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.
BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING
As I am studying great leadership, I find that most have learned how to overcome being anxious. Their outward appearance is one of a calm demeanor, they have a steady hand, and command with ease the most difficult situations. Being a former military person, I saw how well officers would make decisions with determination, even though lives may have been at stake. Nehemiah always comes to mind as a leader who didn’t worry, but sought God’s council in his decision making and charged ahead. Here are a couple of ways that leaders overcome that sense of worry.
SOLITUDE ISNT ABOUT BEING LONELY
When you hear the word solitude, what is the picture that pops into your mind? Is it one of calmness, maybe a lake that is perfectly still, or a person cross-legged with their eyes closed and meditating? The word solitude is defined as “a state or situation of being alone.” However, it also infers that you are not lonely in this state. We have all experienced some solitude in our lives. Some have made it a practice to seek solitude frequently, others just by happenstance. From a leadership perspective, it is critical to key decision making, getting clear focus and vision, and acquiring much needed rest. Let’s look at some examples from the Bible:
VALUABLE MEETINGS
Meetings. How many of them can be changed, disregarded, and not even attended? Can one spend their time on more valuable work?
A PROPER RESPONSE
Having the right response to others makes collaboration much easier.
UNCOMFORTABLE
Being uncomfortable gets my Spidey senses going. It is uncanny how I can see problems with much more clarity. The smallest details become chasms that I need to conquer or cross. Now combine being uncomfortable with new surroundings.
WEEDS AND SOFTWARE
Saturday morning weeding has turned into a quick 1 hour endeavor which I share with my wife. There was one area I neglected for about a month though and figured I would tackle it head on. As I was digging and pulling, similarities of software that has been neglected started coming to mind.
THE BALANCE OF SELF-PROMOTION
The older I get, the less I relish instant gratification, acknowledgement, and self-promotion.
CODE REVIEW TASK 1 - WHAT ARE THE GOALS?
Code reviews are one of the most important tools that can be used to improve quality and productivity for a development team. One of the keys to completing a review well is to know what the goals of the review actually are. There are two goals I would ask you to set: Team Goals and Individual Review Goals.
THE ANATOMY OF A REVIEW IN 5 QUESTIONS
In a few weeks I am going to give a presentation on doing great code reviews. Here is a piece that I wrote 5 years ago that captured the 5 W’s. There are a few changes that I felt were appropriate to make as an update. Most importantly, the guidance below doesn’t just apply to code reviews, but any review that you may do.
SETTING BOUNDARIES AS LEADERS AND EMPLOYEES
Do you know a leader who says yes to everything? Their team just finished a significant and stressful month to get an “urgent” marketing experience out the door and the leader agreed to deliver something else urgent on a compressed timeline. Where was the boundary between the finish and start of the next project. It never materialized. Take a more concrete example. Do you ever block time off on your calendar to get work done and people just schedule right over that without any care or thought? Is it ok to get a meeting scheduled for the same day? As leaders, we have a responsibility to set boundaries to protect our team and as employees we have a responsibility to protect ourselves.