Geoff Mazeroff talks with Dave Rael about self awareness, leadership, people, process, and being yourself
Geoff Mazeroff is a team leader and software developer with a focus on culture and mentorship. His experience with developing and maintaining complex software applications has led to improved patient outcomes and enhanced coordination of our nation’s military assets.
Geoff currently supervises five other developers at DPRA Inc., helping them to learn, grow, and work toward their career goals. Their current software project helps military planners answer the important transportation feasibility question, “Can we get what we need to where we need it?” Outside of software development, Geoff helped the company achieve and maintain CMMI-DEV Maturity Level 3 and ISO 9001:2015 certifications, both of which are focused on customers and continuous improvement.
Geoff’s other interests include teaching group cycling classes and building scale models. He lives in Knoxville, TN with his wife and two cats.
Chapters:
0:16 - Dave introduces the show and Geoff Mazeroff2:22 - Geoff's interest in people and choosing to move on6:42 - Self awareness and finding your own path9:08 - Leadership and managing people and projects11:46 - How Geoff got started in software15:18 - Working in multiple domains, especially in dealing with military concerns17:55 - Geoff's tendency to stay in positions for relatively long durations19:51 - Geoff on interviewing software developers25:15 - Geoff's story of failure - deficiency of leadership and direction29:21 - Geoff's book recommendations33:41 - Geoff's advice for being yourself at work39:37 - The things that have Geoff most excited and team processes and maturity levels48:11 - Keeping up with Geoff
Resources:
IBM PS/1
Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders - L. David Marquet
Pluralsight: Communications for Technologists
Tuckman's stages of group development
CMMI
GitFlow
Geoff's book recommendation:
An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization - Robert Kegan
Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager - Michael Lopp
Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style - Benjamin Dreyer
Geoff's top 3 tips for delivering more value:
Have a sense of humor
Use active listening skills
Manage expectations