Book Notes – The Culture Map by Erin Meyer
In my technical leadership training, participants want advice on leading multicultural teams. This was already a challenge for leaders with offices in multiple locations, and …
Crafting a Winning Talk Proposal: Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Submit
I have been on several conference committees, reviewing proposals, and I want to offer some advice on putting together a great talk proposal. While these …
Book Review: Modern Software Engineering
Look at any tech giant’s job board, and you might notice that they list “Software Engineer” instead of “Software Developer” or “Programmer”. Instead of “Development …
Top Tools for Engineering Managers
I often hear the question, “What are tools I can use as an Engineering Manager?” so here is a post answering this question. Before I …
Where do Tech Leads fit into Scrum Teams?
A frequent question I receive in my workshops is, “Where do Tech Leads fit into scrum teams?” If you look at the Scrum Guide, it …
My Shoelace Story
Have you ever thought about how you tie your shoelaces? Probably not. Like me, you learned how to tie shoes when you were young and …
The Builder’s Trap
Every developer knows the satisfaction that comes from building a software system. Type in a stream of characters and somehow you’ve built something that appears …
Email is Async
Too many leaders treat email and messaging tools such as Slack or Teams as a synchronous communication channel, increasing their interruptions and destroying their productivity. …
Engineering Manager vs Scrum Master
People often ask me, “What is the difference between an Engineering Manager and a Scrum Master?” and “Do you need both an Engineering Manager and …
How Engineering Managers Fail
Engineering Managers (EMs) don’t intentionally set out to fail. Instead, they are often set up for failure. But even if they are set up for …
