People from Jobs Past
There are three types of people from the past: the good, the bad and the un-remarkable. You quickly forget the un-remarkable and the bad you want nothing to do with ever again.
Sometimes a particular problem or event causes you to remember some of the good ones.
Even after many years, when the good people cross you path again you feel good. Whether it is the past memory or the knowledge that they are still doing well, it is a nice but fleeting experience to briefly catch-up and then… go down your separate paths again; too busy in your own lives follow through […]
Progression – Growth by Success
The worst thing you can do when developing your staff/team members is to set them up for major failure (the second worst is not bothering to develop them at all).
For instance, you hire a recent business graduate with lots of potential and then put them in a position far beyond their experience level. The person then messes up really bad, maybe loses a key account or mismanages the team such that productivity drops or key employees quit. You will have to "fire" them from their position. This can devastate the individual and quite literally ruin their level of respect in […]
Development Updates
Sean Feldman spent the day at Sunwapta on Monday. The visit was highly appreciated by our team and especially me.
I think what is most important now after all the visits and training is to just do it; take action. We have a perfect (greenfield) project that is starting up from scratch and we will be using all the latest and greatest we can manage:
- The MVC pattern on top of a layered architecture (.NET),
- Fluent nHibernate,
- Automated Builds and Continuous Integration automation using Hudson and a slew of other tools,
- BDD/TDD on top of domain driven design,
- Etc.
In this project I am representing the customer but […]
Moving Forward in Today’s Economy
As I mentioned before, I am actively watching ProCoach Success System and Andrew in particular as he grows his company and in doing so, helps entrepreneurs succeed in manifesting their dreams.
He recently posted a video on YouTube that I found had some good advice on how to move forward in today's economy:
-
Stay Informed (but avoid wasting energy on negative discussions)
-
Evaluate Your Risks (and adjust as required)
-
Pursue Opportunities (there are never as many as when the economy is down)
-
Focus on Things Within Your Control (activities and mental attitude)
It is worth watching.
Agile Business Creation
Here at Sunwapta Solutions we live and breathe software development. Whether it is consulting work for clients or building software products, we need to follow and excel at the latest technologies and trends.
Agile development is a methodology and even more if done right; a state of mind for the development team that can lead to more rapid software development cycles with value for the customer early and often.
Agile business means an existing company being able to set a new direction followed by rapid implementation… the ability to respond quickly to the marketplace. This may mean launching a new product. […]
Development Skills Sprint
As I mentioned in my previous post, I am now much more focused on business development. For me this means being an agile business (I’ll come to this later in a new post). As a piece of this I need a development team that is both agile and leading edge skills-wise.
It is interesting how things sometimes come together. JP moved back to Alberta and ran his Nothing But .NET course again here in Calgary and we sent one of our developers.
Sean Feldman, a Nothing But .NET and Sunwapta Solutions alumni, offered to come back and share with us what he has […]
Developing with Passion @ Sunwapta
With my personal focus on business development I am swinging heavily back into a focus on software product development.
I am more the product manager/architect type and leave the developing to the experts, but I have a passion for building great software nevertheless. This includes everything around encouraging our developers to further learn and master the latest agile processes and tools, from the foundation of solid Object Oriented Design to the latest in development tools.
The last week and a bit have been pretty consumed with the JPBoodhoo show. For those of you who don't know Jean-Paul Boodhoo, he is considered to be […]
Doug Wagner @ Sunwapta – 1 Year Anniversary
It is surprising how fast a year goes by. My blog has reached its 1 year anniversary today.
Approximately 125 posts in one year is not a bad accomplishment considering writing is not my full-time occupation.
I have found I have a passion for writing in a number of subject areas.
Sometimes it is hard to come up with a new subject and sometimes ideas just flow out. Sometimes an idea sounds good in your head but when you write it down, it is not as brilliant. That is the challenge of taking an idea and communicating it in a limited medium of […]
Manifesting your Dream – Team Edition
On Wednesday, I talked a little bit about manifesting your vision and yesterday a little about taking action.
Things get a little more interesting when you start trying to manifest your vision and at the same time, align your business team with that vision.
Sure you can just ram your vision down their throats but you have a better chance of success if you can get them behind your vision and an even better chance of success if their career and/or financial objectives align with your vision.
The thing is, strategic goals are easily lost in the day to day work of keeping clients […]
Actions Speaks Louder Than Words
Vision does not create results.
Goals and planning do not create results.
Only action creates results.
Any action towards your goals and vision is better than all the planning in the world and no action.
How do you know your detailed plan is right? If you are heading down a new path planning out all the details in advance is treacherous. Things change and you spend all your time adapting your plan rather than taking action.
So have a vision, do "enough" planning and start taking action towards your goals. Avoid analysis paralysis. Be open to different paths along the way.
After all, actions speak louder […]