Management on Brave New Geek

Meeting notes lose value the moment you finish writing them—and it’s time to fix that

Fri, 10 Jun 2022 10:25:44 -0600

I like to be prepared in meetings. In some ways it’s probably an innate part of my personality, but it also became more important to me as my role has changed throughout my career. In particular, the first time I became an engineering manager is when I started to become a more diligent notetaker and meeting preparer. I think this is largely because my job shifted from being output-centric to more people- and meeting-centric. I still took notes and prepared when I was a software engineer, but it was for a very different context and purpose. As an engineer, my work centered around code output. As a manager, my work instead centered around coordinating, following up, and supporting my team. If you’ve never worked as a manager before, this probably just sounds like paper-pushing, but it’s actually a lot of work—and important! The work product is just different from that of an individual contributor.

Digitally Transformed: Becoming a Technology Product Company

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 09:46:47 -0600

More and more established businesses are attempting to reinvent themselves as technology companies. At the heart of this is the digital transformation, a journey many organizations are undertaking in order to better compete and serve their customers. As a result, companies are pouring tons of cash into digital transformation strategies. For some, this means broader adoption of agile or DevOps practices. For others, it’s modernizing product offerings or moving to the cloud. Regardless of the changes, many are struggling to find success transforming themselves due to low throughput, quality issues, or failing to deliver the right thing at the right time. In a few cases, digital transformation has ended in outright disaster.

Planting Perennials Next to Potholes

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 14:35:24 -0500

Silos, bikesheds, and focusing on what matters

If you’ve ever flown into Des Moines then you’ve had the privilege of driving on what might be the most decrepit major road in the metro area. An important artery, Fleur Drive is the only way to get to and from the airport, and the pavement is marginally better than that of a dirt road. Cars weave back and forth to dodge potholes and massive cracks in the asphalt as people race to catch their flights. There always appears to be some kind of construction going on somewhere along the six mile stretch of road, and yet, it never seems to actually improve. The road is also located in a major floodplain, so sometimes the city just closes it when the nearby river rises too much. It’s basically what you’d get if you agiled your way through urban planning.

Plant Trees Before You Need the Shade

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 11:12:18 -0600

Like humans, companies go through phases. There’s the early seed and development phase. Founders are so preoccupied with a problem they go crazy. They consider solutions and the feasibility of a business. There’s the startup phase, when a business is actually born, and it stumbles towards product/market fit. There’s the growth and scaling phase, as we try to close more and more deals while, at the same time, hiring the right people. If we’re lucky, we reach the later stages. There’s the expansion phase, as we attempt to land and expand or attack new verticals or geographies. This is when things get really interesting—and hard. Who are the right people to hire? What are the right products to build? The formula that got us here almost certainly won’t get us there. Lastly, there’s maturity, which is when the business has really hit its stride. Maybe there’s an exit, and very likely there’s new leadership involved.

Engineering Empathy

Sat, 03 Jun 2017 18:17:06 -0500

This was a talk I gave at an internal R&D conference my last week at Workiva. I got a lot of positive feedback on the talk, so I figured I would share it with a wider audience. Be warned: it’s long. Feel free to read each section separately, though they largely tie together.

Why do you work where you work? For many in tech, the answer is probably culture. When you tell a friend about your job, the culture is probably the first thing you describe. It’s culture that can be a company’s biggest asset—and its biggest downfall. But what is it?