Jessica Eats Breakfast
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/13/jessica-eats-breakfast/
Uncle John made toast and eggs, which Jessica is enjoying on the patio of our rented Waikiki condo.
See Also: Morning Coffee
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/13/jessica-eats-breakfast/
Uncle John made toast and eggs, which Jessica is enjoying on the patio of our rented Waikiki condo.
See Also: Morning Coffee
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/14/going-to-get-married/
Danny walks with the Chaplain into the wedding ceremony.
There are of course way better photos of our wedding day, but this one was taken with my camera, by my Uncle John, who even as a groomsman can not resist the urge to snap some photos.
Also, I don’t have to persuade the wife to post any photos of her that are less than perfect to her eye.
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/15/dividing-the-cake/
Working with John to split the wedding cakes for our getaway, with a limited selection of tools.
By early afternoon our wedding day was already a long day. In fact, it was the next day, if you timestamp your photos UTC, as I do.
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/16/mei-turtle-bay/
Mei slips her Mona Lisa smile over her shoulder, in the lobby at Turtle Bay.
I aint never stayed at one of them fancy-folk resorts before. But it was nice after all the wedding schlepping to not have to worry about any details like where to grab a bite to eat for a couple of days afterward. We passed the time meandering along the beach, checking out tide pools . . . this photo I like because not only does it feature my wife’s smiling face, but also because of the interesting lines and angles from the windows in the lobby.
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/17/haleakela/
Haleakala -- Maui's dormant volcano.
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/18/seaside-valley-maui/
A small community amid the green and the blue, dappled by the sun's rays on Maui.
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/19/south-maui/
If you stay on the Road to Hana past Hana, you see beautiful scenes like this.
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/20/fern-kilauae/
Kilauae is an erupting volcano, but it is this fern that photographs well for me.
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/21/road-closed/
Road closed due to once-flowing lava.
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/22/dozing-honu/
A Hawaiian Sea Turtle dozes off on the beach mid-day.
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/23/south-point-windmills/
Aging windmills spin near South Point, Big Island of Hawai`i.
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/29/red-flower/
As grown on our balcony. I think the plant itself may have been one from family in Colorado that we forgot to surrender to California Agriculture.
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/30/sentry/
Maggie monitors activity in the apartment courtyard from a strategic position.
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/31/kona-kau-peaberry/
Would you like a nice Hawaiian . . . coffee?
Normally I brew my own coffee at work, but if I get in early and I find the pot has not yet been contaminated, I’ll clean the machine off and brew a pot for my colleagues. This was some peaberry (smaller beans) from the K`au region of Kona, on Hawaii’s Big Island. My final souvenir from the airport in Hilo.
Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/06/02/i-wallace/
Last week I enjoyed a great story by Rands, who, as a team lead, had a total communication disconnect with one of his team members. While he enjoyed an easy rapport with Harold and Stan, he just wasn’t clicking with Wallace. At first he accepted things as they were, but soon learned that the disconnect with Wallace was a genuine problem in need of improvement. Rands concluded that the only thing to do with Wallace was to completely unwind his normal assumptions about rapport and “clicking” with a colleague and just get down to making basic communication work. This can be pain-stakingly frustrating, but this is what you need to do when you’re not getting the easy, intuitive connection you want with someone you rely on.
One of the comments (Harry) chided Rands: “Here’s the deal: if your boss asks you to lead, he either gives you the power to sack people, or you don’t accept his job offer. In your case, Wallace is obviously not compatible with you. So you sack him.”
I thought “No–Good engineers are expensive, and it is preferable to learn to steer an existing engineer in the right direction rather than finding and training a replacement.” Other comments pointed out that Wallace wasn’t incompetent or incapable, just that he needed clear expectations with management. Someone named Dave chimed in:
“I’ve been a Wallace, and I’ve also been a Harold, and from my standpoint it has less to do with personality than with context. You can have a poor team dynamic, with no clear leadership and constantly-shifting goals, where everybody ends up isolated in their corner and becoming Wallace, at least in part. Or you can have a good team, where even the most Wallace-y engineer becomes Harold for at least a few hours each day.”
Amen. We each have in us both a Wallace and a Harold. They are Yin and Yang. The Wallace side of my personality wants to get heads down in to the work, but needs to know what to work on. The Harold side takes some time to chat up his manager and coworkers to find work and set priorities, then steps aside and lets Wallace get back to work. Tech workers tend to be more innately introverted, they tend to want a good manager to play the part of Harold, and come back and set clear work objectives and priorities. When things are not going well, unhappy people will tend to revert to their base personalities. For engineers this often means getting stuck in Wallace mode.
Sometimes employees are happy and eager, and sometimes they are curmudgeons. It depends on the context of work and life morale, mediated by an employee’s emotional intelligence. These are variables that can be influenced, allowing for change over time. Management needs to provide a positive work environment with clear goals. Employees need to do our part in building a positive home environment, with positive life aspirations, while also cultivating a greater degree of self awareness. An employee who learns to steer their own craft and deliver what management wants will create a more positive work environment for their colleagues.
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