SWLW #631: You can’t measure productivity, Ask uncommonly clear questions, and more.

Like always, I am sharing my best findings for the week. Under "Culture," you'll find content worth reading and sharing with others; you'll need others' help to pull it off. Under "Peopleware," you'll find content that can help you approach situations differently with new perspectives and frameworks.   

 

This Week's Favorite

Cognitive Load Is What Matters for Software Engineers
9 minutes read.

Cognitive load is an interesting way to judge how GenAI will change how people write code. It will also shift organizational structures the minute it can help managers hold and lead with a higher cognitive load by increasing their capacity.

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Culture

Lift Them Up 💪🏼
1 minute read.

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

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Bad Idea: You Can’t Measure Productivity
3 minutes read.

"We engage in activities (effort) to build features (output) that cause changes in customer behaviours (outcomes) that eventually lead to value to the organization (impact)." -- Jason Yip's formula for productivity is an interesting way to see how we can measure lagging indicators (impact) while we invest heavily (salaries) to experiment with ways to achieve it.

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Getting Off the VC Train
5 minutes read.

One of the most important things we can openly talk about is the variance of ways of running a company. The 2x2 table by Charles Hudson helps to see where your company can land. Build greatness. In all flavors.

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Small Teams: Why the Mentality of Lean and Small Always Wins
5 minutes read.

The traits of small teams showing excellence in delivering impact and value are spot on. It's incredibly hard to get it right, and often, you'd want to have a leader who takes pride in how the team runs (and how they contribute to it) versus measuring the size of the team vs. the size of the backlog.

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Peopleware

The Slow Death of the Hands-on Engineering Manager
4 minutes read.

This is an inspiring and pragmatic post by Anton Zaides on remaining technical and writing code as you become an Engineering Manager. Building small products (and not only adding features) can let you practice your product skills and let your creativity find an outlet.

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If You Want Uncommon Clarity and Results, Ask Uncommonly Clear Questions (Thread)
4 minutes read.

I enjoy and appreciate every content Shaan Puri puts out, and this thread is golden: "Questions are keys. They unlock doors."

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Relentless With Action. Patient With Results. Only Then.
3 minutes read.

Overnight success is very often a hidden, slow, painful, consistent effort. If you align yourself with the customer you're solving for (sometimes it can be you) to sustain a long relationship around the pain and challenges - solutions and impact might appear.

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And finally, inspiring tweets...

@gregisenberg: people spend money in predictable ways: if it saves them time, they'll pay. if it makes them money, they'll pay more. if it solves real pain, they'll pay regularly. if it gives them status, they'll pay anything.

@Kazanjy: Founders: Break down feature value in customer terms: Instead of: 'Advanced API' Say: '4 hour integration vs 2 week custom build' Instead of: 'Machine learning engine' Say: '85% reduction in false positives' Translate tech into outcomes.



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.