It’s been about a month since I was given the opportunity of managing an engineering team.
It’s hard.
I’ve been in similar positions before, but always as a tech lead. In those cases I knew the code and I built the processes to support it. It was my baby and I had a community to help me raise it.
Now I’m the educator. No longer my baby but others’ babies, and I’m telling them how to raise them. Imagine how well that works.
It’s hard.
But it’s also a great learning opportunity. I’m in the thick of a product push with some seasoned folks from whom I’ve already learned a great deal. A few of the lessons I’ve already internalized.
“The productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker but of the manager.”
- Peter Drucker
[video]
“All that matters in business is that you get it right once.” — Enjoying Mark Cuban’s How To Win at the Sport of Business
Excellent menu from Fatted Calf. My wife is a sucker for duck, so I’m happy to find a source for cooking at home.
“What is the key thing that is wrong with code? The fact that you don’t express what you want. You express what steps have to be taken. Imagine telling your pal to grab you a beer from the fridge, step by step, with each step being robotically-rigid and with very little regard for context. It would be excruciating. And prone to catastrophic failure. Exactly like code is.” — I want to fix programming - jonbho
just tristan.: My Favorite Companies to Watch in 2012 -
Last year on Dec 31, I wrote a post: Favorite Companies to Watch in 2011
I had fun doing it so decided I’d give it a go again this year. But first, a quick recap of last year’s selections before the 2012 predictions.
foursquare - I’m biased, but I think we have had a fantastic year. 15+MM…
Agree with the opportunity in sensor applications. Preferably some pattern recognition so these devices can begin to help me with repetitive tasks.
Dreary morning over the bay
“The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is of all things most shameful and vile.” -Plato
Circumstances have me thinking a lot lately about discipline. At 33, career well under way, family about to grow by +1, I have new influences on how to spend my time and ways to focus my energy.
Here’s the problem. I don’t have any discipline. My interest alone was enough to see projects through. This works fine for a single guy with zero dependents and zero reports. No timeline is required, so none is followed. Now I’m constantly interrupted. As a result, I accomplish far less than I used to.
The only way I see to fix this is to “conquer self”. There is some allowance for “this is how my brain works”, but so long as I’m not achieving things I’d like to, there’s a problem.
How I’m going to change things isn’t completely clear yet, but I’ve started my first step. Time. Becoming more aware of time passing. Floating along has made me terribly unaware of the passage of time, even if it was beneficial (12 hour coding marathons). To change this, I’ve started timing small tasks. Errands, chores, walks for coffee. It’s been about a week since I’ve started this and already I feel more clear minded while taking something on.
No substitute for friends and family. Happy Thanksgiving from the Thompson family.
“
Pictures Under Glass is an interaction paradigm of permanent numbness. It’s a Novocaine drip to the wrist. It denies our hands what they do best. And yet, it’s the star player in every Vision Of The Future.
To me, claiming that Pictures Under Glass is the future of interaction is like claiming that black-and-white is the future of photography. It’s obviously a transitional technology. And the sooner we transition, the better.
” — Bret Victor, A Brief Rant On The Future Of Interactive Design