chetcromer.com
Welcome to my corner of the internet. Thoughts, journals, and whatever else comes to mind.
Finding the Rhythm: A Leadership Journal on Incremental Delivery and Sustainable Progress
TL;DR: This journal explores why the team excels at maintaining and fixing but struggles to deliver large-scale projects incrementally. It identifies cultural, structural, and emotional barriers—like lack of rhythm, unclear ownership, and fear of imperfection—and...
Let It All Go: Reflections on Leadership, Responsibility, and Release
Let It All Go: Reflections on Leadership, Responsibility, and Release Introduction This began as scattered thoughts on paper—half prayer, half confession. I was wrestling with the weight of leadership, with what it means to carry people, make decisions,...
Overcommitted is an oxymoron. The real problem is undercommitment to too many things.
I’ve been wrestling with this phrase: “I’m overcommitted.” It rolls off my tongue easily, especially in seasons where my calendar is stacked and my task list feels endless. But during a coaching call with Mark Sturgell, I had to stop and face the reality that...
From the Trenches to the Telescope: Redefining My Role on a Growing Dev Team
For years, I’ve worn the “part-time developer” hat. I was in the code, solving problems, building features, deploying hotfixes—sometimes out of passion, sometimes out of necessity. But as our team has grown and matured, that role doesn’t quite fit the same way...
Prompt Presser AI is Alive!
[prompt_presser prompt="Write a HTML formatted multi-paragraph introductory blurb with...
If You Could Read My Mind: From Late-Night Thoughts to AI Songwriting
If You Could Read My Mind: From Late-Night Thoughts to AI Songwriting A couple days ago, a line kept echoing in my head: “If you could read my mind…” Not in a spooky way, and not even in the shame-laced way we often think of that idea. What haunted me was something...
Ode to Cheston Bradley, Bard of the Pen
I've taken to poetry this year (ai-assisted, yes), and have made it a thing to write poems for MaKenna and one of her friends before their sporting events. Sometimes silly, sometimes not... but today I got my own poem from them. And it felt great. Not just to be...
Hard-Fought Hallelujah, Soul-Deep Peace: When Brokenness and Faith Collide
Once upon a pew, I sat in silence. Not because I didn’t believe. Not because I had it all figured out. But because my hallelujah felt too hard to say. It was sometime last year that I first heard Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll’s “Hard to Fight Hallelujah.” I remember...
Cursor AI Keyboard Shortcut Cheat Sheet – Supercharging Development with Cursor AI and Visual Studio
Supercharging Development with Cursor AI and Visual Studio Plus: Downloadable Keyboard Shortcut Guide I’ve been diving deeper into AI-assisted development lately, and one tool that’s stood out—especially when paired with Visual Studio—is Cursor AI. It’s more than just...
When Church Doesn’t Feel Like Home – Part 2
When Your Gifts Are Silenced In Part 1, I shared how a place that once felt like home—especially in youth ministry—can slowly become unfamiliar. How subtle shifts, unspoken decisions, and relational distance can leave you feeling like an outsider in a space where you...
Remembering and Honoring: The Difference Between Memorial Day and Veterans Day
Once a year, we fire up the grill, wave the flag, and take a long weekend to mark a national holiday. But do we really understand what we’re honoring? Too often, the lines between Memorial Day and Veterans Day get blurred. The intention is usually good—gratitude,...
אַפּצילוכעס דיקער – Aptziloches Diker: Finding Myself in an Unexpected Word
Aptziloches Diker: Finding Myself in an Unexpected Word When I first started watching The Devil Next Door on Netflix, I thought I knew what I was getting into.The story was heavy, of course — it had to be — about John Demjanjuk, an aging Cleveland man accused of being...
When Dreams Get Weird (And What I Did About It)
When Dreams Get Weird (And What I Did About It) The other night, I had one of those dreams. You know the kind — where nothing seems to make sense, yet everything feels oddly real. It wasn't just random images flashing through my mind; it was a full-blown story with...
The Day Death Held God
The Day Death Held God I’ve been thinking a lot about Saturday. Not just any Saturday—that Saturday. The one after the Cross, before the sunrise and the stone rolled away. The day where nothing happened. The day where hope was dead. The day where silence ruled. That’s...
When Curiosity Ruins a Perfectly Good Misunderstanding
When Curiosity Ruins a Perfectly Good MisunderstandingHow I misread a biblical phrase for years—and why I’m glad I finally questioned it For a long time, I thought I had a neat little insight tucked away whenever I came across the phrase “half-tribe of Manasseh” in...
The Sacred Work of Hospitality
Open Doors, Open Hearts: The Sacred Work of Hospitality There is a kind of Kingdom work that doesn’t make headlines. It doesn’t stand behind a pulpit or lead a crowd. It happens in kitchens, on porches, around dinner tables, and in the quiet corners of homes. It’s...
Lessons in Working with AI: Building a Smart Bookmarklet with Precision
Lessons in Working with AI: Building a Smart Bookmarklet with Precision Working with AI isn't magic — it's a collaborative process. You don’t just ask once and get perfection; instead, you iterate, clarify, and build something better with every round. That’s exactly...
Create an Outlook Web Task from Any Webpage with One Click (Bookmarklet Tutorial)
Create an Outlook Web Task from Any Webpage with One Click Bookmarklet Tutorial If you use Outlook Web Access and love keeping track of tasks and follow-ups, this bookmarklet is for you. With just a click, you can create a pre-filled calendar appointment in Outlook...
