Published in Management Matters·PinnedMember-onlyThe Software Manager MinimumYou’ve been writing code for years (possibly longer) and have been promoted to Software Development Manager (or all its variants of Senior, Engineering, Program, etc). Whatever your title, you are responsible for a team of developers that look to you for guidance and direction. How you got the role isn’t…Software5 min read
PinnedMember-onlyThe New Remote Leader (It’s Okay)There is a lot of guidance out there about everything you need to be doing as a remote leader. And a good portion of that is good. The game has changed and managing people remotely is a very different endeavour from managing them when you see them day in and…Technical Leadership2 min read
3 hours agoMember-onlyGreat Project Managers Free DevelopersAs your software team grows, you’ll find the need for project management to help in your releases. Whether it’s someone on your team that assumes the role or an individual that handles all facets of it, a great project manager can be a lifeline to a small team that is…Project Management4 min read
Jul 22Member-onlyWhen Bugs become Technical DebtEvery fantastic line of code you write has the potential to become an even more amazing bug — whether you report it or not, it’s there, lurking behind the scenes, but there. As a Software Manager, it’s just not enough to look triage, monitor, and report on bugs (all very…Software Development4 min read
Jul 19Member-onlyNo one WANTS to be a Bad LeaderWhen we take on the role of leadership — whether it’s in a formal (manager) or informal (lead, senior) capacity— no one starts off wanting to be a bad leader. But it can end up that way where at some point we take a step back and realize that we…Leadership4 min read
Jun 22Member-onlyThe Software Team’s ConstraintIn their infancy, software teams are fragile organisms trying to create an immense about of value (software) while trying to learn what they are actually doing (coding). They come together, work hard, support each other, and slowly but surely that fragility turns into a strong base on which the team's…Software3 min read
Jun 7Member-onlyWhat I Miss about being a Junior DeveloperI don’t code nearly as much as I used to. I get some coding in weekly, but I find I do more design, code configuration, leadership, and platform work now as apart from straight-up pure coding where I used to hammer on keys at all hours of the day until…Programming4 min read
May 26Member-onlyStandups are about the Board, not the ConversationIf you’re going to go through all the effort of having a Daily Standup, you better make it worth everyone’s time. You will never find the perfect time in the day to hold a standup, someone will already have been up for a few hours and in the zone, someone…Programming3 min read
May 16Member-onlyThe Outage AftermathThe hardest part about an outage isn’t when things are going wrong, customers are calling you non-stop and your app is unresponsive to anyone and anything that breathes on it. Believe it or not, this is the easy part — primarily because everyone who has ever been near an emergency…Programming4 min read
Mar 14Member-onlyDevelopers Need to PlanI’ve worked with great coders, brilliant coders who could run laps around me and make my mind spin. They could see the code in their heads and write it out like Shakespeare. But when it came time to organize this work, they couldn’t organize what they were doing or trying…Software Development5 min read