Thanos Kolovos

CodegazeRants - Twenty Twenty-Five A year of change

2025 notes: changes, new challenges, small wins, lots of observations, and writing my way through it.

codegazerants.com/2025/12/30/t...

CodegazeRants - The Manager Problem Problem The Loophole Between Rules and Reality

You might have two problems right now. One is that someone is making your life miserable at work.

The second is that the person you're supposed to talk to about it... they are the problem.

New piece on the Manager Problem Problem!

codegazerants.com/2025/12/15/t...

#leadership

CodegazeRants - No Fireworks Leadership Third time in two months we had an incident and our industry loves heroes.

Prevention looks like nothing happening. So the system treats it like nothing. But somewhere on your team is someone doing quiet, expert work that keeps everything standing. Here's why that person matters more than you think.

New piece 👇
codegazerants.com/2025/11/30/n...

#EngineeringLeadership

CodegazeRants - The Ratio You hire five 10x engineers. Simple math says you should get 50x output. Six months later you're getting maybe 12x. Where did the other 20x go? There's an invisible tax.

5 × 10 ≠ 50
The math of high performers doesn't work the way you think.
New piece on why stacking talent creates overhead, not output!

codegazerants.com/2025/11/16/t...

#EngineeringManagement #Leadership #Hiring

CodegazeRants - The Safety Of Busyness Your manager asks what you accomplished in the last quarter. You realize you don't have an answer.

"What did you solve last quarter?" You start listing things. You realize you don't have an answer.

You've been busy. But busy isn't growth.
Here's why you might keep choosing it.

✍🏼 New piece codegazerants.com/2025/10/30/t...

#engineering #career

CodegazeRants - Show Them The Kitchen Leaders withhold context and then wonder why people struggle. But there is a way.

Leaders withhold context. Capable people figure it out anyway.
Then they leave.

Why does this keep happening? 🤷‍♂️

New piece 👇
codegazerants.com/2025/10/19/s...

#EngineeringLeadership #TechLeadership #leadership

CodegazeRants - You don't have to like Jack Overcoming Bias to Become a Better Manager

Just published: You Don't Have To Like Jack

You're in the promotion discussion. Three paragraphs for Sarah. Two bullet points for Jack. Same work, different effort.
That's the moment you catch yourself.

codegazerants.com/2025/09/30/y...

#leadership #management

CodegazeRants - Exits, Entries, and the Background Check in Between I've done this dance enough times now to spot the pattern. Forms asking for exact dates from years back, hunting for documents you swore you saved somewhere, that familiar anxiety when your work histo...

Background check anxiety is real but mostly unnecessary. Wrote about what these checks actually are vs what they feel like and how to prep so they're routine instead of stressful.

codegazerants.com/2025/09/14/e...

#career #backgroundchecks #tech

CodegazeRants - Why Engineering Work Isn't Done Until It's Actually Done I can picture myself in a team meeting or a 1:1, bringing this up - and yes, I’m spoiling the article a bit -

Latest thoughts on engineering work and when it's still WIP and not done!

codegazerants.com/2025/08/30/w...

#collaboration #software #culture