Software Lead Weekly Software Lead Weekly

How to Create Luck
6 minutes read.

Thinking about how to produce more opportunities for yourself is always important. The idea of moving between exploration/preparation (trying out many things, observing, and learning) to prospecting/leverage (seeking problems or ideas based on patterns you can detect faster than others) is helpful. What are you doing to produce more "luck"?

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When You Delete One Line of CSS
1 minutes read.

My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face.

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Controlling Your Own Destiny: Dependencies & Failure Points
6 minutes read.

"In times when everyone has transitioned from FOMO (fear of missing out) to SOBS (shame of being suckered), you're going to be met with a lot of intense skepticism. The more you can be in control of your own destiny, rather than at the mercy of someone else's faithfulness, the better off you'll be." -- Kyle Harrison makes you think about the dependencies your company is facing this year, how it fits your narrative for the next few years, and the stories you'll set for this year.

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Playing Long Games: Focus on Companies With Moats and Relevant Products
5 minutes read.

Every company needs to figure out how to launch new capabilities to either strengthen their immediate value and, eventually, produce a new offering to create the next "S" curve for future revenues - "Companies can also lengthen innings by delivering innovations that delight customers in ways that would have been unpredictable for any reasonable forecaster at time zero."

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Too Busy
4 minutes read.

"There’s a huge difference between thinking about your goals and actually pursuing them. Actually pursuing your goals is incredibly hard work. It takes a lot of discipline to sit down, write a detailed plan for yourself, and make decisions every single day that move you in the right direction." -- Figuring out what you want to achieve in life and learning how to bend reality to fit is a superpower. Very few have a good answer for that. I'm not one of them just yet, but I'm getting better at it.

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Owning Your Unique Experience
5 minutes read.

A growth mindset doesn't assume waste or completion. We're always learning and improving - shifting from what if to what did we learn and how can we leverage it in the future. Jean Hsu with a powerful framing: "Now from a place of owning your unique experience, what is the story of your career thus far? How does what you want to do next fit into that narrative?"

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Getting a Job as an Engineering Executive
8 minutes read.

Will Larson wrote a post I wish I had years ago. It's helpful to understand your negotiation strategy (and what to expect) at different stages of the company. I'm sure it's a bit different in every country, and not only at various stages, but it's an excellent framework to start with.

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As a Staff+ Engineer Leading Multi-Team Projects, When Do You Code?
2 minutes read.

"Your mental health and happiness are vital for sustained impact, and as Staff+ you’re given a lot of trust and freedom — knowing that you have the company’s best interest at heart." -- Sustainability is everything. Joel Kemp with a great tip on how and when to balance project leadership, coding, and mentorship.

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@paulg: Reading won't be obsolete till writing is, and writing won't be obsolete till thinking is.

@mbrandolph: My advice is simple: Find out what you want to do, then spend a long time — ideally with a group of really brilliant people — figuring out how best to do it.