We see the world from one point of view, and it is natural not to challenge the authenticity of that world view. What happens when you challenge yourself to see the world from a different point of view? There's a powerful and funny...

It is important to get clear status updates on projects from your team. I have witnessed a pattern of communication breakdown when a team doesn’t share negative status up the organization. As the boss, the tendency to shy away from delivering bad news is common. Nobody wants to disappoint the boss. How do you ensure you get the real scoop?

I was recently listening to a podcast that interviewed Liz Wiseman about learning and knowing. She advocates using the mentality of learning and argues that this mode brings out our best performance. You can retain some of the behaviors of a learner even in domains where you have expertise. Read more and find out how.

As a technical leader, you are responsible for delivering results through others. Your results are the results of your team. Your team performance is important not only assess, but to encourage through frequent and effective feedback. Don’t just rate them, coach them.

There is a common saying “there are no stupid questions.” In my experience, there ARE stupid questions. However, the risk for asking them is low. We generally don’t ask enough questions. There are tactics you can employ to mitigate the risk of asking stupid questions while you aspire to ask more questions.

Story telling is an important method of communication. I’ve been guilty of being too abstract in some of these blog posts. There are times when I’ve not used enough real-world examples, or told stories to help bring to life the recommendations. Use story telling to drive your message home.

Leaders are examples. You are being watched. Others will scrutinize your behavior and evaluate. Your team will infer all kinds of things about you from how you act. When you bring your bad day from home to work you create all sorts of confusion.

I believe in doing as you expect your team to do.  Model the work-life balance you want from your team to get the best results.

How does confidence factor into decisions making? Confidence in decision making is important, but probably not how you think.

I recently watched the movie Everest about a fateful expedition to the summit twenty years ago where eight people were killed. The movie has some seriously sad moments. The story highlights some leadership lessons that I couldn’t help recount as I thought about the story.

When you’re teaching, you’re leading. When you are in a position of having deep expertise, it puts you in a leadership position. We may be used to being the expert in a particular subject, yet we may not realize the leadership role which comes with teaching that subject to others.

Your technical leadership role includes building an organization. Apply some of the lessons from building software products to your role building organizations to get great outcomes and more satisfaction.

There is a romantic notion that we should be passionate about our work. I’m not convinced we should all aspire to passion in our work. As a technical leader, I don't think you must be passionate to be effective.

As a technical leader you are being pulled in more and more directions. You are forced every day to choose what to do in the few hours you are given. There appear to be no end to urgent demands on your time. It is tempting to think you can be efficient and do more than one thing at once. Do not.

One of the key aspects of being an effective technical leader is using your time wisely. As a leader, you begin to realize that time is the ultimate limited resource. Nobody has more than twenty-four hours in a day. No matter how big your responsibility, you only have twenty-four hours to spend on everything - work, home, family, self.

The middle of a long project can be difficult. It can feel like you are in the doldrums when you cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. There are things you can do when you find yourself in the doldrums on a project or in your career. I have some tactics that will help you break free.

Technical leadership is required even in (especially in) situations where a team is self-organized. There are a number of "no managers" structures, I reflect on one known as "programmer anarchy", that are gaining traction these days. In a self-organized team that imposes its own regulation, I argue everyone must lead in some fashion.

Not everyone should work for themselves. The idealized state of working for yourself has hidden challenges that you don’t get prepared for by becoming great at your special talents. Learn what is involved in starting your own company before taking the leap and ensure you know what will be required of you. 

I’ve often wondered how accessible the Watson technology is for those of us in technology outside of IBM. Watson has APIs that are available and a cloud service to run all kinds of interesting applications. I had the pleasure of sitting with Anita Govindjee from the IBM Watson Healthcare group and she shared some thoughts with me.

As a leader from a technical background, I’m used to wanting to minimize risk. I am not comfortable giving an estimate without a lot of detailed requirements. Being a leader involves taking risks and being willing to work without all the information you might desire.