/Leadership

Finding Stuck Energy

- Paulo André tl;dr: Everyone has a switch. Your job is to find it. If you don’t, all the latent energy this person has will remain untapped. To find that switch, you have to temporarily forget the work and focus on the human. Build a relationship. It’s never wasted time. “What is something you found really interesting recently? Teach me all about it.” is a good question to see what lights them up — and, if you pay attention, you’ll likely hear in the answer important clues that might help you change something at work.

featured in #511

The Manager As Debugger

- Camille Fournier tl;dr: The best engineering managers are often great debuggers. Camille argues that there are overlapping skills between debugging complex systems and managing teams. “Managing teams is a series of complex, black boxes interacting with other complex, black boxes. These black boxes have inputs and outputs that can be observed, but when the outputs aren’t as expected, figuring out why requires trying to open up the black box and see what is going on inside.”

featured in #510

The Tarzan Method

- James Stanier tl;dr: “Performance review season always gets people thinking: where am I going? Where do I want to be next year? Why haven't I managed to get that promotion this time around? What's the point of all of this anyway?” James discusses the patterns he commonly sees in reports and how being transfixed on a single goal can do more harm than good.

featured in #509

The Power Of Questions

- Mike Fisher tl;dr: The ability to ask the right questions is a real superpower for executives and leaders. It demonstrates curiosity, intelligence, and the ability to rapidly get to the core of complex issues. Developing this skill requires conscious effort, humility and practice, but yields major benefits in decision making and innovation. Mike shares insights into how to develop this skill. 

featured in #509

The Impact Of AI Tooling On Engineering At ANZ Bank

- Abi Noda tl;dr: “To evaluate whether Copilot should be used org-wide, the authors of this paper conducted an experiment for six weeks, and compared the tool’s impact on a test group versus a control group. They based their evaluation of the tool’s impact using measures for productivity, quality, and security.“

featured in #508

The 37signals Guide To Internal Communication

tl;dr: 30 rules including: (1) Give meaningful discussions a meaningful amount of time to develop and unfold. Rushing to judgement, or demanding immediate responses, only serves to increase the odds of poor decision making. (2) Meetings are the last resort, not the first option. (3) Writing solidifies, chat dissolves. Substantial decisions start and end with an exchange of complete thoughts, not one-line-at-a-time jousts. If it’s important, critical, or fundamental, write it up, don’t chat it down.

featured in #507

Mentorship, Coaching, Sponsorship: Three Different — And Equally Important — Tools For Developing Talent

- Jacob Kaplan-Moss tl;dr: “One of the main responsibilities of a leader / manager is helping their staff develop. Mentorship, coaching, and sponsorship are import tools in the staff development toolbox. Good leaders should be adept in all three, and know when (and when not) to use each. In my work with new managers, I sometimes see confusion about these three different tools, and I see people using them in the wrong circumstances.” Jacob provides a glossary, high-level explanation of what these three things are, how they differ, and where to use them.

featured in #507

5 Non-Verbal Behaviors Killing Team Health

- Raviraj Achar tl;dr: Raviraj shares annoying non-verbal behaviors, how he avoids exhibiting them, and how to deal with them. These include: (1) Silent but Irritated - the person that rolls their eyes when they hear something “stupid” or exhales heavily when someone disagrees with them. (2) Annoying Interrupter - they appear eager to interrupt the speaker and can’t seem to wait for their turn. This behavior can be distracting when the speaker is trying to make their point. (3) Ever Confused - The person gives a puzzled look to everything you say but asks no follow-up questions.

featured in #506

Meetings For An Effective Eng Organization

- Will Larson tl;dr: "I’d like to recommend 6 core meetings that I recommend every organization start with, and that I’ve found can go a surprisingly long way. These six are split across three operational meetings, two developmental meetings and finally a monthly engineering Q&A to learn what the organization is really thinking about." Will discusses each in depth. 

featured in #506

Meetings For An Effective Eng Organization

- Will Larson tl;dr: "I’d like to recommend 6 core meetings that I recommend every organization start with, and that I’ve found can go a surprisingly long way. These six are split across three operational meetings, two developmental meetings and finally a monthly engineering Q&A to learn what the organization is really thinking about." Will discusses each in depth. 

featured in #505