When assessing the general health of a new client, one of my most effective indicators is their regular personal feedback process. It starts with the plain question “how do 1:1s work around here?” Why? Feedback is one of the greatest tools leadership has to get more of the good things, and less of the bad […]
The tech executives I work with sometimes notice a vacuum when taking on their first senior leadership role. Up till a moment ago, every job they had was focused on delivery, even if at a distance as a team or group manager. They had sprints, deadlines, and so on. Leaders, though, tend (and should) work […]
One of the most common issues I face weekly when advising my clients is handling employee-related matters. For every company, people leaving the organization is a natural occurrence that will be happening in a relatively consistent cadence. There’s no denying it will eventually occur. According to some reports, turnover in our industry is around 25% […]
When discussing ways to propel an R&D organization forward by increasing productivity and innovation, I usually advise my clients to stop doing what is too easy. Rarely do people come up with novel approaches when they are cruising along, not being challenged. Here are some ideas to go out of your comfort zone, either yourself […]
I’ve written (and spoken) about the overuse of cynicism in our industry before. It is an issue in general. However, there is a subset of scenarios where I think it harms less noticeably. I often notice this when advising at bigger organizations where people are not used to chatting with the executives and leadership often. […]
How professionally you act during a transition is very telling, and frequently what people will remember most. Did you handle well having to fire someone or did you delegate it to someone without the proper skills and prep? When switching jobs or departments, did you attentively attempt to bridge the knowledge gaps and maintain a […]
It’s always the case when there are no technical founders, and sometimes the case even when there are. The tech executives can sway big decisions this way or that because the CEO usually cannot tell whether their calls are justifiable. Should this business logic request truly require two months, making it irrelevant? Is it really […]
A common scenario with clients I advise is that R&D as a whole or a subset of it might at first seem to be functioning at a high capacity. Sprint after sprint, they mark all their Jira tasks as being done and move along to the next. They report low levels of technical debt. Everyone […]
“It’s not the right time just yet.” “I know we have an issue with missing Ownership, but we’ll get to it after the next hiring wave.” “If we have some more time next quarter, it will be easier to start this change.” On and on, we are great at postponing changes. Yes, it would have […]
Let’s face it. As natural as it is to have someone have a rough time when just starting a new job, an astounding percentage of team leaders and middle managers in tech are… underperforming. In an industry where the average tenure in a role is about 2.5 years, you cannot afford a year to learn […]