I’ve seen many a CTO and VP R&D who have grown their company from the 3-developers-sharing-a-pizza stage up to the 3-digit-head-count state. It is common knowledge that ably managing the former has almost nothing in common with ably managing the latter. Yet, that’s not what I’ve got on my mind today. A more neglected issue […]
“We’re going to double by this time next year.” Some form of that quote appears in most post-acquisition/funding articles, boasting the intention to bring in a new person every few days. While it is no surprise that in today’s market the hiring strategy should tend more towards growing than maintaining size (more on that in […]
In all seriousness, developers who are overly optimistic are an important part of every team, especially senior developers. It just so happens that most senior developers lean towards the pessimistic and cynical side, maybe because being optimistic has burned them once too many. And yet, without optimism you’ll always schedule more time than necessary (the […]
Considering how smart developers are, the easiness with which they forget the history of their own projects can be mind boggling. How many times have you tracked a bug down until you’ve found the exact change that introduced it, yet the responsible developer couldn’t remember why that change was made? Even more commonly, developers as […]
Most good tech directors are also experienced technically. You may still be proud of the Good Ol’ Days when you used to burn the midnight oil and crank out amazing code, kinda Silicon Valley style. And as most experienced people can testify, we usually have a sense of how a certain project or task should […]
Too often technological managers and directors disregard the impact their actions have on their teams. But even when you think they’re not, your employees are watching how you handle certain situations and infer the acceptable way to go forward. You might think that being senior means you can be late to an all-hands meeting, or that […]
Getting advice and recommendations from experienced people is a very smart move, and sometimes it can save you heaps of time, money and effort. But, you cannot lead if you defer every minor decision or technical question outside your team. It’s fine to consult another team that’s done something similar, yet not at the expense […]
There’s a discussion going on, Alice just described a very interesting solution to the problem at hand. You thought that things will wrap up now, but Bob has an idea as well. Of course that you let him start talking – everyone on the team value his opinion, and he usually has great inputs. But, […]
When your team needs to come up with a solution or architecture to a new and important need, it is valuable to take a moment and reflect about the range of possible solutions, from the Good Ol’ solution that everyone knows to the bleeding edge thing you just read about last night on Hacker News. […]
Developers are known for their cynicism and grumpiness. Sometimes, it’s even treated as a sign of merit–you’re not a real “senior developer” before you grow your get-off-my-lawn, that’s-never-gonna-work attitude. Yes, experience usually comes with a bit of pessimism – fewer deadlines missed, less over-committing. But that surely doesn’t mean you should accept bitterness and outright […]