SWLW #419: Blinded by "how", Managing Staff-plus Engineers, 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

​​Blinded by “how”
6 minutes read.

Personal growth is often bound to the companies you've joined, the teams you were a member of, and the projects you participated in and led. This is the power of inertia. You learn (only?) to get the job done. Are you blinded by the "how"? Can you reach escape velocity when it comes to your personal growth? This post by Andy Matuschak will give you some food for thought.

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

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Culture

When Your Engineering Team Only Has Full Stack Developers
1 minute read.

My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face, even in this difficult time. I have to admit, this looks like fun to me.

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


Owning Your Onboarding (Specially in Remote Work)
5 minutes read.

Onboarding experience should allow significant context-gathering time and not only "getting things done". Be extra careful with experienced individuals who join the team - delivering value quickly without understanding the need is a dangerous pattern. Without proper context and understanding of the business, it will limit their potential long-term impact. It will manifest in the quality of ideas they'll bring, the decisions they'll make, and the trust they'll build with stakeholders around them.

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


How Big Technical Changes Happen at Slack
12 minutes read.

This post by Keith Adams and Johnny Rodgers can help guide software engineers through a significant system change. Share it with your team, and consider where to leverage this framework for new and existing technological experimentation.

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


Lessons for Early Stage Founders
6 minutes read.

"what would have to be true in order for us to feel good about our progress at the end of the month?" -- this is excellent advice on how to pick goals or set clear expectations on R&D velocity goals. It's easy to measure meaningless metrics to feel good. Like "busy work," this can create the wrong incentives and optimize the wrong things.

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

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Peopleware

My Approach to 1-On-1s
4 minutes read.

Use these guiding questions and topics around 1:1s to introduce some more structure and go deeper. Bookmark it and open it once a week or two, and see which questions you wish to bring for your next meeting.

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


Managing Staff-Plus Engineers
4 minutes read.

This post should be part of your recommended posts to Engineering Managers. One more I'd add to it as "treat them as if they're already there" - due to the high impact (and high friction) efforts senior engineers lead, there is a higher risk of causing significant damage. For example, they might express their opinion too strongly or miss critical feedback. It might reduce the morale in the team or force a substantial rewrite of a system. Try to write with them how the ideal execution would be like when they start. Be open about your expectations and provide them with constant feedback so they could improve.

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

And finally, inspiring tweets...

@jackbutcher: You can become very hard to replace by simply doing what you say you’re going to do.

@jackbutcher: To add value, subtract complexity.



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.