Software Lead Weekly
Issue #66, 21st February 2014
This Week's Favorite
By the Time You Give Them a Raise, They’re Already Out the Door
6 minutes read.
We all talk about hiring great talent, but how much of our time is spent on retaining these people after they join? Jason Lemkin with a beautiful post on to retain your best people and what to do in-case someone is starting to pull the plug and look for a different job. Share this post at work. Are you doing enough to keep your best people?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
6 minutes read.
We all talk about hiring great talent, but how much of our time is spent on retaining these people after they join? Jason Lemkin with a beautiful post on to retain your best people and what to do in-case someone is starting to pull the plug and look for a different job. Share this post at work. Are you doing enough to keep your best people?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Culture
This Product Prioritization System Nabbed Pandora 70 Million Monthly Users With Just 40 Engineers
15 minutes read.
It's not the first time I hear about the 90 days plan (Treehouse uses the same format), but I really enjoyed reading about Pandora's process of prioritizing their product's roadmap. I love the single-slide concept and how everyone needs to come up with ideas and sell them every quarter. But above all, I love the guiding question they decided to use in order to inspire those ideas - "What would be stupid for us not to do in the next 90 days?"
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
15 minutes read.
It's not the first time I hear about the 90 days plan (Treehouse uses the same format), but I really enjoyed reading about Pandora's process of prioritizing their product's roadmap. I love the single-slide concept and how everyone needs to come up with ideas and sell them every quarter. But above all, I love the guiding question they decided to use in order to inspire those ideas - "What would be stupid for us not to do in the next 90 days?"
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Company Integrity – Having a Single Story
3 minutes read.
Yaron Galai (Outbrain's CEO) is spot on: "Business needs can be turned on or off for integrity; but integrity can never be turned on or off in the face of business needs." Beautiful post you'd enjoy reading.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
3 minutes read.
Yaron Galai (Outbrain's CEO) is spot on: "Business needs can be turned on or off for integrity; but integrity can never be turned on or off in the face of business needs." Beautiful post you'd enjoy reading.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
How Automattic Iterates, Approaches Hiring and Management (video)
24 minutes read.
Matt Mullenweg, Automattic's CEO (the company behind WordPress), is such a humble and genuine person. The way he managed to build the company and lead it to such a huge success, while keeping their unique culture is truly inspiring. Their unique approach is not a perfect fit for everyone, but Matt acknowledges it and makes sure to hire people who would fit and be amazing because of it. Great interview to listen to on your next commute to work.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
24 minutes read.
Matt Mullenweg, Automattic's CEO (the company behind WordPress), is such a humble and genuine person. The way he managed to build the company and lead it to such a huge success, while keeping their unique culture is truly inspiring. Their unique approach is not a perfect fit for everyone, but Matt acknowledges it and makes sure to hire people who would fit and be amazing because of it. Great interview to listen to on your next commute to work.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Peopleware
Engineering Managers' Priorities in a Hyper-Growth Startup
5 minutes read.
Uber is one of those rare few companies at hyper-growth, so reading some of the challenges of a great engineering manager such as Charles-Axel Dein is always a fascinating read. His tips on growing the team and holding a vision for the team is golden. Vision (and purpose) is such an important lesson with such a huge impact, I wish more managers would invest more time in that.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
Uber is one of those rare few companies at hyper-growth, so reading some of the challenges of a great engineering manager such as Charles-Axel Dein is always a fascinating read. His tips on growing the team and holding a vision for the team is golden. Vision (and purpose) is such an important lesson with such a huge impact, I wish more managers would invest more time in that.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Knowing What Feature to Build Next
4 minutes read.
Brian Lovin (of Buffer) shares a cool tactic to figure out which features you should develop next, by using a simple feedback loop from your customers. We've done something similar at the startup I'm working for (we called it the "I want it system") with great results. Can you use a similar tactic to detect which kind of process your teammates want? Would be interesting to experiment with knowing which parts of the process to adjust next.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
Brian Lovin (of Buffer) shares a cool tactic to figure out which features you should develop next, by using a simple feedback loop from your customers. We've done something similar at the startup I'm working for (we called it the "I want it system") with great results. Can you use a similar tactic to detect which kind of process your teammates want? Would be interesting to experiment with knowing which parts of the process to adjust next.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Some Thoughts on Hiring in the Early Days of a Startup
3 minutes read.
"The best way to recruit is to build a fantastic culture and pay attention to the why behind your company." - Bijan Sabet urge you to stop competing over salary and start competing about vision and impact. At the early stages, every employee has such a huge impact over the product and the culture. Find people who share your passion and see this as an opportunity to learn how to build a company.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
3 minutes read.
"The best way to recruit is to build a fantastic culture and pay attention to the why behind your company." - Bijan Sabet urge you to stop competing over salary and start competing about vision and impact. At the early stages, every employee has such a huge impact over the product and the culture. Find people who share your passion and see this as an opportunity to learn how to build a company.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Inspiring Tweets
@lexilewtan: I love how being nice to someone can pan out really beautifully in random points in the future.
@orenellenbogen: When you're lacking purpose at work, every small annoyance scales out of proportion.
- 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.