Software Lead Weekly Software Lead Weekly

How to Have Impact
7 minutes read.

"Some aspects of the impact generation process are in your control, and some aren’t. The world (i.e. the environment) isn’t in your control. Neither are the outcomes you get from trying things – remember the intention/impact gap. However, generating ideas, making things, taking risks, and the people you choose to work with are." -- This observation is also true when developing internal tools in the company. The ecosystem you develop will change the behaviors of people who use it (and who you'll hire to leverage that), which will change the desired ecosystem and so forth, and so on. Vishal Kapur encourages us all to ask "Answerable questions" and experiment.

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Trying to Fix a CSS Bug
1 minutes read.

My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face, even in this difficult time.

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How to Make Things High-Quality
3 minutes read.

"If you don’t think a feature is worth the time it takes to make it great, then it is not rational to ship a crappier version simply because you have sunk time into it." -- Julie Zhuo covers the importance of acknowledging Sunk Cost fallacy and making sure you decide based on long term needs.

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Building Trust Through Effective Communication
4 minutes read.

Great tips from Dvir Segal to help build better relationships with your colleagues. It's easy to think we're good at effectively talking with each other, even more so when we are in leadership roles ("we were promoted, so we are probably good, no?"). The honest truth is that all of us should practice and improve our skills there. My favorites takeaways were: "Apologize with actions", "Reject victim mentality" and "Always check the temper."

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"Fail Fast" Is Almost Certainly the Most Damaging Startup Advice. Widely Quoted, Proven to Be Incredibly Wrong. (Thread)
3 minutes read.

Andrew Reed started an interesting thread with good points around it. The goal is not to pick a side, but rather to understand the mindset successful entrepreneurs and leaders practice to learn faster.

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Engineering Team Meeting: Format & Topic Ideas
5 minutes read.

When the engineering team is getting bigger (>20 engineers), you start thinking of which context you'd like to share to keep people aligned. Marc Gauthier offers a format you can experiment with, to cover a few areas while not taking too much time and hurt productivity.

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The Psychology of Founders Who Win in Downturns
7 minutes read.

James Currier offers mind shifts that every "Wartime leader" should embrace. These mind shifts can be relevant now during COVID-19, but also for managers where they see a significant change in their team or the business's needs. If you're a manager (at any level), I think this is a must-read and a resource to get back to when you're dealing with a crisis.

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Reflecting on My IC Path, Part I
8 minutes read.

I recommend reading all three parts of Yuan Liu's series: "I should treat leveling as a lagging indicator. The change has to start with my mindset and my behavior. After all, most every tech company requires you to already perform at the next level before leveling you up." -- The second part has a critical element in it, moving from writing code to learning the business: "While doing that, I got to put on my product manager hat and became the interface between the two teams."

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@nateliason: The idea that companies should discourage or prohibit side projects is so ridiculous. You wouldn't prohibit your employees from having hobbies... But suddenly if those hobbies make money they're bad? Come on.

@micsolana: life's too short to finish books you aren't enjoying