How a Group Becomes a Team
If there is one lesson I have learned in my years of leading engineering team and product innovation, it is this: nothing gets done without teamwork.
Leading Through Conflict: A Self-Aware Approach
Navigating conflict with self-awareness—learn to resolve disputes effectively, strengthen leadership, and foster growth through constructive resolution.
From Microservices to Microteams: Two Pizza Rule in Action
Have you ever looked at the structure of your organization and wondered why some teams seem to work seamlessly while others struggle to get anything done? The answer may lie in a principle you’ve already heard of: the “Two Pizza Rule.” Popularized by Jeff Bezos, it’s the idea that a team should be small enough to be fed by two pizzas. Simple, right? But there’s a profound reason why this works, and it’s tied to something called Conway’s Law. Let me explain. Conway’s Law tells us that the systems you build will inevitably reflect the structure of the teams that…
Enhancing Engineering Teams with a Competency Matrix
In the ever-evolving field of software engineering, it's essential to keep teams performing at their best and continuously improving. One effective strategy to achieve this is through the use of a competency matrix. In this article we'll discuss the challenges of objectively assessing individual skills, the benefits of standardizing roles, and how a competency matrix can help identify and bridge skill gaps through strategic hiring and development programs. Additionally, we'll discuss how integrating this matrix into Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for engineering managers can boost overall team performance. Challenges in Measuring Team Competency Challenges in Measuring Engineering Team Competency…
Healing The Hidden Wounds: Transforming Gossip Into Growth
In every corner of your organization lies the potential for greatness, powered by clear and open communication. Yet, when whispers and backchannel chatter begin to weave through the corridors, consider this not as mere office politics, but as a beacon highlighting deeper, more systemic challenges within your communication landscape. Your role as a leader stretches far beyond the realms of task delegation and project oversight; you are the steward of your team's culture, the architect of an environment where trust and clarity can thrive. Seeing these hidden conversations not as problems but as symptoms is your first step on a…
You Need a Clear Ownership for Better Project Management
Imagine this (or maybe you don’t need to), a team is sitting in front of their computers, ready for a Zoom meeting. As they look at their screens with a latest numbers in a presentation, figures glaringly short of the set targets. Right away - a room is filled with silence, few cameras turning off and others just frozen. As a minute passes, one brave soul declares, "That part wasn't my responsibility", their voice echoing through the speakers, "I was held up because I didn't get the information I needed from sales" another counters. Soon the virtual space is filled…
Navigating the Path to High Performance
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships. Michael Jordan This rings true in the business world, too. It's not just the smartest people or the standout stars who push a company to the top; it's teams that work well together. Understanding and fixing team problems can be tricky. Patrick Lencioni's model of the "Five Dysfunctions of a Team" offers a profound lens through which we can scrutinize and elevate our teams. Here’s how we can stride from dysfunction to high performance. As a leader, envisioning yourself as the doctor for your team is pivotal. Your primary responsibility is…
The Daily Discipline of Excellence: Nietzsche’s Path to Leadership and Fulfillment
As leaders, we navigate through the complexities of decision-making, influencing others, and driving change, all while striving to maintain our inner equilibrium. Friedrich Nietzsche, with his penetrating insight into the human spirit, offers us a profound blueprint for cultivating excellence in leadership. His counsel, although articulated over a century ago, resonates with timeless relevance for today's leaders. Let's check into Nietzsche's wisdom and explore how it can guide us on a path to excellence and fulfillment.
Mastering Scrum: Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Agile Project Management
In the dynamic world of project management, embracing agile methodologies like Scrum has become increasingly popular. Scrum, with its focus on collaboration, adaptability, and iterative development, offers a robust framework for achieving project success. However, despite its effectiveness, many project managers make common mistakes in Scrum team implementations that can hinder progress and diminish the framework's potential. In this article, we will explore five prevalent mistakes made by project managers when implementing Scrum. Each of these missteps, from prioritizing process over people to neglecting the importance of a well-maintained project backlog, can significantly impact a project's outcome. By understanding these…
Feeling Committed vs Being Committed to Cause the Result
In our lives and workplaces, the term "commitment" is often used to indicate dedication and loyalty. But have we taken the time to dig deeper into what it means to be committed versus simply feeling committed? Though the distinction might seem minor, it carries significant implications for our ability to generate tangible results. Feeling committed often refers to a state of aspiration or obligation, typically based on emotional attachment. In contrast, being committed implies an active state of engagement, determination, and readiness to act to achieve a particular goal, regardless of feelings or circumstances. The Impact of True Commitment Let's…
The Power of Language: Shaping Organization, one conversation at a time
I spend much of my time mulling over strategies to cultivate a thriving work culture, one that is conducive to innovation, growth, and shared success. In my quest for creating an effective ecosystem, I have discovered an incredibly powerful tool — one that is often overlooked, yet omnipresent. The tool is language. Language, by its very nature, is transformative. Beyond the realm of basic communication, it serves as a conduit for ideas, aspirations, and visions. In my experience, I have repeatedly witnessed the magic of language — how the act of verbalizing a thought, a vision, can quite literally speak…
Unreasonable Leadership – Harnessing the Power of Unconventionality
In the realms of leadership and management, the conventional wisdom has often painted an image of the "ideal" leader as someone who is level-headed, predictable, and reasonable. Although these qualities are undoubtedly important, I wish to champion an often overlooked, yet potentially transformative kind of leader - the 'unreasonable' one. Unreasonable, in this context, does not denote an irrational or tyrannical figure. Instead, it symbolizes a leader who is willing to challenge established norms, push boundaries, and drive their teams towards audacious goals that others might deem impossible. They are the dreamers, the visionaries, and the trailblazers who dare to…
A note from DJ Patil, the first US Chief Data Scientist
It’s a note from DJ Patil, the first US Chief Data Scientist, summarizing his approach to tackling problems: Dream in years Plan in months Evaluate in weeks Ship daily The framework for execution. Prototype for 1x Build for 10x Engineer for 100x The framework for scale. What’s required to cut the timeline in ½? What needs to be done to double the impact?
Selectors, Methods, & Implementations
In Objective-C, selectors, methods, and implementations refer to particular aspects of the runtime, although in normal conversation, these terms are often used interchangeably to generally refer to the process of message sending. Here is how each is described in Apple’s Objective-C Runtime Reference: Selector (typedef struct objc_selector *SEL): Selectors are used to represent the name of a method at runtime. A method selector is a C string that has been registered (or “mapped”) with the Objective-C runtime. Selectors generated by the compiler are automatically mapped by the runtime when the class is loaded . Method (typedef struct objc_method *Method): An…
so you guys are giving ticketmaster a run for their money…
This can easily be one of the best moments in my life, when people take efforts to look you up, know what you are doing and come talk to you about it! After all the hard work at National Indian Gaming trade show at San Diego, we decided to visit Hotel del Coronado to have some classic Margaritas with awesome view of the beach. We were in our Yapsody T-shirts. While cooling and sipping our drinks, a couple came to us and said, “We looked up you guys online, so you guys are giving ticketmaster a run for their money!,…
Yapsody @ National Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention 2014
Yapsody @ National Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention 2014
Google, please improve
A simple example showing, how google search provides really bad user experience. While searching for a specific content, you have to go through great amount of spam, blogs (don’t forget the SEO marketing materials) to get to the real content. Now Its like we need another search engine to search google search results to get to the content.
