' retort is also deeply flawed. Both are rooted in good intentions, but tangle up in a vicious circle that does more harm than good, even though no one overtly intends it. In a sense, a lot of IT leadership and management efforts are spent bridging these two fallacies.
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