SWLW #392: Different types of 1:1 conversations visualized, The work-centric Standup and more

I hope that you and your family are doing well, and you are able to find a new rhythm in this hard situation.

As some of you know, my day job for the past 5.5 years is serving as the VP Engineering at Forter, a company that prevents fraud and abuse on some of the largest eCommerce platforms globally. Forter has been the best place to work at as an employee in terms of mission, team, and energy. If you had changes in your company due to #covid-19, and you want to work with me, this one is for you: I'm looking to hire 15 talented software engineers to join our growing R&D team in Israel (we're considering remote as well). Here is where you can read about our eng challenges and apply. You can also reply to this email to apply or let me know about people you know and recommend.

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

This Week's Favorite

​​Different Types of 1:1 Conversations Visualized
3 minutes read.

"This is like putting conversations through console.log() and analyzing active talking time plus nodes and branches of conversation." -- This visualization by Neer made me think of my last conversations with my teammates. It's helpful to see where we don't listen enough and create a conversation structure we didn't intend to have.

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

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Culture

Bug Fixing Ways...
1 minute read.

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

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
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10 Tips for Growing a Globally Distributed Engineering Team
12 minutes read.

Jason Smale from Zendesk gave me a lot of food for thought for scaling engineering teams across the globe: Hiring teams that can be autonomous (leading a product), thinking of how to bundle teams together by timezeone, using an existing employee to relocate and build a team around them (planting a "seed"), investing in writing and standartize your process & tools, and many other gems.

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


Learn Fast and Read Things: Why (And How) We Started a Technical Reading Group
3 minutes read.

Adopting a format that will enable compounded learning in your company can be invaluable. I like the format suggested by Adam Perelman as it creates structure and sets healthy peer pressure to read and come prepared to discuss the material. Is that something you can use in your company? Who would appreciate it and help you to start?

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
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The Work-Centric Standup
4 minutes read.

I like the framing and shift in focus Leeor Engel suggests to apply in daily standups, talking about outcome rather than output. It can cover not only tasks but also fresh production incidents lessons learned, or interesting business context the team needs to be aware of to deliver.

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

Jobs [sponsored]

Head of Engineering @ WorkOS
WorkOS is a developer platform that makes apps enterprise-ready. (API for SSO/SAML/etc.) It's hiring for Head of Eng! This is a unique opportunity to join a fast-growing and fully distributed company.
 

 Looking to hire for your team? Promote your open positions on SWLW! 

Peopleware

Idea Generation
4 minutes read.

Sam Altman wrote one of my favorite blog posts about how to develop a Maker mindset: "It’s important to be in the right kind of environment, and around the right kind of people. You want to be around people who have a good feel for the future, will entertain improbable plans, are optimistic, are smart in a creative way, and have a very high idea flux. These sorts of people tend to think without the constraints most people have, not have a lot of filters, and not care too much what other people think. The best ideas are fragile; most people don’t even start talking about them at all because they sound silly. Perhaps most of all, you want to be around people who don’t make you feel stupid for mentioning a bad idea, and who certainly never feel stupid for doing so themselves."

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
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12 Fully Remote Work Observations as an Engineering Manager, Three Months In, in a Company With Distributed Offices to Start With. It Feels Like “execution-Only” Work Is the Same, Even More Focused. Work Requiring Group Creativity & Coordination Is Less Efficient (Thread)
4 minutes read.

This thread by Gergely Orosz is how I feel about work currently during covid-19. I wonder what it will do to employees' retention when people are less connected (emotionally) to each other. It is still very hard to replace f2f time with video. You cannot walk together, it's hard to act naturally, and it kills (for me) the desire to start small talk. Where do you stand about it? Did you discuss it with your teammates? We'd love to hear your thoughts on our SWLW Slack community (reply to this email and I'll send you an invite).

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


Time Machines & Leadership: 10 Things I Wish I Knew at the Start
15 minutes read.

David Boyne shares many great insights and tips from his career. I jumped between areas that are critical for me today (e.g. "Connecting worlds"), then moved to areas that many of my friends and teammates consult with me about (e.g. "Make time to learn" and "Communicate effectively"). Who should you share it with? Who can benefit from it now?

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

And finally, inspiring tweets...

@searchbrat: 99% of group brainstorming is sunk cost. Solo brainstorm -> share concepts -> get feedback -> iterate -> pool all concepts from group -> use best parts.

@alexeyguzey: Something I wish I understood when I was a teenager: 90% of adults are utterly unambitious. When they give you life advice, they will suggest things that satisfy their personal ambitions, not your ambitions. Be extra cautious around adults you like and respect (parents, profs..)



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p.s.2 are you leading a team of engineers? Write your Manager Readme or get my book Leading Snowflakes: The New Engineering Manager's Handbook.

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Keep reading, keep learning.
-- Oren Ellenbogen.