Right Now
I help boards and executives at growth-stage technology companies continue (or resume) rapid acceleration by advising them on improving their leadership capabilities, operations, and technology. While I specialize in executive advising on leadership and process, I can also dive into deep technical problems with Data Science or Software Engineering departments. Feel free to contact me directly to learn more.
I have a few tech projects in progress that will undoubtedly become blog posts. I’m working on an e-book about leadership in organizations, as well as a field manual for triaging performance and architecture in growth-stage startups. I sometimes write code for open-source projects like TinySite and CompressTest. I also work on ApplyByAPI, a tool that helps companies focus on quality over quantity in their tech hiring process.
Recent Publications
Notes on John Maxwell's Five Levels of Leadership
Leadership is influence. Note: when you talk about your vision with people, they see you through the lens of these levels. So the person who sees you in level 1 will not absorb or be motivated by the vision in the same way as someone who sees you in level 4. Level 1: Rights You get the position and the title. Basically nothing here besides imparted authority. People follow you because it’s their job, or they must for some reason. The upside is you get to start working on yourself. The people will give you the least amount of their energy, effort, and mind. ... read moreNotes on Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife
Chapter 1 What is a “Learning Organization?” Does it promote suggestions from lower ranks and from operational areas (i.e. people “on the ground”)? Are subordinates encouraged to question superiors and policies? Does the organization regularly question its basic assumptions? Are executives and other management routinely in close contact with operational people and open to their suggestions? The three key elements to The Learning Challenge of Sullivan and Harper from the book Hope is Not a Method: ... read moreNotes on The Mission, the Men, and Me
Part 1 Don’t get treed by a Chiuahua. That is, don’t make snap decisions before you have collected and processed a sufficient amount of information to decide. When it’s not possible to decide, develop the situation. Humor your imagination. Part 2 The mind goes through 3 phases during learning and planning. Saturate, incubate, illuminate. They occur more or less in order, but your mind continuously cycles through each phase. Incubation-induced sleep loss is common though sleep is needed in order to maintain optimal chances of illumination (page 70). ... read moreCSAP - Collect, Store, Analyze, Productize
Introduction Compared with many disciplines and areas, Data Science is extremely new and the scope of a Data Science team inside an organization is still a matter of debate. Since Data Science is an amalgamation of many different areas and specialties, including mathematics, computer science, statistics, machine learning, business, economics, and others, there so far hasn’t been many clear frameworks or organizational structures to support a Data Science group. Regardless of the implementation details, a company looking to improve its overall standing from a data perspective will want a specialist group who focuses on how data is collected, stored, analyzed, and productized (CSAP). ... read more