Software Lead Weekly
Issue #399, 17th July 2020
This Week's Favorite
I Keep Seeing All Kinds of Crazy Reports About People's Experiences With GPT-3, So I Figured That I'd Collect a Thread of Them.
5 minutes read.
If you haven't heard about OpenAI's GPT-3, this is an excellent place to start as it will blow your mind. OpenAI began providing access to the API, and people used it for various use-cases. The results are amazing, and people are going crazy about the new possibilities. My favorites were: "GPT-3 tries to get a software job" and as a tweet generator for people like Naval Ravikant and Paul Graham.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
If you haven't heard about OpenAI's GPT-3, this is an excellent place to start as it will blow your mind. OpenAI began providing access to the API, and people used it for various use-cases. The results are amazing, and people are going crazy about the new possibilities. My favorites were: "GPT-3 tries to get a software job" and as a tweet generator for people like Naval Ravikant and Paul Graham.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Culture
A Startup Selling Their First Enterprise Contract
1 minutes read.
My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face, even in this difficult time.
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, even in this difficult time.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Starting Up Security
5 minutes read.
This website is a goldmine for leaders who want to have Security as a 1st class citizen in their organization. It covers practices to adopt, how and when to hire the right talent. It should be a must-read not only for your security team, but also for your product and engineering organization. Skim and pick a few blog posts you currently need to tackle and bookmark the rest.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
This website is a goldmine for leaders who want to have Security as a 1st class citizen in their organization. It covers practices to adopt, how and when to hire the right talent. It should be a must-read not only for your security team, but also for your product and engineering organization. Skim and pick a few blog posts you currently need to tackle and bookmark the rest.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Khan Academy Engineering Career Development
13 minutes read.
I like to take inspiration from other companies that try to set some guiding principles for individual contributors' growth. It can serve as a place to look at and take a few concepts (skills, behaviors, impact) to practice every 6-12 months to get out of our comfort zone.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
13 minutes read.
I like to take inspiration from other companies that try to set some guiding principles for individual contributors' growth. It can serve as a place to look at and take a few concepts (skills, behaviors, impact) to practice every 6-12 months to get out of our comfort zone.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Building Companies in Times of Change
8 minutes read.
Reid Hoffman - ex-CEO and co-founder of LinkedIn and now an investor at Greylock - shares his insights on how COVID-19 will impact our industry. I wonder how much of our behaviors will return to previous habits once the pandemic will over: How much will it affect the way we live and where we choose to work? How much will it affect employee retention (becoming less personal)? Which software (and hardware!) we'll need to invest in to get a x10 better experience (e.g. AR for Zoom)?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
8 minutes read.
Reid Hoffman - ex-CEO and co-founder of LinkedIn and now an investor at Greylock - shares his insights on how COVID-19 will impact our industry. I wonder how much of our behaviors will return to previous habits once the pandemic will over: How much will it affect the way we live and where we choose to work? How much will it affect employee retention (becoming less personal)? Which software (and hardware!) we'll need to invest in to get a x10 better experience (e.g. AR for Zoom)?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Peopleware
Post-Commit Reviews
8 minutes read.
Cindy Sridharan raises some good points that made me stop and think about our processes. Use it to explore more methods and challenge the status quo. Maybe you'll adopt a few ideas. Share it within your team and discuss if and how it's applicable to your organization.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
8 minutes read.
Cindy Sridharan raises some good points that made me stop and think about our processes. Use it to explore more methods and challenge the status quo. Maybe you'll adopt a few ideas. Share it within your team and discuss if and how it's applicable to your organization.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
The Best Three Pages on Leadership I’ve Ever Come Across
5 minutes read.
Zack Kanter shares 3 pages (with highlighted paragraphs or sentences) from the book One From Many by Dee Hock: "It is not making better people of others that management is about. It's about making a better person of self."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
Zack Kanter shares 3 pages (with highlighted paragraphs or sentences) from the book One From Many by Dee Hock: "It is not making better people of others that management is about. It's about making a better person of self."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
The Fundamentals of Roadmapping
7 minutes read.
Julia Austin shares a template I wish I saw a few years back: "Be mindful of how much time your team is spending on roadmapping and the measurement process" -- I'm constantly thinking about this notion in my head of "good enough planning." Being quick to build the wrong thing once you reach a certain scale is extremely costly. So velocity matters, but it has to be in the right direction. On the other hand, it feels that planning is a muscle worth using more often. Like CI/CD changed the way we test software and deploy it, I wonder how Continuous Planning looks like that is eventually cheaper(!) and more effective.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
7 minutes read.
Julia Austin shares a template I wish I saw a few years back: "Be mindful of how much time your team is spending on roadmapping and the measurement process" -- I'm constantly thinking about this notion in my head of "good enough planning." Being quick to build the wrong thing once you reach a certain scale is extremely costly. So velocity matters, but it has to be in the right direction. On the other hand, it feels that planning is a muscle worth using more often. Like CI/CD changed the way we test software and deploy it, I wonder how Continuous Planning looks like that is eventually cheaper(!) and more effective.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Inspiring Tweets
@zackkanter: Talked to a ~15 year engineer recently who said that they learned 90% of what they know in the past 4 years. If that's not how your work is trending, it's time to change companies.
@AndyGCook: The “secrets” to peak productivity are a healthy diet, regular exercise, cutting back on alcohol, and 7-8 hours of sleep every night. All the productivity hacks in the world will never make up for a lack of the fundamentals.
- 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.