Software Lead Weekly Software Lead Weekly

Continuous Design and the NoPSD Movement
5 minutes read.

I think this could X10 your company's ability to ship products. Most people would say it will never work. Reminds me so much of early Continuous Deployment conversations and why testers or ops will never allow developers to directly deploy to production. I believe that we should train designers to provide html+css. It's not rocket science, there are solid courses available. Why should they do it? Because it will eliminate any difference between what they wanted developers to do from what they actually did. Less arguing, less conflicts, more awesome.

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The Woman Behind the Netflix Culture Doc
15 minutes read.

Trust me on this one, you have to read this fascinating story of Patty McCord (Netflix Chief Talent Officer). Her passion, no-bullshit attitude and drive are truly inspiring. There are so many things you can take away from this post, but what I found most useful, is her point of view for hiring (and firing) people. She wanted people who do stuff (rather than complaining about the lack of it), and above all, she wanted people who believe in the company's vision and the team. It's so easy to say it, but it seems that Patty actually lived by these values.

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Geeks Versus Non-Geeks When Doing Repetitive Tasks (Image)
1 minutes read.

This image made me laugh, while I was working on automating another repetitive task of my own at work. Tip: forward this image around the office and go look at people's face while they're reading it. Should be fun to spot the (smiling) geeks. Happy hunting.

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The Scarcest Resource at Startups Is Management Bandwidth
5 minutes read.

Mark Suster with a great reminder to the importance of saying no and keeping your eyes on the ball. I would try to apply his "management bandwidth" concept not only on startups, as these dilemmas exist in every company. You should strive for a single goal per team for a given time period. We are notoriously bad at multi-tasking, so aiming to tackle a few huge goals at the same time sounds like a recipe for disaster. If your team still has to tackle multiple goals, I would try delegate responsibility to individuals at your team, to build internal focus.

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The One Word That Can Catapult Your Career
5 minutes read.

If I was to ask your teammates of a single word they would use to describe you, what would it be? This little exercise is a great way to check the quality and alignment of your personal brand. "I'm not building any brand, just doing my work" you may think, but any action (or lack of it) says something about you. My best mentors were the ones who were conscious about it and worked hard to build it and genuinely maintain it. Own it.

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Craftsmanship
5 minutes read.

Zack Shapiro with one of the best posts I read this week. Building an amazing experience will always be 80% plain, obvious work and 20% magic. Most teams break as they hate the 80%. Great teams, great individuals and great companies shine because they learned to appreciate it. Creativity requires an open mind and can-do attitude. If you're too busy hating the "preparation" work, how will you have the mental energy to do the impossible. "Craftsmanship isn’t glamorized most of the time. It’s the things we have to do in order to do our jobs well."

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The 80% Principle
5 minutes read.

Are you dealing with too many things, pushing your limits too far for too long? Justin Jackson shares a principle he's following, after experiencing one of the hardest challenges in his life. Having balance in your life means that you are happy with the priorities you've made, and the amount of time you invest to nurture it. Misalignment between your priorities and the actual time you devote, can make you feel out of control.

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@LeadersServe: Without Shared Goals, You Don't Have a Team.

@hnshah: "My Job Is Not to Be Easy on People. My Job Is to Make Them Better." Steve Jobs