/Management

Quality Is Systemic

- Jacob Kaplan-Moss tl;dr: "Software quality is more the result of a system designed to produce quality, and not so much the result of individual performance." Jacob shares examples: (1) Well-designed testing harnesses that make it easy to write tests, and team / company culture that encourages writing good tests. (2) Easy-to-use, high-fidelity dev and staging environments. (3) Codebases that are documented, well-factored, and sufficiently commented. And more.

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Group Dynamics: The Leader's Toolkit

tl;dr: "One of the most significant themes in my practice is the leader whose team of direct reports are experiencing difficulties working together." Ed guides us through the following tools leaders have here: (1) Logistics: ways of meeting that could be more impactful. (2) One-on-ones: feedback is normal and frequent. (3) Group facilitation: emphasis on process, as opposed to content. (4) Group observation: the group can observe. (5) Group composition: the right people are involved. 

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On The Team As A System

- Vicki Boykis tl;dr: "The critical idea of the blog post is that developers do not work alone: building a product is a team project, and the product itself is a system. And a group of developers working on a single goal also becomes a system that works either together or at cross-purposes with itself." 

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Compliance Simplified: Demystifying Risk Assessment

tl;dr: An information security ("InfoSec") risk assessment is not only a security best practice but also necessary to meet the requirements of the ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI DSS, and HIPAA compliance standards. Learn more from cybersecurity and data privacy expert Matt Cooper in this short video!

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One-On-Ones With Executives

- Will Larson tl;dr: "Often when an organization is going through some turmoil, executives think to themselves, “Ah, I should have some one-on-ones with the team so they can hear how we’re handling this.” Will advises those asked to have a 1-1 with execs: (1) If you’re not sure what’s happening, let the exec take the lead. (2) Try to figure out why the meeting is happening before you’re in the meeting. (3) Know that the executive will very likely have an agenda, but sometimes have no agenda at all, in which case it’s very helpful to have prepared ahead of time. And more. 

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The Viable Systems Model, And Where My Team Fits

- Jessica Kerr tl;dr: "A viable system continues to function in a changing environment. We want our companies—and some teams—to be sustainable this way. How does your team contribute? Does your team have all the components of a viable system… and should it?" Jessica discusses the viable systems five subsystems, characteristics of each, and more.  

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Software Engineering Research Questions

- Greg Wilson tl;dr: "I have been collecting random software engineering research ideas from friends and colleagues for more than a decade. These are the questions I’ve been asked since I started taking notes ten years ago," including: (1) Does putting documentation in code actually work better than keeping the documentation in separate files, and if so, by what measure(s)? (2) Do doctest-style tests have any impact long-term usability or maintainability compared to putting tests in separate files? And more

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How To Get Helpful, Actionable Feedback From Your Colleagues

- Lara Hogan tl;dr: Asking “is there anything I can do better” rarely elicits a helpful response. Instead, identify a skill you’re hoping to improve and request feedback on it. "This approach has the benefit of being easier for the person giving you feedback, and more impactful and useful for you." For example, if you want to improve in strategy, ask the following questions (1) "what outcomes - positive or negative - have you seen from my efforts at strategy?" (2) “What new approaches or tactics do you think I should experiment with here?”

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'Drawing Your Three Maps' Exercise

- Will Larson tl;dr: The quick exercise is designed to better understand your engineering organization from various perspectives. Will explains how to draw a locator map (where are you?), a topographical map (how hard is it to go nearby places?), and a treasure map (where are the places that are really worth going?)," designed to show opportunities to improve your processes. Will also shares what he leant from the exercise.

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The SOC 2 Compliance Checklist

tl;dr: Ready to simplify the time-consuming, tedious process of proving compliance — starting with industry fave SOC 2? Here’s a free SOC 2 compliance checklist from Vanta, the leading automated security and compliance platform. Attend a demo, and lunch is on Vanta.

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