question of the week

Who’s Working?

The gas company has been replacing gas mains in my neighborhood for the last few weeks. They’re not done. At 7am this morning, the gas main replacement guys dumped a big pile of dirt in front of our house, right outside my office window. The walk you see on the left is the walk from […]

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What Holds Us Back?

I was at a conference last week. There was a panel about women in technology. Of course, I went. I heard several concerning stories. One woman said something like this: “My previous husband was concerned when I went out for dinner with professional colleagues. He was concerned I was “seeing” other men.“ Note that she

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Are You Pickled?

In Jerry Weinberg’s Secrets of Consulting, he talks about becoming “pickled.” When you’re a consultant, the value you bring is that you are outside the environment. You have an external perspective. If you stay with just one client long enough, it’s as if you are a cucumber in a barrel of pickles. You can’t help but

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Who’s to Blame?

When bad things occur, we often want to blame others for the problem. Blame is comforting in the moment and not useful over time. I had a conversation the other day with a manager whose team is trying to use agile. “They’re not using continuous integration. They’re not testing enough. I don’t know what to

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How Confident Are You?

I’m teaching a writing workshop. Writers have all kinds of problems. A common problem is the feeling of Imposter Syndrome. “Who am I to write this? Will anyone believe me? Is it valuable?” Imposter Syndrome arises when you think you’re not capable. Or, that your success arose from luck, not your hard work. There’s a

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