/Leadership

The Core Challenges of Principal Engineering

- Will Larson tl;dr: In this 20 minute video presentation, Will discusses the under-defined and ambiguous role of Principal Engineers. He defines them as engineers who solve ambiguous, company-wide problems that would otherwise block engineering executives.

featured in #570

Engineering Principles – The 5 Step Process

- Christian Scheb tl;dr: “There’s this interview with Elon Musk, showing around the SpaceX rocket production facility in Texas. There’s a lot of talk about rockets and stuff, though in between he’s giving some fascinating insights into the design process and the principles he’s following. The “5 Step Process” as he calls it. Wanted to write it up for myself, so I though I can share it here as well.”

featured in #570

Engineering Principles – The 5 Step Process

- Christian Scheb tl;dr: “There’s this interview with Elon Musk, showing around the SpaceX rocket production facility in Texas. There’s a lot of talk about rockets and stuff, though in between he’s giving some fascinating insights into the design process and the principles he’s following. The “5 Step Process” as he calls it. Wanted to write it up for myself, so I though I can share it here as well.”

featured in #569

Managing Impostor Syndrome As A New Engineering Manager

- Péter Szász tl;dr: “Here's an idea: what if Impostor Syndrome isn't always bad? That nagging feeling that you might miss something to be successful can actually make you a better manager - if you learn to use it right.”

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A Practical Guide To Executive Presence: Earning Respect

tl;dr: “It can be somewhat circular, but one of the best ways to build executive presence is for other executives to obviously care about what you have to say. This time, we’re going to dive into the behaviors that earn respect from other executives – the traits that help make them allies, and that prevent them from resenting you or taking you for granted.”

featured in #568

How To Get More Headcount

- Will Larson tl;dr: “The solution here is obvious, always make sure you agree on the problem and general solution, and provide evidence the team is working well. These can be an appendix of a document or appendix slides, and should take little to no time to prepare as the first two are core decisions for your team, and the later is a set of metrics or plans that you should already be maintaining as part of operating your team.”

featured in #567

Engineering Management Basics

- Francisco Trindade tl;dr: Instead, when helping ICs transition to management, I have focused on introducing the basics of engineering management. That’s because the basics will: (1) Provide the manager a structure to apply to their role initially, creating more stability and space for them to learn. (2) Create stability in the team, avoiding initial problems and crises that could destabilize and complicate the manager’s role. (3) Provide guidelines and principles the manager can apply to everyday situations, improving their chance of success.

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On Good Software Engineers

- Candost Dagdeviren tl;dr: “Setting expectations for software engineers is tricky for all managers. Every company has different needs and a different structure, tech stack, and culture. Whenever someone joins a team, one of the manager’s challenges is aligning the organization’s expectations with those of the new joiner. As there’s no universal guidance on this subject, I set out to find a simple definition that would help managers frame the fundamental things they expect from software engineers.”

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5 Frameworks To Master Communication And Influence As An Engineer

- Jordan Cutler Wes Kao tl;dr: Wes and Jordan discuss the following frameworks: (1) Reduce cognitive load using phrases like “For example”, “Action Items”, “Action Needed”, “Next Steps,” etc... (2) MP-CB: Main point, context below. (3) Anticipate the objection. (4) CEDAF for delegating tasks. (5) QBQ: Question behind the question. 

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Dumb Leadership Mistakes I’ve Made

- Laura Tacho tl;dr: (1) Dismissing intuition. (2) Data-driven theater. (3) Trying to be smart instead of making other people smart. (4) Not utilizing experts soon enough. (5) Not realizing that I’m not an engineering leader.

featured in #565