Software Lead Weekly
Issue #177, 15th April 2016
This Week's Favorite
Leadership Without Management: Scaling Organizations by Scaling Engineers (Video)
62 minutes read.
Stop, watch this talk and share it with every engineering manager you have in the organization. One of the best talks (and funniest, if enjoy a huge dose of dark humor once every 30 seconds or so) I've ever listened to.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
62 minutes read.
Stop, watch this talk and share it with every engineering manager you have in the organization. One of the best talks (and funniest, if enjoy a huge dose of dark humor once every 30 seconds or so) I've ever listened to.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Culture
You Leave Your Desk Unattended for Two Minutes Round Here...
1 minutes read.
My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
1 minutes read.
My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Sprints, Artificial Deadlines, and Quality
4 minutes read.
This is such a hard and debatable topic: how do you create a momentum of execution without hurting quality or long term motivation? I'm a big believer in setting deadlines and concrete goals to align the team around something tangible, but you have to constantly explain the reasoning behind it - business impact, readiness for potential opportunity, getting the organization more effective or autonomous etc. The minute you stop explaining (multiple times if needed), those deadlines become artificial and people start to lose faith in your sincerity.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
This is such a hard and debatable topic: how do you create a momentum of execution without hurting quality or long term motivation? I'm a big believer in setting deadlines and concrete goals to align the team around something tangible, but you have to constantly explain the reasoning behind it - business impact, readiness for potential opportunity, getting the organization more effective or autonomous etc. The minute you stop explaining (multiple times if needed), those deadlines become artificial and people start to lose faith in your sincerity.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
How to Build Quality Into Your Software Development Workflow
5 minutes read.
"Quality was owned solely by the QA team. At our core, we had a QA organization that had not scaled with the rest of the organization" -- your entire process has to be around making quality built-in and scaled-out rather than outsourced. Good tips by Sandeep Chouksey (VP Eng at Shutterstock) that would help you think of how to achieve it.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
"Quality was owned solely by the QA team. At our core, we had a QA organization that had not scaled with the rest of the organization" -- your entire process has to be around making quality built-in and scaled-out rather than outsourced. Good tips by Sandeep Chouksey (VP Eng at Shutterstock) that would help you think of how to achieve it.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
The Current Model of Management Is Holding Customers and Employees Hostage
5 minutes read.
The way we can help our teammates grow, and our companies to stay competitive in the market, is to understand we don't own them nor can we hide information from them. If you're not constantly thinking about how to push everyone forward, you're the reason they'll eventually quit. This is spot on: "[...] there will be two types of companies. Those that can control their environment and be the God-maker. And those that acknowledge that the comfortable idea of being able to control your environment is an illusion."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
The way we can help our teammates grow, and our companies to stay competitive in the market, is to understand we don't own them nor can we hide information from them. If you're not constantly thinking about how to push everyone forward, you're the reason they'll eventually quit. This is spot on: "[...] there will be two types of companies. Those that can control their environment and be the God-maker. And those that acknowledge that the comfortable idea of being able to control your environment is an illusion."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Peopleware
Achieving Friction-Free Status Updates
4 minutes read.
Figuring out a way to get status updates without bothering your team is a struggle every leader is facing with. Camille Fournier with helpful advice on where to look and how. One practical advice I'd add is to make sure that they understand there is an Organization API, where estimations, risks, and deadlines are well communicated. Ask for such summary from people who lead big projects, getting them to push information rather than you pulling it out. Above all, make it an explicit expectation, rather than something they need to figure out on their own.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
Figuring out a way to get status updates without bothering your team is a struggle every leader is facing with. Camille Fournier with helpful advice on where to look and how. One practical advice I'd add is to make sure that they understand there is an Organization API, where estimations, risks, and deadlines are well communicated. Ask for such summary from people who lead big projects, getting them to push information rather than you pulling it out. Above all, make it an explicit expectation, rather than something they need to figure out on their own.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Becoming a Tech Lead: How I've Balanced Coding With Coaching
5 minutes read.
"Given the time it would take me to learn all those things on my own, the team and our product is far better off because I didn’t insist on absorbing the same knowledge before they did" -- learning how to teach and help others grow, instead of trying to be the hero, is how you become a multiplier as a Tech Lead.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
"Given the time it would take me to learn all those things on my own, the team and our product is far better off because I didn’t insist on absorbing the same knowledge before they did" -- learning how to teach and help others grow, instead of trying to be the hero, is how you become a multiplier as a Tech Lead.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
The Evolution of Anxiety: Why We Worry and What to Do About It
4 minutes read.
Dealing with anxiety and stress becomes harder and harder these days, where companies develop addictive products chasing you to earn immediate satisfaction (e.g. go over my Twitter/Facebook notifications). Good post by James Clear on how to create healthy long-term focused habits.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
Dealing with anxiety and stress becomes harder and harder these days, where companies develop addictive products chasing you to earn immediate satisfaction (e.g. go over my Twitter/Facebook notifications). Good post by James Clear on how to create healthy long-term focused habits.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Inspiring Tweets
@far33d: When I head to my roadmap meeting later today I'm just going to say "drones, lasers, AI, VR"
- Oren
P.S. Can you share this email? I'd love for more people to experiment and improve their company's culture.
P.S. Can you share this email? I'd love for more people to experiment and improve their company's culture.