Jesse Meijers

Must-have ingredients for a good partnership

Yesterday I had a meeting with my business partner who just came back from his holiday. And I was about to tell him something that I knew he was not going to like. But he's my partner so it also felt as though I had an obligation to tell him what was on my mind. In the past we've talked about tough personal circumstances and how that influences your work. Sometimes they make you work harder, at other times it has a negative impact on your work and commitment. But we talked about these things nonetheless, and it would seem as though this was just another case. Yet it wasn't.

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How to take control over your work

Recently I was completely fed up with some of the things I was doing. Or bettter yet, I had to do because others were expecting them from me, or even asking me to do them. They asked because I was the person who did these things well, so why go to anyone else? I had to change this, but I had no clue as to how. So I did a very simple exercise with my personal coach, which helped me understand exactly what I had to do in order to only be busy with the things that I liked. I have to warn you, the exercise is easy but the following up is hard. If you do however, the rewards are well worth the effort.

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The key to problem solving

Do you ever have the feeling that you are completely stuck on a problem? That no matter what you try, you just cannot get a grip of the essence of the problem. I have developed many software applications in the last few years. Programming applications usually is pretty straight-forward once you get down to the real programming. However, sometimes there is a problem which you just aren't able to solve. You have read over the code at least ten times, but you still cannot find the problem. This situation can of course be extrapolated to other problems, in different situations. Any situation where you know there is a problem ... you just don't know where...

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Understanding self improvement with Bateson

When I was in highschool, we had this course about society. Pretty boring most of the time, since we had to learn who was in the government, what they did etc. But there was this one day which I'll never forget in my whole life. That day we had a guest teacher. But not just any guest teacher. A former criminal, with a serious history of organized crime. This person had something to tell. He told his story of how he became a criminal and that while he made tons of money, it wasn't worth it in the end. Not because he got busted. But because his life just didn't have any true meaning. Now the big question was, what made him turn around his life? Because he not only gave up crime, he was putting in a big effort to stop others from becoming criminals. This question has fascinated me for a long time. And recently I learned the answer...

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The 1-2-3 problem solving guide

A while ago I witnessed two people who were arguing about a certain aspect of a software system. They were arguing about whether the requirment should be implemented in the way that person A was explaining it, or in the way that person B was explaining it. Continually, person A tried to convince person B that his idea was wrong, while person B tried to do the same thing. I was watching this situation unfold and as they gave me more and more insight into the problem by arguing back and forth, it became clear to me that they were actually both right. They were just discussing the matter with different naming applied to the problem. Once I had explained person A that person B was talking about the same thing and vice versa, it took them less than 5 minutes to come to an agreement regarding the matter. What happened was that they both were only addressing the problem from their own perspective. They were both looking at the problem through their own set of glasses. Being impervious to the glasses the other person was wearing. While they were looking at the same thing through those glasses!

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What you need to know about responsibility

I used to be someone who would take on the responsibility for almost anything. If you would let me handle it, it would get done. Done on time, within budget and with great quality. The only result was that I would have too many high priority things to do and could spend too little time on the things that are actually important. I am still experiencing the aftermath of some of these decisions, where I took the responsibility for something, which in the end caused me to have to work really hard to get it done. What I did wrong here was that I would take responsibility, but when I needed others to do things, I would give them responsibility. There is a big difference in taking responsibility and giving it to someone.

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Identifying your strong and weak points with Belbin

I am a firm believer in discovering your strong and weak points as a means for personal development. People who know their strong and weak points are often more effective in their lives. They know when things are going over their heads and when they can be of added value. Identifying your weak points is usually not an easy process. It is very natural for people to be able to describe their strong points well, but having a hard time really defining their weak points, or vice-versa. Luckily, there are methods of identifying your weak points by knowing your strong points, and the other way around!

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