SWLW #557: In defense of strategy, Selecting the right product metrics, and more.

Heya,

As always, below you can read my best findings for the week.
 

This Week's Favorite

In Defense of Strategy - Execution Isn't Enough
16 minutes read.

"companies that are the best at execution are precisely the ones for which strategy is most important. They’re the only ones that have a shot. [...] If startups need to dig moats before their uncertainty runs out, strategy is how they do it. If moats are the what, strategy is the how. Every startup has a window of time during which they must simultaneously build something worth defending and build defenses around it." -- This article has so many business insights, making it another must-read by Packy McCormick. Share it with your teammates and discuss your company's strategy (or lack of).

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.

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Culture

How to Feel Like You’re Getting Ahead but Actually Procrastinate
1 minute read.

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

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.


The Most Powerful Law in Software: Earthly Constraints & Conway's Law
5 minutes read.

There is no doubt that Conway's Law is a powerful insight, but it's also a trap. People can use it to argue the wrong things that are almost impossible to falsify, hence always feel good and true. A useful way to use Conway's Law is to ask which constraints and limitations it creates and focus only on those worth it.

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.


Making the Bug Fixes Count. Or How to Fix Promotions in Tech Companies
4 minutes read.

"Our engineers cared about the product and wanted to polish it. But they also wanted to be promoted. And so we would deprioritize product polish for projects that looked better to a promotion committee." -- Joao Alves suggests excellent ways to align the right promotion incentives better. Polishing an existing product is often more impactful than increasing the product's surface.

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.


Selecting the Right Product Metrics
7 minutes read.

Jason Cohen shares one of the best frameworks I've seen to create a holistic view of the KPIs the team can follow: "The most valuable, strategic outcomes are often even more distant from the product team, whether because they are down-stream, or because they are second-order effects for the customer. We control “satisfaction” more than self-motivated external “advocacy,” yet the latter is clearly not only the ultimate measure of the success of the product, but also drives efficient growth. Product teams should take ownership of creating those outcomes, while not allowing those lagging, multi-factor metrics to be the only way we measure progress."

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.

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Peopleware

So You Want to Hire for Developer Tooling
7 minutes read.

"What you’re looking for, I think, is someone who can take “developer experience” and push that forward holistically by whatever way is necessary. The hardest things they will have to do is gain the trust of the entire engineering organization, buy-in for their approach, and deliver perceived value and improvements." -- Many great gems in this post by Hazel Weakly. Understanding where to focus on and how much time to invest in each area while considering Dunber's Numbers is a great way to think about when investing in development tools to speed up the team.

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.


When Most People Encounter an Interesting / Seemingly Useful Framework, They Think the Most Important Next Thing Is to Understand How to Apply the Framework. That Is a Mistake. (Thread)
3 minutes read.

Shreyas Doshi with another great piece of advice as someone who shares many frameworks he used before: "Frameworks are intuition, packaged. [...] If you learn about a framework that seems to address the problem you are facing – goal-setting, prioritization, delegation, promotions, decision-making, whatever else – first you must understand why this framework seems to work, then you must apply the principles behind the framework to create something that works better for your context."

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.


On Levelling, Learning and Development
5 minutes read.

Robbie Clutton shares helpful mental models to consider when you build a career ladder in your company while reminding us: "All models are wrong, but some are useful. [...] Charlie Munger, legendary investor of Berkshire Hathaway, recommends applying multiple models to a problem to solve, in the hope that one model might find weaknesses where another does not, and to seek any overlap suggesting a way forward across the models applied. None of the models above by themselves might be the right one for you, your company and situation to apply to learning and development, but perhaps a few of them overlaid might show a path forward."

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.

And finally, inspiring tweets...

@asmartbear: Books are still the best way to get big new ideas and directions. Either because it shows you an insight... or because you disagree with it so much, you discover your own insight

@JamesClear: Patience only works if you do. Doing the work + patience = results. Planning to work + patience = you’re just waiting.



p.s. if you're interested in joining SWLW's Slack channel, simply reply to this email and let me know. If you're leading a team, consider writing your Manager README (it's free) or getting my e-book and interviews Leading Snowflakes: The New Engineering Manager's Handbook. You can also support me by becoming a SWLW Patron. Thank you ❤️




Keep reading, keep learning.
-- Oren Ellenbogen.