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In 2025, the US (and really, the world) witnessed the rise and fall of the Department of Government Efficiency, commonly known as DOGE. Efficiency already had a bit of a branding problem, and I don’t think DOGE did much to improve the situation. As an efficiency enthusiast, I have noticed two common associations folks make with the word “efficiency”: Layoffs: It’s no secret that large consulting…
Right now in the United States, the rights of women are under attack. Equal pay, workplace protections, even the right to vote are under threat. If you are wondering how you can help and/or how you can better support the women in your life, I would like to make a suggestion for your New Year’s resolution. Ingest women’s perspectives. Do you read books, blogs, or articles authored by women? Do you…
As you may know, I am currently enrolled in a science and technology policy master’s degree program at Arizona State University. I took a Policy Informatics intensive with Dr. Erik Johnston earlier this year. It was a fantastic course that I highly recommend. We talked a lot about informatics and data literacy in projects that require public engagement. For my final project, I developed a short…
Tomorrow is my birthday, and I love celebrating! A few days ago, my husband and I were playing a game, and he asked me what would be my ideal gift. As I have said many times, I think the most precious gift you can give another human being is time, and I think the most meaningful way you can spend that time is by exchanging experiences and seeking to understand another’s worldviews. For me,…
I love asking people where they get their news. Increasingly, Twitter is the top response. People say, “I don’t watch the news. I have Twitter!” Why is this dangerous? In many cases, your local news station or newspaper must craft content that will be broadly appealing. Most of the topics covered will need to be relevant to a large group of people. Twitter is the exact opposite. Twitter’s business…
Last week I delivered a keynote about power and ethics in tech. During the Q&A, someone asked how a leader espousing liberal values could do something like implode their own company by publishing a public blog prohibiting employees from speaking about societal issues and concerns. To answer this question, I find it helpful to consider the three types of power commonly discussed in management…
Yesterday in a discussion of psychological safety, someone posed a thought-provoking question, “Is it possible that there are situations where it is not possible to create safety? Is it possible that there are situations where competition prevents safety?” The questioner offered an example that has become all too common in the COVID era, during layoffs or furloughs, doesn’t competition rule and…
Recently, I’ve been giving a talk called “193 Simple Steps to DevOpsing Your Monolith.” Here are the resources I’ve been using to navigate my way through devopsing a legacy monolith (and preparing for my talk). Enjoy! Nonprogrammers Can Build Important Parts of Prototypes by Mel Conway Mel Conway has such an interesting and easily understood perspective on the history and the future of the…
Earlier this month I was lucky enough to attend and speak at Spark the Change Toronto. The theme for this year’s event was “Constructive Connection – Building a Resilient Organization through Networking.” This conference definitely got me out of my comfort zone. I was able to see every talk, because the conference was single track. Over the course of the two days, I was struck by two major themes:…
