Life

At the end of the day, shut it down

By Marc Esher

This is a story about habit change, told via two recent examples related to work/life balance. I’ll conclude with some recommendations on how to apply this to your own life. The setup To improve at “living in the moment,” to be more present during non-work hours, and to more effectively balance work and life, I’m working to eliminate two small bad habits: checking work email off hours using my work laptop to do, well, work, during off hours Important detail: I work from home, so leaving work devices at the office isn’t an option. Now then: I initially thought a … Continue reading At the end of the day, shut it down

Working with Queue and Stack people

By Marc Esher

My colleague and friend Clinton told me once about himself (I’m paraphrasing): “I’m a stack, not a queue”. This is not a post about queue and stack data structures, but about people and their behavior biases toward task management. I’m focusing this discussion on tasks that represent defects to be fixed, quick-win feature additions, and other short-term tasks. These are tasks that can probably be completed in a few hours to a few days. I’ll describe these biases and how they manifest for different types of people in their emotional and behavioral responses to incoming tasks. I’ll also describe how these different responses can create conflict on … Continue reading Working with Queue and Stack people

2013 in Review; What’s Coming in 2014

By Marc Esher

Preview New job, sold 2 houses, attended some conferences, read a lot, learning banjo, learning Go, excited for 2014, preparing for 2015. Be kind. New Year, New Job In January 2013, I made a decision that folks close to me thought was at best questionable, at worst just plain stupid and foolishly risky, and to one, made me a communist-slash-terrorist-slash-socialist-slash-anti-American: I left a fulfilling, stable job, working with a fantastic team, to take a temporary 2-year stint working for the U.S. Government. Why? I believe in the organization’s mission and want to contribute to software, systems, and teams that protect American … Continue reading 2013 in Review; What’s Coming in 2014