Writing goals without having to write them
There’s little I care about more than finding ways to help the people in my team get better and better as humans. I’ve worked in many manager roles where I’ve been tasked with providing ‘growth’ and ‘personal development’ to my reports. Few of these roles have provided me with any or all of the help I need to do this properly.
A large part of my decision to join MindGym was around the potential of leveraging their own methodologies and tools in my team so they can be more effective.
The magic of folder icons in macOS
If you use a Mac as your computer you probably noticed that most of the folders inside your home folder have an icon that matches it’s purpose.
“I’ll add it to my reading list”
I love to read. However, I struggle with non-fiction. I beat myself up about my lengthening ‘work’ reading list and worry I’m letting my team down by not being able to quote from Accelerate.
iPad mini as a productivity device.
So here’s my experiment. Can I achieve all the things I need to achieve with the smallest and lightest setup I can?
Reviving Apple Pro Speakers
I’ve had a pair of Apple Pro speakers in a drawer for a year or so. I’m a big fan of getting as much use out of a piece of technology as I can. In opposition to the narrative often seen in the media, I have never felt that there’s planned obsolescence from Apple.
Apparently it’s called micro-transportation - 4/5
Cycle routes in London suck.
Apparently it’s called micro-transportation - 3/5
I was fortunate to know two people with the M365 already, who kindly gave me some tips on how to set the scooter up to get the most from it and avoid common issues.
Apparently it’s called micro-transportation - 2/5
I saw another news story on the BBC (via Apple News) that discussed scooters and their legal position in the UK and I was irritated enough by it to want to discuss this earlier than I had planned.
Apparently it's called micro-transportation - 1/5
I live about 4km away from my place of work. To get there each work day I could take a bus (which takes about 30 minutes), I could take the tube (about 35 minutes) or I could walk (about 50 minutes). It usually takes me about 12 minutes to get to work each day, on an electric scooter.
Self-awareness during times of change
Rollercoaster rides with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
There's a maxim, in the world of people leading, that change will always incur a drop in performance for the people and teams affected by it.
Democracy in teams doesn't fix everything
If you ask your team to change a practice, and you survey them for their agreement, don't presume that getting a majority is enough.
Change
I started this blog as a software developer to try to broaden my reach a bit and maybe get better jobs. Over the past 1.5 years I’ve transitioned to being a developer of people who develop software.
Culture & Community
I've been fortunate enough to attend the last three WWDCs and I've noticed a disturbing trend in the makeup and behaviour of the audience: People just aren't as nice as they used to be.
- Is my Objective-C code going to integrate well with Swift?
- I need to understand more about the mindset behind Swift programming.
Apps as the new web, app data surfaced through local and network searching, browsers linking directly to app content and Apple starting to take the battle to Google on their own turf, content indexing. Interesting times...
I see a lot of negativity toward Radar, mostly expressed as frustration around visibility of content.
A quick tip for debugging view hierarchies