Software Lead Weekly
Issue #226, 24th March 2017
This Week's Favorite
How to Cultivate a Creative Culture (Video)
8 minutes read.
I cannot recommend this video of Ben Chestnut (Mailchimp's CEO) enough. If you want to hear about how you can create a company where playfulness and creativity exist because the leadership sets the right environment, there is no better example than Mailchimp. Who says you cannot do side-projects for purre passion internally? Inspiring, funny and thought-provocative talk by Ben on his journey, loving every moment of it since day 1.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
8 minutes read.
I cannot recommend this video of Ben Chestnut (Mailchimp's CEO) enough. If you want to hear about how you can create a company where playfulness and creativity exist because the leadership sets the right environment, there is no better example than Mailchimp. Who says you cannot do side-projects for purre passion internally? Inspiring, funny and thought-provocative talk by Ben on his journey, loving every moment of it since day 1.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Culture
Now Required in All Open Plan Offices
1 minutes read.
My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face. This is a scary idea.
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. This is a scary idea.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
De-Location Package: Keep Your Career and Live Beyond the Bay Area
2 minutes read.
Culture is also how are you being creative and smart about attracting the right talent to help you scale the company. An amazing idea by the team at Zapier, really well done!
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
2 minutes read.
Culture is also how are you being creative and smart about attracting the right talent to help you scale the company. An amazing idea by the team at Zapier, really well done!
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Lessons From 7 Highly Successful Software Engineering Cultures
8 minutes read.
While the title feels a bit "clickbait", there are a lot of great tips inside. I loved these ones: "[at Netflix] All managers are encouraged to ask themselves, “If this person said they were leaving for a peer company, would I fight to keep them?”" and GitLab's "“To maintain our rapid cadence of shipping a new release every month, we must keep the barrier low to getting things done.”". Worth reading, feeling the vibe that each company have and the links to external resources can easily let your mind drift. What would you take or want to see in your company?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
8 minutes read.
While the title feels a bit "clickbait", there are a lot of great tips inside. I loved these ones: "[at Netflix] All managers are encouraged to ask themselves, “If this person said they were leaving for a peer company, would I fight to keep them?”" and GitLab's "“To maintain our rapid cadence of shipping a new release every month, we must keep the barrier low to getting things done.”". Worth reading, feeling the vibe that each company have and the links to external resources can easily let your mind drift. What would you take or want to see in your company?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
There’s No ‘Silver Bullet’ to Increasing Diversity, but Here’s How We’re Making Progress.
7 minutes read.
"His anecdote hit hard. Sitting there listening quietly, I was overcome with a sinking feeling. I realized bias—my bias— was likely creeping into our [hiring] process." -- Bhavin from Magoosh shares all the tactics they used to change their hiring process. I'd take a lot of the suggestions on "Creating inclusive job descriptions" as I feel we all fall into this trap, and by doing so limit our pipeline.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
7 minutes read.
"His anecdote hit hard. Sitting there listening quietly, I was overcome with a sinking feeling. I realized bias—my bias— was likely creeping into our [hiring] process." -- Bhavin from Magoosh shares all the tactics they used to change their hiring process. I'd take a lot of the suggestions on "Creating inclusive job descriptions" as I feel we all fall into this trap, and by doing so limit our pipeline.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Peopleware
Power Up Your Team With Nonviolent Communication Principles
12 minutes read.
"Most entrepreneurs are chronically afraid of disappointing people — of running out of money, making the wrong decision or making a bad hire. Over time, this anxiety changes the way they speak to people. They become terse, demanding, direct to a fault. And in the end, this is what dismantles their plans. When someone leads from a place of fear, they will ask closed questions and get closed answers." -- This is true for most managers as well, and the loudest symptom I've seen is an increasing number of passive-aggressive conversations.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
12 minutes read.
"Most entrepreneurs are chronically afraid of disappointing people — of running out of money, making the wrong decision or making a bad hire. Over time, this anxiety changes the way they speak to people. They become terse, demanding, direct to a fault. And in the end, this is what dismantles their plans. When someone leads from a place of fear, they will ask closed questions and get closed answers." -- This is true for most managers as well, and the loudest symptom I've seen is an increasing number of passive-aggressive conversations.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
StackOverflow's Developer Survey Results 2017
15 minutes read.
Really interesting results based on answers from more than 64K developers. Was interesting to look at "How Do Developers Assess Potential Jobs?" and ask myself if we're doing enough there, both for individual contributors but also for managers.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
15 minutes read.
Really interesting results based on answers from more than 64K developers. Was interesting to look at "How Do Developers Assess Potential Jobs?" and ask myself if we're doing enough there, both for individual contributors but also for managers.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Great Teams Are About Personalities, Not Just Skills
5 minutes read.
Trying to map the people’s personalities and figuring out the right balance in your team can really make the difference. For new managers, this framework can really simplify the way you look at building a cohesive team and what you should look for when hiring new candidates to glue the team together.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
Trying to map the people’s personalities and figuring out the right balance in your team can really make the difference. For new managers, this framework can really simplify the way you look at building a cohesive team and what you should look for when hiring new candidates to glue the team together.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Inspiring Tweets
@focusaurus: $5 a month? That's crazy. I could build something like 1/32nd as good in just like 2 or 3 hundred hours.
- 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.