communication

communication related posts

Pair programming pearls & perils

February 17, 2019, 4 minutes to read

If pair programming was easy, and universally better than working individually, we’d all be doing it all the time. But we don’t. Most people I met need to make a conscious effort to pair and stay paired. All the while saying they “like it” and “need to do more of it”. How come?

Facebook is more than selfies

February 3, 2019, 3 minutes to read

Should we all just #DeleteFacebook? I mean, throughout 2018 they demonstrated just how dirty a business they’re inside. And honestly, when was the last time you enjoyed your timeline? But Facebook has become a communication platform unlike any other in history, and one that’s difficult to simply toss away.

It's his job

May 24, 2017, 3 minutes to read

Perhaps it is. But does he know it? Have you told him? In teamwork, as in marriage, implicit expectations create tension that’s bound to explode at some point. Disarming that bomb is as easy as saying “could you?”

Respectfully rejected

June 12, 2014, 4 minutes to read

“I’m sure somebody will get in touch with you”, sneered the Google developer, closing a phone interview I went through years ago. By then I knew I wouldn’t get the job, but these words and their tone convinced me that I shouldn’t try again for years to come. The way in which a company rejects job candidates speaks tomes about its culture.

The title is all there is

April 2, 2014, 1 minute to read

I was invited once to speak at a Toastmasters Leadership Institute, about the Leadership Track of the organization’s educational program. I crafted a short title:

Not everyone knows what they're talking about

March 21, 2014, 2 minutes to read

I can’t watch presentations anymore. Having been an active Toastmaster for some time, I notice all the speakers’ mistakes. The “uhm” sounds, the non-purposeful fidgeting, the illogical sequence of ideas, the obsolete information. I can barely hear what the speaker is saying.

Solomon was wrong

July 4, 2013, 3 minutes to read

You get this often when managing people. Somebody, often outside of your chain of command, comes to complain about your subordinate. “He’s stubborn.” “She’s doing this wrong.” “He exceeded his competencies.” and anything else you can think of. What do you do?

Feed it back

April 17, 2012, 2 minutes to read

“How am I doing?” He was with the company for 2 months by then, with his team leader located abroad. For some reason, unrelated to his work, we sat down to talk - he and two of us team leaders. We finished a topic and then he started: since he was already there with us, maybe we could help. Nobody gave him any feedback regarding his performance.

Are you listening?

March 21, 2011, 1 minute to read

I killed a salesman last week. He called from my cell phone company, he offered me a contract renewal, he kept using 10 words wherever 1 would suffice and kept pushing me to close the deal now, today, immediately. “I don’t understand; you already said you’re taking the offer!” Did I? He earned some well deserved frustration, hang up mumbling something about a time-waste.

What does it mean to be Agile?

December 3, 2010, 5 minutes to read

Agile? Yeah, we do Kanban. We’ve got our user stories, backlog and deliver iteratively. All good. Except that that’s not what Agile is. Not at all. It’s not the planning poker, story points nor squadrons of Scrum Masters. It’s the spirit.