In the Roman Forum, there was a small shrine with double doors. When Rome was at war, the doors were left open. When Rome was at peace, the doors were closed. It is an oddly modern idea. A binary signal. A public status indicator. At a glance, you knew what state the system was in. Open meant war. Closed meant […]
If you’ve been in leadership for a while, you know the drill: a line manager reports team progress along with the PM, anyone above reviews it in cadence and sees how things are moving. As business shifts, priorities shift, so you need to adjust without losing continuity or direction, from one cycle to the next. We all hate meetings, but […]
The other day I was talking with one of my directs. We ended up discussing something we’ve both learned over the years. When execution works, the environment is quiet. Not slow. Not passive. Quiet. Execution happens. People work together. Nothing feels heavy. You sort of question if there’s management in all this or their very existence. That’s a good thing. […]
Most of what we call progress in software is just motion. New tools, new frameworks, same problems. Maybe fancier logos. Our industry always has this collective thrill that a new fancy method, framework, process will make things infinitely better. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. I’ve watched that excitement enough times to recognize its cycles. Years ago, a colleague was setting up Apache […]
The other day, someone asked me why we even need managers. What do they actually do? I think it’s a fair question, and honestly, people get it wrong a lot. You can throw usual fluff to this question. Managers make sure things get done, keep people on track, and handle logistics. Obviously, that’s part of it. But you know yourself, […]