Promoted: The Kibitzer becomes the Kibitzed

Around the start of the month I was promoted from Lead Software Developer to Chief Technology Officer at Austhink Software. [Look ma, I' m a CTO! If only we had an executive washroom. ;-)] I will still be hands on -- designing, programming, pairing, etc. -- but with the new title comes some additional power and responsibilities. In particular, I now have a hand in setting technology strategy plus additional leadership duties.

An interesting effect of the promotion has been that where previously I was the kibitzer -- giving unsolicited and sometimes unwelcome advice -- I have now become the kibitzed! The guys on my team -- Ben and Aaron -- are becoming increasingly assertive in stating to me what they think should be done. And that's fine with me. It seems to me that the allied challenge is to become a better communicator: Both in listening closely to the kibitzs (advice) and kvetchs (complaints), and in clearly articulating the over-arching priorities, so that we can all work together in setting and executing our plans.

Other than that, my motto since making the change has been: "Review, re-focus, and get on with it." The review part has been about taking stock of where we are, the re-focus is about articulating concrete changes in approach, and getting on with it is all about moving forwards.

So I expect that there will be a change tone in future entries, arising from my new perspective at work. OTOH: Whenever I run out of ideas I can always look back over my old blogs for inspiration!