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Surprise terminations — where someone is let go without ever having been told there was a problem — are almost always a failure of leadership, not just of the individual being fired. This post explores the red flags that lead to such situations, from poor communication and lack of awareness to, in rare cases, deliberate malice. It closes with a practical checklist for managers and team leads to ensure that performance issues are identified early, communicated clearly, and handled through a fair and documented process — so that no one is ever caught off guard on their way out.

Using vanity metrics is one sure way to destroy your startup. Vanity metrics can lead you to the wrong path. Being able to identify them and replace them is a must when running a business and especially so when running a startup. Here are some simple rules to help you identify vanity metrics.

Today I am going to share a wild idea that actually worked wonders for my own software development efforts. I have been playing with writing essays for my dev work for several months now and I will argue that essays can become a valuable new tool in your toolkit and help you become a better developer as well as a sharper person

Cognitively demanding tasks like writing code require deep focus without distractions. If you are constantly interrupted, you are not going to be at your best. Deep work is what we need to be efficient and get more work done. I share my experience creating deep work environment no matter if you are a freelancer, working in a team or managing a team.

How to determine used disk space on a Linux machine and which folders are using it.

Forget the visual designer of Azure DevOps, in this tutorial I show how to create builds that are driven by YAML code that sits in your repository. Versioned build configurations and the ability to make build changes right from your code editor are just a few of the benefits of code-driven builds that no one wants to miss.

Are you practicing katas? Katas are a great way to keep your software development blade sharp. If you haven't tried code katas here is your chance.

Domain models sit at the heart of business software systems and yet we often build models that are weak and devoid of any real value. This has severe consequences in the long run when we ultimately pay the price. We should instead create models that have substance and an attitude.

I am launching a newsletter featuring curated resources on software development, business, and personal development.

Entity Framework Core 2.2 brings long-awaited improvements for supporting value objects. Value objects are the building blocks of a robust domain model but until now it was difficult to map them to your database using EF Core. I have prepared a sample project to illustrate how we can leverage the latest update to better support values objects.

This time I share a particular gotcha when hashing XML on Windows vs. Linux.