We all have something to share

As Support Driven Expo was winding down in Portland last week, Lisa Hunt from the Support Breakfast podcast popped by with her microphone to ask, "What is one thing you learned at SD Expo?" I bumbled -- uhhhh, ummm. My brain was mush after helping plan and execute the conference. I asked Lisa if I … Continue reading We all have something to share →

Stop when you’re feeling strong, and know where you’ll start again

It was wonderful to walk down the long flights of stairs knowing that I'd had good luck working. I always worked until I had something done and I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day. - Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable … Continue reading Stop when you’re feeling strong, and know where you’ll start again →

An Ops tool: The Worry List

I started a new job this week as Director of Operations for Support Driven 🎉. Two of the major components of my role are to manage the various projects the company is working on and to design the work of the organization: what we will do, who will do it, and by when. Last week, I … Continue reading An Ops tool: The Worry List →

Saying goodbye at a distributed company: my final week at Automattic

Before starting at Support Driven, it's time to say goodbye to old friends.

I’m joining Support Driven full time!

I shared this on my main blog and wanted to share here :-).

Butterfly Mind

I’ve worked with Automattic, makers of WordPress.com, for three and a half amazing years. The company, and its faith in me, have transformed me. A leadership coach recently encouraged me to start a learning journal to jot down all the things I’ve learned the past few years. I was astonished by the list, which included successfully leading a distributed team that spans hemispheres, speaking in front of large audiences, organizing events, and, along with 14 of my co-leads, helping scale the processes and operations of a globally distributed support team of more than 120 Happiness Engineers.

An opportunity fell into my lap a few weeks ago: an opportunity to join Support Driven, a small company that exists to serve a growing community of Customer Support professionals. At first I didn’t consider it. I had everything I wanted at Automattic: smart and funny coworkers, freedom to learn and grow…

View original post 1,437 more words

Moving from individual contributor to team lead: how do I measure success?

Moving into a new role is a time of both excitement and terror. Omg, so much is new 😀! Omg, so much is new 😫. One element I found challenging when moving into a lead role is that success is measured differently from how it was measured when I was an individual contributor. As an … Continue reading Moving from individual contributor to team lead: how do I measure success? →

How to remember ALL THE THINGS when conducting 1-on-1s as a (distributed) team lead

Tl;dr: I share a private Google doc with each team member, add an individualized agenda each week that includes questions specific to that team member plus information I want to share with all the team, keep notes in the shared doc, and mark action-items in red so I can scan the doc easily to find … Continue reading How to remember ALL THE THINGS when conducting 1-on-1s as a (distributed) team lead →