Douglas Squirrel has been coding for forty years and has led software teams for twenty. He uses the power of conversations to create dramatic productivity gains in technology organizations of all sizes. His experience includes growing software teams as a CTO in startups from fintech to biotech to music, and everything in between; consulting on product improvement at over 200 organizations in the UK, US, Australia, Africa, and Europe; and coaching a wide variety of leaders in improving their conversations, aligning to business goals, and creating productive conflict. He lives in Frogholt, England, in a timber-framed cottage built in the year 1450. He is the author of Squirrel’s Tech Radar, Decoding Tech Talk, and Agile Conversations: Transform Your Conversations, Transform Your Culture, co-authored with Jeffrey Fredrick. Learn more at douglassquirrel and squirrelsquardron.
The Title of Your Book?
Squirrel’s Tech Radar
Why did you write the book?
Too many users of technology are reluctant to ask questions about it. I wanted to show that anyone, even with the most limited of technical backgrounds, could understand the strengths and weaknesses of a tech team in a couple of hours.
What was your biggest surprise or aha moment when writing your book?
I knew it was possible for non-technical leaders to assess their technology investments, but I didn’t realise just how easy it really is until I wrote it down. For example, you don’t have to be a coder to read (certain types of) code, if you know what key elements to look for.
Who is your ideal audience for the book?
Executives who depend on technology to run their businesses but don’t have enough information about whether they are making the best use of the millions they are spending on IT.
Tell us, how do you deal with fear?
I tell my clients to mitigate fear, not eliminate it. For example, a German client of mine in a highly regulated industry told me they test for three months to verify their software, out of fear that a single bug will destroy a client relationship. That fear is valid, but waiting three months to fix an urgent problem isn’t the right solution! Instead, we’re working on automating that testing so it takes minutes instead of days, and bringing in an account manager so we can better assess risk as the customer sees it.
Tell us, how do you deal with rejection?
I ignore it.
Tell us two concepts or ideas you want the reader to takeaway?
There’s only one central message: you can and should ask any type of question of engineers—and if the engineers can’t explain themselves in business terms, then that’s a problem they need to fix (with your help of course).
Name one of the biggest challenges you have faced writing your book and how did you overcome it?
Stopping myself adding more stories so I could keep each chapter under five pages!
What’s a personal self-talk, mantra, affirmation, or self-belief that contributes
I use Martin Seligman’s Learned Optimism to keep my self-talk positive: generalise positives, specialise negatives.
How can people contact you?
websites: https://douglassquirrel.com/ and https://squirrelsquadron.com/
https://www.facebook.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/
https://www.instagram.com/
3-4 Keywords or Tags, separated by commas, you want associated with your book?
TechRadar, DecodingTechTalk,
