Technical Leader Worries: To Be a Tech Expert or Not to Be

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Leadership , Career development

The majority of IT leaders are promoted IT specialists. Many times, this happens surprisingly, and we are usually not well prepared for this change. We love our tech job—programming—and suddenly someone wants to take it from us. Of course, we are free people and can say “NO,” but it doesn’t happen too often. Becoming a leader may be the next real step in our career, a new opportunity to learn something completely different.

Technical Leader Worries: Team Members Are Whining

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Leadership , Team management

Understanding Team Complaints

It’s very annoying when you hear whining from your team. They complain about boring work, stupid company security policy, wrong management decisions, customers not knowing what they want and changing their minds, and project managers crowding them. Doesn’t it sound familiar?

Architectural Mantra

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Software architecture , Project management

Those who attended JDD 2013 could see it live. For those who weren’t there or missed it, below you will find a presentation on the Architectural Mantra along with an extensive article. Set aside some time for this.

Disappointment, Focus, and Solutions for All Problems ;-)

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Personal development , Productivity tips

Introduction

Many of us dream of a situation where we can work at a sustainable pace, having enough time for everything and being able to comfortably do our job. But it doesn’t work. I’ll tell you why.

Building Knowledge in Teams: Main Mistakes and Strategies

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Team management , Leadership

Building Knowledge in Teams: Main Mistakes and Strategies

The topic of knowledge management in teams is largely overlooked by IT leaders. There is a silent assumption that it happens automatically. To some extent, it does, as programmers are accustomed to constantly learning to stay ahead. However, this is not sufficient. It’s not enough for everyone (or realistically, half) to learn individually. If the team is to be effective, cohesive and up-to-date knowledge is needed. Knowledge of new technologies or solutions holds limited value compared to this.

Truth Does Not Exist (Proofs Neither)

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Software development , Scientific methodology

Since my response to Sławek’s post has grown quite lengthy, I decided to also publish it here. Please read his post first, as my commentary only makes sense in its context.

Self-Organization - A Myth?

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Agile practices , Management

The entire Agile community (and not just Agile) loudly discusses organization. I have the impression that for some time, we’ve been trying to find the holy grail that will allow us to answer the question: “How to manage without managing?”. This time, I’ll play the devil’s advocate.

Renounce Nothing, Attach to Nothing...

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Personal growth , Philosophy

Renounce Nothing, Attach to Nothing…

Today I experienced an “AHA” moment in a certain area. Since the topic is universal, I decided to share it. This is somewhat a continuation of a post from a year ago.

Why I Hate These Standups...

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Agile practices , Team meetings

Why I Hate These Standups…

I often hear it… that they are a waste of time, just distractions from work, adding no real value…

The Scrum Team

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Scrum practices , Team building

The Scrum Team

Team, team, team… It’s time to delve into the subject of the team, after discussing the topics of Product Owner and Scrum Master. This subject can be explored from many different angles. However, that is not the point.