SWLW #410: Why are CEOs failing software engineers, Letter to (new) managers, 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

​​Why Are CEOs Failing Software Engineers?
13 minutes read.

"Whereas replication management is focused on transmuting recipes and ingredients (discovered value) into replicated goods (replicated value) by a committed date, creative management is passionately attempting to discover new recipes, to meet unmet needs, through a series of value attempts, most of which fail. Therefore, the purpose of a creative management system is to find previously unknown recipes (unknown value) and transmute it into discovered value – new recipes and new ingredients." -- Gene Bond captures the evolution of management very nicely, and how management (not only CEOs) should lead their teams in the software era.

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
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Culture

Effective Product Management
11 minutes read.

Craig McLuckie with a post I'd share with your R&D team. Yes, it's aimed at Product Managers, but it provides a broader context to how good looks like that will benefit everyone else. I'm planning on sharing the part about "Courage, positivity and relentlessness" with all the leaders in my group. This is true for everyone who deals with friction, which is common to all leadership positions.

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


Agile Is a Mushroom
3 minutes read.

I smiled while reading Ilja Vishnevski's post, and bookmarked it for next time someone throws "if you don't do Scrum, it's not Agile." I hope someone will write a similar post about Spotify Squad.

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
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What Are Your Favorite Examples of Technical Things That Don't Make Sense for Everyone Just Because Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, or Whoever Does Them? (Thread)
3 minutes read.

Play the game you can win now, and in the long run. Very rarely it would be copying from the big 4. Learn from others who are 1-2 years ahead, not 10-15 years.

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Jobs [sponsored]

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

Peopleware

Letter to (new) Managers
4 minutes read.

Linda Zhang shares 3 tips worth paying extra attention to when starting as a new manager. The first advice on "Game design and dream architect" is relevant in all management levels, as the game is becoming more complex (teams as individual units to consider).

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
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How to Waste Your Career, One Comfortable Year at a Time
5 minutes read.

Apoorva Govind shares a practical framework to look at when considering changing teams, projects, or companies. I use something similar to look at how far I am from my comfort zone and whether this is the type of challenge that makes me excited to experiment - failing is acceptable as it's hard to know how success looks like at certain scale. I like to define my Failure Indicators, so I'll know how to be less stupid.

Read it later via Pocket or Instapaper.
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Unlock Your Productivity by Taking Better Notes
4 minutes read.

Alex Bachuk will make you think about how you extract knowledge (and build your schedule) when consuming information: "Take control over your calendar. Engineering managers trade VSCode and IntelliJ for Outlook and Google calendar as their IDE. It's where you do your work. The schedule is how you set your priorities, allocate, and spend your time."

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

And finally, inspiring tweets...

@mckaywrigley: Walks are idea factories

@jackbutcher: The longer the game you’re playing, the less short term losses matter.



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 and my work by becoming a SWLW Patron. Thank you ❤️




Keep reading, keep learning.
-- Oren Ellenbogen.