Slow Thoughts from Dale du Preez

  • A WooCommerce integration in Gmail

    Last year, I spent some time experimenting with a Gmail add-on to integrate with WooCommerce. I was guessing that many WooCommerce store managers also use Gmail for email, and they probably get emails from users asking about order details, refunds, shipping estimates, etc. So I put together the code for…

  • Two prompts for an amazing 1-1

    Over the last few months, I’ve had some excellent conversations with folks on my team in response to two prompts that I gave them in advance of our 1-1s. I meant to get this post up months ago, but I didn’t get around to it. The prompts I ended up…

  • Data step 1: Explain what you’re looking for

    I’ve had a few opportunities to onboard people into some internal data tools, and I find that most people are overwhelmed by the new tool(s) in addition to not being clear about where to start. I find that it’s invaluable to start by describing what you’re looking for in plain,…

  • The power of small steps

    One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learnt while working at Automattic is simple, but not always obvious to follow: Breaking work down into smaller, incremental steps is incredibly powerful. Regardless of whether you’re trying to break down a project to support better estimation, or trying to decide what goals…

  • A change in direction

    I have not posted in well over a decade, and even prior to my extended hiatus, I only published content erratically. I’ve never been one to share much of anything, and I never found a real reason to write, or a goal to my writing. I plan to try writing…

  • A start

    It has been a long time since I last wrote anything on this blog. Many things have happened in those years. I plan to try another start here, though I think I will need to try some different topics to build momentum. Wish me luck!

  • Some Photographs

    I finally uploaded some of my better photos from the last few months to Flickr. There aren’t all that many, but I hope you enjoy them. Here are two samples: