Paul Blay on Software Management

Insights into the world of modern software delivery and people management

With over 25 years in many different companies, writing software, leading teams and managing projects & programmes – I’ve learned a lot about what works and what definitely does not. This site is intended to share my experience around how to build and maintain great products and services, by guiding and nurturing the teams that create them. My experience is first and foremost in the embedded sector, which brings unique challenges to modern software development practices.

Outcomes

Guide your teams to high value outcomes, while enhancing autonomy, ownership and creativity using OKRs.

People

Learn to get the most out of your colleagues, get them engaged and doing their best work.

Delivery

Get your products and services out to your customers and keep them coming back for more.

Metrics

Enable your teams to make data-driven & fact-based decisions, identify trends and stave off bad habits

Embedded

Learn about the specific challenges that the embedded software industry faces when adopting agile practices & what your options are.

Resources

Go here for recommended books, tools, videos, etc.

Personal Recommendations

Some snippets from the over 20 personal recommendations I’ve received thoughout my career. See my Linkedin for the full list.

Paul is an asset to any organisation looking to build an engineering department with a focus on business value and a leader to build great management teams.
Mike Doris
Director, Displaylink
I’ve greatly valued working with Paul, and I have no hesitation in recommending him. He brings a good blend of technical acumen, strategic thinking, and people-first leadership.
David Dunn
Lead Engineer, Displaylink
… excellent at building relationships with customers and partners through clear and concise written and verbal communication. I’d be delighted to work with Paul again.
Ben Clough
Director, Displaylink
… I have found him to be a motivated, inspirational and empowering leader. He brings an infectious energy to both our team and the wider community, which serves as a powerful catalyst for growth and change for all involved.
Ragan McGill
Head of Engineering, Gentrack
Paul has made a really positive impact since he started managing the team. He has an excellent way in which he communicates with people both within and outside of the team and he has the ability to understand technical problems quickly so he can contribute towards the best decisions being made.
Josh Drake
Software Engineer, Secure Thingz
Paul’s technical knowledge and ability to adapt and learn fast has allowed him to deliver of some of the more advanced, innovative and cutting edge programmes.
Tomé V
Product Leader, Qualcomm
… keen on identifying inefficiencies and improving processes with a focus on quality and good practices. All in all, it is a pleasure to work with him.
Jose
Technical lead, Img Tech
… Paul’s commitment and dedication along with his excellent technical understanding made him a natural leader.
Gregory C
Electronics Engineer, Renesas

Posts from my blog

Introducing the OKR ScoreCard

By Paul Blay on April 5, 2021

So let’s assume we’re using OKRs now. We’ve come up with some Objectives and tried to find meaningful measures for our Key Results that we think will help us ensure we’re going in the right direction. It’s important to remind ourselves that OKRs are just a tool. Using an ORK framework doesn’t necessarily ensure that we’re getting any tangible benefits over any other approach. For example, the next two OKR examples for our imaginary TownTalk ™ product both provide an objective and measurable KRs against it, but do both really unlock the same value?

The agility Challenge for Embedded Software

By Paul Blay on December 2, 2020

If you’ve ever worked for a business that has it’s core focus in the embedded software space, I suspect you are more likely to have had to tolerate software development practices from 20 years ago. If you’ve read many books on Agile software development, DevOps or other modern practices, you may also have noticed that they almost all talk about software that targets a server or website, possibly a PC. But unless you’re reading a very different library to me, you’ll not have seen much talk about embedded software.

Focus on outcomes with OKRs

By Paul Blay on November 17, 2020

If you’re interested in a way to tap into your team or companies creative potential, generating alignment and delivering tangible value, then OKRs should be your first port of call. I was fortunate enough to have met, and worked closely with Ragan McGill while I was at DisplayLink. Ragan had experienced both effective and underwhelming use of OKRs in his career and gave a set of training on how to ensure that they are well formed and deliver on their potential.

7 Practical Steps To Increase Accountability In Agile Teams

By Paul Blay on August 17, 2020

Individual and team accountability is critical for any high functioning team, I believe that this is often a concern for senior management, especially when considering an agile transformation, and can be difficult to attain. At the points in my career that I have seen senior management push back on the adoption of agile methodologies, the main areas of contention has been around the feeling of losing “control” over the delivery roadmap.