Podcasts by I. M. Wright’s “Hard Code”
An opinion column for developers. Brutally honest, no pulled punches.
Further podcasts by Eric Brechner
Podcast on the topic Technologie
All episodes
Break the ice blocking your job search from 2023-11-07T08:18:56
How do you expand and utilize your network to land a new role you love? Why is applying online so unlikely to succeed for an experienced engineer?
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High on high potential--drunk on a fallacy from 2023-10-10T07:33:35
What skills should engineers develop? How should hiring manager prioritize candidates?
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What’s this now? Dealing with ambiguity from 2023-09-12T08:39:48
How do you estimate deliverables, prioritize assignments, design solutions, choose implementations, and verify requirements when there’s no authoritative source to tell you the right thing to do...
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Been the boss from 2023-08-01T10:26:22
How do you engage with your manager and peers when you're no longer the boss? Should you be the boss again?
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A matter of degrees from 2023-06-06T07:50:44
Is getting an advanced degree worth the time, effort, and cost? Does the university you choose matter?
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In the middle of planning from 2023-05-09T07:32:43
As a middle manager, how do you create a plan in a week that pleases the management chain above you (and partners), the staff below you (including multiple teams), and your own desires for influ...
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Escape the matrix from 2023-04-06T13:02:08
What is matrix management? Given its awful track record, why does it persist and how can you avoid it?
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Whatever, I do the vacation I want from 2023-03-07T07:53:07
When your company switches to discretionary time off, how much vacation should you take? What if my manager or team judges me about using too much or too little vacation?
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Advanced cat herding from 2023-02-07T08:05:14
How do you drive cross-org initiatives successfully without leaving a trail of resentment? What is the hidden power of the initiative driver?
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Pacify office politics from 2022-10-11T08:40:28
Why do many engineers hate office politics yet can't avoid it? How can you navigate and master office politics while maintaining your integrity and sanity?
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The interview from 2022-09-13T07:35:56
What are the three key questions an interview answers? How do you best prepare, introduce yourself, solve design and code problems, answer behavioral questions, and reflect after an interview?
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I’m not all that from 2022-08-02T08:41:56
How can you overcome imposter syndrome and act with integrity and authenticity until you finally know what you’re doing? What makes others listen to you and accept your leadership?
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A review of pair programming from 2022-07-12T08:12:04
What are the pros and cons of pair programming? When is it valuable?
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To disclose, or not to disclose from 2022-06-07T08:48:37
In what situations should you disclose your disability (or not)? How do ensure you receive accommodations and respectful treatment?
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Crisis management from 2022-05-10T09:38:56
How do you respond to a crisis that involves executives and maybe mass media? What steps can you take to stay calm and engage the right people?
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You’re late from 2022-04-05T10:37:44
What five options do you have when your deliverable is late? How do you rebuild trust with stakeholders?
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I expect you to read this from 2022-03-08T08:04:49
Why do coworkers disappoint you? How do you set clear expectations and hold people accountable?
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Let’s take a poll from 2022-02-08T08:24:06
Why should you bother taking an employee poll? How do you best use ratings and comments to keep what you like and improve what you don't?
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Keep it professional from 2021-12-07T15:50:27
What makes professional relationships different from personal ones? How do you collaborate effectively with people you don't like?
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What‘s your career plan? from 2021-11-02T17:11:26
How do you write a professional growth and development plan? What if you don't have a long-term goal yet?
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Effective delegation: Assign ownership from 2021-10-12T10:09:06
Why is it better to assign ownership instead of delegating tasks? How do you determine who should own what?
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Managing your management from 2021-09-14T07:50:58
Why do you need to manage your management? How do you manage up with authenticity?
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You've got coding style from 2021-08-01T11:54:09
Are you a bold, methodical, or analytical engineer? Is one style better than the others?
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Aggregation aggravation from 2021-07-01T07:49:17
Why do great teams with sufficient data still make bad decisions, miss incidents, and seem unresponsive? How should you slice your data to ensure a quality customer experience?
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Discussing rewards for people from 2021-06-01T10:58:39
How do you run a great people discussion? What common mistakes to managers make in people discussions?
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Troubled teams from 2021-05-01T13:49:23
What way can teams get into trouble? How do you resolve issues and sustain high-performing teams?
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Activity is not impact from 2021-04-02T10:03:04
Why do writing more code and working more hours fall short of delivering more value? What should engineers be doing?
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Rewarding managers from 2021-03-01T08:17:18
Should managers be rewarded more than individual contributors? How do you create more impact, opportunity, and innovation for less expense?
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Supercharged resume attached from 2021-02-01T08:11:35
What are the three purposes of a resume? How do you make your resume and interview more memorable and compelling?
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Growth mindset and diversity from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Does having a diverse team impact hiring the best people? How can a diverse team allow you to be yourself?
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Under pressure from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
How do you take back control in stressful situations? Why is it short-sighted and dangerous to over promise?
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I'm not PC from 2020-11-01T09:11:02
Which software terms are so offensive that we should change them? How do you choose a good alternative to an offensive term?
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Switching to DevOps from 2020-10-01T08:09:50
What are the common mistakes when switching to DevOps? How can your team smoothly transition to DevOps?
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Fond farewell to Microsoft from 2020-09-01T08:17:26
What's improved and what's remained problematic at Microsoft? Where do we go from here?
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What's my motivation? from 2020-08-01T07:36:22
What motivates knowledge workers? Which leadership style is most effective day to day?
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Staycation, all I ever wanted from 2020-07-01T08:12:55
How do you vacation at home when that's where you're working? What three guidelines provide a relaxing and memorable home vacation?
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Give it to me straight from 2020-06-01T08:10:27
What three rules help you write great performance feedback? Which part of your feedback is the most important?
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Fairness rules from 2020-05-01T08:16:15
How do you make fair choices and impose fair restrictions? Why wouldn't you be transparent?
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Feeling remote from 2020-04-01T08:03:47
What subtle changes can you make to be productive working from home? How do you keep the peace with your housemates and kids?
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The good stuff from 2020-03-01T08:09:41
What makes high performing teams twice as likely as low performers to exceed performance goals? Which wonderful, wasteful, and disgraceful practices do teams follow?
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Communication breakdown from 2020-02-01T08:52:24
How can good communication save you grief? What does a communication plan look like for rollouts, reorgs, and outages?
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I'm so lazy from 2019-11-01T08:52:17
When is being lazy advantageous? Why not always jump into problems, work and team assignments, and new projects?
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Tell me why: Incident RCAs from 2019-10-01T08:38:06
What purpose does a root cause analysis serve for incidents? Why ask why so many times?
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Everybody leaves from 2019-09-01T08:18:42
How will I transfer the knowledge of the departing employee? What should I do to help my team cope with the loss?
The good, the bad, and the ugly feature work from 2019-08-01T06:59:22
What's wrong with designating feature work as good, bad, and ugly? How should you categorize feature work and why?
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Being responsible from 2019-06-01T08:38:26
How do you convince management you're ready for a promotion? What are two common ways to demonstrate confidence?
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When to ask for help from 2019-05-01T08:23:07
How long should you be stuck before asking for help? Who should you ask?
Work politics with integrity from 2019-04-01T10:20:53
Why is workplace politics unavoidable? How do you participate in politics without compromising your integrity?
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Bring out your dead: Postmortems from 2019-03-01T08:52:07
Why do multi-team postmortems often devolve into blame games and inaction? How do you run a 90-minute postmortem in which every person and topic is heard, and owners are assigned to improvements?
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Confusing promotions with rewards from 2019-02-01T09:26:10
When and why do people actually get promoted? What is a business need?
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