Software Lead Weekly
Issue #182, 20th May 2016
This Week's Favorite
New Manager Has a Fear of Losing a Technical Edge
5 minutes read.
Great advice by Camille Fournier "if you do not think that management is real work, you will continue to treat it like an unfortunate burden to be dealt with so you can get to the fun stuff... Your team needs you to be there as a manager for them, and it is almost impossible to show up fully for a role that you don't think is valuable."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
Great advice by Camille Fournier "if you do not think that management is real work, you will continue to treat it like an unfortunate burden to be dealt with so you can get to the fun stuff... Your team needs you to be there as a manager for them, and it is almost impossible to show up fully for a role that you don't think is valuable."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Culture
Periodic Table of DevOps Tools
1 minutes read.
My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face.
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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.
Holistic Management
4 minutes read.
Cap Watkins writes about a topic I wish was discussed more often: creating a common set of practices and values across different teams under the same expertise (e.g. designers, product, engineering etc.): "We shared problems with each other and would help one another out when one of us was struggling. We developed a shared point of view for how we wanted the Product Design team to work and evolve and, together, we were able to see that through." -- This is key as you'd like to be able to "lose" people internally, letting them move between teams without losing them to a different company. It forces teams and managers to think about common ground. Are your teams working in silos? How'd you change it?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
Cap Watkins writes about a topic I wish was discussed more often: creating a common set of practices and values across different teams under the same expertise (e.g. designers, product, engineering etc.): "We shared problems with each other and would help one another out when one of us was struggling. We developed a shared point of view for how we wanted the Product Design team to work and evolve and, together, we were able to see that through." -- This is key as you'd like to be able to "lose" people internally, letting them move between teams without losing them to a different company. It forces teams and managers to think about common ground. Are your teams working in silos? How'd you change it?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
How to Ensure a New Manager Succeeds
6 minutes read.
I really enjoyed reading this post by Jason Evanish, as it's packed with practical advice you can take and practice if you're leading new managers or new Tech Leads. Read the section about "The Peter Principle meets Task Relevant Maturity", probably the most important frameworks you should know when helping someone else make that transition.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
6 minutes read.
I really enjoyed reading this post by Jason Evanish, as it's packed with practical advice you can take and practice if you're leading new managers or new Tech Leads. Read the section about "The Peter Principle meets Task Relevant Maturity", probably the most important frameworks you should know when helping someone else make that transition.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Let’s Make Open Source More Inclusive
8 minutes read.
As more and more companies rely on OSS and contribute to it, it's important to put our attention to the way we allow others to participate in it. A must read for contributors and leaders who want their teammates to be more involved (and involve others!) in OSS. And yes, it's absolutely great for business, so please read the section about "Companies".
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
8 minutes read.
As more and more companies rely on OSS and contribute to it, it's important to put our attention to the way we allow others to participate in it. A must read for contributors and leaders who want their teammates to be more involved (and involve others!) in OSS. And yes, it's absolutely great for business, so please read the section about "Companies".
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Peopleware
I’m a Boring Programmer (And Proud of It)
3 minutes read.
"I take pride in the fact that I’m a good, solid programmer. One who works hard at his craft and really enjoys it, even without the fancy labels... Instead, like a librarian I enjoy quiet and order. When code is well organized, things are easy to find and less likely to break, avoiding a bunch of noise and heartache. Like a scientist I enjoy analyzing problems, trying different angles to solve them, and then sharing my findings. I want to understand how things work, and I want others to benefit from that understanding." -- just perfect.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
3 minutes read.
"I take pride in the fact that I’m a good, solid programmer. One who works hard at his craft and really enjoys it, even without the fancy labels... Instead, like a librarian I enjoy quiet and order. When code is well organized, things are easy to find and less likely to break, avoiding a bunch of noise and heartache. Like a scientist I enjoy analyzing problems, trying different angles to solve them, and then sharing my findings. I want to understand how things work, and I want others to benefit from that understanding." -- just perfect.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
90 Day Plan for a CTO in a New Job
5 minutes read.
This plan is applicable for many areas, not only CTO. Something I'd definitely get back every few months, looking for different areas in the organization that will require my attention. This plan has so many great links in it, I've spent 90 minutes reading non-stop.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
This plan is applicable for many areas, not only CTO. Something I'd definitely get back every few months, looking for different areas in the organization that will require my attention. This plan has so many great links in it, I've spent 90 minutes reading non-stop.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Conquering My Demons
7 minutes read.
Summarizing exactly the way I feel, ever since I wrote my first line of code 19 years ago: "It is a very simple emotion: fear. All of these can be reduced to fear. Fear of failing in the eyes of others and of myself, fear of not being good enough, fear of saying something stupid, fear of building the wrong abstraction, fear of repeating a past mistake, fear of being misunderstood or misjudged, fear of treading on somebody's toes..."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
7 minutes read.
Summarizing exactly the way I feel, ever since I wrote my first line of code 19 years ago: "It is a very simple emotion: fear. All of these can be reduced to fear. Fear of failing in the eyes of others and of myself, fear of not being good enough, fear of saying something stupid, fear of building the wrong abstraction, fear of repeating a past mistake, fear of being misunderstood or misjudged, fear of treading on somebody's toes..."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Inspiring Tweets
@ryber: I wonder how many interviews where someone asks you to implement a binary tree search are for jobs where 95% of the coding is CRUD forms
@sarahmei: I've never regretted spending too much time on my career. I've often regretted spending too time on my job.
- 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.