SWLW #643: The level above mine, Choose good quests, 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

The Level Above Mine
5 minutes read.

"It's a general rule, I've observed, that you can't discriminate between levels too far above your own." -- Remember that when you interview candidates, or listen to someone else's advice. They might be five steps ahead, or a hundred.

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Culture

Escaping Reality vs. Escaping the Internet
1 minute read.

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

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Choose Good Quests
5 minutes read.

I tried reading it from a place of curiosity rather than judgment. Are we working on problems the world (or starting smaller - our community) needs to progress on to make life better? Are we proud of our impact? "As a culture, we have a tendency to celebrate status that emerges from net worth and network signaling rather than the work ethic of a second-act founder using his net worth and network, while he grinds on a project, to drive the world forward. This is totally backwards."

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Everything I Know About Shipping Code Faster
5 minutes read.

Good pointers into where you can optimize your day and squeeze out more productive hours. Consider where you're lacking feedback loops or how you can shorten feedback loops dramatically to enable faster (or new) iterations.

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Small (dynamic) Teams
5 minutes read.

It's always interesting to see how companies decide to set structures and explain the motivation behind it. The "small team" part is less interesting for me as I focus more on the tradeoffs they've done and the "escape hatch" they've put in place, for example, (a) a team of 6 is not really small or "We try to keep moves infrequent and when needed. We anticipate moving people roughly every 3-9 months. We'd rather hire new people than create gaps by shifting people around." The power in this documented philosophy is alignment and context to fit their needs as a company.

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Peopleware

Teach to Learn: Why Sharing What You Know Makes You Smarter
4 minutes read.

You can often use the "teaching as learning" method when onboarding new teams or products. When new teammates join, you can ask them to synthesize their learnings and update the onboarding documents to fit newcomers better.

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The Hidden Ways Leaders Unintentionally Punish Their Top Performers
6 minutes read.

The pitfalls shared by Claire Lew are spot on. I think most of us focus (if we have awareness) on "Stacking on more, without taking anything off" but I think it's the one you shouldn't worry about as much as "Assuming you know what they're motivated by."

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The Early Days of Building a Startup Are Really, Really Hard. The Later Years Don't Get That Much Easier.
2 minutes read.

Building a business is a grind. At any point. Risks and upsides differ at different stages, but it's always hard. Dharmesh Shah has been the CTO of HubSpot for 18 years. He knows.

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And finally, inspiring tweets...

@drgurner: Being on time, is a form of respect. Late? No one thinks you're busy, they think you're a poor time manager. Get yourself together. Be the first one in the room. The person you're meeting with deserves your best.

@esthercrawford: The most important choice you’ll make is who you spend your life with. When we meet new people my husband hypes me up so hard it makes me cringe… but having a partner who is genuinely proud of you and wants to see you win at everything is a game-changer. Don’t settle for less.



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.