Articles
Infinity Minus One Possibilities
Career changes come in different forms, some of which are more socially acceptable than others. For example, you find a new job and call…Leading vs. Participating
Over time, I observed a particular leadership trap that managers and others in leadership roles fall into. The trap is participating as…Let’s Discuss Attrition
Let’s discuss attrition. Attrition gets the most negative attention at workplaces. Folks talk in hushed tones about who is leaving, who is…My Leadership Document — 2021 Edition
Leadership is a loaded word. We attribute a lot to it; we expect a lot from it; we know when we see it, and yet, we don’t have a concise…Stop Feeding the Monkey – Journaling
Consider a few contemporary problems for tech workers.On Being Present
The concept of “presence” eluded me for some time. Based on some muzzy ideas that I formed over time, I’ve associated presence with how…On Getting Promoted — Push vs. Pull
I vividly recall a particular one-on-one conversation. … The question that bothered me most at that time was how to get to the next level.2020 — A Year of Privilege
2020 was a weird year. Many things were different twelve months ago. At first, there was the pandemic. Before we even realized what the…Jumping Across Career Ladders
I went through a career reboot earlier this year. All these years, I grew in my career through the individual contributor (IC) ladder…Lessons from 2019
As I look back into 2019 and prepare myself for 2020, I’m proud of two things. First, leading through influencing with little positional…Studying an Incident
It is not often you get an opportunity to study an incident to illustrate a few lessons. A recent incident that I describe below teaches…Retinitis Pigmentosa
Nature and evolution offer some astounding patterns. Imagine a genetic disorder that affects males (sufferers), while their female…Why Learn from Incidents
Resiliency related discussions usually delve into so-called “resiliency practices” like circuit breakers, bulkheading, and timeouts…On Public Speaking
Public speaking is one of the most uncomfortable things I do. Though I’ve spoken occasionally over time, despite knowing the subject and…Penalties and Purgatory
I spoke on this topic at the ServerlessConf New York on October 8, 2019. Below are the slides and speaker notes. The thesis of my talk is…Forming Failure Hypothesis
Subjecting systems to failures is supposed to increase confidence in their stability. But why? How do you form useful failure hypotheses…If Only Production Incidents Could Speak
Below are the slides and extended speaker notes from my talk on July 18, 2019, at OSCON 2019 with the same title as this post. See my…Status Management
I learned about “status management” recently while reading Daniel Coyle’s The Culture Code. Since then I can not stop seeing status…Opinions
Some of the best meetings I’ve had in recent years are those that I have had no opinions on. These were meetings where folks had…Incidents — Trends from the Trenches
Most publicized production incidents are war stories. Each involves drama with dead ends, twists and turns, and a victory at the end…