“Well, you see, here at Microsoft we have a bar, and you didn’t clear it.” I’ll never forget my first technical interview experience. I was a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, freshly minted sophomore just beginning my journey into the world of computer science theory, and the career center at my college had…

Minnesota winters are knowingly harsh. For me, the holidays often mean taking a break from work, escaping the frigid weather, brewing a warm cup of hot cocoa and diving into brand new, fantastical worlds. Yes, I’m a gamer, unabashedly proud as such. This year, my title of choice has been…

How can you, as a product owner, work with your engineering teams to produce better outcomes? I’m a software engineering coach who is often tasked with mediating between engineers and business interests, and as such I’ve seen a lot of the good, the bad, and the ugly — especially the…

How do you determine where to invest your time when you begin to realize it’s no longer unlimited? In gaming, progress is often measured and invested using the concept of a “skill tree”. As a player completes objectives in a game, they’re granted experience points that they can invest in…

A while ago pre-COVID I had the honor and privilege of presenting at DevOpsDays Tokyo, a conference hosting hundreds of Japanese engineers and technology professionals. The venue was incredible, the staff were professional and courteous, and the program hosted many talks from individuals both in Japan and around the world…

2020 was an odd year at best, and a catastrophic one at worst. As the countdown to 2021 draws ever closer, more and more folks will begin to post lists of individual accomplishments to social media platforms in an attempt to try and feel a little better and counter many…

As coaches, we’ve all been there. We‘ll be minding our own business, successfully kicking off a learning engagement or training course, when all of the sudden we hear someone blurt out from the back of the room, “This is a waste of my time!” Classroom activities specifically designed to force…

In the realm of technology, leadership loves numbers. They’re comfortable. They’re understandable (hopefully). And, most alarmingly, they are used as a soft, warm, cuddly security blanket that seemingly communicates to leaders exactly how often their engineers are performing at peak proficiency at all times. …

February, 2013. A massive shock reverberated around the telecommuting world when Marissa Mayer, former CEO of Yahoo, released a memo effectively banning remote work for its thousands of employees across the country in the name of productivity and innovation. …