Wednesday, October 8, 2008
This is perhaps the culmination of my drivel: many close friends have told me that this writing is odd because it doesn’t sound like me as I am in life. It has a certain preachy quality to it that I haven’t settled into, so the voice sounds inauthentic to me.
It’s been clear to me [...]
Stop the presses. The CEO of Ideal, David, has officially resigned his position.
I was already generating options for my future a la goal mapping, but this changes the dynamic.
What I know is that he was ousted through some political machinations by Jesper.
Share and Enjoy:
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
My original exit strategy for my employment at Ideal had three basic phases:
Kick ass at my job by designing superior products, and organizing my team to be efficient and productive
Use the momentum of my success to simultaneously negotiate for options, and a larger, more visible role in the company.
Use my role in the company to [...]
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The trick to asking for a promotion is not to have to ask at all.
I’ve hit on this theme several times in the fast track series and Informal Authority, but it’s worth noting again that you create people’s perceptions of you. If you want a job, then you do that job. Once you are [...]
Saturday, August 16, 2008
The major project that Walter dragged his ass on for six weeks is not yet complete. There was a brief and uninteresting delay in the middle that was Ideal’s fault — some logistical issues with getting the infrastructure ready — but unfortunately that has not been the only problem.
I went into work recently feeling really [...]
First, house keeping. This post is on a Tuesday and I missed yesterday. The reason for that is that the post I was working on got really long and complex and required more editing than I could take care of yesterday so instead I’ll post a small update today, and I’ll split what was supposed [...]
I have to admit that this is not the generic advice article you’re expecting about landing a raise during a yearly review. Instead this is a story of how I got a raise from my already ample salary in the middle of the year.
First, a word of caution. This is a mistake I made, that [...]
I’d like to relay a conversation I had with a poster on the Joel on Software forum, and someone who has commented here as well. He goes by the handle “InWritingPlease,” and on July 29th, he said this:
“Ken has some good writing, but it’s WAY too general to be very practical. Enough to get [...]
I have stumbled upon possibly the most damning problem here at Ideal. It’s very simple, and it seems endemic:
Everyone who makes decisions treats employees like expenses, not like investments.
I was talking to crazy Doug the other day about a renovation that I’ll post about later, and his position was that the developers don’t need windows, [...]
Authority is a wily beast. In general it means that people will abide by your decisions. They will do what you want them to do.
I have come to realize that no manager can be effective with merely formal authority. True power comes from the trusting relationships that one forges with the people around him. He [...]
