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
Writing the job description
Writing the job description Ahh, the job description. It is the face of your company on job search sites. It sets the tone for all the rest of the hiring process that follows. It has the power to make or break your hiring success. It’s a shame they’re so often badly written. A good job description isn’t so different from a bad one. Mostly, it just has some of the letters in different places. Both types try to achieve the same goals: to describe the position and attract candidates to apply. There are a few key areas in which good job descriptions differ from bad ones: ... read moreThe biggest smallest website
Introduction I was surfing the web and, as is often the case, I stumbled upon a cool project: the FastestWebsiteEver. It’s “the greatest website to ever fit in a single TCP packet.” I had a think about that for a minute, and checked out the actual site, and noticed that it’s approximately 1130 bytes transferred. Now depending on how fresh you are on your OSI Model, you might remember that there are 7 layers. The data that fits into a single transmissable unit in one layer may be too big for one of the other layers to transmit as a single unit, resulting in fragmentation and reassembly. I thought 1130 bytes sounded rather large for something guaranteed to fit into a single packet (although 1500 bytes is standard MTU for Ethernet), so I decided it might be fun to dig up the old RFCs and have a look at what the TCP and IP specifications say. ... read moreFrom Enterprise Decentralization, to Tokenization, and Beyond!
Note: This is post which I co-authord with Don Gossman and is cross-posted to the Ocean Protocol site. We are putting together a blog series that tackles the lowly subject of enterprise transformation. Of particular importance will be data decentralization and how it will drastically change the way in which we interact and leverage data assets in the not-too-distant future (teaser: see Ocean Protocol). Simple topic, we know. In this first post, we will focus on the pitfalls of centralizing and consolidating IT capabilities, and what alternatives exist. ... read moreFiltering for better tech hiring
Filtering for better tech In a previous article, we discussed a redesigned hiring process based on generating inbound demand coupled with effective automated filters. Ensuring that this process is streamlined requires further filters that determine the quality of your candidates with minimum friction at each step from application to employment. In this post, we’ll talk a bit more about the steps in that filtering process, how to design them, and what to consider along the way. ... read more