Software Lead Weekly
Issue #517, 21st October 2022
This Week's Favorite
Guiding Principle: Cross-Pollination Over Imposed Standards
4 minutes read.
"Cross-pollination encourages de facto standardisation while allowing for flexibility. Ensure everyone is aware of defaults but also has the autonomy to choose an alternate approach as appropriate." -- The challenge is not only to share the defaults, but also the critical requirements they solve for. You want to enable a better approach, which should be comparable to the default. It's up to us to "promote" (or sell) the default properly regarding what it solves and how to leverage it effectively. Don't assume people will understand or appreciate it without that marketing effort (documentation, how-to, demos, example code, etc.), even if it's an internal tool.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
"Cross-pollination encourages de facto standardisation while allowing for flexibility. Ensure everyone is aware of defaults but also has the autonomy to choose an alternate approach as appropriate." -- The challenge is not only to share the defaults, but also the critical requirements they solve for. You want to enable a better approach, which should be comparable to the default. It's up to us to "promote" (or sell) the default properly regarding what it solves and how to leverage it effectively. Don't assume people will understand or appreciate it without that marketing effort (documentation, how-to, demos, example code, etc.), even if it's an internal tool.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Culture
People Explaining Their Tech Stack in 2022
1 minutes read.
My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face.
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.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Make Meetings Work
4 minutes read.
Meetings are extremely expensive. Following the "Begin with the end in mind" and "Contributors not attendees" principles here can cut that investment and make sure you make them more effective. Don't just read the post, try to change your next meeting to work for you. You can even try to do some "Better Next" (retrospective) and send your thoughts as the meeting organizer or as an attendee. Your teammates will appreciate it.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
Meetings are extremely expensive. Following the "Begin with the end in mind" and "Contributors not attendees" principles here can cut that investment and make sure you make them more effective. Don't just read the post, try to change your next meeting to work for you. You can even try to do some "Better Next" (retrospective) and send your thoughts as the meeting organizer or as an attendee. Your teammates will appreciate it.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Barrels and Ammunition - Keith Rabois
2 minutes read.
A short and important reminder by Keith Rabois to get you to think about how you build a team. Do you have enough "barrels" to create a vision and align people around it? Do you have enough "ammunition" to execute the vision effectively? Are they happy in their position? Can you help people find a fitting role they'll enjoy and increase their impact?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
2 minutes read.
A short and important reminder by Keith Rabois to get you to think about how you build a team. Do you have enough "barrels" to create a vision and align people around it? Do you have enough "ammunition" to execute the vision effectively? Are they happy in their position? Can you help people find a fitting role they'll enjoy and increase their impact?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Symptoms of a Broken Product Culture — Part 1
9 minutes read.
Miguel Carruego shares the pitfalls to be aware of when building a product-led organization. The pitfalls of "IT mindset" and "Slow outcome velocity" are helpful as a sanity check for how we work today.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
9 minutes read.
Miguel Carruego shares the pitfalls to be aware of when building a product-led organization. The pitfalls of "IT mindset" and "Slow outcome velocity" are helpful as a sanity check for how we work today.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Peopleware
The Iterative-Hypothesis Customer Development Method
15 minutes read.
Most of the format (and great discovery questions) Jason Cohen shares can also be helpful when working on internal products: "If you don’t come away knowing something new and actionable at the end of the interview, you’ve wasted your time and theirs."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
15 minutes read.
Most of the format (and great discovery questions) Jason Cohen shares can also be helpful when working on internal products: "If you don’t come away knowing something new and actionable at the end of the interview, you’ve wasted your time and theirs."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Skyrocket Your Productivity With the ‘Touch It Once’ Rule
4 minutes read.
Reducing the cognitive load as a leader is one of the most significant leverages to seek. We need to aim to make fewer decisions with higher quality every day. Nicole Bandes shares helpful tips to drive that mindset.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
Reducing the cognitive load as a leader is one of the most significant leverages to seek. We need to aim to make fewer decisions with higher quality every day. Nicole Bandes shares helpful tips to drive that mindset.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Why You Feel Uncertain About Everything You Make
2 minutes read.
"Ask enough people for their opinion and you’ll receive whatever answer you’re looking for – plus plenty more you didn’t want to hear. The feedback cancels itself out. [...] Getting others’ opinion can be valuable, until it’s not. So we must choose carefully when and how we get it. And realize that ultimately, our own opinion is what makes our work original." -- Tobias van Schneider reminds me of Naval's "If you survey enough people, all of the advice will cancel to zero."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
2 minutes read.
"Ask enough people for their opinion and you’ll receive whatever answer you’re looking for – plus plenty more you didn’t want to hear. The feedback cancels itself out. [...] Getting others’ opinion can be valuable, until it’s not. So we must choose carefully when and how we get it. And realize that ultimately, our own opinion is what makes our work original." -- Tobias van Schneider reminds me of Naval's "If you survey enough people, all of the advice will cancel to zero."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Inspiring Tweets
- 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.