My name is Zef Hemel. I use writing as a tool to structure my thinking, to reflect, and adapt as a result. I’m transparent by nature, and have found that sharing the things I’m reading and thinking about — generally around the topics of technology, management and leadership — is not only helpful for myself, it can helpful for others as well. And often, in response, people point me to things I wasn’t yet aware of, or challenge my ideas or conclusions. Now, that sounds like win-all around. Welcome to Zef’s Musings.
Latest Musings 🤔
It Doesn’t Matter What You Say
An exercise: ✏️ Stand in front of a group, and say something meaningful on a topic the audience cares about. No, no, that’s not all, here comes the hard part: ✏️ Now, look around the room (realistically: zoom room). Hopefully you see familiar faces. Now do this exercise in empathic listening: for each audience member (yes,Continue reading “It Doesn’t Matter What You Say”
This is on You
I am very disappointed in all of you. Just a few years ago, when Joe had a baby, the whole company would chip in. We were able to buy a great present. And now, just 17 people out of 120!? What happened to you, why don’t you care? This is the gist of an emailContinue reading “This is on You”
Tony-os, Pathos, Logos
In the Netflix documentary “I’m not your guru” motivational speaker Tony Robbins is followed during one of his annual events during which a “small audience” of just 2,500 people (he often does events for 50k people in stadiums) come to a resort in Florida for 6 days, paying about $6k for their “Date with Destiny.”Continue reading “Tony-os, Pathos, Logos”
The Human Need to Vent
All hands meeting around the globe have taken a turn for the worse since the COVID crisis hit, as people have been forced to start working from home. I thought it was just in my company, but talking to some friends working elsewhere, it seems to be a pattern. Q&A sessions get more passive-aggressive questions than usual,Continue reading “The Human Need to Vent”
Phil’s Last Dance
“I don’t often do this,” my boss said, “but I’d almost insist on you watching The Last Dance. Let’s talk about it afterwards.” My boss used to be a pretty serious basketball player. He often makes basketball references. “You cannot always be Pippen,” he’d say, “sometimes you have to be MJ.” Solid advice! If… well, you know who those peopleContinue reading “Phil’s Last Dance”
Zef’s Razor
I have a core belief. One that even when I mention it to people makes myself think: “Oh, that’s so cute Zef, I hope nobody will ever burst that cutesy little bubble of yours!” Ready? Here goes. People have good intentions. I know, right? So cute! Now I know, people do terrible things to eachContinue reading “Zef’s Razor”
The GoLD Stack: A Management Perspective
I only heard the term “GoLD stack” a few weeks ago. As far as I’ve been able to trace it back, it was coined in a tweet (of course) by Santiago Martinez Q. It stuck with me for two reasons: It’s a short, catchy name. It subtly alludes to being a silver bullet (which weContinue reading “The GoLD Stack: A Management Perspective”
More Thoughts on Alternatives to Feedback
In April I wrote about the No More Feedback book. Ever since it’s been in the back of my mind, and I’ve played with and researched some ideas on this topic. Let me share some of my musings and insights. A brief recap of the core idea of “No More Feedback” (in case you haven’tContinue reading “More Thoughts on Alternatives to Feedback”
No More Requirements
In a previous company, I had an engineer work on a feature for the better part of three months. The feature was well-specified, all requirements were clear. When the work was done, and the feature delivered, a demo session was organized. As the product manager demoed the feature, describing the scenario in which our customerContinue reading “No More Requirements”
Making Sense of “Time to Value”
Last year I wrote a few words about the “Time to Value” metric mentioned by Adrian Cockcroft in his “Innovation at Speed” talk at Re:Invent last year. This talk is about how to get better at software-based innovation (obviously, this involves using the cloud heavily — that’s why AWS is talking about it). Since in OLXContinue reading “Making Sense of “Time to Value””
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