Feb 02
2022

The Innovation Ingredients

"Skating where the puck is going to be" is good advice for hockey centers, but bad for business innovators. Instead of listening to Gretzky, we should listen to Palchinsky: Try new things, ensure failure is survivable, and get accurate feedback.

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Mar 30
2020

Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty

Nothing feels normal. Each morning a new alert. Each night a new worry. We point fingers and lay blame but we all feel helpless. It’s hard to admit, but nobody knows what we’re in for.

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May 09
2019

Degeneracy, Code and Innovation

About six years ago, I stumbled across some papers in the field of evolutionary biology that eventually led me to question many of my most basic assumptions about software development. What started as a bit of a crazy thought, eventually began to offer explanations for everything from the Lean Startup movement and T-shaped skills to the popularity of microservices and why everyone uses Javascript even though Haskell is the objectively superior language <trollface>.

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May 05
2018

Why Software Development Requires Servant Leaders

The idea of “servant” leaders has been on the rise in the agile community of late. Robert K. Greenleaf coined the term in a 1970 essay, but the idea is timeless.

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Mar 06
2018

Slack Productivity Principles

Live chat has fundamentally changed your company in ways you didn't expect and may not even be aware of. Here I share my principles for reaping Slack's benefits without getting swallowed by it.

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