Friday

The trend is definitely going towards a smaller Engineering and a bigger AI section. I don’t like that. This week, have a look at John Cutler’s Feature Factory Retrospective and the No Man Is an Island post. If you want a podcast and like engineering, check out “Building resilient systems”. Quote of the Week And that’s the deciding factor. We can’t win against obsession. They care, we don’t. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams and Neil Gaiman Leadership TBM 445: The Feature Factory: A 10-Year Retrospective - “First, you ARE working in a feature factory. So you don’t need any signs.” ...

Good long reads this week: Camille Fournier on the manager’s path in the age of AI and how AI affects building things by Paulo André. Quote of the Week The first rule is that a measurement—any measurement—is better than none. High Output Management Andrew S. Grove Leadership If your team is happy, are you doing a good job? - it’s a business and happy means different things to different people. ...

Quick one this week. I really liked the sustainability post by Etsy. They are about measuring stuff and advocating for change in the industry. Quote of the Week How does a manager motivate his subordinates? For most of us, the word implies doing something to another person. But I don’t think that can happen, because motivation has to come from within somebody. Accordingly, all a manager can do is create an environment in which motivated people can flourish. High Output Management Andrew S. Grove Leadership The simple answer to improving productivity: asking employees [Podcast] - I really wish more organisations would take employee surveys more seriously. ...

A bit of a catch-up from recent weeks today. I recommend the two Book Overflow episodes about The Pragmatic Programmer and with Uncle Bob. The long post from Charity about Slop is also worth a read. Quote of the Week Another benefit of writing a test for every logged message is that it’s painful. Sometimes pain is a good thing. Agile Java™ Jeff Langr Leadership Managers Are Catalysts - “Your job, as a manager, is lowering that activation energy.” ...

A short one this week. The management reading list gave me some new ideas and the interview with Mr. T is great. Quote of the Week I’ve become absolutely convinced that the seminal difference between successful companies and mediocre or unsuccessful ones has little, if anything, to do with what they know or how smart they are; it has everything to do with how healthy they are. The Advantage Patrick M. Lencioni Leadership Good Culture is the Biggest Productivity Hack, Not AI - It relates to the quote above. ...