Zef+

on management, people, plus more

Recent posts

Rambo vs. Campbell

The bad guys are winning. People have lost all hope. Who could possibly still save the day? Some noise comes from the bushes. All of a sudden, an excessively muscular dude with a head band jumps out from the branches. He’s carrying a large machine gun, wearing belts of

Programmable Applications

To me, the most exciting software is the type that sparks creative use cases. Software that ends up being used in ways that its developers never anticipated. This tends to happen primarily with software that has managed to transform itself into a platform. Rather than pretending to be able to

No More War

> Daddy, will there ever be a third world war? It’s just over two months ago that one my sons (five years old) asked me this question during breakfast. There was nothing in particular that triggered asking it at the time. There were some developments around Ukraine, but nothing that

Great Parenting!

“Zef, you keep talking about all these amazing management concepts. You are an inspiration to all. However, what I really want to know is how you apply your enlightened ideas to being a parent!” — Nobody, Ever Dear mister or miss “Ever” — if this is in fact your real name. I’

Feetback

Decision: from tomorrow you are going to make all the meetings in your organization 100% optional. Truly optional — no (more) repercussions for people not showing up. What’s going to happen now? In the perfect organization, nothing happens at all. People are invited to meetings where they feel they can

No More Brainstorming

So, here’s a silly idea. Let’s do some brainstorming! We’re going to all get into a room (remember those?), and then I’m going to give you all a problem to solve. You think about it for a minute, and then we’re all going to yell

More Advice

> HBR [https://hbr.org] articles are a bit like comic books for execs in that they always seem to be exactly what you want to read. That’s the style. If you read enough issues of HBR you can pretty much prove or disprove any management technique you can imagine.

Plus is the new Stack

I like like to shake things up from time to time. Something’s been working, so… let’s change it. Sometimes without overly solid reasons. Any change is good, right? Then, only once the change has been made, I come up with a rationale of why this was a necessary

No More External Assessment

You take your driver’s license practical exam. You’re almost done after half an hour of high-adrenaline driving. You park the car, right in-between the lines. You step out, so does the examiner. Then, you await your assessment. What is the verdict? You’re taking your high school final

No More Advice

> I’d like to learn how to write automated tests! I was excited to read this in the self reflection form of one of the QA people in my team. Yes! I know how to do this! I went through the beginnings of software development myself (albeit some time ago)