Software Lead Weekly

The Senior Engineer’s Guide to Helping Others Make Decisions
5 minutes read.

Already sent it to my team, this is a great read if you want your senior engineers to level up others around them. Pay extra attention to the section about "The impact of language" -- so many people lose the ability to mentor others by using the wrong language, making the other person mentally blocked for learning opportunity.

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The "Acquired by Facebook" Animoji Is Way Too Realistic
1 minutes read.

My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face.

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These 13 Exercises Will Prepare You for Work's Toughest Situations
16 minutes read.

A must read by Maggie Leung, it's packed with so many gems it's truly hard for me to summarize it. Improve your skills with her tips if you want to help your teammates grow and have hard, meaningful discussions with them: "Don’t be deterred even if you encounter resistance. Keep working the questions and modeling the candor you want to see. If you keep putting yourself out there, you’ll get results."

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Company Culture Is Shaped at the Top, and Forms at the Bottom
2 minutes read.

People who want to lead need to remember that people look at them all the time: "... imagine that the CEO has a heated argument with the CTO. That kind of clash is most likely going create big waves; the effect is going to affect the overall morale of the company, and the results are felt in all departments"

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1/ the Main Reason Why Agile Methods Are Popular Is Because Managers Think It Means Doing Things Faster. (Thread)
5 minutes read.

Alan Cooper will get your brain spinning around the practices we use and the dangers in moving too fast into a wall. Well-defined goals and KPIs can reduce that tension, but never accept slowing down as an option. In my experience, 9 out of 10 times the problem is lack of trust. Slowing down doesn't build stronger trust between teams. Interesting thread with many people jumping in and sharing their thoughts on it.

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On Writing Tech Specs
11 minutes read.

Share this post by Chuck Groom with Senior Engineers and discuss the way individuals in the team lead a big project today. There is so much value in putting your thoughts in writing: It creates alignment and forces you to think about tradeoffs and how to succinctly capture the requirements and your opinion on them.

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The Product Manager’s Essential Reading List for 2018
4 minutes read.

For those of you who like to read books (yay!), Simon Cross's recommendations are so good that I just bought 4 out of the 13. Looking forward to read "Masters of Doom".

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How to Make Executive Hires at Your Startup
3 minutes read.

This framework by Steve Blank is super useful for any hire to your team. Trying to breakdown skills, providing ratio of importance and measuring candidates with it can create much desired alignment. I'd steal this one.

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@sanityinc: The secret of every amazingly productive individual or team is the endless pile of work they decide not to do.

@anjuan: I’m a “people first” engineering manager, and I’ve learned that people need time to get to know you before they let you get to know them.