7 Phrases I Use To Make Giving Feedback Easier For Myself
- Wes Kao tl;dr: “Having the right words can be the difference between doubting whether to speak up at all, or voicing your point of view confidently. With that, here are 7 phrases I often use when sharing feedback that makes it easier for me to speak openly and quickly, and encourages my recipient to take action.“featured in #608
Twenty Tiny Leadership Lessons
- Subbu Allamaraju tl;dr: “Most leadership learning is experiential. We observe, learn, and emulate from others, often subconsciously. Yet, the core of such learning starts shallow, leading to behavioral and decision-making mistakes, learned and uncorrected bad behaviors, and dysfunction. Some get better with experience and scope, but more often than not, we wing it, frequently repeating the same behaviors and mistakes for years.” Recognizing this, Subbu enrolled in the Psychology of Leadership at Penn State University. He shares the top twenty from those studies.featured in #608
How To Get Better At Strategy?
- Will Larson tl;dr: Will covers: (1) Exploring strategy creation to find strategies you can learn from via public and private resources, and through creating learning communities. (2) How to diagnose the strategies you’ve found, to ensure you learn the right lessons from each one. (3) Policies that will help you find ways to perform and practice strategy within your organization, whether or not you have organizational authority. (4) Operational mechanisms to hold yourself accountable to developing a strategy practice. (5) My final benediction to you as a strategy practitioner who has finished reading this book.featured in #607
Mistakes You Shouldn’t Let Your Reports Make
- Bjorn Roche tl;dr: There are times when leader must head-off mistakes. Here are a few examples: (1) Starting a project that likely won’t ship, or won’t benefit the company. (2) Believing a pet project will get them outsized recognition. (3) Making a decision that will commit the company to something that isn’t a good long-term fit. (4) Over-emphasizing long-term or abstract benefits to the detriment of shipping. (5) Diving in too quickly to make changes to a system, resulting in unforeseen or unpleasant consequences for other teams.featured in #607
The Precise Language Of Good Management
tl;dr: “In the squishy realm of managing humans, the specific things you say have specific outcomes. Unfortunately, most managers are very bad at speaking precisely. Speaking precisely, especially about long-term, uncertain things, is not something many people do by nature. Let’s explore some common examples of imprecise language and how to fix them.”featured in #606
featured in #606
How Do AI Coding Tools Actually Change Developer Work?
- Lizzie Matusov tl;dr: “Researchers from Microsoft and the Institute for Work Life ran a three-week randomized controlled trial of GitHub Copilot with 228 engineers at a large global software company. Engineers were randomly assigned to one of three groups: those newly given access to GitHub Copilot and instructed to use it (treatment), those asked not to use any AI tools (control), and those who were already using Copilot (continuing). Over three weeks, participants in all groups completed daily diary entries. Researchers also collected telemetry data to observe behavioral patterns alongside shifts in beliefs and attitudes.”featured in #606
featured in #605
Crafting a Standout Leadership CV: A Comprehensive Guide
- Lena Reinhard tl;dr: “Your CV should tell a compelling story about your leadership journey, highlighting your ownership mindset, adaptability, and impact. Focus on quantifiable achievements rather than vague responsibilities. Include often-overlooked elements like detailed context about companies, team structure, cross-functional initiatives, and technical expertise. Avoid passive language that diminishes your sense of ownership. Structure matters: use clear formatting, include contact information on every page, and ensure your CV is ATS-friendly.”featured in #605
Senior Developer Skills In The AI Age: Leveraging Experience For Better Results
- Manuel Kießling tl;dr: “I’m now convinced that AI-assisted software development has the potential to elevate our craft to the next level in terms of productivity. This is why I believe our community should embrace it sooner rather than later — but like all tools and practices, with the right perspective and a measured approach. My motivation for sharing these experiences and the best practices I’ve identified is to help move the needle forward in terms of AI adoption within the broader software development community — even if realistically, it’s only by some micrometers.”featured in #605