Coaching for Developers, Interview Podcast with Steve Dalton

One of the most creative people I know, Steve Dalton (@spidie on Twitter), interviewed me recently for Coding by Numbers, a podcast site “by developers for developers”, produced by Steve and his colleague Craig Aspinall (@aspinall) . The site is also described on its Twitter page as a “Geek podcast” .

We talked mainly about coaching. Which is good, because I love coaching and a runner up in my affections is talking about coaching, in the hope that more people will develop an understanding of how coaching can help individuals and companies get closer to realizing their potential.

And if in the process I can generate some interest in the services I offer as a coach, I don’t complain.

The downloadable recording here is an excerpt – by permission (Creative Commons license) – from a longer podcast on Coding by Numbers – the longer version includes an interview with Nick Byrne, who is a member of the staff of a fascinating organisation, Engineers Without Borders (think Médecins Sans Frontières, but for engineers – that’s my take, not as far as I know an official line!)

Steve’s interview with me goes for just over fifteen and a half minutes. It is longer than we had intended, but we both got a bit caught up in the discussion!

Topics we touched on included:

• issues about coaching specifically for developers, especially about getting focus and establishing priorities
• the “inner game”
• Seth Godin’s concept of the “linchpin”
• when feeling overwhelmed, how to survive and thrive, using the metaphor of getting out of a surf “rip”
• suggestions for finding a coach who is right for your needs

Listen to the interview here.