Newsletter
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Check-Ins Should Be as Brief as a Commit Messages
One of the biggest mistakes I see managers make with Status Hero is setting the team’s expectation that longer check-ins are better. They are not. Status Hero check-ins are modeled after stand-up meetings. These meetings are designed for brevity and to capture only critical information....
Henry Poydar
October 29, 2021 2 minute read
Delivering Incremental Value
Status Hero's goal tracking feature is designed to track incremental goals. But continuously delivering incremental value to the business is the end result.
Henry Poydar
September 14, 2021 3 minute read
Distractions and Communication Debt
Proactively and deliberately give yourself and your team a break.
Henry Poydar
August 27, 2021 2 minute read
Respect and Ping Pong
Don't kill office perks. But take care of the management fundamentals first.
Henry Poydar
August 6, 2021 2 minute read
How Does Your Framework Make You Feel?
Over the years, I’ve been a part of many decisions (and lively debates) around the choice of software development libraries, tools, and frameworks. Many variables feed into these decisions, but more often than not, they are all quantifiable: integration costs, licensing costs, training costs, support...
Henry Poydar
July 16, 2021 2 minute read
Deploying on Fridays
Good morning! Are you deploying today? It’s Friday, and here in the U.S., it’s also a long holiday weekend. Over the last decade or so, I’ve noticed roughly two outspoken camps when it comes to deploying changes on Friday afternoons like today. First, you have...
Henry Poydar
July 1, 2021 2 minute read
NASA, Apollo 13, and Continuous Integration
Good morning, Most of our blog posts use images from NASA’s image archive instead of the usual stock images used in tech or workplace articles elsewhere. These images are in the public domain and often contain a story unto themselves. This is one of my favorites. In...
Henry Poydar
June 17, 2021 2 minute read
The 'Geriatric Millenial'
Good morning, Were you born between 1980 and 1985? Congratulations, you qualify for the “geriatric millennial” label making its way through the workplace lexicon. It’s not an oxymoron or an attempt at sarcasm. Older millennials, the first generation to grow up with both digital and...
Henry Poydar
May 20, 2021 2 minute read
Strictly Business
Good morning, In case you missed it, independent software company Basecamp created headlines last week by publicly announcing that they would no longer allow societal or political discussions at work over company communication channels. They also announced they would end so-called “paternalistic” benefits (gym memberships, farmer’s market...
Henry Poydar
May 6, 2021 2 minute read
Maker, Manager, and Remote Communications
Good morning, If you’re not familiar with the “maker vs. manager” concept, I recommend this post from Farnam Street and this one from Paul Graham. Almost all modern digital teams building something of value are composed of both makers and managers. One of the consequences of the “suddenly remote”...
Henry Poydar
April 22, 2021 2 minute read
Code
Good morning and TGIF! A couple of decades ago, I was lucky enough to study mechanical engineering at a prestigious university. Mechanical engineering is one of the broadest fields of engineering, covering physics, thermodynamics, and electricity. A rocket scientist is a mechanical engineer. The most...
Henry Poydar
April 8, 2022 2 minute read
The Hybrid Office Water Cooler
Good morning and happy Friday. As we get (hopefully) closer to the end of the pandemic and the return to “normal,” it’s pretty clear that many aspects of distributed or remote work are here to stay. Among the big tech giants, Facebook and Twitter have...
Henry Poydar
March 25, 2022 2 minute read
Shiny New Things
Hi friend! Greetings and happy Friday. As a developer myself, I am continually drawn to new technologies and frameworks. It’s exciting to learn and apply new things. And it’s hard to buckle down and grind away on older code when I just saw a promising...
Henry Poydar
March 11, 2022 2 minute read
Bountiful Miscommunication
Hi friend and TGIF, where you get to finish up work for the weekend and then, well, most likely hang out in the same place where you work. Hang in there. This week I’ve been thinking a bit about miscommunication. Odds are that it is...
Henry Poydar
February 25, 2022 2 minute read
Sand and Tomatoes
Hi friend and happy Friday! If you’re in a part of the world that’s bitter cold and snow-covered like me, I hope you’re staying warm. Even though the weather is keeping me closer to my desk, I still fight the daily battle of staying focused...
Henry Poydar
February 11, 2022 2 minute read
FOMO and the distraction of $GME
Hi friend and happy Friday! Regardless of your feelings on the matter, the $GME/Reddit/Robinhood story is everywhere. And most likely, it’s disruptive to your team’s work to some degree. Why? FOMO (fear of missing out). It’s hard to sit down and think through some code...
Henry Poydar
January 29, 2022 2 minute read
The Mafia, OKRs, and a $5K expense
Hi friend and happy Friday! Here’s what I’m chewing on this (cold!) morning: Use OKRs to Set Goals for Teams, Not Individuals Implementing an OKR strategy is hard, so I like to absorb new perspectives on the subject whenever I can. Here Jeff Gothelf of...
Henry Poydar
January 14, 2022 2 minute read
Hello there! 👋
I'm Henry Poydar, founder of Status Hero. I've been writing software and leading both co-located and remote software teams for 20+ years.
In that time I've learned a lot about team communication, software estimation, and managing people — mostly the hard way.
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