I want to let my friends back at my former office know that I’m thinking about them. Our director who just retired did a remarkable job of holding our team together, and retaining a surprising level of autonomy for us over the 14 years since our little 1-product company was acquired by a vastly larger multi-product company. Plus she was constantly in touch with our clients, retaining an impressive degree of loyalty from them. Both of those shoes will be tough to fill!

In my opinion she had a management shortcoming in that she frequently focused on the weaknesses of individuals rather than drawing upon their strengths. And it seems to me that she has passed that trait down to the managers that she has hired in recent years. When a talented individual has worked on the development of a single software product for 15, 20, or more years, they are extremely valuable to the company, and probably impossible to replace. Managers should be willing to cut such individuals a lot of slack in order to keep them happy and retain them!

Oh well. I’m both sorry and relieved that I’m not there to help fight these battles. I’m not saying I’d rather be at the office than anchored inside the barrier reef of Raiatea, but I do miss the camaraderie, teamwork, expertise and commitment to excellence that we had. Best wishes to the collective team, and to the individuals moving into new roles.