Articles for category: Delivery

Filling in Gaps

There are some days when my role is to fill in gaps. We don’t have “X,” and no one knows “X”? Looks like I’m spending some time learning “X” today. I have zero complaints about filling gaps, because I think it’s where you can get the best opportunity to learn a new thing and figure out how it connects to everything else you do. It can seem stressful; it’s akin to someone dropping a stack of files on your desk – “Here, figure it out”. That’s okay, we need more of “Here, figure it out”.

Software Libraries Die

When you least expect it. From a KB article that no one read. One day, a library you are using will die, and you’ll have to rewrite that code. My advice? Make sure what you are doing with that library is well-written, well-designed, and makes complete logical sense (comments and documentation are a given). Because one day, that super critical library you are working with, will die.

I Sent it to You

The most passive sentence ever uttered when someone says “they don’t have it”. What this really means… I probably haven’t, but I didn’t read it. I’m overloaded and have no time to read it. I saw it, but chose to ignore it for other priorities. I don’t use that medium, so there is no value in it going there. Take your pick, ask the receiver which category they fall into, and then figure out your next step from there in how to work with them. “I Sent it to you” isn’t a path to making things better.

The Last 10% of Any Project

The Last 10% of any project is the hardest and takes the longest – mentally – of the entire project. I don’t know how long it will take you or what it takes to complete it. Only you do, all I know is the last 10% can take twice as long as the middle 80% and thrice of the starting 10%. The solution? Find a closer, someone who can take that last 10% over the finish line. They are in short supply, but when you have one, they will make every project succeed by finishing that last 10% that the

Storms Expose the Cracks

And then it’s up to you to figure out how you’ll fix them. We’ve all had those repairs that we’ve pushed off because – “we’ll get to it someday”. And then the storm hits, and we think to ourselves – “someday was yesterday”. So now the question is, when is the next someday going to come, because we know the next storm is going to be just as rough.