Software Lead Weekly
Issue #154, 6th November 2015
This Week's Favorite
BLAME. LANGUAGE. SHARING.
5 minutes read.
This post by Lindsay Holmwood is a must read if you're trying to build a healthy organization, one that sets the focus on learning and improving instead of pointing fingers. This made me think of how the "5 whys" exercise might take away the context, and how framing the questions with "what" and "how" instead of "why" could actually bring you much closer to a solid learning experience that would help your team grow.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
This post by Lindsay Holmwood is a must read if you're trying to build a healthy organization, one that sets the focus on learning and improving instead of pointing fingers. This made me think of how the "5 whys" exercise might take away the context, and how framing the questions with "what" and "how" instead of "why" could actually bring you much closer to a solid learning experience that would help your team grow.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Culture
Most JS/Python/Ruby Apps...
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.
Creating the Dream Team: Transform Your Engineering Organization to Attract New Talent
4 minutes read.
Great observations and tips from the Carbon Five team. We did a lot of thinking internally at Forter (where I work), to understand how we could improve and expose our engineering brand to attract new talent. We used many of the ideas in the post, but also challenged the team to get out of the building and share their accomplishments. The more people you can motivate to go out and talk (may it be meetups, blog posts, Quora, StackOverflow etc.) about interesting parts of the system, the better you get at building a personal brand for them, and for the organization.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
Great observations and tips from the Carbon Five team. We did a lot of thinking internally at Forter (where I work), to understand how we could improve and expose our engineering brand to attract new talent. We used many of the ideas in the post, but also challenged the team to get out of the building and share their accomplishments. The more people you can motivate to go out and talk (may it be meetups, blog posts, Quora, StackOverflow etc.) about interesting parts of the system, the better you get at building a personal brand for them, and for the organization.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
10 Ways to Ruin Your Start-Up’s Culture, in Cartoons
3 minutes read.
Short and to the point, and also painfully true. Count how many of them you have in your company. Hopefully, the answer would be zero.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
3 minutes read.
Short and to the point, and also painfully true. Count how many of them you have in your company. Hopefully, the answer would be zero.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
The Future of Organization
7 minutes read.
Scaling an organization is one of the hardest challenges companies are facing, and still, most taking the standard structure they saw before, even if it goes against every core value. Done poorly, you'll get the "it used to be fun working here", so challenge yourself to at least learn about different ways to structure and scale your company. No doubt, the concepts of decentralized organizations can feel pretty radical (and one can doubt its efficiency as a mechanism,) but at least it provides more tools and alternatives you can explore. Don't assume anything. Experiment, and collect feedback as you go along and make the necessary adjustments.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
7 minutes read.
Scaling an organization is one of the hardest challenges companies are facing, and still, most taking the standard structure they saw before, even if it goes against every core value. Done poorly, you'll get the "it used to be fun working here", so challenge yourself to at least learn about different ways to structure and scale your company. No doubt, the concepts of decentralized organizations can feel pretty radical (and one can doubt its efficiency as a mechanism,) but at least it provides more tools and alternatives you can explore. Don't assume anything. Experiment, and collect feedback as you go along and make the necessary adjustments.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Peopleware
The Helping Mindset
2 minutes read.
If you're a technical lead, this post will help you figure out more ways you can help your teammates without utilizing your expertise as your only advantage. Share it with other Tech Lead in your organization.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
2 minutes read.
If you're a technical lead, this post will help you figure out more ways you can help your teammates without utilizing your expertise as your only advantage. Share it with other Tech Lead in your organization.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Medium's Engineering Values
2 minutes read.
Truly inspiring post on the engineering values at Medium, something I could emotionally feel connected with. What is your written engineering values? Did you share it with your teammates? If you have something you feel proud of, feel free to reach out to me and share.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
2 minutes read.
Truly inspiring post on the engineering values at Medium, something I could emotionally feel connected with. What is your written engineering values? Did you share it with your teammates? If you have something you feel proud of, feel free to reach out to me and share.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
On Technical Debt
6 minutes read.
Many times people I've worked with asked me about my perspective on Technical Debt, and how we should handle it. I always start with saying "Technical Debt" is 80% emotional (based on context, expectations and subjective experience) and only 20% technical. You have to acknowledge the fact that Technical Debt should be managed in a way that people feel the maintenance tax is under control. Dom Barker suggests a better definition for Technical Debt and how you can manage the context, emotions and technology as you your codebase grows.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
6 minutes read.
Many times people I've worked with asked me about my perspective on Technical Debt, and how we should handle it. I always start with saying "Technical Debt" is 80% emotional (based on context, expectations and subjective experience) and only 20% technical. You have to acknowledge the fact that Technical Debt should be managed in a way that people feel the maintenance tax is under control. Dom Barker suggests a better definition for Technical Debt and how you can manage the context, emotions and technology as you your codebase grows.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Inspiring Tweets
@mitchellharper: Optimize the early part of your career for learning, not salary. Find a great boss who will mentor you. You'll thank yourself in 10 years.
- 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.