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The Colorful and Gray World of Engineering Management

Embark with me on my journey through the colorful situations & challenges and the (gray) ambiguity of management in the software industry.

Starters vs. Closers

I haven't written a new blog post in a while because my new role has given me new perspective and I...

Date: 05/15/2017

Ambiguity Can Be Your Friend

Six months ago, I took on a new role at Microsoft.  I haven't written a blog entry in a while...

Date: 11/29/2016

Book Review on: "Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind" by 99U

I recently received a great book as a gift. I'm not one that likes reading fiction. But non-fiction,...

Date: 02/21/2016

7 Mistakes New Managers Should Avoid

When you move into a people manager role, it's usually because you are doing a great job as an...

Date: 01/19/2016

Stop Hoping for Quality and Just Test It!

As I continue to apply more engineering rigor to the release process in my team, I hear statements...

Date: 11/19/2015

6 Ways for Engineers to Connect with Their Customers

Satya Nadella's strategy for Microsoft is "Mobile First Cloud First". That's helped keep teams...

Date: 11/08/2015

Quality First

Whether you are a developer, a tester, or in a combined Software Engineering role, understanding the...

Date: 10/20/2015

It's Not Over, Till It's Over

The word "over" can mean a lot of positive things.  "Over the rainbow" is where you find your pot of...

Date: 05/28/2015

Clean Up Your Campsite!

I always feel like a responsible adult and global citizen when I go camping or hiking and follow the...

Date: 04/27/2015

Sprint to the Finish!

A sprint team that starts together, ends together. That seems like a fairly simple principle to...

Date: 03/23/2015

DevOps, The Art of Walking in Someone Else's Shoes

All engineering teams are set up differently.  In the Microsoft IT department, we have a set of...

Date: 02/26/2015

Don't Call My Baby Ugly

A big change is happening in the engineering teams across Microsoft IT. We are combining developers...

Date: 01/29/2015

What's Your New Currency?

There's a change spreading across the software engineering landscape. What you thought you knew...

Date: 09/19/2014

How Many Days Away Are You?

Here is how a career as people manager typically plays out. You are an engineer and really good at...

Date: 04/24/2014

Imperfection is the Way to Agility!

The term "perfectionist" is one that most people are familiar with. Either because we are one or we...

Date: 03/02/2014

Sometimes At Work, We Act Like Dogs

You can only buy loyalty if you buy a dog; otherwise loyalty has to be earned. One of the best...

Date: 12/09/2013

Are You Aware That You Lack Awareness?

Recently I took a very interesting training class. As part of that class, we had to sit still in the...

Date: 08/30/2013

It Doesn't Take Muscles to Use Your Strengths

But it does take a manager that understands how to leverage strengths. Many managers say they do...

Date: 07/17/2013

Experienced to the Level of Obsolete

Some days I just amaze myself. I can be tired, even exhausted, and not very focused on work. Still I...

Date: 05/13/2013

Superheroes Don't Work at Corporations

This message is for the workaholics out there, and not for those of you who barely want to get your...

Date: 03/21/2013

Advice From Your 95 year old Self

There you are sitting on your death bed. Yep, you had a good life. And although many people have...

Date: 02/28/2013

Good News!

Today I was recognized on another website that focuses specifically on Engineering Management. I'm...

Date: 01/17/2013

Fixing What's Not Broken

Many engineering teams look at change as a bad thing, something that will disrupt their work. And...

Date: 01/14/2013

The toughest question you can ask, isn't tough enough

One skill all engineers need to have in order to ship high quality software is the ability to ask...

Date: 11/28/2012

Integrity With a Dose of Confidence Part2

My last blog was about how to act as a person with integrity, how to make sure you are thinking in...

Date: 11/12/2012

Integrity With a Dose of Confidence

Ok, I’ll say it because I know others have thought it, but I’m not sure anyone has ever...

Date: 10/25/2012

How Important is the "How"?

Do you know the best way to succeed in your career? To stand out in the crowd? To prove your...

Date: 09/23/2012

What are your intentions?

When it comes to determining someone's intentions, it's fairly easy to do after a few drinks and a...

Date: 08/22/2012

I Scream, You Scream, We're All Testing!

Scream testing is an interesting concept, not so much applied to finding defects, but instead to...

Date: 06/07/2012

Vision Without Action is a Daydream, Action Without Vision is a Nightmare

Does your team have a vision? If it doesn’t, it should. I heard this saying once that really...

Date: 04/30/2012

A Routine Life is Boring, But Routine Work is Awesome!

What is your routine? We all have one. Mostly these exist because there are actions we do every day...

Date: 04/20/2012

97%

Metrics are very important to the success of an engineering team. They help with data-driven...

Date: 04/03/2012

Transformers are Leaders, not Toys!

{EAV:fb71307c644189ca} I was recently asked ‘how do you take a team mostly focused on manual...

Date: 03/08/2012

If You Want It, Then You Aren't Ready For It

Are you just dying to get promoted? How about seeing your individual engineering role turn into a...

Date: 02/15/2012

Training Your Manager

We recently did a realignment on my team due to a change of priority of projects. This was a good...

Date: 02/03/2012

The Observer of Perception

Sometimes as a manager, I not only want to coach people on how to get things done at work, I'd love...

Date: 12/09/2011

Ignorance is Bliss

Isn't it interesting that for vacations, many people choose to stay in places with little access to...

Date: 11/30/2011

What are Testers Thankful For?

When I think about all the issues my QA team has to deal with to ship projects, I wonder as we get...

Date: 11/10/2011

17 on 17

On October 17th, I celebrate my 17th anniversary at Microsoft. If someone told me on my first day at...

Date: 10/16/2011

Over-functioning is Not Job Security

You would think that under-functioning teams are bad, functioning teams are just right, and...

Date: 10/05/2011

Boogie Boarding on the Job

I've been absent from writing my blog during this summer due to the heat wave in Seattle. Ok, just...

Date: 08/18/2011

What I Like About Blogging and Much More

Recently, I had the opportunity to be interviewed about what I like about Microsoft (and...

Date: 06/23/2011

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