Being Indispensable and Type A Employees
I just finished reading "Linchpin – Are You Indispensable" by Seth Godin. In the book he encourages you to make a difference in what you do, treat your work as an art, connect with people, get things done, and be the best you can be. The world is changing quickly and people who merely show up (cogs), are going to be marginalized. So be indispensable.
I just started reading another book called "Who – The A Method for Hiring" by Geoff Smart and Randy Street. I tripped across this one through the magic of Amazon. The premise of […]
Remember to Stop and Smell the Roses
I was just looking out the window. There is a full moon shining on a low lying fog over the hills and prairie; the light reflecting off the tin roof of a barn to the south of us. Absolutely haunting and stunning.
The other day, I saw what initially looked to be a gopher running across the lawn. Upon closer look it was white and not quite a gopher. In fact it was a ferret with its winter coat; and a black tip on its tail. It looked like a white stick standing in the yellow grass. Thanks to our recent […]
A Gentle Introduction to BDD
Our team went to the subject Calgary .NET User Group session presented by David Mogantini.
I am not a developer but I was able to follow the general lessons and examples. TDD, BDD and the Cortex testing framework were covered. David plans to open source the generic part of the framework which I think many will find useful.
David did a really good job and there was some really good discussion generated during the Q&A.
Good to see the development community meeting and sharing ideas here in Calgary. Hope we can keep it up even as the developer market becomes hyper-competitive again.
Agile and the Devil’s Advocate
Software development has three camps regarding agile:
- Outspoken True believers – everything is utopian if you only embrace it,
- Outspoken Non-believers – nothing good there, would rather eat grass than have anything to do with it,
- Somewhere in the middle – good and bad in everything, use what you can and adapt as you go.
There is actually a fourth camp; the oblivious (software developers who don't care enough about their craft to investigate options).
Fortunately, most developers (at least the ones I know) fall into the somewhere in the middle.
Humans when faced with change; encounter fear… the resistance.
- Some ignore the fear and blindly accept the change,
- Some […]
Your Attitude Changes Your Results
I am constantly amazed at how the grey matter upstairs works.
It is kind of like when you buy a new car and then you start noticing all of the similar cars out there.
When you make the commitment as an individual and company to:
- Making a difference,
- Be innovative and creative,
- Making the pie bigger,
- Be indispensable,
- Be more entrepreneurial,
- Deliver (or ship)
Essentially being much more optimistic and less fearful of hypothetical problems that may never come to pass.
Then more of those things (opportunities) come your way.
Why? Because you are looking with the right filters.
Effective Business Optimization
Business optimization is not a one time thing.
Business optimization is not about looking at the numbers (though that is part of it) and squeezing every last penny out of your business.
It is an ongoing process; a journey with a destination far in the future.
Effective business optimization is a continuous cycle (not a rigid order):
- Strategy – where you want to go,
- Planning – how you plan to get there,
- Communicate – involve the team in the discussion,
- Goals and measurements – to determine if you got there,
- Orchestration – what are your processes,
- Innovation – big changes and leaps, creativity,
- Improvement – incremental
- Measure and Validate […]
Business Strategy: What Do You Really Want to Optimize?
Before you spend resources on improving your business performance, it is best to know where you want to go. This means getting clear on your business strategy.
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Improving Business Performance
There are two main ways of improving business performance:
- Optimization – Making things better, best practices, incremental improvements,
- Innovation – Doing different things, doing things differently, leaping past the competition.
It is easy to think there is a magic bullet for optimizing your business’s performance. […]
Are You Working on the Right Things?
Lately I have been struggling with over-commitment and more things to do than time. Between the business, hobbies, personal relationships, and other things that need to get done, sometimes there is just not enough time in the day.
When all else fails, start making lists and prioritize.
I was reviewing Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People“. In it he has the following diagram:
Quadrant I – Tasks
These are things that are both important and urgent; problems and fires that cannot be ignored. This is reactive work. […]
Hiring Developers in 2010
It looks like Sunwapta Solutions will be hiring in 2010 to support our current clients and our growth plans. This likely includes:
- Marketing and Sales
- Software Developers
- Product Manager
The first hire will be a developer. The position has not been fully defined or posted yet, but if you know of a great intermediate to senior developer in Calgary with all or a bunch of the following skills please pass them on:
- Strong object oriented design and development skills,
- Current to leading edge C# and .NET framework,
- Very strong in user interface (HTML, CSS, AJAX, Silverlight,WPF, etc.) design and development. You can make things happen on the user […]
All Talk and No Action?
Lately, I've been talking in my blog about what it is to be an entrepreneur. Working on the business versus in the business. Strategy versus busy work. Keeping customer happy, etc.
Is it all talk and no action?
Not at all.
Sure I blog about the things that I find interesting or attract my attention. If I am focused on something, it get's more attention over a period of time in the business.
We have been in business almost 10 years now which is an accomplishment in and of itself. We have had the pleasure of working with and building great software […]