Blog

Thu Aug 25

Product Thinking

Building Better Products with the Product Thinking Playbook

Thoughtworks aims to build better products, and the Product Thinking Playbook is how we do it. Like any good product, the Product Thinking Playbook constantly evolves, guiding us when designing new projects for better team alignment, pivoting projects to yield better results, and learning new techniques to become better product practitioners. Learn more about our Product Thinking Playbook and what it can do for your product vision.

Building Better Products with the Product Thinking Playbook

Fri Dec 2

Culture

Thoughtworker Spotlight: Chris Russo

Endless, boundless, limitless; words to describe Chris Russo’s creativity. As our Content Marketing Manager, he proves every single day that the pen is mightier than the sword. He has inspired so many Thoughtworkers to share their voice and perspectives through our content, that we even created a secret-not-so-secret society for everyone he’s collaborated with known as the 4P (you’ll have to join the team to find out what it stands for!). Besides being a very avid reader, Chris enjoys spending time with his two boys and partner going on hikes, exploring new towns, and cooking up a storm in their kitchen trying new culinary styles.

Thoughtworker Spotlight: Chris Russo

Thu Dec 1

Culture,
Product Thinking,
Software Development

Global Day of Coderetreat Toronto 2022

Earlier this month, we hosted Global Day of Coderetreat (GDCR) at our Toronto office. After a three-year hiatus, we wanted to re-awaken some of the community enthusiasm when we hosted the event for the first time back in 2019. This year we planned for a larger event which turned out to be a really good thing as we nearly doubled our attendance. And in case you were wodering, this is how we did it.

Global Day of Coderetreat Toronto 2022

Tue Nov 29

Software Development,
Strategy

Art of Controlled Burn in Engineering Management

The idea of a Controlled Burn is simple; create a small fire that you fully control. The assumption is that were you to do nothing, a much larger disaster would occur. In agile, no team likes disruptions; rather, everyone prefers to work like well-oiled machines. This begs the question - can we apply a strategy that looks very similar to firefighters and utilizes controlled disruptions rather than waiting for a full-blown disaster to occur?

Art of Controlled Burn in Engineering Management

Fri Nov 18

Culture

Thoughtworker Spotlight: Karen Hinks

What can you say about Karen Hinks, Client Service Manager here at Thoughtworks? A lot, quite frankly. She has the type of tenacity that makes you believe she can do anything and go anywhere and the type of loyalty that lets you know she'll always be right where you need her to be. Although her career has spanned industries and verticals, people have always been at the centre of what she does, and her ability to make anyone she speaks to feel like they are the only person in the world is partly why she excels. When she's not trying to sneak vegetables into her son's food, exploring her new home on the east coast, or wishing one of her favourite products (she has two; I told you there was a lot) was the Jetson character it resembles (can you guess what it is?), you'll find her walking her two-year-old beagle; either towards or away from a donair.

Thoughtworker Spotlight: Karen Hinks

Wed Nov 9

Product Thinking,
Strategy

You’re Wrong & Don’t Know It: Process Biases

Process biases occur when you process information based on cognitive factors instead of concrete evidence, skewing your perception of reality, even if all the pertinent and necessary data is right in front of you. And in our third installment of You’re Wrong & Don’t Know It, discover some of the different types of process biases, their impact, and most importantly, how they can be avoided.

You’re Wrong & Don’t Know It: Process Biases

Fri Nov 4

Culture

Thoughtworker Spotlight: Stefanie Pavarin-Tomé

Life goes on, and if you’ve ever been to one of Stefanie’s events, you’d know that it always seems to go a little bit slower leading up to the next one. Whether cooking up new and exciting ways to elevate Thoughtworks events or baking up a batch of her habit-forming red velvet cupcakes, she has an undeniable knack for leaving people wanting more. This is likely since whether she’s orchestrating a Thoughtworks event in the hundreds or an intimate evening with a dozen partners, everyone in attendance feels like family. And when she’s not travelling the globe or roaming the city, you’ll likely find her occasionally glancing at her favourite product throughout the day. Can you guess what it is? This and more in this week’s edition of Thoughtworks Spotlight.

Thoughtworker Spotlight: Stefanie Pavarin-Tomé

Wed Nov 2

Product Thinking,
Software Development

Learning Archetypes: An aid for setting intention at a Coderetreat

On the one hand, labels can hold us back. They come with expectations on what we can and can’t do, or what we know and don’t know. Those expectations can be self-inflicted or put on us by others. This is especially true of job titles. This is why at a Coderetreat, we say that we leave our job titles at the door. For similar reasons, we delete our code at the end of a Coderetreat pairing session. Pre-existing notions, assumptions, or expectations oftentimes hold us back from learning — consequently, we discard them when possible.

Learning Archetypes: An aid for setting intention at a Coderetreat