/Leadership

Communication Structures

- Kevin Yien tl;dr: “Every company has, or develops, a hierarchical reporting structure over time. It's normal. A common mistake I see is allowing the communication structure to mirror the reporting structure.” Kevin explains why. 

featured in #520

Unexpected Anti-Patterns For Engineering Leaders — Lessons From Stripe, Uber & Carta

- Will Larson tl;dr: “Anytime you apply a rule too universally, it turns into an anti-pattern.” The key to effective engineering leadership, Larson argues, lies in figuring out which scenarios are worth deliberately defying conventional logic, and when to simply follow the rules. “ Will discusses his tonics for the following anti-patterns: (1) Shying away from micromanagement. (2) Pushing back on flawed metrics. (3) Serving as the umbrella for your team.

featured in #519

Signposting: How To Reduce Cognitive Load For Your Reader

- Wes Kao tl;dr: “Signposting is using key words, phrases, or an overall structure in your writing to signal what the rest of your post is about. This helps your reader quickly get grounded, so their brain doesn’t waste cycles wondering where you’re taking them.” Wes shares how to implement this when writing about complex ideas. 

featured in #518

The Disappointment Frontier

- James Stanier tl;dr: The disappointment frontier is the void formed from the mismatch between your team and reality. “Overcommunication, transparency, and a clear delineation between what you can and can't control will help you navigate the disappointment frontier bridging your team's world and the external reality. It's not your job to create a perfect utopia for your team. Instead, it's your job to help them successfully navigate reality with you as their guide.”

featured in #518

Emotional Signposting: Why You Should Tell People How To Feel

- Wes Kao tl;dr: “If you share information that’s not obviously positive or negative, you must proactively tell people how they should feel. Give context to the information, data, or fact. If there’s even a slight chance your audience might benefit from the extra clues, I would consider using signposting. It’s super fast for you, and super helpful for them.” Wes shares examples.

featured in #517

No Wrong Doors

- Will Larson tl;dr: “Some governmental agencies have started to adopt No Wrong Door policies, which aim to provide help – often health or mental health services – to individuals even if they show up to the wrong agency to request help. The core insight is that the employees at those agencies are far better equipped to navigate their own bureaucracies than an individual who knows nothing about the bureaucracy’s internal function.” Will discusses how engineering orgs can implement similar policies.

featured in #517

Getting Buy-In To Get Things Done

- Nicole Tietz-Sokolskaya tl;dr: “One way to get people to go from agreeing it should happen to actually doing the work is to get buy-in. When you have buy-in, people will actively work toward the goal instead of just agreeing to it. Getting buy-in is hard. It's also extremely rewarding, and it's how you get real work done as a leader. Without it, the work falls away when you're not around. With it, everyone will push forward together.”

featured in #517

Making Engineering Strategies More Readable

- Will Larson tl;dr: “A complete engineering strategy has five components: explore, diagnose, refine, policy, and operation. However, it’s actually quite challenging to read a strategy document written that way. That’s an effective sequence for creating a strategy, but it’s a challenging sequence for those trying to quickly read and apply a strategy without necessarily wanting to understand the complete thinking behind each decision.” Will covers: (1) Why the order for writing strategy is hard to reading strategy. (2) How to organize a strategy document for reading. (3) How to refactor and merge components for improved readability. (4) Additional tips for effective strategy documents.

featured in #516

Getting Buy-In To Get Things Done

- Nicole Tietz-Sokolskaya tl;dr: “One way to get people to go from agreeing it should happen to actually doing the work is to get buy-in. When you have buy-in, people will actively work toward the goal instead of just agreeing to it. Getting buy-in is hard. It's also extremely rewarding, and it's how you get real work done as a leader. Without it, the work falls away when you're not around. With it, everyone will push forward together.”

featured in #516

Delegating Gets Easier When You Get Better At Explaining Your Ideas

- Wes Kao tl;dr: Wes developed the framework below when explaining projects to direct reports, dotted-line reports, vendors, agencies, contractors, recruiters, and anyone she’s managing formally or informally. Here are five areas to cover: (1) Increase comprehension: Am I explaining in a way that’s easy to understand? (2) Increase buy-in: Am I getting the person excited? (3) Derisk: Am I addressing obvious risks? (4) Confirm alignment: Am I giving them a chance to speak up? (5) Feedback loop: Am I creating the shortest feedback loop possible?

featured in #516