Insights
These posts explore lessons from my current work at Deque leading enterprise accessibility training and from 13 years at State Farm. Topics include program leadership, accessibility as a quality attribute, modernization risk, and how execution with delivery changes outcomes. They’re written for people who lead work—not just talk about it.
The newest insight on leadership, decision-making, and clarity under pressure.
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Trust is built in deposits and broken in withdrawals. The curve is steep, both ways. Here is how to think about the deposits.
Essays organized around leadership, accessibility, and modernization.
Trust is built in deposits and broken in withdrawals. The curve is steep, both ways. Here is how to think about the deposits.
Two of the people who made my career are no longer here to thank. Memorial Day is the right day to name them.
My wife asked if we could get a permanent dishwasher. I said I would take a look. Nobody planned a kitchen renovation. It happened one while I am in here at a time. That is scope drift. And leaders do it constantly.
A personal mission statement isn't motivation — it's a decision filter. Start with the end in mind to make clearer choices under pressure.
A simple exercise I learned early: write the leadership behaviors you respect, write the ones you refuse to repeat, and use that clarity when pressure shows up.
Why unspoken truths slow delivery and how leaders restore alignment by naming what others avoid.
Projects don't begin with charters. They begin when a leader recognizes the cost of doing nothing and defines a meaningful outcome.
Constraints aren't barriers to success; they are the definitions of it. Learn how to manage the Pack of Six to keep your project out of chaos and deliver high-quality outcomes.
Scope is a leadership decision, not a documentation exercise. When leaders fail to define and defend the boundaries of the work, teams inherit chaos.
What experienced leaders do differently when delivery risk increases and visibility intensifies.
Why program leaders must see across funding models, delivery realities, and customer experience to prevent systemic failure.
Treating accessibility like other non-functional requirements changes planning, estimation, and risk conversations.
Using PERT and honest uncertainty to estimate accessibility work without false precision — and to improve confidence as teams learn.
Using instructional design to make communication land across readers, listeners, doers, and observers.
The first date you commit to is the one your team treats as truth. Get it wrong and every later commitment carries the cost. Here is how to get the first one right.
A selection of my published work from Deque’s accessibility leadership and change management series was published as a collaboration between my friend Heidi Kelly-Gibson and myself.
Deque blog post focused on Change management, Strategy.
Deque blog post focused on Adoption.
Deque blog post focused on Measurement, Iteration.
Deque blog post focused on Motivation.
Deque blog post focused on Process, Leadership.
Deque blog post focused on Readiness.