Software Lead Weekly
Issue #161, 25th December 2015
This Week's Favorite
10x Not 10% - Product Management by Orders of Magnitude
14 minutes read.
Critical read if you're trying to build a winning state of mind for your team and company. This trap is so easy to fall into, even more so for successful companies at scale: "Modern companies and management hierarchies are designed to avoid losses... This only increases as companies get larger. As the management hierarchy increases, tolerance for risk-taking and failure subsides. Consider the expressions we use: under-promise and over-deliver, slow and steady wins the race, a bird in the hand, nobody ever got fired for buying IBM. Most companies are more enthralled with growing by 10% than by 10x."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
14 minutes read.
Critical read if you're trying to build a winning state of mind for your team and company. This trap is so easy to fall into, even more so for successful companies at scale: "Modern companies and management hierarchies are designed to avoid losses... This only increases as companies get larger. As the management hierarchy increases, tolerance for risk-taking and failure subsides. Consider the expressions we use: under-promise and over-deliver, slow and steady wins the race, a bird in the hand, nobody ever got fired for buying IBM. Most companies are more enthralled with growing by 10% than by 10x."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Culture
Simplicity, Complexity and Personal Growth.
1 minutes read.
Not the usual haha post, but a quote that truly inspires me every day as I'm dealing with a complex problem. "Complexity sells better" is one of the hardest challenges to deal with when growing your team.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
1 minutes read.
Not the usual haha post, but a quote that truly inspires me every day as I'm dealing with a complex problem. "Complexity sells better" is one of the hardest challenges to deal with when growing your team.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Writing Clear Code, Not Clever Code
2 minutes read.
Mike Sherov shares a lesson that takes many years to understand - we write code for other humans to understand, not only for the computer to execute. That person might be even you, a few months or years from now. Keep it simple.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
2 minutes read.
Mike Sherov shares a lesson that takes many years to understand - we write code for other humans to understand, not only for the computer to execute. That person might be even you, a few months or years from now. Keep it simple.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Permission to Fail
6 minutes read.
Wow, it takes a lot of courage to write something like this post. Working in a startup for the 4th time, I know how hard and emotional it could get. Michelle Wetzler from Keen.io shows incredible leadership skills by being so open and sincere. I had a few moments of "does she really want to share this? Will it hurt, or even weaken the team?" before I thought again on the importance of treating our teammates like adults. Trust your teammates, be open about your fears and concerns, they will "surprise" you with the emotional support they will provide back.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
6 minutes read.
Wow, it takes a lot of courage to write something like this post. Working in a startup for the 4th time, I know how hard and emotional it could get. Michelle Wetzler from Keen.io shows incredible leadership skills by being so open and sincere. I had a few moments of "does she really want to share this? Will it hurt, or even weaken the team?" before I thought again on the importance of treating our teammates like adults. Trust your teammates, be open about your fears and concerns, they will "surprise" you with the emotional support they will provide back.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Ditching Scrum for Kanban — The Best Decision We’ve Made as a Team
5 minutes read.
Interesting read on the search for a process that will allow the team to work more effectively. I've been to practicing Scrum and Kanban myself, finding that a mix between them is often optimal. But it's always more interesting I believe to make sure you understand the current state of the company's lifecycle, and optimize accordingly (wrote a chapter about that in my book), as you often find yourself optimizing the process to achieve local maxima rather than optimizing for helping your company win.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
Interesting read on the search for a process that will allow the team to work more effectively. I've been to practicing Scrum and Kanban myself, finding that a mix between them is often optimal. But it's always more interesting I believe to make sure you understand the current state of the company's lifecycle, and optimize accordingly (wrote a chapter about that in my book), as you often find yourself optimizing the process to achieve local maxima rather than optimizing for helping your company win.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Peopleware
Finding Support as a New Senior (woman) Leader
5 minutes read.
Lara Hogan shares the pains of finding support from your peers. I feel this is one of the hardest challenges moving from an Individual Contributor as an engineer to a management position, where you lose that ability for quick feedback (code reviews, writing tests, deploying to production etc.) -- This is why it's imperative to build a circle of peers you can talk to about your challenges, may it be an internal circle in the company or an external circle that meets regularly. You don't have to go through all of the pains alone, and the sooner you'll build a feedback loop, the safer you'll feel to go out of your comfort zone as a leader.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
Lara Hogan shares the pains of finding support from your peers. I feel this is one of the hardest challenges moving from an Individual Contributor as an engineer to a management position, where you lose that ability for quick feedback (code reviews, writing tests, deploying to production etc.) -- This is why it's imperative to build a circle of peers you can talk to about your challenges, may it be an internal circle in the company or an external circle that meets regularly. You don't have to go through all of the pains alone, and the sooner you'll build a feedback loop, the safer you'll feel to go out of your comfort zone as a leader.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Stop Saying ’sorry’ if You Want to Say Thank You: A Seriously Insightful Cartoon
3 minutes read.
"We often apologize assuming that people will appreciate our politeness and good manners. But in most cases, the other party is much more pleased to hear words of gratitude from you rather than an apology." -- great post that will make you think of your own behaviors. Made me think about the way I act.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
3 minutes read.
"We often apologize assuming that people will appreciate our politeness and good manners. But in most cases, the other party is much more pleased to hear words of gratitude from you rather than an apology." -- great post that will make you think of your own behaviors. Made me think about the way I act.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Rule One of Management: First, Do No Harm
2 minutes read.
An amazing lesson by Chad Fowler for managers, reducing the risk of badly hurting people around us. Please read it, and share it with first-time managers. I wish someone would have sent it to me when I only started.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
2 minutes read.
An amazing lesson by Chad Fowler for managers, reducing the risk of badly hurting people around us. Please read it, and share it with first-time managers. I wish someone would have sent it to me when I only started.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Inspiring Tweets
@synhershko: Cooking is just like programming. You follow an algorithm, and once you try to make an optimisation you screw everything up.
- 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.