Steering interviews back on course

By CJ Cenizal in Hiring on

An interview offers a brief window in which to get the signal you need to form a hiring recommendation. But what if the candidate misunderstands a question or doesn't quite answer it the way you had hoped? Here's how I nudge an off-course interview to get it back on track…

Riding out emotional waves

By CJ Cenizal in Relationships on

When I feel angry or anxious, I think less clearly and any decision I make is likely to be a poor one. Here's how I try to spot an oncoming emotional wave and avoid capsizing…

What I learned from speaking at LeadDev

By CJ Cenizal in Communication on

This week I gave a talk titled "Scale up: How to grow your team without growing headcount" to about 450 folks at the LeadDev conference in San Francisco. The talk was ten minutes long, but I spent roughly 75 hours iterating over it and rehearsing it. Here's what I learned…

Be critical or be corrupted

By CJ Cenizal in Principles on

I recently rewatched "The Wire". The show's central theme is about counter-productive metrics and their corrupting influence on institutions. I've noticed hints of this pattern in software engineering, too…