The Great Tech and People Hypocrisy

When we value people so much that we “rif” them even with cash in the bank, maybe we don’t value them as much as we say we do. On a two-faced industry that needs firing standards as much as it needs hiring standards.

Published on May 14, 2024, filed under Engineering Management.

Critical Feedback: Four Approaches and One Twist

Feedback is important so that we can learn and improve. Critical feedback is important to expose, validate, and address areas of growth and development. I believe that fundamentally, there are four approaches to critical feedback.

Published on May 2, 2024, filed under Everything Else and Engineering Management.

On the Gift of OKR for Company Culture

“OKR,” short for aspiration, candor, and accountability.

Published on March 21, 2024, filed under Engineering Management.

Why I Like Scrumban

Over the past years, I’ve become a fan of Scrumban, a mix of Scrum and Kanban. But what is Scrumban here, and what is there to like about Scrumban?

Published on February 13, 2024, filed under Engineering Management.

Performance and Stay Questions in 1:1s

On a set of questions that are useful to ask every few weeks, for close alignment and connection, as well as well-being.

Published on January 15, 2024, filed under Engineering Management.

Incident, Mitigate, Learn

We can’t just pick two.

Published on December 28, 2023, filed under Web Development and Engineering Management.

On Working on Vacation

Working while on vacation can be a sign of extraordinary commitment and initiative. But—it can also be a sign of disorganization and poor prioritization. A few thoughts.

Published on June 15, 2023, filed under Everything Else and Engineering Management.

Website Issues: On the Relevance of Audience Size and Impact

Website issues—relating to conformance, security, accessibility, performance, content, others—are usually treated with a particular priority, but that priority may not always be understandable, and may also be off. On the perspective we obtain when we consider and chart audience size and impact.

Published on May 19, 2023, filed under Web Development and Engineering Management.

Two Underused Arguments for Writing Documentation

Validating our thinking and allowing to scale may not get enough attention.

Published on April 30, 2023, filed under Web Development and Engineering Management.

Speed Up Your Org: When to Require Approval

Organizations can be slow. One thing that makes them slow is process. One part of process consists of approvals. But approvals aren’t always needed. On default answers, and the severity and probability of failure.

Published on February 22, 2023, filed under Engineering Management.

Reduce the Pressure on Young and Inexperienced Developers

Lower the expectations on young and inexperienced developers, and raise the expectations on their mentoring and coaching: on running gags, unrealistic expectations, and healthier hiring.

Published on January 6, 2022, filed under Web Development and Engineering Management.

Not Releasing Late on Fridays, a Matter of Courtesy

Why don’t we, in engineering departments, prefer not to release late on Fridays—or late on others days? Occasionally, developers and stakeholders believe that’s because of a lack of confidence in our code and our systems. The true reason is not that:—

Published on September 24, 2021, filed under Web Development and Engineering Management.

Thoughts for the Aging Web Developer

There may come a time when you feel “too old” for web development. When you begin to feel that, here are a few thoughts. They might not be all you need but—maybe they are of use.

Published on May 31, 2021, filed under Web Development and Engineering Management.

Engineering Management ×12

Ideas and principles for managing engineering teams: From “googliness” and “competence, caring, conviction” to systems and processes to communication and delegation to team focus and health to trust and humility.

Published on May 11, 2021, filed under Engineering Management.

5 Tips for Your Next Promotion or Salary Raise

How do you approach promotions and salary raises? Are these tied to a cyclical event or do they depend on your initiative? Do you invest into building your case, or do you wing it? Here are a few ideas on what can improve your position and chances.

Published on February 3, 2021, filed under Engineering Management.

Professional Agile Leadership (PAL) Reminders and Resources

Notes, refreshers, as well as an alternative overview over Scrum.org resources for PAL certification.

Published on January 29, 2020, filed under Engineering Management.

On Leadership

Leadership is important, and it can be learned.

Published on December 2, 2019, filed under Engineering Management.

13 Leadership Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

We’ve all seen approaches to team management and leadership that work, and others that don’t. A brief and scrappy list of the mistakes I’ve witnessed (or committed), together with thoughts on how not to make them.

Published on July 8, 2019, filed under Engineering Management.

On Enforcing Coding Guidelines

Surprisingly a snippet from The Little Book of Website Quality Control, not the one of HTML/CSS coding guidelines, a few thoughts on enforcing coding standards.

Published on October 2, 2017, filed under Web Development and Engineering Management.

What We Should Teach Up-and-Coming Developers

Evidently, learning is important, and learning strategies are, too, and how to generally work on ourselves, absolutely, but what else to aim for apart from understanding computer science fundamentals, reading the specs, and—coding?

Published on August 31, 2017, filed under Web Development and Engineering Management.