I was promoted to director less than a year after becoming a manager. In the movie version of my life, getting promoted was a recognition of years of hard work and undeniable, innate leadership ability. The truth is probably closer to me being the available warm body to throw at the problem.
Read MoreBelieve it or not, collecting status in large organizations is a difficult problem; one that new leaders, in particular, struggle with and spend countless hours trying to figure out.
Read MoreThere comes a point in every manager’s life when we need to hand over a responsibility that is near and dear to our hearts.
Read MoreThe fallacy of thinking that if we fairly evaluate each individual, we will ultimately end up with a fair evaluation of the whole team.
Read MoreI recently wrapped up a round of hiring for a client of mine, and I thought I’d share some lessons learned and re-learned along the way.
Read MoreWhen I was promoted to Engineering Director, I had no idea what I was doing. It was a role that I had little to no prior experience with, and it took me the better part of 18 months to figure out how to be effective in it. I characterize my performance during that time as being just useful enough to not get fired.
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Accountability comes up a lot when talking about engineering organizations. Everyone wants to know how to hold engineers accountable. And, in my exploration of this topic with folks, I’ve found that the term accountability means something different to everyone.
Read MoreEveryone likes to talk about leadership—we are culturally conditioned to view success as a progression through leadership positions—but there is far less attention paid to being a good follower.
Read MoreI’m hearing a lot about hiring mandates in my social circle these days. My friends are being told that their next hire has to be a non-straight-white-male. Interestingly, none of these friends work in tech.
Read MoreI’ve been doing a lot of interviewing lately. I have admittedly not spent much time on the interviewee side of the table over the past decade, so for the last couple of months it has been exciting, fun, and enlightening to experience a range of interview approaches.
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