Friday Links 23-24

I forgot to post Podcasts for a while. This makes this week Podcast Week! 

Leadership

Follow the Leader: How to Be the Example and Transform Engineering Teams (with Jossie Haines, Executive Coach) [Podcast] - I like her focus on respect and empathy.

Wisdom for Work #16 - The Brightest Bulb Challenge: Moving From Individual Contributor to Team Leader [Podcast] - a common problem and I always enjoy the Reboot approach. 

Is That 100% True? Managing the Small Stuff to Prevent the Big Stuff (with Joanna Lord, Executive in Residence at Reforge) [Podcast] - I am still an Emotional Intelligence sceptic. In this case, I agree. 

80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans: ‘A lot of executives have egg on their faces’ - will they change again?

TBM 234: Maintenance, KTLO, and BAU - a different approach to talking about these. 

There is no number one tip - for a new manager.

Engineering

Generative AI and the future of knowledge work [Podcast] - Thoughtworks now has a Chief AI Officer!

The Science of Learning to Code [Podcast] - in my wild youth I was convinced that programming skills are in the genes … clearly a stupid idea. 

Introducing Immortal Objects for Python - TIL: Instagram uses Django!

Urbanism

Opening Transit Payments (with Urban Caffeine) [Podcast] - I think the main advantage of an integrated payment for all transit is the reduction in hurdles. The Dutch system sounds wonderful. Ideally, we would have something across the EU.  

Environment 

RES197 Städte im Klimawandel [Podcast, German] - "Urban Mining" was a new one to me.

Why climate despair is a luxury - I am definitely joined the despair camp.

Random Octopuses 

The awe-inspiring intelligence of octopuses [Podcast] - I am a flexitarian, and I am still eating octopus. This and other recent news about them makes me reconsider.

26: The Bear - Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto [Podcast] - The Bear is brilliant, this is a nice analysis of the characters.

30 years on, Debian is at the heart of the world's most successful Linux distros - since Red Hat is misbehaving I might be looking at Debian next. It seems to be the most free distribution right now.

Cycling Worlds Highland Coo Soft Toy - the UCI Championship was great … so is their webshop.

Wipeout Game Rewrite: How to Play it on Ubuntu - the leaked code is a bit of a mess, apparently.

Friday Links Disclaimer

Inclusion of links does not imply that I agree with the content of linked articles or podcasts. I am just interested in all kind of perspectives. If you follow the link posts over time you might notice common themes, though.

More about the links in a separate post: About Friday Links.

Friday Links 23-23

Lots of good stuff in the leadership section today, and lots of depressing stuff in the environment section.

Leadership

How We Run Performance Reviews At Buffer And Why I Have Mixed Feelings About Them - it's tricky.

How To Measure the Value of Internal Tools - most companies are doing none of this. 

Manage your priorities and energy. - "you’re going to accomplish less in your career if you’re so focused on correctness that you lose track of keeping yourself energized."

Humanistic Leadership - this kind of answers my question about "people first" companies. 

TBM 233: Coffee & Complexity - I like the idea of starting to think about a FAQ right away.

Briefly: The Value of Meetings, and Some Alternatives - killing all meetings is just silly. 

Square’s Updated Growth Framework for Engineers and Engineering Managers - very detailed spreadsheet linked in the article. 

How platform teams get stuff done - good article about different approaches. I think platform teams can easily go wrong in plenty of cases. 

On Becoming a VP of Engineering, Part 1: The Path to VP - this is a great

Environment 

Why carbon capture and storage will not solve the climate crisis any time soon - it's mainly for people who don't want to change. 

Gulf Stream could collapse as early as 2025, study suggests - headline is a bit misleading. It's anywhere between 2024 and 2095. 

Extreme weather: the climate crisis in four charts - I gave up worrying/hoping now.

It's hot out there

• Deadly global heatwaves undeniably result of climate crisis, scientists show
• Extreme heat forces US airlines to limit passengers and fuel loads
• Mexico steps up rain-making project amid intense heatwave and drought 
• Greece carries out its biggest ever evacuation as wildfires rage on Rhodes
• Southern Europe braces for second heat storm in a week 
  

Urbanism

This town banned cars (except tiny electric ones) [YouTube] - still quite a few of them around 

Less space for cars, more for green. Utrecht's redesigned ring road [YouTube] - not too bad.

Ministers consider curbs on councils’ use of 20mph speed limits - UK going backwards, as usual.

Bristol’s low-traffic scheme stalls as row over Ulez spreads from London - no comment 

Sunak review raises question: what exactly is a low-traffic neighbourhood? - I remember them already being there when I lived in London. 

Designing Urban Places that Don't Suck [YouTube] - I have to say the cover picture still has too many cars in the "nice place". 

It's time to stop with the "bicycle highways"  [YouTube] - stop calling them this, not stop building them. 

Are Dutch Cities Really that Different? Debunking Cycling Myths [YouTube] - no

Random Recordings

Home Taping Is Killing Music: When the Music Industry Waged War on the Cassette Tape During the 1980s, and Punk Bands Fought Back - now I want one of those tapes.

Summer webcomics - collection by Charles Stross

Portugal’s bid to attract foreign money backfires as rental market goes ‘crazy’ - surprise!

12,795 possessions! Meet the woman who photographed every single thing she owns - i love this, and worry about my possessions. (I still think "The man who destroyed all his belongings" is even better and one of my favourite art pieces).

Style Guide: LGBTQ+ - I was looking for the use of "queer", this has been helpful. 

“It’s like I’m going into the void with no control”: Tour de France pro says he feels “completely paralysed” and “scared to death” on descents - worth a read, even if you don't ride yourself.

Other Links

• Long Links by Tim Bray