leadership

When It’s OK to Ignore Company Policy

Most company policies have their roots in good practices, but over time, an organization's goals can change so much that a policy does not support those goals any longer. It’s important for employees to be able to use their own judgment and feel comfortable going to supervisors about making exceptions.

Lee Copeland's picture
Lee Copeland
The Secret Life of Team Leads

Engineering an environment that helps teams do their best work can be difficult. When the team works well, it can deliver better, and helping teams deliver more effectively is what being a team lead is all about. However, this role also comes with some responsibilities and challenges that aren't always clear.

Steve Berczuk's picture
Steve Berczuk
Fail Fast: Embrace Failure to Encourage Success

Fear of failure can hold you back from learning and creating new things. Conversely, creating an environment where it’s safe to fail shows that progress toward mastery is just as important as achieving mastery. A leader who encourages failing fast will have a team where everyone is performing at their best.

Steve Berczuk's picture
Steve Berczuk
When It Comes to DevOps, You Have to Start Small

It’s never easy instituing a new methodology or practice into your team. If you want DevOps to be a major focus in order to improve communication and collaboration between development and operations, you can’t just make that happen with the wave of a wand and a couple of key buzzwords.

Josiah Renaudin's picture
Josiah Renaudin
Why You Should View Every New Workplace Challenge as a Confidence Booster

New challenges can certainly be rich learning opportunities, whether or not the effort is a success as anticipated. It's time to view every new challenge as an opportunity to boost confidence. You certainly won't lose—you only stand to gain with this approach.

Mukesh Sharma's picture
Mukesh Sharma
The Art of Giving Feedback Your Team Will Act On

Giving good feedback is hard. A common pattern we follow—especially when we have to give negative feedback—is starting with something positive, addressing the problem, and ending with something else positive. But it turns out this "feedback sandwich" method isn't the most effective. Here are some better ways.

Steve Berczuk's picture
Steve Berczuk
What’s a Tech Lead? Decoding This Developer Role

The role of technical lead can be hard to define, and in many cases people accept the role without knowing its definition. Because new tech leads are used to programming, many focus too much on the technical aspects and not enough on the people and the team. Read on to learn what's required of this role.

Steve Berczuk's picture
Steve Berczuk
Are Most Leaders Liars?

With scandals hitting the headlines on a regular basis, it seems foolhardy to assume honesty among those in charge. As a result, leaders who truly are honest need to work harder to display evidence of the fact in order to gain the trust of those who look to them. Developing a culture of honesty is crucial.

Naomi Karten's picture
Naomi Karten