Paul Grenyer

We took our youngest, Ed (14), to see Katy Perry last night, his first ever gig, and he absolutely loved it. Seeing his excitement made the whole evening worthwhile. Katy Perry is undeniably a talented singer and performer, but the relentless, thumping dance-style bass drum soon became monotonous. It all started to sound a little boring after a while. It was very loud too, even compared to a lot of the metal gigs I’ve attended. Visually, the show was impressive. The sci-fi theme was fun and creative, though during the first half it felt like Katy spent more time off stage than on. Things picked up in the second half, especially when she invited three kids from the audience onto the stage. Unfortunately, the sound quality at the O2 was its usual letdown. The mix lacked definition, and the guitars were often lost beneath the booming bass and drums. All in all, I’m glad we went and Ed had a brilliant time. But for me, it felt like there was more show than music, and I wouldn’t be in a hur...

 I first spotted Ego Is the Enemy years ago, sticking out of someone’s bag in the kitchen of an office I rented back in the mid-teenies. The title caught my eye, so I bought the Kindle version there and then. It’s taken me until now to actually read it. It’s a good book, and I think it’s helped me understand what ego really is and, perhaps more importantly, that mine isn’t as bad as I thought. It’s a very American book. A lot of the examples, stories, and metaphors are drawn from American history and sport, and I found myself having to look up quite a few of the references. That detracted from it a little for me. There were also a few too many chapters that felt similar, with long retellings of historical figures who’d come undone because of their ego. Still, I did enjoy learning something new about Kirk Hammett: I hadn’t expected Metallica to make an appearance in a book about philosophy and self-awareness. The biggest thing I took away was the idea of letting go of grudges. Inste...

  In order to gauge the potential audience for my book, So you think you can lead a team? , I conducted a small survey of my colleagues, co-workers and anyone from Linked. I read regularly, for work and pleasure, and assumed everyone else did too but did the responses I received confirm this? I polled 173 people, all within the software engineering field (including Product, etc), with a range of ages and years of experience in their role. What surprised me the most was that the majority of people, young or old, just starting or seasoned, still prefer reading physical books to blogs or e-readers. It also seemed that the older and more experienced were the most keen in learning more, and reading to expand or update their knowledge.  When it comes to reading habits between different roles the survey showed that software engineers and team leads read more regularly for their career than other roles, with 55 years old and over and 16+ years experience being the biggest readers over...

Having previously read two of James Kinsley’s novels, I was surprised, and impressed, by It’s Hard to Tell You This. While I’ve always associated Kinsley with science fiction, this book takes a different direction, focusing instead on intimate human emotions and relationships. It’s a departure that works beautifully. I found myself immediately identifying with Michael’s father. His experiences, especially his awkwardness at a Catholic school and his fear of girls, resonated with my own memories. The story caused me to think about my own relationships over the years.. At just the right length, the novel flows quickly, and while I could easily have read more, its brevity is one of its strengths. The ending, in particular, stands out. Endings are difficult to get right, but Kinsley manages to finish the story well. This is, without question, Kinsley’s best book so far and, incredibly, it’s all fiction! ISBN-13:  978-1917090193 

It’s dull, which is a shame as Nemisis Games  had picked up after Cibola Burn . There’s nothing new from the characters. No new characters of interest.  What was an exciting sci-fi series in the beginning has turned into politics and war in space. I can get that anywhere. There’s a ring gate with thousands of new worlds to explore, yet the story is confined to the solar system and the warring factions. The bad guys are unpleasant and not even interesting to read about. I don’t think it matters any more, but I didn’t recognise anything from the TV series here either. Of course I’ll plough on and read the other books. It might get better again. ISBN-13: 978-0356504285

 ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1773137735  I found Lionel Giles’ introduction very boring. In this edition, there are more of his notes than Sun Tzu’s actual text. I gave up on them early, as they didn’t add any value for me. The Art of War itself is 13 short chapters of advice that mostly come across as common sense approaches to winning wars, or at least avoiding losing them. It didn’t really connect with me, since I’m not a general and my own leadership style is collaborative rather than combative. I mainly read it because I thought something I used in my own book might have originated here, and because Sabaton used it as inspiration for one of their albums.

I went to see Rob Newman at the Playhouse in Norwich this evening, and he was every bit as brilliant as I’d hoped. At times he came across as a little nervous, but that vulnerability only made the performance feel more genuine and engaging. The Mary Whitehouse Experience was a huge part of my teenage years, and I’ve followed all four of its comedians ever since. Each of them has carved out their own path, but what makes Rob stand out is the way he approaches comedy. He doesn’t just fall back on everyday observational humour or awkward anecdotes. Instead, he draws on his passion for culture, the classics, science, and mathematics to create routines that are clever, thoughtful, and original, all while being self-deprecating and warm. That mix of intelligence and humility is rare in comedy, and it made for a truly memorable evening. Nervous or not, Rob Newman delivered one of the smartest and most enjoyable performances I’ve seen in a very long time. I might even read his spy novel when...

Isaac Asimov  ISBN-13: 978-0007381159  Although the original Foundation trilogy (1950s) laid the groundwork for Asimov’s universe, I’ve always found it rather bland. When Asimov returned to the series in the 1980s with Foundation’s Edge, the leap in storytelling quality felt far greater than the thirty years that separated them. Growing up, I listened to Prelude to Foundation on cassette and loved it. Published just six years after Foundation’s Edge (with Foundation and Earth in between), it cemented for me how much richer and more engaging Asimov’s later entries were compared to the original trilogy. The mystery, the twists, and the separate timelines that converge all give the story a grand space-opera feel. The characters resonated with me, and the depiction of spaceships and hyperspace travel felt believable - perhaps because Asimov wisely avoids overexplaining how hyperspace works. Some of his characteristic sexism remains, though it’s far less pronounced than in the earl...

By Steve R. Covey ISBN-13: 978-1471195204  This book was recommended to me years ago when I was running my own business, but I only picked it up recently. I wish I’d read it back then, it would have been even more useful. I was expecting the habits to be things like, get up at 5am, always have a prioritised todo list, only do the things which matter, etc. The vast majority of it is not like that at all. I was pleased to find that I am doing most of the habits already, but there was still plenty for me to learn. I've always been proactive and put the first things first, but the book made me step back and see it from a wider perspective. The habits around Win/Win or No Deal and Sharpening the Saw also stood out for me. Sean Covey’s modern insights were a welcome addition, especially his humorous “7 Habits of Highly Ineffective People.” They made the book feel more relevant without losing the core message. That said, I do have two main criticisms: it’s at least twice as long as it nee...

 So you think you can lead a team? I’ve been talking and writing a lot about leading a software engineering team in 2025. I started thinking about it more deeply the year before when I decided to give a colleague, who was moving into team leading, some advice: 'Doing the work' isn't the only way to add value Remember to delegate Pick your battles Talk to your team every day Out of this came a talk, “So you think you can lead a team?” which I gave at work, at meetups and at conferences in various different formats during the first quarter of 2025. I am also turning these ideas, and more, into a book I hope to release towards the end of 2025.  I’ve already explored delegation, you can read about it here:  https://paulgrenyer.blogspot.com/2025/04/remember-to-delegate-triangle-of-trust.html  Seeing the Bigger Picture, you can read about that here: https://paulgrenyer.blogspot.com/2025/05/see-bigger-picture-and-look-around.html And Picking Your Battles, which can read abo...

Liz Phair  When I met my wife, nearly nineteen years ago, she was obsessed with Liz Phair and in particular with the song **** and Run . I’m not sure if she was trying to tell me something….  She said she wanted to see Liz Phair live and I assumed we’d have to go to the US for that. Fortunately not! I held out through pure stubbornness / insight / belligerence / incompetence (delete as applicable) and Liz Phair eventually gave in and came to London! Supporting Alanis Morissette no less. I didn’t know what to expect. Would Liz bring a band or would it just be her and a guitar. Would it be 45 minutes of songs I didn’t know or would it be quite good. To be fair I had Liz Phair down as a talentless screecher, rather like I used to think PJ Harvey was .    Again I was wrong. I think I knew about three songs, but Liz and her band sounded great, for the O2, at least. I could have done without all the Americanisms of how wonderful it was to be there and how inspiring Alanis ...

In software development, responsibility and accountability are closely related but have important distinctions, especially when it comes to leadership roles like a team lead. Responsibility refers to the obligation to carry out specific tasks or duties. Multiple team members can share responsibility for different parts of a project. For example, developers are responsible for writing and testing code, while QA engineers are responsible for ensuring that the code meets quality standards before release. Accountability, on the other hand, means being answerable for the outcome of a task or project. While responsibilities can be distributed among several people, accountability typically rests with a single individual. In many software teams, the team lead is accountable for the success or failure of a given project or feature. They may not perform every task themselves, but they are the person stakeholders look to when results are delivered. Consider a scenario where a new feature is being...