SWLW #434: 5th generation management, Things your manager might not know and more.

Heya,

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

​​Fifth-Generation Management
12 minutes read.

A lot of interesting observations (and new things to read about!) in this post by Venkatesh Rao, on the relationships between business management and military evolution: "On average, business management generations lag military generations by one."

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

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Culture

"The Titles of Elon Musk and Zach Kirkhorn Have Changed to Technoking of Tesla and Master of Coin, Respectively."
1 minute read.

My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face, even in this difficult time. Which title would you claim?

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


Things Your Manager Might Not Know
5 minutes read.

Julia Evans wrote a blog post that everyone should read. It's hard to know what to expect from our managers, so I suggest trying to put it on the table and have a conversation on mutual expectations. Think of ways to lean towards "push-based communication" more than you're feeling comfortable. Don't assume it's noise or not important.

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


Staff Design: Navigating the Individual Contributor Career Path
4 minutes read.

Brian Lovin launched a cool project for product designers who want to progress on the IC route. Worth sharing with relevant teammates to inspire and challenge them in their career growth.

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


Something Important for Someone Important: What to Work On?
4 minutes read.

I like the framework Siddharth Sarda offers to make decisions on what to work on. It helps to validate alignment between the organization's needs, your manager, and yourself.

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

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Peopleware

Managers: What Do You Do When Your Teammate Shares Their Grief?
5 minutes read.

Lara Hogan is such a wonderful coach, giving us the tools to deal with situations most of us never learned how to deal with. Taking a step back and being a good listener (vs. problem solver) is not trivial. We often want to solve the problem and make it go away.

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


The First 20 Hours - How to Learn Anything (Video)
19 minutes read.

Josh Kaufman will make you smile while feeling more optimistic about your ability to learn new skills and practices. A great reminder that life is exciting and full of adventures if we have the right mindset.

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


Write Simply
3 minutes read.

"When I write a sentence that seems too complicated, or that uses unnecessarily intellectual words, it doesn't seem fancy to me. It seems clumsy. There are of course times when you want to use a complicated sentence or fancy word for effect. But you should never do it by accident." Just like software has value only when used, words have value only when someone reads them. Aim for value, not for perception.

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

And finally, inspiring tweets...

@brandonthezhang: Unhappy people will tear you down. Happy people will build you up.

@rands: Blaming a tool for your productivity is like blaming a pencil for your bad writing.



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.