Software Lead Weekly

The Five Types of Communication Problems That Destroy Company Morale
5 minutes read.

Cate Huston with a must-read post, covering the various patterns or signals that can help you spot communication problems in your team. This can be helpful to frame the situation and work towards the solution: "Strong relationships are built on open and honest two-way communication. Rid your communication of the common pitfalls, and you’ll be well on your way to developing the goodwill you need to manage people effectively."

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Falcon Heavy’s Side Boosters Land on Landing Zones 1 and 2
1 minutes read.

My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face. Not because it's funny, but rather because it's AMAZING to look at.

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Death by PowerPoint: The Slide That Killed Seven People
6 minutes read.

Share this post with managers and technical leaders in your organization, as it can serve you well as a reminder that you have to emphasize what's important.

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1/ We Pivoted a Few Yrs Ago. This Is the Story- Mostly My Feelings. It Has Never Been Told Publicly. This Will Be Rambly and Represents the Chaos in My Head at the Time. There Is [Hopefully] No Advice Here. I Don’t Know if We Did It Right. (Thread)
4 minutes read.

I really appreciate Ryan Caldbeck's ability to share how it feels while going through a business pivot in his company. The transparency and honesty, and above all - courage - is incredible: "It would be hard for me to convey the crushing fear I felt every day. At one board meeting I struggled to keep it together emotionally. The board could see me shaking- literally could see my hands trembling."

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Chaos Engineering Traps
14 minutes read.

I believe that some of you saw or experimented with Choas Engineering (or Resilience Engineering) practices, and for others, this might be a nice intro. Nora Jones shares the pitfalls you should watch out for, and how to deal with them correctly based on her vast experience. I've learned a lot from reading it, thinking of how we can introduce some of it in my organization.

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Why Software Projects Take Longer Than You Think – A Statistical Model
5 minutes read.

"Adding up estimates rarely work when you end up with more than a few tasks. Instead, figure out which tasks have the highest uncertainty – those tasks are basically going to dominate the mean time to completion." -- Erik Bernhardsson explains why you should worry about risks and tackle them first, as they can have a drastic impact on your time estimations. A good lesson to take from it: teach software engineers how to do proper risk management, delay work around areas of comfort, and create risk-based milestones with adjustments to the time estimations.

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How to Break the Vicious Cycle of Reactive Management
5 minutes read.

A lot of helpful tips you can try out to gain control over your time. This is such a short yet powerful idea: "Your time is valuable. Your calendar determines how you invest it." Also, create habits and systems you'll actually use, otherwise your brain won't really let go: "The more you trust your systems, the more they’ll work for you and you can jump into the right things only at the right time instead of having to react to forgotten items or deal with issues when you didn’t plan to."

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How to Achieve Your Most Ambitious Goals by Stephen Duneier (Video)
18 minutes read.

Stephen Duneier with an inspiring talk that is fun to watch and consider - which small and consistent practices you can do to learn new skills or languages? Most people don't try, saying there is not enough time or they're not talented enough. Ambitious people set small steps to improve every day or week, knowing that the compounded result will be there if they'll continue to be consistent.

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@pc4media: Two ways to build processes when you are a manager: 1. Do it yourself a few times and document your thinking/process. 2. Ask your team to document their process and then review it with them, asking a lot of questions.

@oliravi: A mentoring tip that's fresh on my mind today: As a mentor, your goal isn't to help your mentee become just like you, or to even follow your same career path. Instead, help them to become the best version of themselves and provide guidance to them along their journey.