And you are here why?

What’s your response when you’re handed stuff that somebody else did? Specifically, when you’re the New Person, brought in to clear up the mess — real or perceived! — that the Previous Administration created? Mind you, let’s get the “Everything Is Irretrievably F**ked Up” scenario out of the way. Oh yes, these situations do exist, but then again, unless you’re The Wolf (Pulp Fiction. Movie. 1994. Now I feel Old) this doesn’t apply to you. Odds are that you’ve been brought in to deal with a “mess”, (Hint: Not An Actual Mess). For any number of reasons, the existing system/structure/processes just didn’t cut it any more, and the Powers That Be decided that a change was necessary. And you’re that change. So  fine .  You’re the change.  And the million dollar question is — “ What do you do? ” Step 1 :  Blame The Previous Administration Th is is the single most common pattern out there (admit it, you’ve probably done this yourself!). And it’s an easy one too — after ...

You're young, fresh of heart, recently graduated and out to conquer the world. It's your first job, and you're oh-so-excited because you get to Contribute! You get to Be Part Of Something Big! You're on your way! And then BAM!  you run into workplace politics 🤬, and there go your dreams, running smack-dab into the brutalist wall of reality.  Mind you, this is the easy version, when you're fully aware of what's going on around you. It's even worse when you get caught up in it, and don't realize what you're doing 🤯. We, as humans like being part of something larger than ourselves, something that gives us a sense of belonging,  that can help us be rooted amongst all the chaos that is swelling all around us. And our workplace is one of the most natural places to find this. Yeah, yeah, the obvious comes to mind - company songs (hello Japan), group activities (trust falls!), and oh so much more. But, in this case, I'm actually referring to something...

What does “ Professional Management ” mean to you? It’s not an idle question, because the answer can have significant impact on your workplace environment. Think about it this way — if your company has had any degree of success, then, at some point, it’s probably going to bring in a “grownup” to deal with the inevitable issues around growth. These may be current issues (“ we need to scale our sales and marketing efforts ”), or upcoming ones (“ we’ll need a *real* customer support organization ”), but regardless, you’ll need to bring in someone who has learned from their mistakes elsewhere  . In this situation, there are typically two different approaches that can get taken here. You can bring in someone who has cut their teeth in  StartupLand, and has experience growing small companies into larger ones, and can do the same for you. Or, you can bring in someone from  EnterpriseWorld , who has seen how things work at scale, and can apply those lessons to your organiza...

I know, this is kinda ridiculous. Just for argument’s sake though, let’s pretend that you’ve got your act down — you built your product it’s actually selling, and you’ve got $$$. You’ve achieved that elusive  Product/Market Fit , where the thing you’re building is the thing that people want, and are willing to pay for. Product/Market Fit Evolves The issue with having achieved Product/Market Fit is that things change. People might be willing to pay for your widget today, but will that be true  tomorrow ? After all, • Competition  might bring other players into the market, who could sell the same thing for less. After all, they’ve already seen what works, don’t need to recoup R&D like you did, etc. • Customer needs evolve , heck, you might be the one that’s causing them to ask for more! Are you prepared to satisfy those needs? There are other reasons why what works today might not work tomorrow (market gets tapped out, regulatory changes, etc.). The point ...

/via https://goo.gl/D3JscC Note, the question is not “ Do  you trust your manager? ” — thats  a different theme altogether  (•) — it is “ How much  do you trust your manager ” (the presumption being that you  do  have a halfway decent manager). Why the question?  Let’s say you’re thinking of leaving your current job, for reasons unrelated to your company. Maybe you’re switching to a different job for much more money, or you want to take a year or two off, whatever. This could be in a few weeks, a few months, or maybe even “a year or two”. Soooo,  do you talk about this with your manager ? (••) The thing is, the moment you talk about this with your manager, you present them with a dilemma — they now know that you might be switching in the future. Which means that they need to start thinking about replacements, insurance, etc. Mind you, this isn’t about them being jerks — they could have great personal integrity, have your best interests ...

Randy Shoup (•) sez. that building for the future is not only somewhat pointless, it can actually be counter-productive, and that   “any effort spent on that future comes with a serious opportunity cost — that effort could and should be spent improving your product in the now” To which I say Boy Howdy, is that ever true! Why? 1)   FOCUS  : Startups fail. All the time, everywhere, they fail. I know, I know, you are a special snowflake, and your technology/idea/whatever is going to ChangeTheWorld™ — but, well, it’s not if you don’t make it to the future. Relentless focus on survival may not guarantee success, but a lack of that focus   will   result in failure. 2)   MONEY :   “But we have Enterprise customers”   you say.   “We need to invest in Process and Scaling and SOC.3 compliance ” you claim. Well, yes. Eventually you do. The thing about all of that stuff is that it is   easy   to solve with BagsOfMoney™, and   inc...