Sharing experience, insights, and practical solutions from real projects. Architecture, performance, processes, and teams.
For the first month, I ran 1-on-1s like status meetings and lost a valuable developer. His exit interview phrase 'There was nothing to talk to you about' changed my approach. Here's my systematized 2-year experience on turning formality into the #1 tool for team growth and retention.
My first week as Tech Lead, I spent in calendar invites. 23 meetings, 4 hours of coding. By Friday I realized: I'm no longer the fastest developer on the team. I'm the one explaining why we write this particular code. And that's a completely different job.
Last year I refused to hire a junior for a 6-month project. Client was upset: 'Why not? Saving money?' I showed the math: junior breaks even at month 5, project ends at month 6 — negative ROI. Here's the complete financial analysis.
Yesterday at an HR conference, I heard again: 'Young people don't want to work, everyone leaves after a month'. Here's a 2013 case study of how we reduced early attrition from 42% to 14%. Spoiler: it's not about 'young people', it's about the system.
How to transform mentorship from individual heroics into a predictable system with metrics, boundaries, and sustainable results. A practical guide to building a scalable mentorship program.