Software Lead Weekly

Mental Model Examples: How to Actually Use Them
11 minutes read.

Julian Shapiro inspires me with his visuals (the design of his website is beautiful) and words. I like the notion of "Challenging our Defaults", and to counter that with learning about "Good Enough" as a mental model to avoid analysis-paralysis. I like this quote by Channing Allen that Julian added: "When you view the world as a series of outputs, you form opinions. But when you view the world as a series of systems, you form strategies." -- This can help you deal with complicated situations at work and in life. Look at the incentives the system created that led people acting in a certain way.

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This BBC Advertising for Dracula Is Genius. A Series of Bloody Stakes Protruding From a Billboard. Seemingly Random, Until Darkness Falls and They Begin to Cast a Shadow. Fabulous.
1 minutes read.

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

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Radical Candor: Software Edition
17 minutes read.

Rina Artstain with a post I recommend sharing with every senior individual contributor and manager in your company. They should get back to it and re-read it every few months, as changing our default behaviors is hard. This will increase the depth of conversations and (radically) impact the team's velocity over time.

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Incident Management: How to Hire People With a Knack for It
8 minutes read.

I have the pleasure of working with Anna Tsibulskaya, and she's an incredible engineer with a knack for production sustainability. Those who are good at incident management are perceived as “calm people” who are “good under fire.” I think, in reality, their biggest virtue is the ability to disconnect their brain from long term solutions and focus on here and now. They don’t judge the past (or blame others for it); they positively act in the present like a Combat medic. Fix the downtime now, figure out the factors behind it later.

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The Myth of Architect as Chess Master
4 minutes read.

"This is why I think it's important to think about software architecture as a process and not a destination.[...] the expectation for the architect should be to set up the framework or process by which good architectural moves are made" -- I like Ben Northrop's framing of the role of the architect (I do see it as a role many can and should play, and not as a title). It helps to decouple the desired direction vs. current progress. I think the ability to set a clear direction based on business needs, with a positive and welcoming attitude, is an invaluable skill to master.

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How to Be Successful at Your Career (Thread)
5 minutes read.

Sam Altman wrote an excellent thread that I've been trying to apply consciously in the past 10 years. I get a lot of joy thinking of tools, systems, and products in my work and on my side projects. It helps me think about the product, business, value proposition, organizational structure, and technological problems behind it. My favorites: "Spend a lot of time with the kind of people who are constantly producing new ideas", "It is very hard to do good work without being optimistic, exceptionally determined, and intellectually curious." and "Set and maintain high standards. If you have to be hard on people, do it with love and a genuine wish for them to improve. Praise people when they hit the standard."

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Be A Lover, Not A Fighter: How to Work With a Person You Don’t Like, Let Alone Hate
3 minutes read.

"You could always leave, but how many times will you leave a good paying job, an awesome team or a role that could jumpstart your career when things become uncomfortable with one person? (This isn’t to say that you should suffer toxic behavior at work, there’s no excuse for that.)" -- Karen Cohen with practices that can help you improve your relationships with your teammates. When I feel upset, one thing I've started to do is asking the other side "What am I missing here? Can you share your concerns with me? What would convince you we are the right track here regardless of how we approach it?"

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@ericstromberg: New York is the future. Silicon Valley is the future. Boston is the future. LA is the future. Remote is the future. Ignore all of this - it's mostly people validating their own choices and may not be relevant to your context. Build the company that you want to build.

@mijustin: Good businesses have margin. Profit margin, yes. But also margin for your time, your emotional and physical health, your relationships, your sanity, and your integrity. Low-margin work eventually leads to ruin. The margins rarely get better; the sunk costs get worse.