One thing I learned to do before giving a talk is to practice it beforehand. I figured this out in high school after blacking out fairly consistently during presentations in front of the class. A harsh start to my career as a speaker. To avoid this from happening again, I
A few years ago I wrote Reading for Busy People [/musing/reading-for-busy-people]. Last week somebody asked if I cannot write something similar, but about writing. While it may not be visible online, I actually have been writing a lot recently, but most of it is internally focused (we use Facebook’
This happens too often: Employee has an idea for a new initiative (e.g. feature, workshop, hackathon, event storming session, newsletter, offsite, recurring meeting). Manager: “That’s great, we support initiatives, let’s do it!” Initiative happens; people participate; success is declared: “Initiative happened, lots of people participated, it was
Or: how not to look like a dick in meetings I have terrible handwriting, always have. The moment I left school and managed to get away with either making notes and writing on either laptops, phones, or tablets I was a happy man. No more pens. No more paper. Hello
Books
There are a couple of books that I reread, every year or few years. I reread them, because they contain ideas that have had a huge impact on me. An impact either on my thinking, life and work philosophy, or ways to get things done. As I write this, I’
It’s rare, but sometimes I struggle to find a good solution to a problem. However, I found a very simple technique to help me in such situations, and it’s very straightforward to execute. I usually apply it during 1:1s, but if you don’t have direct reports,
I don’t like the term manager. It has connotations I really don’t identify with. Probably in part due to Dilbert and Office Space. In fact, when I looked it up, I found that it even the denotation is far from what I feel is the essence of the
If you would have told me 7 years ago I’d end up in management, I’m not sure I would have been happy with the prospect. I always considered myself a hardcore tech guy, perhaps not a nerd, but at least geeky. I started programming when I was 9,
Ever since PAW patrol launched on TVs world wide in 2013, the management world has been buzzing about Ryder, the human leader of five puppies responsible for saving various inhabitants of their local village. Ryder’s excellent attitude, swift decision making, and driver of the patrol’s creative culture, leaves
Here’s episode 244 of “Zef talking to himself,” in which I’m organizing my thinking by writing about it publicly — because why write something in private when you can publish it, and be killed for it in Reddit comments? So here’s my secret: I’m a hopeless silver
Seven years ago I wrote an article entitled “I hate puzzles: am I still a programmer? [https://zef.plus/musing/i-hate-puzzles-am-i-still-a-programmer] This article resurfaced a few times over the years on Reddit and Hacker news. A year ago I even appeared in a podcast because of it [https://podtail.com/
A year or two ago I had the opportunity to shadow somebody who did partner recruitment for the company I worked for at the time. After listening in on a few calls, he asked me if I had any feedback. I answered that I didn’t. I felt quite unqualified,