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 …
Leadership
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. …
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 …
How Engineering Managers Are Set Up To Fail
I have heard and often observed how different organisations support their Engineering Managers (EMs). A handful of companies do an excellent job, providing as many …
Rewiring DRY
The Developer DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) Developers often learn the useful heuristic DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself). Having a concept repeated across a codebase many times …
How Many People Can Someone Lead?
The Short Answer A common question I hear in my technical leadership workshops is, “How many people can someone (e.g. a Tech Lead or Engineering …
Polishing Product Management Skills
Leadership roles are, by their nature, fuzzy. Look at the Engineering Manager role and you might see one of 5 common archetypes, or an even …
Look Ahead
When you’re driving a car, you shouldn’t focus on only the metre ahead of you. When you’re walking, you don’t put your entire focus on …
