Tech Leader Pro
John Collins
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Tech Leader Pro is a podcast for sharing ideas, principals, and approaches that you can use to lead a large team, with a focus on the technology industry. Each episode covers in detail a leadership topic that you can relate to, and shares lessons that you can apply directly to your team.
Available episodes
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4 days ago
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 48, firefighting requires new fires
The problem with firefighting in an organization is that it requires a steady stream of new fires, and fires are bad.
Notes:
* Recently I suggested to another senior manager that we should get out of firefighting mode, and his genuine response was that would require us to fire our executive team.
* It sounds like a joke but he was serious: he genuinely felt that firefighting was fine, as our executives were lighting fires for us to put out.
* It got me thinking about why some managers or organizations accept firefighting as the norm?
* Firstly, firefighting is not a good thing for one simply reason: it requires a fire, and fires are bad.
* In fact for firefighting to become the "process" in an organization, it requires a steady stream of new fires.
* A previous mentor once said to me: "John, we are so good at firefighting here, we will happily light our own fires".
* He was being sarcastic, and hated firefighting as much as I did.
* Another colleague who I worked with…
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Nov 27, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 47, Neo Web 1.0
We lost the spirit of Web 1.0, can we ever revive that via a Neo Web 1.0 renaissance?
Notes:
* I am back!
* It may be sentimentality, but I really miss the old days of the internet.
* I remember using it for the first time in a public library on a 56k modem, on a PC that you had to book in advance.
* There was an excitement about it, it was new and unexplored.
* Bandwidth was such an issue, online video was practically non-existent, while images loading in via progressive scans, initially as low-resolution images that gradually became clear over several seconds.
* Social media did not exist.
* Search engines had no ads.
* There were no pop-ups for accepting cookies or signing up to newsletters.
* Instead, we had personal home pages with page counters, blink tags, and scrolling marquees, and web rings...
* E-commerce did not exist, I can clearly remember when people we paranoid about sharing their credit card details online with anyone for fear of being ripped off.…
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Oct 21, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 42, delete your code
The more legacy code your team maintains, the greater the impact on their productivity. Legacy code is a tax, and should be deleted when possible.
Notes:
* Organisations often approach legacy applications with a sense of fear.
* Throughout my career, I have seen legacy applications, or legacy sub-systems of an application that contain some code that nobody left in the organisation understands.
* I have even seen Cobol applications running on mainframes for 20-30 years, that are well beyond End-Of-Life (EOL), and yet somehow they still "just work" and nobody wants to switch them off.
* You should delete that code.
* The reasons for this are simple:
* Legacy code is a tax. You need to pay to maintain it, and pay an opportunity cost for any resources or thought you need to waste on it.
* Code that exists in your team that nobody is willing to work on is literally unmaintainable.
* Tech that stands still in time is dead tech. It is your job to kill it.
* Less is more.…
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Oct 15, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 41, staying calm under pressure
As a leader, you need to think about how you react when things go wrong. Your example matters.
Notes:
* In the software industry, bugs are a fact of life.
* In complex systems that exist in complex environments, things can and will go wrong.
* As a leader, you need to think about how you react when things go wrong.
* An ex-manager of mine, who was a brilliant mentor, used to say: "John just present the facts and you can't go too far wrong. Don't get emotional."
* As a leader, if you panic then others around you will panic, and you are calm they will be calm. You have influence, and your example matters.
* In terms of a high-level process you can apply:
* Don't communicate anything until you know the facts, and tell your team the same. It just adds confusion if you communicate unproven facts too early.
* Choose a small team of experts, and task them to find the facts. Stay close to them.
* When the experts reach a conclusion, you as their leader summarize that, and…
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Oct 9, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 40, social media is a brutal mirror
At times like this, I hate social media: the ugly side of many people starts to show via this brutally honest mirror.
Notes:
* The world is a bit crazy right now, with all of the ongoing wars.
* At times like this I hate social media: the ugly side of many people starts to show via this brutally honest mirror we all carry around in our pockets.
* My X feed this week was not only full of horrific videos, but lots of hateful, divided commentary.
* Tribalism enables many people to justify any kind of behaviour, not matter how horrific. Empathy is lost.
* Equally disturbing is the so-called "hot take guys", who want to comment on whatever is trending on X that day.
* When I see people jumping on trending topics just to get some views, no matter how tragic those events are in real life: I find that disgusting.
* I wish we had a site like X that only focused on economics, business, tech, and science only, but the truth is that all of those topics are now being looked upon via…
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Sep 30, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 39, the curse of knowledge
This week my web search engine greppr came under a bot attack, in this episode I will discuss what happened and how I fixed it.
Notes:
* Leaders, all of your problems are people problems. Mostly due to their poor communication skills.
* This week a senior colleague got annoyed with me for not turning up to a meeting:
* With a person I never heard of.
* At a place and time I never received an invite for.
* People regularly assume others have knowledge of something just because they do: then neglect to transfer that knowledge.
* Somehow, we believe our mental model has magically impacted upon others, without ever actually communicating it to them. It's bizarre!
* I discovered this phenomenon has a name: the curse of knowledge. Ref: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_knowledge
* Wikipedia: "The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that occurs when an individual, who is communicating with others, fails to disregard information that is only available to themselves…
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Sep 25, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 38, analysis of a bot attack on greppr
This week my web search engine greppr came under a bot attack, in this episode I will discuss what happened and how I fixed it.
Notes:
* I am running late this week due to exhaustion.
* Last week, my web search engine greppr.org was attacked by a bot.
* Initially I thought it was real traffic: I seen search queries coming in from multiple IPs, that on first impressions looked like real traffic.
* However the volume was huge! At least, huge for my fledgling service that basically nobody is using.
* On September 18th, I seen 30K additional search queries, and a further 25K on the 19th. I got excited!
* On closer examination however, I could see patterns in the search queries: lots of weird searches for maid and cleaning services, from random IPs and user agent strings, all seconds apart from apparently different users.
* Why did they do this? Perhaps they think they can inject this content into my site?
* The fix: dynamic query string parameters that change daily, using…
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Sep 15, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 37, engineers doing sales
Sometimes software engineers need to do sales, so we might as well get good at it.
Notes:
* This week an engineering colleague and I found ourselves in an unplanned sales pitch.
* We scheduled a call to discuss post-production support of our application with one of our customers, and found that the customer in question was not bought into the application at all.
* Their basic response can be summarized as "why do we need this application anyway?".
* There were no sales or product guys on the call, so as two senior engineering guys, we launched into an impromptu sales pitch regardless.
* It reminded me again on the importance of engineers having basic sales skills. Dedicated sales teams are still required, and obviously engineers should not take that on full time, but this example illustrates why we should be happy and capable to this this sometimes.
* If the engineers working on an application do not understand the problems that they are solving for their customers, then…
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Sep 8, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 36, content promotion on X versus Hacker News
I done a cross-post of one of my blog entries on X (Twitter) and Hacker News this week, and got significantly better results from Hacker News. As a small content creator, X is doing nothing for me right now.
Notes:
* This week I done an interesting experiment using a blog entry I wrote. Ref: https://techleader.pro/a/609-Business-leadership-requires-unpopular-decisions
* I posted the same blog on my X account with 9k followers, and on Hacker News using a fresh account with only about 100 community points.
* On Hacker News: I got several insightful comments, some push-back, and plenty of traffic even those my submission never hit their homepage.
* On X: I got no comments, 2 likes, and no traffic, literally none.
* Logic would now dictate that I should invest more of my time promoting my content on Hacker News instead of X.
* Out of sheer frustration this week, without ever expecting a reply, I made this post towards Elon Musk on X this week: "Wow my view counts on here have…
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Sep 1, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 35, gaming group dynamics
Once one understands the dynamics of a group, they can influence it from inside or outside of that group. Group dynamics often result in individuals following a bad path, simply because the rest of their group are doing it.
Notes:
* This week I wrote a blog on why we should all be weary of group dynamics: https://techleader.pro/a/607-Beware-of-group-dynamics
* In this podcast, I want to expand on that and look specifically at techniques that can be used to exploit groups.
* Groups are exploitable, and moving a group as a unit is easier than moving individuals one-by-one.
* Strong group cohesion makes it easier to manipulate.
* Turning from the inside versus turning from the outside:
* Inside: other insiders are more likely to listen, their guards are down.
* Outside: criticize the group to put it into a defensive mode, provoke reactions to the desired topics.
* Turning the head versus turning the feet:
* Head: identify and influence leaders.
* Feet: decouple the…
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Aug 25, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 34, online confirmation bias
The internet is now the industrial group-think complex. No matter how outlandish someone's beliefs are, group support is available online.
Notes:
* For some people, nothing is real until it's posted on social media for affirmation.
* The affirmation comes from online echo chambers, that grow organically when like-minded people find each other online with similar bias.
* The confirm each other's bias, giving the impression that they represent a majority view.
* Sometimes they do represent a majority view, but that does no mean they are right: evidence is undervalued, truth is collective opinion.
* For many people, this is their truth: online peer recognition is everything.
* An opinion confirmed by online peers becomes a "fact". This is our world now.
* Those we disagree with the established orthodoxy are expelled from the group, and attacked for being heretics.
* In extreme instances, it really is a religious fever.
* Online they collectively create our own preferre…
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Aug 18, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 33, The subtle art of power plays
As a leader you will often have to operate in a hostile environment, and employ a reasonable degree of hostility to survive. In this podcast, I will discuss the darker power plays that you may employ sparingly.
Notes:
* I made a post on X during the week about the subtle art of power plays: https://twitter.com/TechLeaderPro/status/1691932765783019743
* Sometimes leadership is closer to open conflict than you would wish for so you have to be ready.
* Even though we don't want to be in a fight, in can still happen regardless.
* You may choose to employ these tactics, or if you are on the receiving end, it will help you spot them.
* They are in the same category as martial arts: aggressive techniques you can learn to defend yourself, but you hope you never need to use.
* Some typical examples:
* Never stick to an agenda set by others.
* Operate by your timetable, ignore others.
* Always delay your responses.
* Act without communicating intent.
* Accept all info of…
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Aug 11, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 32, my thoughts on the Tesla battery range lawsuit
Tesla are being hit with another lawsuit, this time about their claimed battery range of their cars. The reality is these are range estimates not guarantees, and are based on optimal conditions.
Notes:
* There is a new class action lawsuit against Tesla over their range claims.
* The lawsuit alleges that Tesla "marketed its electric vehicles as having a grossly overvalued range in an effort to increase sales to consumers."
* The lawsuit was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. In it, Tesla faces charges of fraud and breach of warranty, among others.
* Source: https://www.investopedia.com/tesla-hit-with-another-class-action-lawsuit-this-time-over-driving-range-7569325
* The fact is, EV range claims are estimates, NOT guarantees.
* Those estimates are for optimal environmental conditions and optimal driving styles.
* For example, if you are driving in winter conditions (environmental conditions), or you are heavy on your acceleration…
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Aug 1, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 23, Turning up at meetings
Today I am going discuss why a leader needs to be a great at meetings, and to leverage these opportunities to communicate to the fullest.
Topics:
* Whether we love them or not, meetings are a fact of life, so we might as well get good at them.
* We discussed three main types of meetings: the briefing, the workshop, and the one-to-one. There are other types, but these are the main ones.
* We also discussed several different types of personas that can turn up at meetings: the HiPPO, the distracted, the chorus, the rabbit hole diver, the curve-ball pitcher, and the agenda pusher.
* If you want to get the most out of your meetings, you must keep each of these types of people in check. You must set the agenda, and keep everyone on track.
* As remote meetings via tools like Zoom have become so widespread, special consideration needs to be given to them in terms of logistics and ice-breaking.
* I shared a list of tips that can be applied to any meeting, regardless of the context…
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Jul 28, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 30, drink from a glass not a fire hose
In an information-rich environment, with a lot of loud background noise, each of us needs to have our own built-in triage mechanism. Without it, we can become overwhelmed with noise.
Notes:
* Information flow can be overwhelming
* Recently in a production support context, I become acutely aware of this.
* The challenge here is reliably telling signal from noise.
* Triage is the process of telling a serious signal from a harmless noise.
* Treating every noise as a signal is wasteful, but treating everything as harmless noise is dangerous when a serious signal is ignored for too long.
* So triage is not just filtering, it is also sorting by priority.
* High priority items go first, then mids, then low.
* Of course once such an approach is in place, users can try to game this system by insisting all of their issues are high priority.
* So triage is also the about discipline.
* In an information-rich environment, with a lot of loud background noise, each of us needs t…
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Jul 21, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 29, never accept statistics on face value
I have seen many instances both in my career, and in life in general, of garbage statistics presented in reports being accepted on face value. Why is this, and what can we do to challenge it?
Notes:
* In my teams we deal with very large volumes of data, but in a controlled ecosystem.
* Even with controls in place, I regularly see statistical reports from different sources that contradict each other on the same topic.
* I like to joke that everyone has their own reports, based on their own copies of the data, about the same topic.
* We should never, ever, blindly trust statistical reports.
* The reason for this is simple: people produced the reports, and with the best will in the world, people are flawed.
* Usually the flaw in question here is bias.
* As a leader, to mitigate challenge on:
* Data sources?
* Loading process?
* Peer reviewed?
* Sample size?
* Before and after data sets?
* Be scientific.
* To put it bluntly: if you accept garbage on face valu…
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Jul 15, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 28, the fediverse should be built on a blockchain
In my opinion, all existing social media fediverse implementations are a not truly free, because if they can ban a user or block an instance, they have central authority. I believe web3 technologies like blockchains have a role to play in building a true fediverse, let me explain.
Notes:
* According to their website, Meta intend to make Threads part of the Fediverse: "Our plan is to make Threads part of the fediverse, a social network of different servers operated by third parties that are connected and can communicate with each other. Each server on the fediverse operates on its own but can talk to other servers on the fediverse that run on the same protocol. We plan for Threads to use a protocol called ActivityPub to talk to other servers that support this protocol.". Ref: https://help.instagram.com/169559812696339
* That would make Threads the main user of the ActivityPub protocol that powers Mastodon and other smaller fediverse websites, effectively becoming the dominant user…
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Jul 7, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 27, the Twitter rate limit fiasco
Last week Twitter gave their millions of users a lesson on the impacts of rate limiting a service. In this episode, I will discuss why that was an incredibly ham-fisted way of tackling web scraping.
Notes:
* Early on Saturday afternoon, European time, I started to get error messages on the Twitter mobile website that read: "Sorry, you are rate limited. Please wait a few moments, then try again.". Ref: https://twitter.com/TechLeaderPro/status/1675109388221132839
* My immediate thought was my account was being restricted somehow, perhaps from being reported by another user.
* I did not assume it was a global issue.
* Then I logged into my laptop, and tried the main website which was displaying similar warnings. When I opened the web console on my browser, I could see that the Twitter API was returning "429 Too Many Requests" to the Twitter web client. Ref: https://twitter.com/TechLeaderPro/status/1675110903262461955
* Put simply, it became clear that Twitter was throttling it…
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Jun 30, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 26, why the US beats the EU on tech innovation
This week I read a headline about why its a bad idea for young people to start a company in Ireland. I agree with this, but would broaden that out to the entire EU. Today I want to discuss why that is, and why those challenges do not exist in the US to the same degree.
Notes:
* This week I read an article about why its a bad idea for young people to start a company in Ireland. I agree with this, but would broaden that out to the entire EU.
* I have worked in start-ups from Ireland, France, and Germany so I have a decent spread of knowledge on this topic.
* I believe the following four factors act as breaks on tech start-ups in the EU:
* More VC funds are required, especially seeding. In Ireland for example, the biggest start-up VC is actually the State via various agencies, and they are bureaucratic, slow, and risk-adverse. Some of the EU start-ups I worked with actually took their VC funding from the US, while operating in the EU.
* A cultural shift towards risk and failu…
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Jun 23, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 25, leadership and reputational harm
Whether we acknowledge it or not, our reputation proceeds us into a room like a forward-facing shadow. If people look forward to your arrival, or dread it, is up to you. Reputational harm occurs when you completely neglect that reputation. Notes:
* This week I have been thinking a lot about reputational harm, and how a leader's reputation proceeds them.
* Whether we acknowledge it or not, our reputation proceeds us into a room like a forward-facing shadow. If people look forward to your arrival, or dread it, is up to you. Reputational harm occurs when you completely neglect that reputation.
* Some people I know once expressed to me some concerns about another leader.
* That leader has a reputation of being confrontational, awkward, and unresponsive to feedback. That is the shadow they cast.
* I had not met that person yet, but when I met them for the first time, their reputation turned out to be 100% accurate.
* Leaders need to be very mindful of this, more so than other p…
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Jun 16, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 24, active versus passive online discovery
There are two main ways to discover new knowledge online: active via research, and passive via social network feeds. This week I want to explore why passive is becoming the dominant way, and why this is undesirable. Notes:
* The ultimate goal of the internet, for me, is to discover new knowledge and get smarter. It was originally presented as the greatest library in the World.
* At a high level, there are two ways to discover things online alone:
- Active discovery: here you are searching online for answers on a specific topic.
- Passive discovery: here you are no looking for new knowledge, but it is being recommended in your feeds regardless.
* Most of the content we consume online now falls into the later category: we are being fed, by algorithms increasing developed using AI.
* While this is now considering normal, the original incarnation of the Internet, Web 1.0, was not like that.
* In those days, social networks did not exist, and the only feeds available were RSS f…
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Jun 9, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 23, when did the smart phone become our master key?
Lately I have been thinking a lot about how much time I spend on my smart phone, and how over time, those phones have become the de facto master keys for our lives. Is that even desirable? Notes:
* Recently thinking about why the mobile phone has become our master key in life.
* This stems from some recent test drives I done on EVs, many of which can be accessed via an app of your phone rather than a fob or key.
* In recent years, the phone is used for:
- Checking in to flights.
- Bank transaction confirmations.
- Payments.
* The QR Code technology technology has become something of a curse.
* Basically, pretty much all two-factor authentication processes these days use the phone as the second factor. Why?
* When I was in my early twenties, mobile phones had just come out, they were all basic GSM devices with monochrome LCD screens.
* The coolest person in my social circle had no mobile, and despised how anti-social they were making people. Turns out he was right.
*…
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Jun 2, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 22, greppr has launched
I have just launched greppr, a new web search engine that has no filters, no tracking, no ads. The service is a public beta, with a small index and feature set, but that will grow over time and your feedback is very welcomed! Note:
* Limited to basic search: no time ranges, sorting, or spell checking implemented yet.
* Limited to approximately 1 million documents. That will grow.
* Limited to just text results, so no multi-media like images or videos. That is a design decision and is in-keeping with the "back to basics" ethos of greppr.
* For multi-media search, there is already Google and I don't have the time or resources to replicate that scale.
* So yes, this is a niche product with niche appeal to people who value their privacy, do not want to have their search results packed full of ads, filtered by AI, or have their search history tracked to an overall account: there are no accounts on greppr.
* I control the seed list, and that is likely to remain true to protect s…
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May 26, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 21, removing the Twitter app from my phone
As an experiment this week, I decided to uninstall the Twitter app from my phone, to force myself to reduce my time on the platform. Let's see how I got on in my attempt to spend my evenings on more productive projects. Notes:
* I've removed the Twitter app from my phone this week, to reduce my time on social media.
* I am not dropping completely, but just reducing my time on Twitter, especially in the evenings.
* The convenience of the phone app encourages high usage.
* It's an example of where I have decided to value my time.
* From now on, I will time box my social media to a few slots per day, and live with the inconvenience of using my laptop.
* Friction can be positive when it stops you wasting your time.
* I've written about User Generated Content or UGC before, and how platforms like Twitter are designed, via gamification, to entice you to post that content onto their platforms as often as possible. Ref: https://techleader.pro/a/394-Think-twice-before-giving-away…
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May 19, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 20, the Irish Times AI hoax
Today I am going to discuss the recent AI hoax that impacted upon the Irish Times, resulting in them mistakenly publishing an opinion piece by a contributor that did not exist, and why I believe it was actually social engineering and not AI that was to blame.
Topics:
* Last week, the Irish Times was duped into publishing an article on their website that was claimed to be at least partly generated with AI.
* The author who submitted the article used a fake name, and a profile picture generated with Dall-E 2, source: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/i-wanted-to-stir-the-s-says-person-behind-the-irish-times-hoax-fake-tan-article/a1844300112.html
* The article itself was at least partly-generated with Chat-GPT, but that's not the main point.
* The main point is that via a series of emails, the hoaxer managed to convince the editorial team of a major newspaper, the "paper of record" here in Ireland, to publish an opinion piece on their website from a contributor that did not…
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May 17, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 22, On dealing with recruiters
Today I am going share my experiences of working with recruiters for many years in the tech industry, from the perspective of a hiring manager. I will discuss what makes a bad recruiter, and what makes a great one, and why it is all based on trust.
Topics:
* I gave my perspective of working with different recruiters over many years of being a hiring manager, both good and bad.
* I hire based on attitude firstly (soft skills), and technical (hard skills) secondly.
* I need recruitment partners that can follow the same approach to the letter.
* In the tech industry globally, hiring managers like me are competing with each other for the same limited pool of people.
* The biggest complaint I have about bad recruiters is their tendency to hassle hiring managers like me. They forget that hiring is not our day job, and we have many other responsibilities.
* Put simply, bad recruiters are impatient.
* Recruitment is based on trust, and if I lose trust in a recruiter I will also…
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May 12, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 19, web search as ten blue links
Google are moving to AI driven search, and they are clearly moving away from the ten blue links model that gave them web search dominance. That is a big bet from Google, similar to the Facebook Metaverse bet in scale. I love AI, but I do not trust an algorithm to filter my search for knowledge, do you?
Topics:
* The Wall Street Journal: "Google Plans to Make Search More ‘Personal’ with AI Chat and Video Clips" - https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-search-ai-artificial-intelligence-chatbot-tiktok-67c08870
* Google are clearly moving away from the "ten blue links" model that gave them dominance. "“More than answers, we’ll help you when there’s no right answer,” Google executives said in the documents."
* I love AI, but don't trust an algorithm to filter my search for knowledge.
* This is why I am building my own search engine, that contains none of this.
* "Google is shifting the way it presents search results to incorporate conversations with artificial intellige…
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May 5, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 18, a better Twitter
Topics covered this episode:
- The invite-only beta of Bluesky
- Lots of folks are scrambling to build Twitter clones, but who is building a better Twitter?
- My suggestions for a better Twitter: a meritocracy
- Bluesky gets identity verification right
- On working with recruiters (coming soon)
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Apr 28, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 17, the doom is getting doomier
Topics covered this episode:
- The slide towards tech Neo-Luddism
- Why are some technologists spreading FUD about AI?
- We must separate the tech (neutral) from the implementations (people).
- Social media gamification and Twitter
- The sad failure of the original Web 3.0, AKA the Semantic Web
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Apr 21, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 16, new weekly format
Topics covered this episode:
- Blogging is dead, Twitter is almost dead , podcasting?
- Saying no to bad features
- Transactional mentorship
- Web search and AI filtering
- Media recommendations
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Apr 11, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 21, How our relationship with the office has changed
Today on the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss how our relationship with the office has changed, from private offices to remote work, perhaps forever.
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Jan 27, 2023
Tech Leader Pro podcast 20, Project estimates are unreliable
Today in the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to share with you why I believe project estimates are unreliable, and why we should stop placing so much emphasis on them.
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Dec 14, 2022
Tech Leader Pro podcast 19, Consolidating a dot zero release
Today in the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to explain why you should do a number of quality patch releases after each major release to consolidate software application quality, by focusing on bugs, security vulnerabilities, user experience, and finally application performance in each of those patches.
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Oct 21, 2022
Tech Leader Pro podcast 18, Acknowledgement versus agreement
Today I am going to discuss the differences between acknowledgement versus agreement, and how your active listening style might be hurting your communications.
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Oct 1, 2022
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 17: Hero-driven development
Today I am going to discuss hero-driven development, which is an anti-pattern that is endemic in the software development industry. Hero-driven development refers to a team having an over-reliance on star performers to get the job done, rather than having a stable, reproducible process in place that anyone can implement.
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Aug 18, 2022
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 16: Deciding who you work for
Today I am going to one simple question: who do you work for? As a leader, the answer you give will define the style of leader you are. For full transparency, I will also provide my personal answer at the end. So let's get started.
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Jul 20, 2022
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 15: The benefits of Scrum
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to try to convince you of the benefits of the Scrum process, in spite of some common apprehensions you may have about it.
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May 10, 2022
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 14: Letting go of bad ideas
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to explain to you why a leader should let go of bad ideas, before they become bad implementations.
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Apr 7, 2022
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 13: Leaders should create gaps
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to explain to you why a leader should deliberately create gaps in their team, to allow others to grow into them. This is an important aspect of character growth, and should be part of your mentoring tool box.
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Jan 15, 2022
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 12: On determining fact from fiction
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss why a leader should be very wary of something that looks too good to be true, as it rarely is.
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Nov 18, 2021
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 11: How to pitch
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss how you can improve your pitching skills, not only for selling products, but also for selling ideas, which is something that all of us should be good at.
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Jun 19, 2021
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 10: Handling someone quitting your team
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss how you should react to someone quitting your team, what processes you should have in place to handle this, as well as thoughts on successor management and retention.
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Apr 4, 2021
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 9: You need to believe in what you are selling
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss why you need to believe in what you are selling, in order to appear credible.
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Feb 16, 2021
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 8: Present solutions not problems
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss why you should train your team to present solutions and not problems, and to make that habit part of your cultural expectation.
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Jan 5, 2021
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 7: Resilience
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss resilience, including your own personal resilience as a leader, and also how you can help build resilient teams.
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Nov 26, 2020
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 6: Your default mode is confidence
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss your self confidence as a leader, why it matters so much to you and your team, and how you can build it.
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Oct 24, 2020
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 5: Building trust
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss trust, why it still matters in 2020, and how you can build and maintain it.
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Sep 21, 2020
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 4: Reverse delegation
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to explore the dangers of reverse delegation and servant leadership.
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Sep 7, 2020
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 3: Leading by example
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to explore what leading by example really means, and how you must begin by setting a worthwhile example to follow.
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Sep 1, 2020
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 2: Handling escalations
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to offer you some advise on how to handle escalations coming from customers, prospects, the market, team members, and finally technology itself.
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Aug 28, 2020
Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 1: What is leadership?
In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to answer the question "What is leadership?", by providing my definition of leadership, in addition to the core principals that all leaders should adhere to.
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