SWLW #402: Executive communication, Maintaining high morale at work 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 always, below you can read my best findings for the week -
 

This Week's Favorite

​​Executive Communication (Video)
53 minutes read.

This talk by Michael Dearing on the Minto's Pyramid is one of the best videos I've seen about how to communicate clearly as a leader. Added to my Anki Notes app as there are so many golden nuggets in it, I want to remember and apply forever.

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

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Culture

When a Bootstrapped Competitor Is Growing Faster Than Your Venture Funded Company
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.
Share it via Twitter or email.


How to Make Your Data Science Team Faster (And Speed Up Progress)
5 minutes read.

Greg Detre offers helpful tips to dive deeper into the emotional analysis of "we're moving too slow!". I'd also consider setting early expectations in advance (otherwise people will always feel we can do more), and clearly state what will not be promoted. Lastly, communicate once a month (at least) changes in plans - features that were promoted (new or existing), things that we had to drop, and things we've learned. Often the problem of lack of speed is lack of visibility. Easier said than done, but it's a skill worth practicing.

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


Maintaining High Morale at Work Is Harder Than Ever. What Tactics/Ideas Have Been Effective at Your Company? I'll Start With a Few I've Seen: (1) More Frequent Company Updates (2) Share More Customer Success Stories With Your Team (3) Sponsor Recurring Grubhub+Zoom Company Lunches (Thread)
3 minutes read.

Leo Polovets started a thread you can use to borrow some ideas to experiment in your company. Got more tips to share? This can be a great thread in our SWLW community (or replying to Leo's thread).

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


When You Hear _______, Pay Attention
4 minutes read.

John Cutler's list is excellent, as it points to potential "org smells" or "process smells" that should catch your attention. As programmers, we are taught to look for "code smells" (things you should try to avoid or pay extra attention to). It helps to raise awareness and then figure out what is the best approach given different constraints. What would be possible answers to each situation? How would you know what to use when? Use it as a question to ask candidates who apply for managerial or technical leadership positions.

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

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Peopleware

My Favorite Product Management Templates: 1-Pagers, Strategy, GTM and More
4 minutes read.

Skim through the list Lenny Rachitsky shared and dive deeper into areas that keep you busy these days. Worth sharing internally with different product teams as we can take many ideas from these templates.

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


Good Managers, What They Do, How They Think & Act. (Thread)
4 minutes read.

Shreyas Doshi (follow him on Twitter, he's fantastic!) with yet another golden thread on management. My favorites: "Good managers know that fixing broader company culture is an important part of their role as a designated leader within the company." and "Good managers can discern good intent from bad. They have zero tolerance for self-serving behavior that sabotages the team or the company, even if it’s coming from an otherwise highly competent team member."

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


The Four Quadrants of Conformism
8 minutes read.

"The conventional-minded say, as they always do, that they don't want to shut down the discussion of all ideas, just the bad ones." -- Paul Graham made me think about the aggressively conventional-minded vs. aggressively independent-minded personas we have at work. To keep your "startup culture" as you scale, these two personas have to co-exists. The company's action (e.g. who to promote/fire) needs to encourage a discussion that doesn't end in a Zero-Sum Game where one needs to win, and one to lose. Listen carefully to both sides. Get them to appreciate the actions and path each side does to promote their ideas, as they won't agree on the destination or goal.

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

And finally, inspiring tweets...

@thepatwalls: 95% of people create nothing and have tons of opinions. 5% of people create everything and have very few opinions.

@meseali: Underrated: Promoting a writing culture within companies.



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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.