I didn’t much like Wally from the first time I met him. We worked in the same circles, but not on the same projects. I was aware of his work, but not involved or dependent on it. My initial reaction to Wally, “Complains. Nitpicks. Doesn’t act.” I made this judgment in a moment. Months passed,… more
In the hallway, late on Thursday, someone tells a bit of information about your product that is 100% provably not true. You laugh, wink at the person, and say, “That’s goofy. What reasonable human would believe that?” And that conversation moves on. Two hours later, different locations, different humans, and different contexts. Same exact piece… more
Each Slack team I’m on has a different set of humans building their own unique communication culture. I’m actively on six teams: Work, Leadership, Destiny, two private nerd Slacks, and a private family Slack. Three out of my six teams have 100+ active humans, 100+ channels, and are high traffic with hundreds to thousands of… more
As a leader who primarily values team health, I place great value on the weekly 1:1 because it’s where I assess health. It’s my highest bandwidth meeting, and historically the slight to significant lag omnipresent in video conferencing impeded that bandwidth. It stilted the conversation. The micro-second of lag was an omnipresent reminder of the… more
In our latest and greatest episode, we talk about the craft of communication. After a brief introduction, we talking about Werewolf, lying, death in D&D, and the art of yolo’ing it. Enjoy it now or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes.
If you’ve had a 1:1 with me in the last decade you know that once we’re done with our planned agenda that there is good chance that I’ll stand up, walk to the whiteboard, and start drawing some version of the organization chart (“org chart”). I believe the org chart is one of the three… more
At some point in your leadership career, you’ll need to care about performance management. My first bit of advice is the hardest: don’t ever let yourself think or say the words “performance management.” This is impossible, but aspirational. I will explain. My hard earned definition of performance management: a well-defined workflow that either leads to… more
Silicon Valley earned its name for the early chip-making business which staked early claims in orchard filled valleys. Companies such as Fairchild Semiconductor and later Intel and AMD were in the business of silicon, but they were also in the business of reinventing business introducing such concepts of stock options for employees and openly denying… more
The arrival of Slack1 changed my communication regimen. On top of Slack being the primary means of communicating at Slack, the Leadership Slack at 3000+ members represents a daily part of how I communicate. There are a great many ways to get in touch with me. With the establishment of Slack as a primary means… more
This is the original version of this post. There’s a brand new one designed how Slack works in 2022. I’m leaving this one as a historical artifact. Each Slack team I’m on has a different set of humans building their own unique communication culture. I’m actively on six teams: SlackHQ, Leadership, Destiny, two private nerd… more
