Evolving Beyond The Technical
I have recently returned to writing after spending an entire year working on a digital transformation. So, this post is both timely and personal for me. The art and craft of professional software development is a fascinating animal. It is inherently abstract and can be highly complex. In order to function effectively across the lifecycle … Read more
I recently sat down to contemplate the most useful skill that I learned to help in my communication with others. One in particular kept rising to the top. This skill is amazingly basic, yet almost no one does it. Perhaps our incessant internal mental chatter and our desire to be heard makes this skill difficult to master. Enough speculative philosophy. What is this mysterious skill … Read more
There once was a wonderful dog that my grandmother had many years ago. His name was The Fox due to his arguably fox-like appearance. The Fox loved to go for car rides with my uncles and I. When we returned to the back alley behind my grandmother’s house, it was something of a ritual to … Read more
Ok, this is my last post of 2015. For those keeping track: yes, I fell off the wagon in November and most of December. Something about taking a new position that requires a rather high level of output and time-on-task. But I digress. I’ve written previously about the perils of focusing on technical skills at … Read more
Trick or treat! Almost everyone has seen zombie movies or shows. Almost without exception, the zombies are portrayed as unthinking beasts, satisfying their primitive instincts by preying on the living. Fun on Halloween, but rather apocalyptic and scary otherwise, right? Another way to think about zombies, is that they are incapable of higher thought. They … Read more
Having formerly worked in the big data space, I once met an experienced software guy named Ken who is a well-regarded big data and search expert. Upon trading some design thoughts on a particular topic, I was struck by how approachable he was. His points were always reasonable and well-articulated; there was no hint of … Read more
A fellow once told me part of the secret to his success. He said “know yourself, then you can know others.” The sad part is that it took me several years after hearing this to even begin to understand what he meant. My learning process was probably helped along by a string of bad decisions, … Read more
The old cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn once said to his nemesis Henery Hawk, “You’re hearing me boy, but you just ain’t listening!” Listening skills seem to be getting rarer and rarer these days, even in highly technical roles. I cannot count the times that I have encountered engineers with serious challenges in this area, yet … Read more
Every once in a while, I watch or hear something that registers itself very deeply in my mind, and which changes the way I look at myself, my goals, or my work. One item that has a strong impact on my thinking today comes from business consulting guru Eben Pagan. Some years ago, he gave … Read more
Consider, if you will, a company that has an engineer whom they consider a “rock star.” He is constantly asked to put in extra time, which he does without question. He fixes every bug that comes his way, even when he considers it a requirements problem instead of a bug. Invisibly to the business, he … Read more