Software Lead Weekly
Issue #647, 18th April 2025
This Week's Favorite
How to Navigate Your Career (Video)
48 minutes read.
Elad Gil thinks and operates differently than others, not following the immediate hype. I'm saying it in the best way possible. It's worth listening to this interview on your next commute as Jack Altman asks terrific and deep questions, and Elad never disappoints.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
48 minutes read.
Elad Gil thinks and operates differently than others, not following the immediate hype. I'm saying it in the best way possible. It's worth listening to this interview on your next commute as Jack Altman asks terrific and deep questions, and Elad never disappoints.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Culture
People Are Using ChatGPT to Turn Their Pets Into Humans - And the Results Are Very Entertaining
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.
Your CEO Just Said ‘Use AI or Else.’ Here’s What to Do Next.
6 minutes read.
Reading this post after reading Hiten's "You introduced a new AI tool to your team. And then... nothing." post will provide you with a good framework to make sure everyone at your company is experimenting with the latest tools: "You don’t need to build an agent or master prompt engineering. You just need to start the loop: Try, reflect, document, share, repeat."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
6 minutes read.
Reading this post after reading Hiten's "You introduced a new AI tool to your team. And then... nothing." post will provide you with a good framework to make sure everyone at your company is experimenting with the latest tools: "You don’t need to build an agent or master prompt engineering. You just need to start the loop: Try, reflect, document, share, repeat."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
You Introduced a New AI Tool to Your Team. And Then... Nothing.
3 minutes read.
A masterpiece in product thinking: "It’s not the tool. It’s the unchanged relationship to the work. This is the part most people miss. They think adoption is about access. But people don’t change habits because a tool is available. They change habits when expectations change. [...] Cancel the meeting the AI replaces. Stop writing the doc it’s meant to generate. Set the rule: if the agent can respond, don’t tag a person. That’s when AI starts to matter. Teams don’t need more tools. They need fewer steps. [...] That’s when real productivity starts. Not when the tool works, but when the team stops clinging to the way things were. [...] Adding AI without subtracting anything guarantees it won’t stick. If you want it to matter, assign it a job."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
3 minutes read.
A masterpiece in product thinking: "It’s not the tool. It’s the unchanged relationship to the work. This is the part most people miss. They think adoption is about access. But people don’t change habits because a tool is available. They change habits when expectations change. [...] Cancel the meeting the AI replaces. Stop writing the doc it’s meant to generate. Set the rule: if the agent can respond, don’t tag a person. That’s when AI starts to matter. Teams don’t need more tools. They need fewer steps. [...] That’s when real productivity starts. Not when the tool works, but when the team stops clinging to the way things were. [...] Adding AI without subtracting anything guarantees it won’t stick. If you want it to matter, assign it a job."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Three Core Values to Set Up an Organization for Success
5 minutes read.
The beauty of having values you can document and reason about is that it scales well. It helps you attract a specific type of talent you want to retain. That talent will thrive as the environment fits their style. What would be the core three values you'd set as critical for your company?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
The beauty of having values you can document and reason about is that it scales well. It helps you attract a specific type of talent you want to retain. That talent will thrive as the environment fits their style. What would be the core three values you'd set as critical for your company?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Peopleware
Vendor Management Is the MOST Important Skill (Of the AI World)
4 minutes read.
"The revenue per employee will go up 3-10 times in the next decade." -- An interesting take (as always) by Auren Hoffman on why putting together the right setup might make you invaluable to software organizations.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
"The revenue per employee will go up 3-10 times in the next decade." -- An interesting take (as always) by Auren Hoffman on why putting together the right setup might make you invaluable to software organizations.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Engineers-Turned-PMs Keep Making the Same Fatal Mistake in Stakeholder Meetings: They Think Logic Will Save Them. After Mentoring a Few Folks, I've Noticed a Pattern No One Talks About (Thread)
4 minutes read.
This is a brilliant take on navigating and finding ways to promote strategic areas while aligning with your stakeholders and management: "You don't prepare a defense of your roadmap. Instead, analyze similar requests from other top accounts. Look for the underlying pattern that everyone else is missing."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
This is a brilliant take on navigating and finding ways to promote strategic areas while aligning with your stakeholders and management: "You don't prepare a defense of your roadmap. Instead, analyze similar requests from other top accounts. Look for the underlying pattern that everyone else is missing."
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Advice for Time Management as a Manager
5 minutes read.
Ben Kuhn shares great tips to help engineering managers. The "Unemploy your future self" section is packed with gems worth following by first-time managers looking for ways to find higher leverage to push their team forward.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
Ben Kuhn shares great tips to help engineering managers. The "Unemploy your future self" section is packed with gems worth following by first-time managers looking for ways to find higher leverage to push their team forward.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Inspiring Tweets
@SahilBloom: I often wonder how many extraordinary people waste their entire lives simply because they're afraid to ask for the thing they want. Stop waiting for good things to happen. If you want something, and you've done the work to deserve it, go ask for it. Closed mouths don’t get fed.
- 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.