Phil.blog

February in a post

Willow had her Tonsil/Adenoid surgery. Now our little girl can sleep without sounds like an old Harley Davidson. So happy to have that behind us...

Getting the hook set

Training for the marathons of Marvel movies that she will inevitably have with me 😂

Sunset hikes

Getting the hook set

Training for the marathons of Marvel movies that she will inevitably have with me 😂

Willow: Mommy is really good at cuddling! And she smells good. And she sings to me good!Me: What am I good at?Willow: You give me treats and I eat the treats. So I'm just a food dispenser now I guess...

Life’s been busy…

It was a busy end of year for me.Had a whirlwind Fall, flying back and forth between coasts for work. First for a 14hr visit to Vancouver. Then came home, only to fly back out Vegas, where I spoke at the Support Driven conference for customer...

Fall Hikes

Coastal updates continued

A few more shots that I picked out from our West Coast road trip

Creating a healthy feedback culture

I was recently asked to join a customer service podcast. On it, I spoke about what feedback is and what makes a healthy feedback culture. I'll be doing a similar talk next month at the Support Driven Expo in Las Vegas....

Lake Louise

Lake Louise, Alberta. Partially frozen in May 2022

West Coast, Best Coast

Back at Christmas, I surprised my wife with a family road trip through the west coast. Fly into Vancouver, rent a car, then drive all through the Rockies and fly back from Calgary.My wife had never been to British Columbia before, nor had she...

April Update

Since my last post, we had four birthdays in our house. Willow, Me, Rascal (dog), and Rupert (cat). Weather is still horrible (cold and wet), why do people say they like spring? They don't. They like the last couple weeks of Spring. The rest of it...

Until we meet again…

2109 days, 5 countries, countless moments. A lot has happened since I started working at Automattic. We lost our house in a fire, had a child, travelled, weathered a global pandemic. When I joined, there were a ~240 Automattians, but it still felt...

Should you use tiered customer support?

This week someone asked me if I thought tiered customer support was a good thing. My answer was No ... and also Yes. This is because it depends entirely on the purpose and how it's implemented. It's all about the $$$ Most companies implement tiered...

December has come and gone

Winter is here, which means I'll be grumpy for the next 5 months 😂 Over the past month Willow has become really attached to Abbie. Abbie seems to feel the same way as she's started jumping into Willow's bed every night when we are doing story time. It's very...

It’s off to work I go…

The time is almost here. In 36hrs, I'll be back at work. Having finished my 3 month sabbatical. Such an amazing perk of my work and I'm so lucky to have it. However, that doesn't make this any less difficult 😛 Going back is going to be tough. Especially since about...

Unplug and recharge

August marked my 5 year anniversary at Automattic.This is a momentus occasion for two reasons: First, it's the longest that I've been at job in my adult life. My last four jobs before this were all in the 3-4 year span. I will say though, I hadn't planned on leaving...

Summer is fading

Summer is almost wrapped up. With that, Willow is also wrapping up at her home daycare. We've had Willow in a home daycare since September of last year. Finding the right daycare was a long and stressful process for us. Ultimately though, it was worth the journey as...

Toddler Life Lessons

This past week has been a struggle. I've been working long hours and overnight shifts, leading to an unhealthy lack of sleep. Additionally, a few things have come up in my personal life to add extra stress to the situation. Today looked like that was all going to turn...

Working in CS made me a worse customer

I've been working in the Customer Support / Custom Service realm now for well over a decade. During that time I've learned and worked on becoming more empathetic and understanding on customers. I've learned how to understand what customer's truly want/need. As well as...