Best of Leadership — January 2024
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Community Picks·2y
Average Manager vs. Great Manager
This post discusses the differences between an average manager and a great manager in 10 sketches. It covers topics such as assigning tasks, delivering news, conducting 1:1s, giving feedback, and dealing with turbulence. The post also promotes the author's book on effective management.
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Pointer·2y
The “errors” that mean you’re doing it right
Celebrate the errors that signify progress and good decision-making. Some examples include re-adding features/bugs removed from the backlog, pivoting a strategy just after creating it, and refactoring infrastructure after growing 10x. It's important to add back words for clarity, remove features that are not useful, fix bugs after a major release, scale support and sales in a timely manner, make quick decisions about letting go of ineffective hires, and ignore most of your competitor's moves. Additionally, rejecting lucrative deals that don't align with your strategy and values is essential.
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Want to Be a Better Leader? Stop Thinking About Work After Hours.
Constantly thinking about work may hurt rather than help your performance as a leader. Taking a break from work in the evening can recharge leaders and increase their effectiveness. Leaders should find ways to detach after work and establish boundaries between work and home.
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Substack·2yHow To Drive Meetings
Learn how to drive meetings effectively to grow to Senior (L5). Meetings can be efficient for back-and-forth discussions, act as a forcing function for progress, and enable effective non-verbal communication. Prepare well before the meeting, lead the meeting by setting expectations and guiding the conversation, and follow up with clear ownership of tasks and sharing of information.
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Hacker News·2y
the rust project has a burnout problem
The Rust project is facing a significant burnout problem, with high numbers of people leaving or close to burnout. Contributors often find themselves taking on more responsibilities and feeling personally responsible for the progress of the project. To address burnout, contributors should prioritize self-care and treat their contributions as a job. Team leads can rotate responsibilities, address unsolicited reviews, and prioritize a healthy environment over technical issues. The Rust project needs to address burnout as a cultural, organizational, and resource problem.
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What makes a great manager of software engineers?
The research reveals that great engineering managers create a positive work environment, enable autonomy, and provide growth opportunities. Being technical is not as important as these factors. Female participants value technical skills more than males. Building a supportive and autonomous environment for engineers to grow in is essential for effective engineering leadership.
- 10Substack·2y
9 key lessons learned on my path from Engineer to VP 🔑
Learn the 9 key lessons on the path from Engineer to VP, including becoming a domain expert, handling stress, avoiding complacency, scaling oneself, taking initiative, getting the job done, building relationships, building a track record, and saying yes to every opportunity.
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ShiftMag - Insightful Engineering Content·2y
Why do developers hate Scrum Masters?
Developers often express negative opinions about Scrum Masters, criticizing and making fun of them. There is a resistance towards Scrum due to the imposition of new concepts and incorrect usage of the framework. Scrum brings developers and business people together in one team, solving the problem of long feedback loops. The role of a Scrum Master is poorly defined and often trivialized, leading to a lack of respect for the position.