In an organization with many teams, problems will arise that span across these teams and require solutions broader than an individual manager’s purview. These types of projects include things like: introducing changes to a quarterly planning process, agreeing on broad architectural changes, rolling out a new project management tool, or making changes to how on-callContinue reading “Growing Leaders to Solve the Hardest Problems”
Category Archives: Engineering Management
Organizational Change – Part 4: Scaffolding and Hooks
Much of creating organizational change involves finding ways to successfully get individuals to remember and recall new information at the right time to change an existing habit. Often, these new ideas and concepts are complex, and until humanity invents Matrix-style knowledge uploading, we’re limited to what we can convey in low-bandwidth and faulty human communication. There are, however, a few tricks in how to structure and present information that I have found helpful to improve success rates here.
Organizational Change – Part 3: Sisyphus and Successful Execution
condemned to forever roll a boulder up a hill in Hades. He’s also a useful character when it comes to thinking about using our time effectively. I have seen many leaders of organizations recreate their own personal Sisyphean reality by failing to focus their attention.
Organizational Change – Part 2: Changing organizations is like moving a memory foam mattress
This post is Part 2 of a 4 part series looking at strategies and tactics for creating change in organizations! If you like it, consider signing up at the bottom of the page for email alerts of new posts. Check here for Part 1: Viral Ideas and Part 3: Sisyphus and Successful Execution. There’s somethingContinue reading “Organizational Change – Part 2: Changing organizations is like moving a memory foam mattress”
Organizational Change – Part 1: Viral Ideas
Emerging from the last year and a half, most of us are still processing the reality of a world with COVID. The way we see and experience everything has shifted — many of us have learned far more about epidemiology and microbiology than ever before. Before 2020, the notion of “viral spread” may have seemed abstract or cliche — now, we think of it as literal. But this understanding can actually work to our advantage if we apply it in practical ways that inspire how we act.
Manager Tools: Capturing and Routing Information
One of the values of a good manager is effective communication — getting people the right information at the right time. This requires gathering, sifting, and routing the deluge of information available from meetings, emails, research, slack, etc.. It’s is hard to do well, and impossible to perfect. We can, though, use tools to improve our abilities beyond what our brains are naturally capable of though.
Developing Expertise at Work: A Guide
Every company has a shortage of experts. The world inside and outside every organization is constantly changing, and even someone who has solved a problem before, hasn’t solved it in the current context. In a fast-paced company, this creates opportunities for people who are willing to put in the effort to learn and adapt.
Hacking the Flow State
Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/55934520@N00/4560121213 Post originally published on Medium. Flow is described as: “the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.” Anyone who has programmed for long enough will recognize this state asContinue reading “Hacking the Flow State”