Software Lead Weekly
Issue #682, 19th December 2025
This Week's Favorite
How to Not Be Replaced by AI
6 minutes read.
It's hard to tell where the industry (or industries) is heading and which positions will be replaced. What's clear is that talent who will provide more versatile value will find more opportunities and advance their careers. In some sense, that was always the case, but now the pace is different. How much time do you invest in coming up with strong answers and evidence to show leverage for your value?
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
6 minutes read.
It's hard to tell where the industry (or industries) is heading and which positions will be replaced. What's clear is that talent who will provide more versatile value will find more opportunities and advance their careers. In some sense, that was always the case, but now the pace is different. How much time do you invest in coming up with strong answers and evidence to show leverage for your value?
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Culture
A Mom Uses AI to Make Her Children's Messes Look Like They're on the News.
1 minutes read.
My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
1 minutes read.
My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Designing Team Traditions That Actually Fit Your Team
4 minutes read.
As you consider your habits and rituals for next year, this post is both inspiring and pragmatic. It's less about the ideas themselves but about matching them with the style and attitude of your teammates. I love this tip: "Design for inclusivity, not popularity. If your team is likely only to participate when the celebrant is popular on the team, then pick a tradition that will result in more equal results, or make sure the results are only fully visible to the celebrant."
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
As you consider your habits and rituals for next year, this post is both inspiring and pragmatic. It's less about the ideas themselves but about matching them with the style and attitude of your teammates. I love this tip: "Design for inclusivity, not popularity. If your team is likely only to participate when the celebrant is popular on the team, then pick a tradition that will result in more equal results, or make sure the results are only fully visible to the celebrant."
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Startup Engineering Team Organisation
7 minutes read.
Organizational structures are always intriguing, like software architecture, there are so many ways to completely break the system or make it work like a good machine. Try a few of them over the years to see what works for different scenarios. Never fall into the trap of believing any of them are worthy to convert others to think what is right for them. Tradeoffs. That's all.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
7 minutes read.
Organizational structures are always intriguing, like software architecture, there are so many ways to completely break the system or make it work like a good machine. Try a few of them over the years to see what works for different scenarios. Never fall into the trap of believing any of them are worthy to convert others to think what is right for them. Tradeoffs. That's all.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
We Fired Jira and Slack. 2/3 of Engineers Said It Changed Our Culture More Than Any Leadership Initiative
5 minutes read.
It's funny how much I agree with this post and how much I believe it contradicts its essence. Tools will help formalize the habits you want to nurture and those you want to avoid. Often, at the same time. Changing tools will give you a fresh honeymoon period and a clean slate. So you think you've changed something more profound, yet you bring the bad habits back. Iterations and open discussions are how you get better. Shy away from surveys or experiments to drive your point, unless you know for a fact you can reproduce the results in your organization. Which habits you want to take forward for next year?
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
It's funny how much I agree with this post and how much I believe it contradicts its essence. Tools will help formalize the habits you want to nurture and those you want to avoid. Often, at the same time. Changing tools will give you a fresh honeymoon period and a clean slate. So you think you've changed something more profound, yet you bring the bad habits back. Iterations and open discussions are how you get better. Shy away from surveys or experiments to drive your point, unless you know for a fact you can reproduce the results in your organization. Which habits you want to take forward for next year?
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Peopleware
Economics of Orbital vs Terrestrial Data Centers
8 minutes read.
This analysis by Andrew McCalip, and the ability to play with the numbers to see the impact, made me smile for hours. I've shown it to a few friends and teammates, and it made me think about which complex areas in our business we can explain through the gamification of variables and formulas. Data centers in space. I love humans.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
8 minutes read.
This analysis by Andrew McCalip, and the ability to play with the numbers to see the impact, made me smile for hours. I've shown it to a few friends and teammates, and it made me think about which complex areas in our business we can explain through the gamification of variables and formulas. Data centers in space. I love humans.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
A Staff Engineer Isn’t an “Extra Strong Senior.” It’s a Fundamentally Different Job. (Thread)
4 minutes read.
Excellent take on the different career path of the Staff+ Engineer. Many engineers want to become Staff+ engineers after a few years. The struggle is how to provide enough value that your peers appreciate and adopt, and to practice it across different tiers of complexity and cost (of making a bad decision). Great discussion to read and holding one in your team.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
Excellent take on the different career path of the Staff+ Engineer. Many engineers want to become Staff+ engineers after a few years. The struggle is how to provide enough value that your peers appreciate and adopt, and to practice it across different tiers of complexity and cost (of making a bad decision). Great discussion to read and holding one in your team.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Inspiring Tweets
@bscholl: I started Boom knowing literally zero people in aerospace. Networks are built naturally when doing something interesting—they are not a precondition.
@fahdananta: The real reason Bryan is trying to live forever is because he was an early investor in Databricks and is waiting for the liquidity event
- 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.