Software Lead Weekly Software Lead Weekly

Education of a Programmer
20 minutes read.

Long read based on Terry Crowley's career, packed with so many great lessons. I started to TL;DR it, finding myself writing almost a blog post from it, so grab a cup of coffee and read it. My favorite sentence was: "When you see a technique like idempotency or immutability, you recognize them as ways of embracing the fundamental nature of the universe, not just one more design tool in your toolbox."

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Make Sure Your Kids See This Graph
1 minutes read.

My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face. I hope this graph is indeed true, so far it sure feels like that.

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Dear Product Roadmap, I’m Breaking Up With You
7 minutes read.

Managing and executing on a product roadmap always feels kind of broken. This post by Heath Umbach touch all the pains and offers great tips on how to fix that. My favorite part was around solving "We have not defined a consistent roadmap management plan" -- a frameowkr you can follow makes setting expectations much easier.

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Your Non-Linear Problem of 90% Utilization
4 minutes read.

Such an important point to keep in mind when you're thinking of your progress and your team's progress: "Does it feel like everyone is working very hard, all the time, and yet not accomplishing as much as everyone would like?" -- it's often misalignment of expectations (e.g. what is must-do this quarter? What is nice to have? What is "maybes" with 5% chance of doing etc.) rather than working ineffectively or not putting the hours.

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Running an Unconference With Slack
3 minutes read.

I took Marc Hedlund's idea a step further: Using Slack as "rooms" to host topics around interesting topics can be a great idea for a distributed team or distributed group of people who want to share and learn (meetup style). Having a schedule and rooms to switch between -- and maybe even attend multiple rooms at the same time, if it's text only -- can be a fun experiment. I already have a few ideas on how to use it in SWLW Slack channel.

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The Missing Piece of a Manager’s Responsibilities
5 minutes read.

"people who have yet to internalize their success are undermining themselves. To be regarded as a leader you have to find your center and exude confidence." -- the imposter syndrome is something we can all relate to, so instead of trying to be perfect, figure out your "good enough" around your responsibilities and then focus and leverage on your core strengths. Delegate or hire to compensate on everything else.

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On "Working" Outside of Work Hours
3 minutes read.

As as a manager I want to create an environment where people can relax on their weekend and forget about work, but I also need to remember that this is me (heck, side projects are my main hobby): "It’s pretty cool to work at a company where that’s not only possible, but encouraged, isn’t it? But please don’t judge me for thinking that my ideal vacation would be go somewhere alone, with my laptop and a fast internet connection, and just code." -- acknowledge and be curious about others' side projects. Use that passion for growth within the team.

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How to Make Small Talk
7 minutes read.

"I love knowing people. I hate meeting people." -- For the introvert and nerd that I am, this post is pure gold. Something I need to read again before the next conference/meetup, as I tend to find myself with my head down looking at my laptop instead of talking with people.

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@bphogan: A lot of>40yo devs I know are self-employed. Seems companies don’t want experienced employees but like to hire experienced consultants.

@noidi: Having a dedicated DevOps person who does all the DevOpsing is like having a dedicated collaboration person who does all the collaborating.