Articles I’ve written over the years. I’m initially adding articles as they get referenced in the posts I’m migrating. Enjoy!
- A Multi-use Model - March 21, 2007
Models are like kitchen utensils. You need a variety of them, and you should know when and how to use them. They should be useful for more than a single task. I recently started exploring the first explicit model I learned years ago.
- Choosing Change - September 9, 2003
I’ll never forget that morning even though it happened a quarter of a century ago. I was a programmer helping start up a new factory, and things had been going OK. Not great, but OK. I decided that morning on the way to the factory I was going to stay calm and not let anyone “get to me”. Right.
- Communications Disconnects - July 31, 2007
"Why doesn't my manager listen when I explain the details?" "Why doesn't the developer just give me what I ask for?" If you’ve ever heard these complaints—or made them--you’re not alone. Questions like these are a symptom of a communication disconnect.
- Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There! - August 27, 2002
I remember when I first started solving problems for a living. I would leap down the stairs three at a time, race to the computer room, and stare at the line printer (yes, it was that long ago) trying to determine what had happened, and what to do about it.
- Fearless Change: The book review - January 23, 2007
My thoughts about the book ... If you don't have the book, get it. If you have the book and haven't read it, do so now.
- How Did This Happen? - February 24, 2005
I’m not surprised when the first words I hear are “Something’s wrong, can you come and take a look?” What did surprise me was Saturday and at home.
- Liar's Contest - April 13, 2004
Sharkey, the sales VP of UberDenke Software Products, firmly believes he needs to have the next release of the UDCRM product in three months. Engelbert, the software engineering VP, estimates a minimum of twice that long - six months - to implement all the new features. During the discussion, Sharkey drops some thinly veiled threats:
- Managing in Mayberry: An examination of three distinct leadership styles - August 5, 2001
Although the main highway bypassed the town years ago, the namesake for the popular 1960s television series is still a bustling community, and a fair amount of traffic enters Mayberry's downtown from the north on the US Highway 52 business spur every morning. In town for a week of consulting work, we were able to observe the recent road construction along that route and watched a trio of local citizens demonstrate their own unique management styles. Let's take a look at how these characters traffic management closely parallels common styles of software project management.
- No Exit - April 13, 2005
The more he thought about it, the more he felt trapped. The more trapped he felt, the more he wanted out. The more he wanted out, the more he felt trapped. And around, and around his feelings traveled in a vicious circle of trapped and wanting out. But there wasn't anyway out.
- Shifting the Burden - Who's Monkey is it? - May 16, 2005
“Don, the software’s locked up again! Can you come up here tomorrow and fix it?” George was on the other end of the conversation. George and I had started working together when his employer moved a production line from Florida to Virginia.
- Skills for Software Smokejumpers - September 15, 2007
Do you know about smokejumpers? They're brave, self-sufficient firefighters who parachute into remote areas wearing eighty pounds of gear and ready to fight a forest fire. If the jump goes well, they land safely. After extinguishing the fire, they may have a ten-mile hike out. It's not a job for the faint of heart, slow of mind, or weak of back. Have you considered that you may be a smokejumper?
- Solving Other People's Problems - January 29, 2000
... learning to solve other people’s problems means learning to connect with your client, understand what they think they have, what they think they want, and what they would like to do about it. The experience of living teaches each of us a lot about this kind of problem solving, but the lessons are often murky.
- This Title May be Changed at Any Time. How do You Feel About That? - January 21, 2005
Three of my favorite quotes about change and translations: "The only person who likes change is a wet baby." This change corrects a problem so I’m OK with it. "Everyone likes change, when someone else is doing it." I’m OK with the status quo. You do the changing. “The only universal constant is change.” Get used to changing. The universe constantly changes so you need to change too.