Category: Leadership

  • Considering personality types when recruiting

    Considering personality types when recruiting

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    by

    Steve
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    Over the years I’ve been part of many teams, both as a developer and leader, some teams worked well, others not so. There can be many reasons why teams struggle, some of these are clearly visible while others are more difficult to identify. Covering all the technical skills in the team goes without saying, but…

  • Lunchtime conference talks

    Lunchtime conference talks

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    by

    Steve
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    How often do you go to conferences? Going to 2 one day conferences in a single year is my record! Although there are hundreds of tech conferences each year we often don’t get the chance to go to everyone we would like. On the positive side, most of the talks are recorded and shared online…

  • What makes a great leader?

    What makes a great leader?

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    by

    Steve
    in

    I found this short TED talk below by Roselinde Torres relevant for today’s leaders. It was recorded in November 2013 – see if it’s significant for you? We should always be asking what makes a great leader, particularly ourselves, as it causes us to evaluate the present state of affairs. Have any of the practices…

  • The first one-on-one

    The first one-on-one

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    by

    Steve
    in ,

    Your first one-on-one with someone is important! You may already know the person well or not, either way, this is where your new working relationship begins – let’s make a good impression! This first one-on-one would usually happen in the first couple of days of them starting, if not on day one! The typical agenda…

  • The OODA loop and agile

    The OODA loop and agile

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    by

    Steve
    in ,

    Agile software development principles emerged from a desire to improve from “heavyweight” methods of producing software. The current Agile methodologies we have evolved through observations with the intention of improving the development life-cycle. We learn an enormous amount looking at our own processes and finding ways to continuously improve as a team or organization. We…

  • What signals are you sending out?

    What signals are you sending out?

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    by

    Steve
    in

    For many years I’ve been riding a scooter to London and back for my daily commute, through sun, wind, rain, hail…I’ve experienced all of the lovely British weather! One good thing is knowing exactly when I’ll get to work or home which is a stark contrast to using public transport which can be, let’s just…

  • Give yourself time to reflect

    Give yourself time to reflect

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    by

    Steve
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    We get to the end of the summer and think that went fast, or see a past memory on Facebook and remember it as yesterday although it was many years ago. Life has a habit of doing this! When we take a break and reflect, get the online photo albums out, we escape from the…

  • Try out new things

    Try out new things

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    by

    Steve
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    Do you get that air of excitement when trying something different? The anticipation waiting for the outcome builds the tension. Will the result meet expectations or will there be a surprise? Whether it’s a personal or team change there is a sense of intrigue trying to prove a theory or simply a hunch. Then the…

  • Leadership through mastery

    Leadership through mastery

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    by

    Steve
    in

    I finished reading Dan Pink’s book Drive recently, it’s a book with a lot of takeaways and recommend it to anyone. Dan covers areas to help drive motivation: Automony, Mastery, and Purpose. If you would like a primer on the book this TED talk (18:36 mins) by Dan is very good. While reading the “Mastery”…