When should you leave a start-up?


"5 sure signs that a good startup is going bad" came up in my Zite magazine. It's a pretty good read, well worth jaunting over there to read it. (Go ahead, I'll wait until you return.) It's written for entrepreneurs, and it got me thinking about my list of start-up warning signs for employees. Employees … Continue reading When should you leave a start-up? →

Grammatical irritant of the day


Why do people say, "will be xxxing," instead of, "will xxxx?" I think grammatical weenies call these the "progressive future" and "simple future" verb tenses. E.g., "Fred will be releasing new code tomorrow," versus, "Fred will release new code tomorrow." This irks me.

Development commitments have two edges


My friend Kirk has run his dev team in a mostly Agile system. Code sprints, agreeing on tickets for the sprint, declaring victory at the end of the sprint, etc. But now Kirk's boss says: I need you to commit to achieve certain goals by various dates over the next year. Once you agree to … Continue reading Development commitments have two edges →

How not to determine a raise


A friend, whom I'll call "Kirk," works in a startup. A really good developer, whom I'll call "Amy," reports to him. Kirk lobbied his boss for a big raise for Amy. He thought about this the right way: I've researched the current market rates for developers of Amy's level and abilities. She's very good, she's … Continue reading How not to determine a raise →

Maybe a new doggy or two


It's been about 1.5 years since Ersala passed. Our house has been clean and orderly and...quiet. We looked at two rescue dogs today. One is a three-month old terrier - Rottweiler mix puppy named Darla. The other is an eight year old Weimaraner named Skeeter. We're considering adopting both of them. We might be nuts. … Continue reading Maybe a new doggy or two →