I was lazy due to the festive season and travels. That means plenty of links for today. Leadership Engineering strategy notes. - I think I posted the articles in a previous edition. Many good resources in this one. Navigators - interesting approach. I guess in some companies these are architects or staff engineers. TBM 257: How to Make the Case for Slowing Down to Speed Up - many strategies, align with the main values and strategies. ...
I liked the story about Backstage from Spotify. The monaspace font is also lovely. Leadership Adam Bryant on how to know if you’re ready to become a leader. [Podcast] - lots of good stuff. A Practical Handbook For Engineering Management- another guide. I have just browsed a bit for now. Team Charters are a trap. - oh, I quite like them, but … “Empowering bottoms up mission-setting in an organization that practices top-down resource allocation is a trap.” ...
If you want to watch something inspiring today, I recommend the video about Germany’s Green City and Pedal to freedom. Overall, a lot of interesting stuff to think about this week. Leadership How Do I More Effectively Build Stakeholder Alignment? [Podcast] - excellent example of coaching, where the thinker is already aware of the answers. Communicating Your Engineering Team’s Impact at Work - Tips for Leaders [Podcast] - obviously pushing LinearB a bit, but still good. ...
The podcasts I enjoyed especially this week are the Lego Overboard and Open source at a crossroad episodes. I also liked the WFH vs RTO blog post. Leadership Managing cost efficiency at scale-ups [Podcast] - nothing surprising, but still good S5, Ep. 20: What’s Up With Performance Improvement Plans? [Podcast] - interesting that they can be weaponised and figuring this out is nearly impossible. ...
Environment news seems especially depressing at the moment. There are some uplifting urbanism stories, the bike bus podcast did make me smile. Both long leadership posts are definitely worth a read. Leadership Performance & Compensation (for Eng Execs). - massive topic and, as usual, Will really presents it well. TBM 240: The Ultimate Guide to Developer Counter-Productivity - this seems to be the topic of the day again. ...