Management

Pick-Up

Weather permitting, the Netscape pick-up roller hockey game has been played every Saturday since 1996. 14 years. This hockey game has outlasted all but one of my former employers. This is pick-up hockey. If you were to arrive with skates, stick and protective gear, you would discover a chill game where the expectation is that… more

June 8, 2010 6 Comments

The Twinge

You know this meeting. It’s the meeting where, when anyone hears the attendee list, they instantly know, “Oh, it’s that meeting.” Something is up: a product is at risk, a strategy is being redefined, or a decision of magnitude is being considered. Slide reviews are conducted via email, rehearsals are performed, and demos are fine-tuned.… more

April 26, 2010 16 Comments

Knee Jerks

There was a fight on the roller hockey rink this morning. Anaheim bumped into Philadelphia at speed and Philly didn’t like that so he elbowed Anaheim in the chest — hard. Anaheim pushed back, shoving Philly into the goal where he tripped and fell. Swearing, more shoving, and then we spent the next five minutes… more

February 18, 2010 13 Comments

Wanted

Jesse walked. Monday is the day we set aside for new hires. All the new hires spend the morning learning about the company, figuring out how to create accounts, and becoming indoctrinated in company culture. When lunch time arrives, managers pick up their new employees and take them to lunch. Their morning starts at 9am,… more

January 4, 2010 26 Comments

Gaming the System

On my list of creative management solutions to dire situations, I offer the rolling whiteboard. The rolling whiteboard was a curiosity at the start-up. Not a full size whiteboard, but a door-sized whiteboard on wheels, suitable for rolling into conference rooms and cubicles alike. I never knew who owned it; I just grabbed it in… more

December 13, 2009 44 Comments

No Surprises

At the end of each fiscal year, companies take stock of their performance. How’d we do? Better or worse? This is a natural time to reflect upon individual performance — this is when your boss writes your review. In my ideal management world, a review is simply a documentation of well-known facts, your performance over… more

August 31, 2009 19 Comments

A Toxic Paradox

Everyone is an adjustment. When you’re interacting with anyone, you leave the core you and become slightly them. This is not a betrayal of who you are, this is the middle ground we define between any two people. It’s a place of compromise so we can communicate. There are those people with whom this is… more

June 21, 2009 44 Comments

A Deep Breath

I admit it. I love it when the sky is falling. There is no more delicious a state of being than the imminent threat of disaster. During these times, I’ve done great work. I’ve taken teams from “We’re fucked” to “We made it”. Yeah, we had to cancel Christmas that one time and there was… more

June 1, 2009 25 Comments

A Disclosure

My management career began with a misunderstanding. “Rands, you’re doing a great job on tools development and I’d really like you to Lead the effort.” It sounded liked your standard professional compliment. Atta boy! Go run with it! Problem was, I didn’t hear the capital L. Lead is what my manager had said. Not lead,… more

January 25, 2009 32 Comments

The Larry Test

Larry was pissing me off. We were a year into a two-year development process. Far enough along to have confidence that we could do it, but not far enough to be sure when we would get there. Features were claimed to be done, but each build of the product was a study in broken and… more

January 18, 2009 22 Comments