About Customer Obsessed Engineering
Customer Obsessed Engineering is a professional journal about making the hard things in tech easy, and becoming a tech superstar who always exceeds expectations. About sharing my experiences, my advice, and my Delivery Playbook.
I’m a startup veteran, VP of Professional Services at Lightbend, and ex-Accenture Director. Today, I’m a CTO who’s passionate about building teams that always outperform.
Subscriber benefits
As a paid subscriber you get the Delivery Playbook. Check out this free chapter to see what it’s all about. Then, there are weekly articles on career development and technology like these:
Build your AI readiness & security plan (getting ready for the robots).
Transform your learning with spatial thinking (or watch the video).
The 30-minute guide to Domain Driven Design (why you need DDD).
Plagued with problems getting to delivery? (solve them with a “steel thread").
How I became 3-4 times more efficient than my coworkers (and get things done!).
Every month you get:
The Delivery Playbook (check out the subway map and index!).
Career Development articles on communication, customer-facing skills, team leadership and management.
Design Thinking topics about great software design practices.
Practical advice on DevSecOps and building a first-rate delivery pipeline.
Challenging, provocative ideas that turn into actionable advice.
Full access to every published article in the archives.
Direct access to my chat, where you can ask advice and participate in the COE community.
As a technologist looking to advance your career, you’ll learn:
A better way to identify customer value and deliver software that makes you stand out every time.
Top-tier software design and development skills.
How to up your game and your team’s game when it comes to collaboration, communication, and customer-facing skills.
Professional development advice, tips and techniques.
Stories from my own career, sharing experiences you can turn into actionable advice.
If you’re looking for that secret weapon that guides you to success, then Customer Obsessed Engineering is for you.
What do free subscribers get?
I write about an article a week. Articles are usually a few thousand words or more. I try to keep them short and accessible.
As a free subscriber you can read about half of my regular articles. You can go on reading as a free subscriber for as long as you like.
Why should I subscribe?
If you’re in tech, you might be surprised how small improvements in communication, customer-facing skills, and interpersonal skills can really pay off. Likewise, technical execution is king. I firmly believe this journal, and the Delivery Playbook, will give you returns easily worth hundreds, if not thousands of times the cost of a subscription.
This is a professional development resource. Many companies are eager to support employee growth and encourage expensing your subscription (ask your manager about an educational expense — here’s a template you can use)!
Can I expense Customer Obsessed Engineering?
You bet! I think that’s a great idea. If you need a starting point, try reaching out to your manager with this template.
And by the way, there are fantastic group discounts. Maybe your company wants to sponsor your whole team?
Why Boss Logic?
I wrote a short post about that. Boss Logic was my second startup (I joined four other founders), and dates back to the early 90’s. This was when Steve Jobs was building NeXT Computer, and we worked pretty closely with him.
It was a formative time for me, and one I remember fondly. I hung on to the domain name, and decided it was time to come full circle.
How do I get a receipt?
For a receipt go to settings, click on any subscribed newsletter, then billing history. The ellipse menu on that page has all the links you should need. There’s more information here.
Can I get a refund?
Yes, absolutely (within 30 days for an annual subscription, which I think is pretty fair). If you subscribed and just aren’t getting what you wanted out of the journal, or you just don’t like my humor, you can reply to any article in your mailbox and contact me.
How do I change my email?
Take a look at this support page.
Can we get a group discount?
You bet! Group subscriptions are nicely discounted too!
So you sail, bike, dive?
I love all three, and love being outdoors and living a well-balanced, fit life. I’ll probably write the occasional article drawing inspiration here (like, that time we were in a huge storm off the coast of Florida, half my crew was violently ill, and the autopilot gave out… but, that’s a story for another time).
I’m glad you’re here, and I hope you find the journal insightful. I’ll be publishing about one article a week, more when I can — and, you’ll get the Playbook, an in-depth exploration of how to create your own path to success.