Tips for moving from dev to management

Management isn't for everyone, but without it we'd probably be unable to get anything done in a corporate structure.   It's planning, organizing and leading, delegating tasks and letting other people succeed.  These skills aren't completely diametrically opposed to strictly technical positions, but it's pretty close.  It's probably why everyone is familiar with some of the most talented engineers struggling to succeed in a management role.

With that being said, it can be done, and if you' have the right temperament and frame of mind, you can not only succeed at it but you might even enjoy management.  Here's a couple of points stick out that are good to keep in mind.

1. You don't get to manage 10 of you. You were put into this role because you probably outperformed your peers, so don't think that you'll get to manage ten top performers.  However, hopefully you'll get complimentary set of skills that you can leverage to 
2. Build a team, a team is a group of individuals working towards a common goal.  Be a constant reminder of what your team is working towards.
3. Realize your words carry more weight than they did before, so choose them carefully.  Have select people to confide in "off the record" is important, but it's also important to not vent everything to your team.
4. Think small at first.  It's amazing how a series of small, incremental improvements can affect employee morale, you won't be able to complete restructure the organization, but you can make your team more customer service focused and as a result, end up with happier customers, either internal or external.
5. Get to know who is working for you, weekly or bi-weekly informal one on one sessions are great.  Ask lots of questions, find out how they tick, every single person has a unique viewpoint and way of thinking and working.  By learning how your team members think and learn you will be better suited to managing them and assigning them the work most likely to keep them happy.

writing

Recently, I reminded myself that I used to write, volumes and volumes of nonsense.  Although some of it made sense, most was just stream of consciousness  that really didn't make any sense.   When I wrote with pen I seldomly used the back space and didn't worry too much about misspellings.  In this blog I can see already that it doesn't like the word seldomly so I should check if I am spelling it correctly.   Interesting that seldom is an adverb and seldomly isn't really a word, I'm not going to correct it now or else the context would be lost.

So, I found some old pictures today while cleaning out the garage and that got me thinking.  When I look back on pictures from ten or twenty years ago, there's usually a consistent progress of thought.  Initial thoughts usually are around how much fun I had in those days, second thoughts are around how much better I looked 15 years ago, finally a sense of contentment comes over me where I'm grateful to have those memories but even more grateful to be where I am in my life today.

Today, right now, is the best possible moment in the world.  Every single breath is a gift from God not be taken lightly, the breath is a gift from God, what we do with that breath is our gift to Him.  I find myself crying all the time these days at the simplest things, simple movies will bring me to tears, just today I cried at the end of "Sandlot", remembering those days with me and my friends playing baseball, but also crying for my children who don't know such simple unstructured pleasures in today's strictly regimented extra curricular society.  Now, I don't feel sorry that for my kids per se, because this is the world that they know and all they need to know is that they are loved.  It's only my knowledge of my past that shapes that emotion.

Writing like this reminds me of why I could never be a writer, because I could never get to or make anything to could be remotely construed as a point.  In conversation as in writing, I enjoy the journey more than the destination.  Kerouac would never allow his rambling to be edited, always saying the words came straight from God to his pen and were not to be altered.   Of course he was actually a gifted writer and story teller, if he rambled to this extent with no point, he would have never had much success as a writer.

There was something else, and it was about love.  I was sitting outside in the backyard looking at our house, and thinking how cool it is that me and my baby have had so many magical moments and have created so many incredible memories in this house.  With so many more to come, it's unfathomable to think what is to come, but I have no fear, zero fear of the future. Why?  Because I wear a coat of love,  a coat of love and gore-tex.  The love protects me and comforts me, the gore-tex keeps the water out while still breathing.  Both are important, but the love never wears out, and if you care for it correctly it actually gets better over time.

Now I remember why I used to write so much, the act of writing in and of itself is cathartic.  I do it for no one else other than me.  It is a cleansing experience; putting a stake in the sand of time, capturing where my head was at that singular moment.

sneffles

The San Juans, simply put, are Colorado's finest mountain range and no mountaineer can consider their San Juan experience complete without a visit to the summit of Mount Sneffles, the monarch of the range.  The memorial day weekend Mike and I had a chance to do just that. 

Read more below

http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=14886

tips for moving from dev to arch

After 7 years and dev and now in an arch role for 2 years at a high level there are a few things that jump out to me as being some of the bigger differences with going from dev and into the arch.

• You need to consider and prioritize equally all stakeholders, product, qa, dev, external customers, you can't be biased towards dev just because that's the world that you know.
• Lead through influence not edicts, teams don't usually want to be told what to do but are almost always open to hear ideas about how to do certain things, nudge, lead and guide gently
• Stay close to the code, never stop coding, continue to contribute regularly to the project(s) that you are overseeing
• Trust the people you work with until they prove to you that they are not to be trusted
• Be fearless and speak up, one of the best things about being in arch outside of the dev organization is that you should feel free to speak your mind, don't be afraid to disagree with dev if you think they are going about something the wrong way, but also realize that it might be you who is in the wrong.

hands free

While out on my morning run I saw a lady taking dropping her kid off at school, this was no douglas county soccer mom, but a lady of limited means dropping her child off, hoping for a brighter future for her kid.  Those without open their arms and their hands are free. Those with hold on tight for fear of losing something, but you can't catch a dream unless your hands are free.

2013-2014 Ski Season Plans

2012-2013 Recap

Some folks have already been up to the hills this year, not me, not yet.  Early in the season we spend most weekends with gymnastic meets and prepping for the holiday season.  I'll always try to get out for a few days before the new year; however, I've always thought that the ski season in Colorado is best thought of as lasting from Jan. 1st through June 1st.  2012/2013 was a good year, with an epic trip to Jackson Hole and a 18" powder day there, a spring skiing trip with the family thwarted by Grady getting pneumonia but still having fun up in Breck, and an epic day on North Maroon capping it all off.

2013-2014 Plans

With that being said it's time for the annual laying out of the plans for 2013/2014, these days talking about skiing must be fun because it's about a 10-1 ratio to actual skiing.

• Getting season passes and season rentals for Bella and Grady to Loveland, with a great deal at Sports Authority.
• Becky and I will get a few 4 packs and we'll do most if not all of our family skiing at Loveland.
• Phoebe will continue her quest to learn how to ski.  Still not going to plan any large family ski trips until she gets to the point where she can ski green\blues top to bottom with no problems, still too much work with her.  She'll get there, hopefully this year.  We are hoping to get about 6-8 days in at Loveland this year.
• In the backcountry hoping to get out for a few days at Berthoud Pass with Mike, always a good time, but less and less opportunities as the years roll by.
• A winter camping\ski trip could be fun, either in the backcountry or something like we did at Jackson last year, a weekend away with the boys just skiing at a resort.
• For the spring ski season, continuing on the 14er theme some trips on the short list are the Blanca group, the Eolus group, and Mount Sneffles.  Also, Mount Cameron is on the list now, as a nice trip close by to attempt one of the unofficial peaks.
• For some of the non-14ers, I'd like to try Mount Flora, Apache, or Navajo in the Indian Peaks. Around summit\clear creek county, Peak 1, snikatau, or citadel are some noble peaks that I've yet to explore.  

Here's to a great and safe 2013/2014 ski season!

Football penalties and Zeno's paradox

Zeno's paradox was framed in the context of Achille's racing a tortoise, giving the tortoise a small head start, Achille's will never catch the tortoise because he has to travel 1/2 the way to where the tortoise is currently, and then 1/4 to get halfway to the halfway point, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, etc.  So there's an infinite set of steps that Achille's must accomplish in order to just reach the halfway point so he'll never get there.

Similarly, in football, a team holding a lead would be wise to continually commit penalties against the offense, allowing the offense to move 1/2 the distance to the goal ad infinitum, and thus never allowing the offensive team to score, preserving the lead and eventually winning the game.