Software Lead Weekly
Issue #634, 17th January 2025
This Week's Favorite
Seek Goals That Will Change How You Live
5 minutes read.
"Define goals that will form habits rather than ones you’ll complete and forget about." -- I like the idea of thinking about goals from the lens of improving our identity and changing how we live.
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5 minutes read.
"Define goals that will form habits rather than ones you’ll complete and forget about." -- I like the idea of thinking about goals from the lens of improving our identity and changing how we live.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Culture
Product Reviews in Large Companies
1 minutes read.
My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face.
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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.
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Productivity From System Lens
4 minutes read.
This is an excellent overview by John Cutler on the complexity behind productivity and why it's essential to understand the entire system to optimize the outcomes.
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4 minutes read.
This is an excellent overview by John Cutler on the complexity behind productivity and why it's essential to understand the entire system to optimize the outcomes.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Do Hard Things
3 minutes read.
Nikunj Kothari puts it beautifully: "Getting good at these hard things doesn't make life easier—it makes you responsible for harder problems. But that's the point. Everyone faces difficult decisions. The difference is those who built this muscle early get to choose which hard problems they want to solve. Everyone else takes whatever hard problems life hands them."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
3 minutes read.
Nikunj Kothari puts it beautifully: "Getting good at these hard things doesn't make life easier—it makes you responsible for harder problems. But that's the point. Everyone faces difficult decisions. The difference is those who built this muscle early get to choose which hard problems they want to solve. Everyone else takes whatever hard problems life hands them."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Make Fewer Decisions?
4 minutes read.
If we want to make fewer decisions, the challenge is defining the goals, constraints, and levers worth considering when prioritizing and making context-based local decisions. Often, this can be set using "Good Strategy, Bad Stragey" format, but rarely, it captures everything.
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4 minutes read.
If we want to make fewer decisions, the challenge is defining the goals, constraints, and levers worth considering when prioritizing and making context-based local decisions. Often, this can be set using "Good Strategy, Bad Stragey" format, but rarely, it captures everything.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Peopleware
Mistakes You Apparently Just Have to Make Yourself
3 minutes read.
Which mistakes you believe are unavoidable in our profession as IC or managers? Dan McKinley shares a few of his - I love the good old "This code is too bad. We have to rewrite it from scratch." I can think of "Org structure will solve everything" and "Org structure solves nothing."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
3 minutes read.
Which mistakes you believe are unavoidable in our profession as IC or managers? Dan McKinley shares a few of his - I love the good old "This code is too bad. We have to rewrite it from scratch." I can think of "Org structure will solve everything" and "Org structure solves nothing."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Dear Software Engineer: It's Time to Reclaim Your Role
6 minutes read.
"So dear software engineer, please take heed. If you’re not a “product engineer” and have specialised in writing code, AI may indeed take your job. But this isn’t just a warning - it’s an opportunity. It’s time to reclaim your role and return to what software engineering was always meant to be: a craft that combines technical expertise with problem-solving, user empathy, and business acumen. The future belongs to those with curiosity who can see beyond the code." -- I cannot agree more with Annie Vella. The notions of CHOP and BATON mentioned in the post are interesting to remember and consider when adopting new tools. The jury is still out on where and how software development will land. This is exciting to be part of it, and explore the field.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
6 minutes read.
"So dear software engineer, please take heed. If you’re not a “product engineer” and have specialised in writing code, AI may indeed take your job. But this isn’t just a warning - it’s an opportunity. It’s time to reclaim your role and return to what software engineering was always meant to be: a craft that combines technical expertise with problem-solving, user empathy, and business acumen. The future belongs to those with curiosity who can see beyond the code." -- I cannot agree more with Annie Vella. The notions of CHOP and BATON mentioned in the post are interesting to remember and consider when adopting new tools. The jury is still out on where and how software development will land. This is exciting to be part of it, and explore the field.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Think Slow
7 minutes read.
Thinking slow can help in any business where decisions are costly and can cost you money or time to market. Scott Galloway captures it well: "Our efficiency comes at the cost of accuracy: Many instinctual decisions will be poorly calibrated (i.e., wrong). To facilitate the requisite speed, our brain buttresses our decisions with artificial confidence. Kahneman’s body of work demonstrates that we are often wrong but frequently confident. These shortcuts and mistakes are present in the structure of our brains, and impossible to avoid, but recognizing them helps us discern between trivial and important decisions and invest the appropriate intellectual capital. Put another way, take a beat and you increase the likelihood of making a better decision."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
7 minutes read.
Thinking slow can help in any business where decisions are costly and can cost you money or time to market. Scott Galloway captures it well: "Our efficiency comes at the cost of accuracy: Many instinctual decisions will be poorly calibrated (i.e., wrong). To facilitate the requisite speed, our brain buttresses our decisions with artificial confidence. Kahneman’s body of work demonstrates that we are often wrong but frequently confident. These shortcuts and mistakes are present in the structure of our brains, and impossible to avoid, but recognizing them helps us discern between trivial and important decisions and invest the appropriate intellectual capital. Put another way, take a beat and you increase the likelihood of making a better decision."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Inspiring Tweets
@hnshah: Founders worry about technical debt. But clarity debt is more dangerous. Unclear decisions compound faster than unclear code.
- 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.