I find that there are many ways to learn. I hope to provide some insight on the ways that I learn, share knowledge, and be a great community citizen to the web.
THIRST QUENCHERS - 2025-04-13
Coaching Author: J.D. Meier I reached out to J.D. one day, when I worked at Microsoft. I had read a blog post by someone else about looking for a coach. Fortunately, good advice prepared me well for an informational. 30 minutes turned into an hour plus of gaining wisdom. If you don’t have a coach or mentor, learn about coaching here. There are like 3 or 4 more posts also, where J.D. freely shares knowledge. Definitely stuff to learn from a proven strategic leader.
THIRST QUENCHERS - 2025-04-06
API Governance: What does that mean Author: Kin Lane I really liked this as a small thought-provoking exercise. As I get older, I am asking for more definitions in everyday conversations. The key takeaway for me on this one was leadership only willing to govern one area, but not the whole. Sounds a lot like most software engineering where there are segregated roles. Codegen workflows Author: Harper Reed Martin Fowler boosted this on Mastodon so I took a peek. I am glad I did. I am really starting to see how using LLMs for design becomes a game changer.
THIRST QUENCHERS - 2025-03-30
AI Coding Impacts Author: Martin Fowler This article has put into words what has been bothering me. Impacts of the code generated for maintainability. Like anything else, not everything is should just be taken at face value. It has been easier to tell when the code being written is generated. If you can’t explain it, that may be a problem. Christian Conversations with Unemployment Situations Author: Joe Carter I found this pretty helpful in that too often we have the superficial statements to people going through hardships. In today’s world, we need to be open to deeper exploration and support to those who are facing employment challenges. I also especially liked how we need to change messages when teaching about success in God’s Kingdom.
OH THE PLACES YOU WILL GO
Building great teams never stops. It requires, commitment, effort, and energy from people with diverse viewpoints, backgrounds, and skills. Learning from history, transparency in all forms of communication, ruthless execution towards the goal with postive attitudes and a collaborate selfless mindset contribute to a culture that is going PLACES: Planning for short, medium, and long term success as a team Learning each day, sharing value with others Attitudes are always positive, acknowledging the best in others
HOW TO AVOID THE BUS
It was a serene Wednesday at the office when Grace shared with Mike her next chapter outside the company, marking the calendar with a two-week notice. Grace wasn’t just a cog in the machine; she was the architect behind pivotal projects, notably the transition to a new CRM software system. Her servant leadership and track record of success were the catalysts for her colleagues’ drive and ambition. After two decades, her wealth of knowledge was set to depart from the company’s embrace.
THE VALUE OF A PERSONAL STATUS REPORT
Welcome to the new year team. We are going to do great things. We need to be more transparent. We are working on larger projects. Multiple dependencies, teams, and timelines are going to be coming at us quickly. What do we need? “An amazing status report from each of you every Friday.” You can see the thoughts going off like the New Years fireworks exploding in the neighborhood: I think it must be a new years resolution We are now doing “TPS” reports? This is micro managing. I don’t have time for this. Maybe if the people that care would just attend the standup meetings we wouldn’t be doing this. Personal Status Reports are valuable This is the opportunity for the person writing the status report to shine. Every time the report is crafted, it can showcase the planning, communication, and execution which happened in the past. It gives a vision into the next week plan. Bottlenecks, blocking issues, or impediments are identified so that support can be given.
HOPE
Tis the season to be … hopeless? That unfortunately is a reality. Circumstances, situations, and life happens past and present can take a toll on people. The outward smiles are in full effect, but underneath is sorrow, pain, loneliness, or bitterness. Sometimes Mr. Scrooge looks to be living a charmed life. Depression consumes, happiness turns stomachs, and confidence is at an all time low. This may be you, the person in the cubicle next you, or the family in the checkout line spending on the essentials while seeing gifts abound in other carts.
NOT AI
Over the last few days, I have been using image creation tools and experimenting with augmenting my posts. In general, it has been mostly figuring out how to accurate ask the correct prompts to get to an acceptable output. In my prompts, I was asking to produce pictures that represent emotional qualities or other sensory nuances. Most of these drastically failed. What matters is the experience Awe hit me on the morning of the picture, just like it does throughout my days. Artificial intelligence is just that artificial. It can’t replace the few moments in the following areas:
YOUR VOICE IN COMMUNITY
Average Joe and his beautiful family had just moved to the area and started attending the neighborhood church. After a few Sundays, the family took steps to get more involved by joining some outreach gatherings and participating in a community group. Things were going well, with the family really starting to feel like relationships were being established. Until a conversation occurred in the community group. An opinion was shared with a response that Joe and his family had a different viewpoint on. It seemed like others had like minded views to that opinion based upon the verbal and physical queues. Joe kept silent on sharing his thoughts as it looked like it wasn’t up for debate. Later that evening, in a conversation with his wife, they debated on what was more important, community or convictions on their point of view.
WORKING WITH A VETERAN
I am grateful as an 8 year Navy veteran, to have served in the military. Those experiences have shaped many parts of my character and informed my values. In this month, where we are recognizing our veterans, please consider the following: We may not be formally trained in the jobs we are at. I know a few of us are not college graduates with masters degrees in computer science, MBAs, or other amazing educational backgrounds. For many of us, our “college” years were spent learning on the job (many times 24/7).