And you are here why?

  Cynicism is pretty much in vogue. Mind you, I suspect it's always been in vogue, well before the Marquis of Cynìcse famously remarked " mon élicotère est plein d'anguilles " in response to a question about the monarchy (etymology of "cynicism", in case you're wondering). This is particularly relevant when it comes to one's workplace - witness pretty much anybody's response to an exhortation to do good by the company. I mean, " The company doesn't give a s**t about me, why should I give a s**t about the company " is pretty much is a fact of life these days, isn't it? The thing is, it is all too easy to mix up the Company with the People That Work At The Company. If anything, that's pretty much the job of whoever is doing brand-management at the company, that's their job, and they tend to be very good at doing so! But, and this is important, don't fall into that trap . Oh, by all means, be cynical about the company t...

Are you a "tidy plate" kinda person? Or one who pretty much just loads the plate up willy-nilly, because, hey, "eating is where it's at!"? I'm actually being serious. I mean I know people who are extremely clear about their food - the potatoes can't touch the peas, and god forbid the ragù overflows and ends up touching the bread! And then again, there are those for whom "plating" basically translates to " put it on the plate, that's all there is to it! " I know, you're sitting there thinking "And, pray tell, what does this have to do with software?" Well, very broadly speaking, software folks also tend to fall into these two categories. On the one hand, you've got folks that like clarity. Give them a task list, a well documented requirement, a bug to track down, or some such, and they're happier than clams in a bake. On the other hand, you've got the folks who thrive in chaos. Ambiguous requirements, flak...

What actually matters in your organization - the People? Or the Process?  OK, that's a bit of a trick question, right?   I mean, of course  the people matter, because you're all People Persons, and y'all care about your peoples, and y'all want to do The Right Thing, etc. etc. But, and this is one of those things that is kinda hard to face, is that actually true ? After all, there are very few companies out there that basically come right out and say "Yeah, we don't care about our employees". Instead, what you'll find is any number of declarations along the lines of  • Our employees are our most important assets • We foster personal development • We are honest with each other, and don't play politics etc. If anything, the more sociopathic the organization, the more likely that their ostensible values are the exact opposite (probably thanks to some very judicious word-smithing courtesy of their Marketing/PR wings 🙄) And that very sociopathy is what ...

So yeah, do  you know what your company's goals are?  Yes, of course, “ Increase shareholder value ”, but do you know  how  your company plans on doing that? Stuff like • “ Increase the number of baby-strollers we sell by 67% this year ” • “ Convince at least 3000 people to buy our hand-selected peppercorns this month ”, or even • “ Get the work, do the work, get the money ”? /via http://rhymeswithorange.com/comics/april-6-1998/ You’d think this would be stuff that —  obviously!  — would be shared top down, but, then again, you’d probably not be surprised to know that this stuff  doesn’t  trickle down.  Mind you, it’s not necessarily malice. If you’re a tiny company, it’s just assumed that you know this. If you’re large, then there are just so many layers between you and the CEO/CFO that the message never makes it to you. And if you’re somewhere in the middle, everybody is just too busy to actually pass this information on 😠. ( And then, there...

/via https://money.cnn.com/2014/07/31/pf/vacation-days/index.html You’ve probably seen variations on this theme by now. They might go by different names — “ Unlimited PTO ”, “ Flexible Vacation ”, etc. — but the underlying system tends to be somewhat the same. On top of the usual Bank Holidays, you get to take however much vacation you want, as long as your job gets done. Straightforward, right? Well, actually not. As with most things, the devil is in the details. If you, or your company, is offering this as a benefit, ask yourself the following questions 1.  How does this map to your team/company values? If everybody around you is burning themselves out working 7 days a week, any time off you take will might feel like a betrayal — both to them,  and to you!  That kind of high utilization and high stress environment not only precludes you from taking full advantage of the “unlimited vacation” policy, when you’re actually  on  the vacation, you’ll alway...