Tech Leads in Scrum
In many software teams using Scrum, one question often comes up. “Where does the Tech Lead fit?” Scrum defines only three accountabilities: the Product Owner, …
Leadership
Using Project Aristotle To Build Highly Effective Teams
What Is Project Aristotle? In 2014, Google published research on a prioritised list of factors contributing to an effective team. A key conclusion in their …
The Trident Model of Career Development
Many tech companies use a growth framework or a career ladder to aid managers and staff with growth or promotion conversations. You can see many …
Staying on Top of Slack
Slack and similar group chat tools like Discord, MS Teams, and Google Meet share some similarities but differ from email in several ways. For example, …
Staying on Top of Email
An eternal struggle for any information worker is to keep up with the deluge of emails. Increased remote working exacerbates this by driving more communication …
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 …
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. …