Software Lead Weekly
Issue #100, 24th October 2014
This Week's Favorite
The Old Guard
7 minutes read.
Rands with a beautifully written post on the cultural transition companies go through when the company scale beyond a certain size. The Old Guard, people who were at the beginning of the company, suddenly feel as if the newcomers are introducing too much process, killing the special vibe the company had in the early days. Yet a process (lightweight as it may be) is required and culture has to evolve to fit the new reality. The last couple of paragraphs are key here, it's the Old Guard responsibility to define the core values and communicate them clearly, thus letting the culture evolve around these strengths.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
7 minutes read.
Rands with a beautifully written post on the cultural transition companies go through when the company scale beyond a certain size. The Old Guard, people who were at the beginning of the company, suddenly feel as if the newcomers are introducing too much process, killing the special vibe the company had in the early days. Yet a process (lightweight as it may be) is required and culture has to evolve to fit the new reality. The last couple of paragraphs are key here, it's the Old Guard responsibility to define the core values and communicate them clearly, thus letting the culture evolve around these strengths.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Culture
Here Is How Engineers Work on an Infrastructure Startup in Real Life
1 minutes read.
A short footage (aka GIF) of engineers working on an infrastructure startup in real life. True story. Sort of. Well, not really. Happy Friday everyone!
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
1 minutes read.
A short footage (aka GIF) of engineers working on an infrastructure startup in real life. True story. Sort of. Well, not really. Happy Friday everyone!
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Process, and Culture
3 minutes read.
One of the most inspiring post I've ever read about the difference between process and culture: "Meetings are process. Transparency, is culture. Post-mortems are a process. Accountability, is culture. Deadlines are process. Shipping, is culture" - read the all thing, worth every minute of your time.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
3 minutes read.
One of the most inspiring post I've ever read about the difference between process and culture: "Meetings are process. Transparency, is culture. Post-mortems are a process. Accountability, is culture. Deadlines are process. Shipping, is culture" - read the all thing, worth every minute of your time.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
How We Scaled Stripe From 4 to 94 Employees
47 minutes read.
Greg Brockman, Stripe's CTO, shares his stories and wonderful photos from the early days of Stripe until today. If you want to hear how they built an incredible engineering brand and why Greg would never compromise it, or why they decided to build their famous Capture The Flag game despite the risks, it's good value for your time. Also loved the fact they took a lot of photos of their office, so you could see how it was transformed as the team grew. Taking photos of our journey is always important. It helps newcomers to enjoy looking at the history of the company they just joined, and feel more connected to the place and people.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
47 minutes read.
Greg Brockman, Stripe's CTO, shares his stories and wonderful photos from the early days of Stripe until today. If you want to hear how they built an incredible engineering brand and why Greg would never compromise it, or why they decided to build their famous Capture The Flag game despite the risks, it's good value for your time. Also loved the fact they took a lot of photos of their office, so you could see how it was transformed as the team grew. Taking photos of our journey is always important. It helps newcomers to enjoy looking at the history of the company they just joined, and feel more connected to the place and people.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Here’s Why I Revealed All of Our Team Salaries
5 minutes read.
Jon Lay, the founder of Hanno, revealed all of the team salaries internally and it's highly interesting to read the motivation behind it. It's always controversial, but it is these stories that founders like Jon share, that motivate others to explore their culture and values - "Ultimately, I think that building a fairer company will make us more successful in the long-run."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
Jon Lay, the founder of Hanno, revealed all of the team salaries internally and it's highly interesting to read the motivation behind it. It's always controversial, but it is these stories that founders like Jon share, that motivate others to explore their culture and values - "Ultimately, I think that building a fairer company will make us more successful in the long-run."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
The Well-Rounded Technologist
2 minutes read.
Michael Bernstein writes so beautifully that I feel no need to add anything else to it: "Perhaps if we show more of ourselves, remember that we are more than employable, more than productive, excited about more than the latest tech, than we can start to steer this ship in a better direction."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
2 minutes read.
Michael Bernstein writes so beautifully that I feel no need to add anything else to it: "Perhaps if we show more of ourselves, remember that we are more than employable, more than productive, excited about more than the latest tech, than we can start to steer this ship in a better direction."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Peopleware
Stop Chopping Yourself to Pieces
2 minutes read.
Are you mindfully investing your time in the right place to build a sustainable career? Are you happy? Are you engaged with your work? Are you okay with it? Jason Cohen with an important reminder.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
2 minutes read.
Are you mindfully investing your time in the right place to build a sustainable career? Are you happy? Are you engaged with your work? Are you okay with it? Jason Cohen with an important reminder.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Why We Don’t Have Technical Interviews for Technical Roles at Buffer
7 minutes read.
Sunil Sadasivan, Buffer's CTO, stopped having technical interviews for technical roles. It's an interesting take on how much of these questions truly represent the candidate's ability to be a good fit for our company, and why Sunil believes culture fit is more important than technical fit. Check out Buffer's technical interview structure - asking candidates to describe their background, how they grew up, how they learned to code, and lessons they’ve learned along the way can be a great insight to their technical skills.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
7 minutes read.
Sunil Sadasivan, Buffer's CTO, stopped having technical interviews for technical roles. It's an interesting take on how much of these questions truly represent the candidate's ability to be a good fit for our company, and why Sunil believes culture fit is more important than technical fit. Check out Buffer's technical interview structure - asking candidates to describe their background, how they grew up, how they learned to code, and lessons they’ve learned along the way can be a great insight to their technical skills.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Keith Rabois on the Role of a COO, How to Hire and Why Transparency Matters
8 minutes read.
Keith Rabois who helped building companies such as Paypal, LinkedIn and Square, has an interesting story on his career and lessons learned. If you're tight on time, read "How to Win Talent." It's packed with great tips.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
8 minutes read.
Keith Rabois who helped building companies such as Paypal, LinkedIn and Square, has an interesting story on his career and lessons learned. If you're tight on time, read "How to Win Talent." It's packed with great tips.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Inspiring Tweets
@paulg: Don't let other people tell you the problems you're working on don't matter. People are frequently mistaken about this.
@dasjoshua: Working hard for something we don't care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.
- 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.