/Leadership

On Workplace Productivity

- Nicole Forsgren tl;dr: A holistic framework for productivity can be summarized by the acronym SPACE: (1) Satisfaction and well-being. (2) Performance. (3) Activity. (4) Communication and collaboration. (5) Efficiency. Nicole provides 3 insights: Finding flow is key and interruptions are a drag, meetings are both awesome and terrible, and a two-minute daily reflection can help improve your days. 

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The Product Culture Shift

- Camille Fournier tl;dr: "Adding product management to more traditional software infrastructure organizations, sometimes with a shift towards platform engineering, is all the rage today. As someone who has done both these things, it doesn’t surprise me to see so many people struggling to make it work... It’s easy for people who have spent their whole career building infrastructure to misunderstand what product and platform really mean. So I thought I’d share the secret to making this work."

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Understanding The Value Of SOC 2 Compliance For Your Company

tl;dr: Being asked to prove your company’s security is a common blocker in getting your sales deals moving. But with the right perspective, this obstacle can be turned into a competitive advantage. Read the blog to learn more!

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Rituals For Engineering Teams

- Charity Majors tl;dr: "The thing that grabbed me here is that rituals create a sense of belonging. You show that you belong to the group by participating in the ritual... It seems especially relevant these days when so many of us are atomized and physically separated from our teammates. That ineffable sense of belonging can make all the difference between a job that you do and a role that feeds your soul." Charity provides examples from various teams.

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Platform Engineering KPIs

tl;dr: "In this post we will share our approach to building out KPI trees for our platform engineering teams... Starting with the product development process, we will explain how we shaped our platform vision, resulting in a set of actionable KPIs that we use to identify our biggest problems and continuously measure our platform’s performance."

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How To Access Infrastructure Without Usernames And Passwords

- Ev Kontsevoy tl;dr: Eliminate passwords and other static credentials like SSH keys from your infrastructure, making it more secure, scalable, and easier to use. Stolen credentials are the #1 cause of data breaches — open-source Teleport makes it easy to ditch secrets and embrace identity. Learn more.

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Questionable Advice: Is There A Path Back From CTO To Engineer?

- Charity Majors tl;dr: "It is absolutely possible to return after a few years away. And yeah, you could come back as a principal or staff engineer. Someone will definitely hire you. However, I suggest otherwise. I suggest you come back as a senior engineer, writing software every day, for a good 6-9 months. Your grounding in the technical challenges and solution space will be much deeper and richer if you come back hands on than if you came in at a higher level..."

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How Engineers Can Tackle Data Privacy And Security

tl;dr: What can engineers do to stay on top of privacy? Most startups are not going to have a dedicated in-house privacy expert at their disposal. Learn how engineers can stay secure while growing a team and a product in Vanta’s recent blog.

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The Secret To Getting To The Staff+ Level? Leverage

- Camille Fournier tl;dr: "You need to develop skills that give you the leverage to show bigger value to the company. These could be interpersonal skills that make you more trusted and valued, execution skills that let you drive complex projects to success, strategic skills that give you bigger ideas and the ability to sell them, or, occasionally, expert skills that make you very hard to replace."

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How To Pick A Starter Project That'll Make Someone Quit

- Amir Rachum tl;dr: "Ever had hiring manager’s remorse? It’s where you regret hiring someone immediately after they start. It could be that you don’t like their face, or just want to see the world burn. Worse, they might have mentioned they like jazz. Whatever the reason, this post is here to help you make them quit on their own by picking the worst starter project for them."

featured in #341