Posts by Allen Cheung
Midlife Work Crisis
A while back, I came across this interesting take on professional careers, and an observation on how they generally fall into 3 stages: Three crucial skills that leaders must develop to become executives To summarize, the idea is that for…
Craftsmanship in Management
Software engineers will sometimes talk about the craft of software development. The term invokes a sense of art and skill cultivated over years of experience and tribulations, and certainly sounds cooler than framing the act of building software as continuous…
A Mystery Retrospective
When the COVID shutdowns began and my kids were forced to learn from home, I noticed that they were enamored with this app that taught them STEM concepts. Specifically, the app featured a bunch of videos and activities focused on…
Evolving the User Interface to the Software Business
For a little while, it seemed inevitable that desktop apps—well, programs , as they were previously known—would all migrate to be web apps, destined to run as tabs in a browser window. In many ways the architecture of the…
Being Optimistic
What does it mean to be optimistic? My definition is the choice to focus on the positive aspects of a situation, both in-the-moment and the potential outcomes, without ignoring problematic areas. The latter can lead to a phenomenon sometimes described…
All-Encompassing Management
A while back, I happened upon a Twitter thread about incompetent management that I found, initially anyway, quite insightful. First-time founders, CEOs, and even employees should understand the playbook of the Incompetent Leader (IL). The IL is savvy & charismatic,…
