Author: Mon-Chaio Lo

  • S2E40 – Defining Technical Strategy

    Show Notes What is technical strategy? Is it a document explaining how to extend your data platform? A set of wiki articles on how you’re tackling technical debt? A forward-looking treatise on how you will integrate generative AI into your tech stack? In this episode, Mon-Chaio and Andy dive into the intricacies of creating a…

  • S2E38 – Mastering Team Morale

    Show Notes Morale: a topic that impacts every team. But how does morale influence organizational effectiveness? And what really makes a morale event impactful? Through humorous banter and thoughtful discussion, Andy and Mon-Chaio offer actionable insights and challenge conventional wisdom. They share personal anecdotes, explore research-backed definitions, and tackle the complexities of boosting team morale…

  • S2E37 – Remote Work, Boundless Burnout?

    Show Notes Is remote work a burnout trap or a path to freedom? There are good reasons to suspect that remote work may be highly correlated to increased burnout and many may be reinforced by our own experiences or that of our friends and colleagues. But is this hypothesis supported by research and, if so,…

  • S2E34 – Unmasking Burnout

    Show Notes Burnout transcends mere feelings of being overwhelmed; it’s a profound state that can drastically affect personal well-being and the productivity of organizations. Despite its significance to individuals and their workplaces, it remains a concept often enshrouded in mystery and misinformation. Leveraging validated academic research and personal insights, Andy and Mon-Chaio present practical strategies…

  • S2E32 – Addressing Wicked Problems: Clumsy Solutions and the Role of Uncertainty

    Show Notes In episode 29, Andy and Mon-Chaio explored Grint’s taxonomy of tame, critical, and wicked problems and how different problem categories required different leadership tactics. However, Grint had a lot more to say about the tactics necessary to adequately address wicked problems. In this episode, our hosts delve deeper into Grint’s paper and introduce…

  • S2E29 – Critical, Tame, and Wicked Problems

    Show Notes One way of categorizing problems faced by engineering organizations is Keith Grint’s framework of wicked, tame, and critical problems. These problem types, each with their unique characteristics and challenges, require distinct approaches to effectively address them. Join Andy and Mon-Chaio as they provide practical insights and real-world examples to illustrate how engineering leaders…

  • S2E27 – Evaluating Leadership Excellence

    Show Notes It’s something that all companies do and yet it’s still a very misunderstood topic: evaluating the performance of people managers. The majority of methods regularly used for measuring managers rely heavily on superficial metrics and outdated practices that fail to capture the true essence of effective leadership. Join Andy and Mon-Chaio as they…

  • S2E25 – VacationCast – Stories from the Plato Elevate Conference

    Show Notes While Andy is away, Mon-Chaio shares anecdotes and stories from his time at the Plato Elevate conference, snippets that didn’t make their way into the prevous episode. References Transcript Mon-Chaio: Hello everyone, and thanks for tuning in to this week’s VacationCast episode. Andy is an Ireland attending a wedding and so I’ll be…

  • S2E23 – Doing What is Impossible

    Show Notes From pair programming to NoEstimates, the industry brims with creative minds proposing new ideas and methodologies to tackle longstanding challenges. The issue, however, isn’t the scarcity of innovative concepts, but rather the failure to implement them, often dismissed with the notion “it won’t work” … or, in other words, “it’s impossible.” In this…

  • S2E21 – VacationCast – A Small Story of Language Diversity

    Show Notes Join Mon-Chaio in this VacationCast episode where he recounts an anecdote from his past involving collaboration, inclusion, and using diverse language in a business environment. References Transcript Mon-Chaio: Hi everyone, and welcome to this week’s episode of The TTL Podcast. Andy is off on a bike adventure somewhere. I think the last I…