Personal Optimization

Should I Ask for Help? 3 Questions I Ask Myself When a Problem Has Me Stumped

One of the best parts of working for a software consultancy is the vast amount of individual knowledge that exists over a range of topics. The ability to ask questions and get help with many different languages or problems is incredibly valuable, especially when starting a new job or project. However, I’ve realized over the […]

5 Thinking Tools & How We Used them to Make Our COVID School Decision

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown me how convenient my life used to be. Shopping, social gatherings, and school starting for my kids were relatively simple situations to plan for. Now, life decisions are much more difficult. I’ve talked with many people who are struggling with issues related to work, school for kids, and differing expectations […]

Four Tips for Starting Your First Development Job Remotely

I recently found myself in a scary situation: graduating from college and starting a new job in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. As if starting a new job and readjusting from college life to work life weren’t stressful enough, I now had to make that adjustment remotely. Fortunately, I found myself starting at a […]

The Benefits of Ruthless Collaborative Critique

Communication is difficult. And we’ve all seen reports that needed better peer review, important yet confusing emails, presentations that could have been much, much better, etc. In my experience, many of these situations could have been avoided if the creator had gotten the honest feedback they were asking for. Unfortunately, many people are afraid to […]

4 Steps to Starting a Daily Standup with Your Family During Remote Work/School

Since mid-March, my husband and I have been working from home full time; our two teenagers also began online schooling around that time. Like many households, we suddenly had to figure out how to maintain harmonious relationships while keeping the same levels of productivity. Influenced mostly by having to compete for office space and bandwidth, […]