evaluating value

I find many senior software and IT folks don’t know how to talk about the value of tools. I frequently get asked by peers, inside my company and outside it, why I can successfully get tool expenses approved when theirs get rejected. Here’s my simple framework.

mister secretary

A brief recounting of the power of the written word across my life and career. Leadership isn’t in a title, it’s in your words, and you should beware anyone suggesting you outsource them in the name of efficiency.

strategic capacity

In a small & fast engineering team, it’s challenging to quantify work being done. There’s so much to do, and it’s difficult to categorize. How can you determine your capacity for addressing your strategic roadmap when stakeholders ask about it?

the fight

As the power of the Web grew, we allowed that power to become concentrated in the hands of a very few. And unregulated power invariably corrupts, and corruption kills dreams.

black box

The greatest sin of any developer is thinking they are cleverer than the users of what they build. “I can guess what you want.” In truth, guessing what someone wants is far easier than helping them achieve what they actually want.

mental models

Designing software that doesn’t account for human mental models is unethical. It gaslights people into thinking they’re incapable, and the domino effects of that are incalculable.