Reviving my Website with Claude
It has been six and a half years since my last blog post. The global pandemic upended not only the world, but also my personal priorities. I found myself no longer interested in writing or public speaking. Like many of us, I was trying to make sense of the new world order, and professional investment took a backseat. This persisted for years. Over those years, so much changed. I changed jobs twice. My elementary schooler was now in high school. We fully renovated our house. Oh, and generative AI became a thing. It feels like everything has changed...and with these changes, I found that I wanted to write again.
Three horizons
In a prior post, I shared an approach I use for visualizing a team’s roadmap. Visual roadmaps have proven extremely useful for alignment, both within the team as well as with partners and customers. It’s a simple way to answer the question, “what are we going to work on”? But I have found that it lacked insight into the evolution of the products themselves, and how they were evolving.
Reflections and projections
December is often a time for reflection. We look back on the year and reflect on what we've accomplished. I am no exception. As I look back on 2019, there are a few things that stand out.
How I Roadmap
A few years back, I took over an engineering team that was failing to meet the needs of their customers. One of the many complaints leveled was that the team did not effectively communicate their plans. It became apparent to me that I needed to find a way to share the work the team planned to do over the short and long term. I began searching for examples that were simple and effective. This is when I began experimenting with visual roadmaps.
Discovering culture through artifacts
In a previous post, I shared my approach to visualizing and understanding the culture of an organization. Assuming you agree with my approach to understanding culture, you might find yourself asking the question, "Great! How do I get started?" In my experience, I tend to look for an organization's cultural artifacts as a starting point for understanding their culture. So what are cultural artifacts and why are they useful?
Thank you Netflix
It wasn’t an easy decision, voluntarily choosing to leave Netflix after 4 and a half years. It was a decision I mulled over for months. I mulled over this decision because Netflix is the MOST AMAZING place I’ve ever worked. I know that I will compare all future employers to the Netflix culture and the experiences I've had here. I am forever grateful for being able to experience Netflix for as long as I did. For this, I give thanks.
Older posts are available in the archive.