Software Lead Weekly
Issue #83, 27th June 2014
This Week's Favorite
How Fast-Growing Startups Can Fix Internal Communication Before It Breaks
14 minutes read.
I have to admit that I didn't read something of this quality for very long time, at least in terms of the maturity of the leadership in URX. My favorite part is "Document All The Things", especially if you ever want to enable your company for scale, without breaking your DNA. Writing your reasoning behind certain decisions - may it be your culture, product or technology - can align people around values and vibe, rather than the concrete implementation you decided to take. This is huge. Great read!
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
14 minutes read.
I have to admit that I didn't read something of this quality for very long time, at least in terms of the maturity of the leadership in URX. My favorite part is "Document All The Things", especially if you ever want to enable your company for scale, without breaking your DNA. Writing your reasoning behind certain decisions - may it be your culture, product or technology - can align people around values and vibe, rather than the concrete implementation you decided to take. This is huge. Great read!
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Culture
Cultivate Teams, Not Ideas
5 minutes read.
Old post by Jeff Atwood that I picked up again and had to share. Jeff's conclusion on cultivating teams versus ideas is something you usually could relate to only after a few iterations in your career. Different companies, different products, different people. Many companies break as they grow or fail to win the market because they put too much focus on the idea or the solution, rather than the team and the problem they're after. Are you doing enough to build a strong team today? What can you do to push it to the next level?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
Old post by Jeff Atwood that I picked up again and had to share. Jeff's conclusion on cultivating teams versus ideas is something you usually could relate to only after a few iterations in your career. Different companies, different products, different people. Many companies break as they grow or fail to win the market because they put too much focus on the idea or the solution, rather than the team and the problem they're after. Are you doing enough to build a strong team today? What can you do to push it to the next level?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
The Joys and Benefits of Working as a Distributed Team
5 minutes read.
If you have a distributed team, this post is a must read. But, here is an interesting point by Joel to consider even if you share an office - "We don’t have working hours and we don’t measure hours at all. We’re all excited about our vision and we focus on results, balance, and sustained productivity." - The fact that Buffer have a distributed team "forced" them to make sure the company is built around a strong vision and values that get people excited about. I've seen teams that work at the same place, having that peer-pressure to push their productivity, but without a strong excitement around the problem you're trying to solve, this tends to be a short-term effort.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
If you have a distributed team, this post is a must read. But, here is an interesting point by Joel to consider even if you share an office - "We don’t have working hours and we don’t measure hours at all. We’re all excited about our vision and we focus on results, balance, and sustained productivity." - The fact that Buffer have a distributed team "forced" them to make sure the company is built around a strong vision and values that get people excited about. I've seen teams that work at the same place, having that peer-pressure to push their productivity, but without a strong excitement around the problem you're trying to solve, this tends to be a short-term effort.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Proper Recognition
4 minutes read.
"If you really want to say thanks for working hard, work hard to say thanks" - wonderful words by Kevin Lamping. Investing time in saying thank you and come up with a truly personal gift (e.g. NOT "here is a $50 amazon gift card!") for special occasions will help you build a relationship based on friendship. You'll have to actually get to know that person, so you could surprise them and make them smile. Personally, I've always enjoyed a $10 gift that was bought by a teammate who invested time to get to know me, rather than a $150 gift card to some random shop. What can you do to show proper (and surprising) recognition to one of your teammates?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
"If you really want to say thanks for working hard, work hard to say thanks" - wonderful words by Kevin Lamping. Investing time in saying thank you and come up with a truly personal gift (e.g. NOT "here is a $50 amazon gift card!") for special occasions will help you build a relationship based on friendship. You'll have to actually get to know that person, so you could surprise them and make them smile. Personally, I've always enjoyed a $10 gift that was bought by a teammate who invested time to get to know me, rather than a $150 gift card to some random shop. What can you do to show proper (and surprising) recognition to one of your teammates?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Peopleware
How to Create Routines While Navigating the Maker/Manager Transition
5 minutes read.
Wade Foster (CEO of Zapier) shares his challenges building routines and making the transition from a maker to a manager as his startup grew. His thoughts on "Find a way to feel productive" is absolutely critical, if you want to avoid working for long hours ("done managing people for the day, now I need to write some code for a few hours"), just to allow yourself to rest. Loved the suggested routines Wade recommended, I'd try to use them and see what sticks and feels right.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
5 minutes read.
Wade Foster (CEO of Zapier) shares his challenges building routines and making the transition from a maker to a manager as his startup grew. His thoughts on "Find a way to feel productive" is absolutely critical, if you want to avoid working for long hours ("done managing people for the day, now I need to write some code for a few hours"), just to allow yourself to rest. Loved the suggested routines Wade recommended, I'd try to use them and see what sticks and feels right.
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Are Your Emails Too Long? (Hint: Probably)
4 minutes read.
Here is a post you should share around at the office with... you know who. We are all pretty bad at writing a concise email/task/bug-report etc. Who's doing a brilliant job at it in your company? Can you ask for some guidance to improve your own communication skills?
Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
Here is a post you should share around at the office with... you know who. We are all pretty bad at writing a concise email/task/bug-report etc. Who's doing a brilliant job at it in your company? Can you ask for some guidance to improve your own communication skills?
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.