Tuesday 11th February’s issue is presented by Nango |
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A developer-first platform for building native product integrations with 300+ APIs. |
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— Wes Kao |
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tl;dr: “Giving the right amount of context helps teams move faster. Too much context? Your manager can’t tell what’s important. They’ll need to wade through details, trying to sort information into a pile of what’s important vs what to ignore. Too little context? Your manager has to follow up and pull information out of you that you should have mentioned proactively. There is such a thing as being too concise.” |
Leadership Management |
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— Marc Brooker |
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tl;dr: “You thought you were productive, and getting a lot done, but they weren’t the things you, or your manager, thought were most valuable for your project and team. You’re busy, you’re productive, but it doesn’t feel right. It’s a problem I’ve faced before, which I think I’ve mostly solved for myself. Here’s some thoughts on what worked for me.” |
CareerAdvice |
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— Robin Guldener |
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tl;dr: After implementing OAuth for 50+ popular APIs like Gmail, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Slack, we concluded that OAuth in 2025 is comparable to JavaScript browser APIs in 2008. Why is OAuth still a pain in the butt in 2025? We break it down in this article. |
Promoted by Nango |
Management Guide |
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— Salvatore Sanfilippo |
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tl;dr: (1) We are destroying software by no longer taking complexity into account when adding features or optimizing some dimension. (2) We are destroying software with complex build systems. (3) We are destroying software with an absurd chain of dependencies, making everything bloated and fragile. And more. |
Trends |
“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” | | | | — Eleanor Roosevelt |
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— Nicole Tietz-Sokolskaya |
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tl;dr: A software engineer and anthropologist conducted a case study on engineering documentation practices. Their key recommendations include starting with high-level docs, implementing design reviews, considering audience needs, maintaining docs as part of workflow, and documenting test plans. The study involved literature review and engineer interviews, revealing how documentation practices reflect and reinforce company values. |
Documentation BestPractices |
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— Ian Vanagas |
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tl;dr: “Improving activation is one of the most impactful things a product engineer can do, but it’s also weirdly hard to define. People often call it your product’s "aha" moment – i.e. when a user experiences your product's value for the first time – but this is vague and subjective.” Ian explains what it is and how to nail it. |
Promoted by PostHog |
Product |
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— Zach Holman |
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tl;dr: “Most developers know about red teams: a specific group of people chosen to be the antagonist to your system, trying to sniff out vulnerabilities in your code or organization. Basically, like Sneakers, or the annoying plotline in The Newsroom season two. There’s a few other concepts of a red team I think that every development team should have some exposure to outside of the traditional cybersecurity angle.” |
Security |
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— Werner Vogels |
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tl;dr: The CTO at Amazon provides us with reading list to help envision what the future might hold. The ancient Greek poet Archilochus wrote, “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” Because the fox roams widely, it accumulates insights and adapts quickly to changing circumstances. While there are moments that call for unwavering focus, the challenges that lie ahead demand the fox’s curiosity, flexibility, and openness to possibility. |
Books |
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— Salma Alam-Naylor |
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tl;dr: “But, I did what every good software engineer does when dealing with a difficult bug: I stripped everything down and pieced the tools and functionality back together, one by one. Next, I’ll detail the tools that worked for me, and I’ll follow with some important advice that I wish I’d found or that someone had given me when I was at the start of my journey.” |
UsefulTools |
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Most Popular From Last Issue |
How I Use LLMs As A Staff Engineer — Sean Goedecke |
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Notable Links |
Dify: OS LLM app development platform. |
Monolith: Lightweight recommendation system. |
Payload: Build a modern backend + admin UI. |
Studio: Lightweight Database GUI in your browser. |
Tech Interview Handbook: Curated interview preparation materials. |
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How did you like this issue of Pointer? 1 = Didn't enjoy it all // 5 = Really enjoyed it | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
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