/Leadership

Have Concerns And Commit

tl;dr: “I lead a couple of teams. I could use a gut check on decision making. how do you convey a top down decision (a decision that you don’t buy in entirely) to your team? something other than “hey, leadership wants x, I see a, b, and c as potential pitfalls in x. I have conveyed my reservations. now it’s time to disagree and commit”” The author breaks decisions into three types - non-material, material and critical.

featured in #504

15 Principles For Managing Up

- Wes Kao tl;dr: Wes gives phrases of how to verbalize each: (1) Embrace managing up. (2) Focus on the punchline. (3) Show your thought process. (4) Flag potential issues. (5) Bring solutions, not complaints. (6) Use information hierarchy. (7) Keep your manager in the loop. (8) Are you being micromanaged, or do you need to communicate better? (9) Over-communication might be the right amount. (10) Proactively assert what to do. (11) Don’t only ask questions. Share your point of view too. (12) Anticipate questions. (13) Know when to get out. (14) Be explicit about what you need. (15) Expect to manage up forever. 

featured in #504

15 Principles For Managing Up

- Wes Kao tl;dr: Wes gives phrases of how to verbalize each: (1) Embrace managing up. (2) Focus on the punchline. (3) Show your thought process. (4) Flag potential issues. (5) Bring solutions, not complaints. (6) Use information hierarchy. (7) Keep your manager in the loop. (8) Are you being micromanaged, or do you need to communicate better? (9) Over-communication might be the right amount. (10) Proactively assert what to do. (11) Don’t only ask questions. Share your point of view too. (12) Anticipate questions. (13) Know when to get out. (14) Be explicit about what you need. (15) Expect to manage up forever. 

featured in #503

Leadership And Willpower

- Mike Fisher tl;dr: Mikes discusses the concept of a Level 5 leader: “They defy conventional expectations. They are a paradox in that they are humble yet determined and modest yet fearless. This potent blend fuels their ability to inspire unwavering dedication in their teams towards a shared vision. Their quiet confidence and strong convictions propel them to elevate organizations from good to great.” He discusses how we can build our willpower by regulrly doing difficult things. 

featured in #503

Performance Management: The Rising Tide

- James Stanier tl;dr: A good performance management system includes: (1) Clear definitions of performance expectations for each role. (2) Regular performance review processes - self-assessment, manager assessment, peer feedback. (3) Calibration to ensure fairness and consistency across the organization. (4) Performance Improvement Plan process for underperforming employees. (5) Compensation process tied to performance outcomes. James discusses how this generates a power curve over time. 

featured in #502

Engineering A Culture

- Bryan Cantrill tl;dr: Bryan, CTO at Oxide, discusses fostering a culture of "openness, curiosity, and communication,” sharing some implementation details: (1) Uniform compensation, even if it might not scale indefinitely. (2) We are writing intensive, but we still believe in spoken collaboration. (3) We have no formalized performance review process, but we believe in feedback. (4) We record every meeting, but not every conversation. (5) We have a remote work force, but we also have an office. (6) We are non-hierarchical, but we all ultimately report to our CEO. (7) We don’t use engineering metrics, but we all measure ourselves by our customers and their success. 

featured in #502

Using Metrics To Measure Individual Developer Performance

- Laura Tacho tl;dr: Laura reframes this into another question that leaders need to ask to evaluate reports: “what data are you going to use to evaluate my performance?” Her high level advice, which the article dives into: (1) Determine how you want to measure performance first, then find metrics to measure what's important to your company. (2) Focus on outcomes over output, using output metrics mainly to debug missed outcomes. (3) Watch out for metrics encouraging the wrong behaviors. (4) Metrics alone aren't enough - you still need active performance management and feedback. 

featured in #502

Using Metrics To Measure Individual Developer Performance

- Laura Tacho tl;dr: Laura reframes this into another question that leaders need to ask to evaluate reports: “what data are you going to use to evaluate my performance?” Her high level advice, which the article dives into: (1) Determine how you want to measure performance first, then find metrics to measure what's important to your company. (2) Focus on outcomes over output, using output metrics mainly to debug missed outcomes. (3) Watch out for metrics encouraging the wrong behaviors. (4) Metrics alone aren't enough - you still need active performance management and feedback. 

featured in #501

How To Talk About Deadlines At Work

tl;dr: For both managers and direct reports. For managers: (1) Encourage your team to be honest about timing, especially high performers. (2) Temporarily “over-correct” to convince your team it’s safe to push back, celebrate their behavior when they do so. When they feel comfortable, become tactical. For reports: (3) Speak up at the first sign that you might miss a deadline. (4) Wes shares scripts of what to say. (5) Suffering in silence is not useful. 

featured in #501

How To Talk About Deadlines At Work

- Wes Kao tl;dr: For both managers and direct reports. For managers: (1) Encourage your team to be honest about timing, especially high performers. (2) Temporarily “over-correct” to convince your team it’s safe to push back, celebrate their behavior when they do so. When they feel comfortable, become tactical. For reports: (3) Speak up at the first sign that you might miss a deadline. (4) Wes shares scripts of what to say. (5) Suffering in silence is not useful. 

featured in #500