Geoff Mazeroff

Behavioral science How To Stay Motivated So You Exceed Your Goals (via Behavioral Grooves) People feel good when they are making progress, especially when it’s more than they expect The middle problem — beginning = enthusiasm, ending = finish is…

Culture How Leaders Can Build Connection in a Disconnected Workplace (via HBR) Make workplace connection a ritual. Friendships need positivity, vulnerability, and consistency. Make it easy to ask for support. Make onboarding more experiential. Make recharging a reality. Learning and…

Agile Dependencies Are Killing Your Agile Flow at Scale (via Mountain Goat Software) This post covers how dependencies can become bottlenecks if not managed well. It also describes ways to work through those dependencies, as they will likely never truly…

Career The Upside of Feeling Uncertain About Your Career (via HBR) “You hear colleagues say things like, ‘I want to make a difference’ and ‘I want to feel like my work matters,’ and privately fret, ‘Well, I want those things…

Org structure Hunting Tech Debt via Org Charts (via Software Lead Weekly) This post covers common org chart arrangements and how different incentives create different outcomes. Engineering, product, security, and flat-structured orgs have pros and cons.

Listening Skills How to Become a Better Listener (via HBR) Listening has three aspects: cognitive, emotional, behavioral 9 tips: repeat the last few words back, don’t rephrase unless you need to, offer natural nonverbal cues to show you’re listening, pay…

Career So You Botched a Job Interview. What’s Next? (via HBR) Reflect on the entire interview Use thank-you notes to show self-awareness Avoid false narratives Continue your job search Focus on the next interview Diversity and inclusion 3 Small Ways…

Business When Should Your Company Develop Its Own Software? (via HBR) This article covers the space between needing more than what off-the-shelf software can provide yet still needing the efficiencies of software to stay competitive. It also discusses the pros…

Business How Nonprofits Can Encourage Donors to Give More (via HBR) Introduce a “fun” choice between tip jars (e.g., cats/dogs) Use nouns over verbs — “become a donor” vs “donate today” Use second person plural — “we need your help”…

Agile Agility ≠ Speed (via SWLW) This article posits an interesting physics analogy: speed has magnitude and direction. It’s not sufficient to build software faster if you’re not building it in the right direction. “That is what the word agile…