As we know, the world of business can change rapidly. And as we’re being drawn into the demands of the everyday, it can be easy to lose sight of the organization’s values. But it’s when we become overwhelmed and stressed and challenged that we need to lean into those chosen values the most. Otherwise, we risk running an organization that is based o…

As entrepreneurs, we’re frequently required to navigate the challenges that come with a dynamic and often unpredictable business world. We create forecasts and budgets for the upcoming year, strategies and goals, and metrics to measure it all. But as the year marches along, we need to stay on top of this roller coaster of highs and lows. In this ep…

As leaders, we rely on obtaining frequent and transparent feedback from our team members both for personal and organizational growth. Constructive feedback not only helps us make better-informed strategic and operational decisions, but it also helps foster a culture of open communication. And as most leaders know, it’s a lot easier said than done. …

Finally, you found someone to replace you and perform a specific task. Maybe it’s even a task that you never liked doing and you cannot wait to get this off your plate. You set up a meeting, start training the person, and then… you find yourself wanting to nudge them aside and take over. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on what…

As a leader, no matter at what level, you will likely at some point find yourself wondering whether you’re making the right decision. The degree of self-questioning will likely vary depending on your knowledge, skills, experience as well as how you feel about your role as a leader. It may even devolve into an actual case of imposter syndrome. In th…

If you’re a solopreneur who has been juggling all the tasks in your business, you may be feeling the pressure of getting it all done. But not JUST done. Done and with quality. You may have considered hiring some support but are unsure what you could be delegating. Or even whether you should. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on …

In the course of leading an organization or growing your own business, there will be times when you will need to take care of something you really don’t like doing. Suddenly, you need to return this call. Or review that document. All VERY essential and… helping delay that inevitable dreary task. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips…

In response to the episode “Your new leaders are technically proficient but are they effective?” someone asked: “What about cultural differences and background in the team or with the new leader and what about levels of experience and skills and the difficulty to reconcile them?” We addressed what new leaders can do to help address cultural differe…

In response to the episode “Your new leaders are technically proficient but are they effective?” someone asked: “What about cultural differences and background in the team or with the new leader and what about levels of experience and skills and the difficulty to reconcile them? Let’s start by addressing the first question (and thanks for asking!).…

It's an afternoon of new perspectives in the café, both from climbing the rock candy wall and chatting about LabVIEW. Climbing enthusiast and LabVIEW trainer Sam Taggart belays in to chat about both, and how code interacts with the messy real world.

There are days, as a leader, when it feels like all we’re doing, all day long, is directing traffic. Getting individuals unstuck by answering their questions, course-correcting projects by providing needed feedback, slowing some down who might be skipping a few steps and getting a little too far ahead. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shar…

Storytelling is a powerful business tool. For those thinking that it is only needed in works of fiction, think again. Storytelling is what will captivate an audience, attract clients and inspire a team. It can even make the driest of stats fascinating. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on what basic structure leaders could use t…

A rogue vine is taking over the café, but that's not enough to stop Jocelyne Morin-Nurse from enjoying her coffee. Listen as she discusses leadership with Bojan and Jason, including how to handle the transition from "team member" to "team lead".

These past few years, many of us leaders and entrepreneurs have been forced to focus on operational demands and deal with constant environmental changes. For many, this has led to bad overwork habits and a decline in intentional growth. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on what leaders can do to get back on the learning track wh…

Promoting leaders from within is a typical organizational practice. It usually starts with identifying an extraordinary team member that has demonstrated leadership qualities in a variety of situations. And although that is certainly a great start, it is only a start. Obtaining positional power changes the dynamics. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Mo…

A crowd of blue gophers has descended on the café, perhaps on account of the visit from the co-authors of "Learn Go with Pocket-Sized Projects": Aliénor Latour, Donia Chaiehloudj, and Pascal Bertrand. Listen in as they explain what makes Go tick, and talk about some of the strange bugs they've encountered across their diverse experiences as softwar…

In conversation with various types of entrepreneurs, it may be tempting for solopreneurs to stay quieter based on their own limiting beliefs that they are not “a real business” because they don’t have a team. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse provides some perspective on putting those thoughts aside and embracing the power of being a solopr…

Being a new leader can be scary. It is natural to feel overwhelmed and anxious about how to handle situations and their outcome. But worrying can be destructive when left uncontrolled. And as entrepreneurs and leaders, we are frequently placed in high-stress, high-impact situations and are required to make decisions caught between the proverbial ro…

To truly unlock a business's full potential requires addressing two complementary aspects in parallel. The first one is the business side: understanding the strategy, financials, planning, operations, product services, marketing, etc. The second one is the people side: the individuals that make the systems work together and fulfill the organization…

A quiet evening in the café provides the perfect opportunity for Jess to join in the conversation, this time with Pat Viafore, author of "Robust Python". Join the group as they discuss the challenges and intricacies of testing.

Typically an organization's mission and core values are shared with new team members as part of some form of onboarding activity. For most organizations, that's pretty much the extent of the team member's exposure to ongoing strategy, the mission, and the values. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on why it’s essential to keep th…

What makes a good puzzle? Software engineer and escape room enthusiast Edaqa Mortoray chats with Jason and Bojan about the joys and sorrows of independent projects, why debugging makes a terrible game, and how he came to be the top endorsed Monster Slayer on LinkedIn. Now if only someone can talk the unicorn out of forcing everyone to play supporti…

Like many leadership skills, having the ability to build trust begins with recognizing the importance of this activity and understanding the necessity to behave in a manner that will contribute to the development of that much-desired trust and credibility. Although positional power may yield compliance to have a truly highly-functioning team, it's …

When evaluating how our business is doing, we tend to gravitate toward stats. Numbers are that objective measure of growth or signal that there are significant issues that need to be addressed. But, as much as stats are essential, creativity is key in helping entrepreneurs stand out from the crowd and gain a competitive edge. In this episode, CEO J…

You’ve identified individuals that you feel would make great formal leaders at your organization. That’s great! But are you providing these new leaders with ways to build their leadership confidence? There are some very real consequences to both having leaders who are recklessly confident and those who are unjustifiably insecure. In this episode, C…

Many of us have received the advice that we don’t go to our supervisor with a problem if we don’t have a solution. The issue with that is the leader then is managing without all of the information. And what about the cases when the longer it goes unaddressed, the more damage it causes to the organization? In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse s…

Entrepreneurs are usually known for having a ton of ideas. They're idea-making machines. And it might be tempting, as a small business owner who's looking to grow, to try all these ideas. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on what process leaders could follow to rapidly identify whether an idea merits further investigation or sho…

As a leader, if you find yourself or your team frequently remarking that there's not enough time, start digging into why that might be and make sure that you’re not in fact setting yourself or your team up for burnout by automatically treating it as a time management problem. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on what process lea…

In the past few years, there has been a higher focus on improving organizational culture, redefining the employee experience, and leading with positive impact. One of the strategies used to help organizations implement transformational initiatives is to craft a solid people strategy. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on how lead…

Even though, as business owners, we're not expected to have the depth of knowledge that accounting professionals have, it's still essential for leaders to understand the basics of accounting to be able to make financial decisions and regularly evaluate the company's financial health. In this video, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on what basic…

Have you ever revisited a past decision but couldn't remember why and how you came to it? Leaders have so much going on, so many decisions to make, that, at some point, some of the details will escape them. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on what leaders can do to help guard against losing too many valuable decision-making det…

Jason broke reality...but on the upside, Alex Booker has spontaneously appeared. While he sticks around to discuss common mistakes junior developers make, Annie grapples with whether an eggplant macchiato was ever supposed to be a thing.

Leaders rarely have ample time to dig into a problem before having to choose a solution to implement. In fact, leaders usually have to make decisions essentially while still processing incoming information. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on what process leaders could follow to do a rapid risk forecast. ——— Free resource ——— T…

Time traveller Cecelia Martinez discusses frontend development and debugging with Bojan and Jason. Even so, the question remains: is that programming book from the future that Bojan bought from the rummage sale going to be useful in the end?

Anyone managing any kind of budget has surely come across a version of “You need to spend money to make money”. Without any kind of guidelines or caveats, this can actually be a very dangerous statement. Unbridled, that mindset could actually lead an organization to bankruptcy. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on how leaders ca…

Logs, anyone? Bojan and Jason chat with Itamar Turner-Trauring, the creator of the eliot logging library in Python.

Leaders who are actively seeking to have a positive impact, leaders who genuinely want to understand and support their team members as unique individuals, must expand their own universe. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on how leaders can engage with the world in ways that will help them view it through different lenses. ——— Fr…

Sometimes, the demands of the day pull a leader in the direction that it dictates. Next thing they know, leaders are faced with an ever-expanding task list, constantly short on time, forever exhausted, and the busyness of running a business has caught them in its web. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on how leaders can help ens…

Jason and a particularly floral Bojan chat with Reuven Lerner about teaching Python, and the worst bugs they've seen (and caused). Meanwhile, Annie tries to undo a unicorn magic glitch of her own.

As leaders, we will face failure at some point. It’s not a question of “if”. It’s truly a question of “when”. And when that time does arrive, what lessons will you be teaching your team by your behavior? In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on how leaders can help ensure they are teaching their team to deal with failures in a produ…

Tomasz teaches Jason and Bojan how to navigate tradeoffs in code, while Annie struggles to manage the temporary unicorn horn she's been stuck with.

Whether it’s being new to leadership or the first time leading a specific team, making a positive first impression can help set the right tone. Or, at the very least, help start the relationship off the right way. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on how leaders can help ensure a positive first impression on their new team. ——— …

Executives and leaders spend a lot of time and energy in the realm of both strategy and implementation. To accomplish as much as they do while keeping burnout at bay requires them to be extremely intentional about managing their energy. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on how leaders can better manage their energy to sustain hi…

Those who have been in a leadership position for a while, or even those who have simply been in the workforce for a while, have likely encountered some version of the directive to avoid or eliminate jargon. As leaders, though, should we really be discouraging all jargon talk? In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nurse shares tips on how she helps en…

Most of us leaders struggle with juggling the demands of our time. Getting priorities addressed while remaining adaptable to deal with the crisis-of-the-day is a constant balancing act. Yet, it’s essential that we continue to run the organization and still be able to adapt to whatever is being thrown our way. In this episode, CEO Jocelyne Morin-Nur…

A portal outage won't stop Andrea Goulet and Naomi Ceder from coming into the café for coffee and conversation. Listen in as they discuss empathy in open source software development.

A little chaos is a wonderful thing. Miko Pawlikowski chats about chaos engineering, and how breaking things deliberately can actually make your code more stable. So how do you engineer this chaos in a helpful way, and how can you get buy-in from your manager and clients? Also, what's with the coffee today? Tune in to find out!…

Lily Mara pops into a slightly-more-chaotic-than-usual café to talk about Rust, and it's a far cry from the usual "let's rewrite everything" you may be expecting. While she chats with Bojan and Jason about refactoring to Rust, Jess and Annie try to figure out how to make the most of the latest magical glitch.…

Max Guernsey III stops in to discuss requirement writing, motion over progress, and how to prevent bugs, rather than fix them. How is that even possible? How is scrum involved? And what is the unicorn getting Bojan for his birthday? Listen in for these answers and more.

Despite the crimes against pizza being committed by the unicorn, Marco Faella comes by the café to discuss seven principles for making code better. Is it possible that software can be truly good? Can code golfing make you a better developer? Will the ANSI committee ban pineapple on pizza forever? Listen for the answers, and way too many anchovies.…