SWLW #491: 11 promises from a manager, Employee-VC alignment, and more

Heya,

Oh my. I made a huge mistake and missed so many emails from you due to a (filtering rules) configuration mistake. What's even more embarrassing is that it took me months to detect it, so my apologies for missing your emails. I'm catching up and promise to get back to you.

As always, below you can read my best findings for the week. If you want to support my work or join SWLW community in Slack - scroll down to the bottom of the email to see how.
 

This Week's Favorite

​​How to Find Great Developers by Having Them Read Code
5 minutes read.

"Reading probes the most fundamental skills. Reading code is probably 95% of what a developer does as part of their job. Whether a developer is writing new code, fixing bugs, or creating documentation, they are constantly reading." -- I love this approach, and honestly, I could have used it a lot more in the past. Share it with people who interview engineers and see what they think about it.

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

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Culture

When a Designer Is on Three Teams at Once
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.


Writing for Engineers
7 minutes read.

Writing is thinking. Nurturing a culture where writing is appreciated can help you scale the company. It can help convey an idea and iterate on it with a few people until it's solid. It leverages remote working (hybrid or fully remote) via sync communication. Share Heinrich Hartmann's post with your teammates and help each other improve your writing.

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


Employee-VC Alignment
5 minutes read.

"Talented people have many options on where to channel their hard work, time, and effort. Founders and investors that are paying attention to what they want will win in today’s startup battleground." -- Nikhil Basu Trivedi captures well what we will see in the next few years to align positive outcomes for many employees rather than the founders and management team.

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


The 40% Rule
4 minutes read.

I feel that this post should be something all employees working for a SaaS company should understand. Maybe today, in 2022, more than ever. The rule of 40% is a good measurement for the company's health.

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

Jobs [sponsored]

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Peopleware

Efficiency: Managing Infrastructure Costs
7 minutes read.

In a time when efficiency at medium-sized and large companies (e.g. your cloud cost is above $5-10M per year) is critical, this post will guide you on how to look at and optimize your costs. Make sure you have one experienced engineer owning this effort if you don't have a team (or don't need it yet).

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


Non-Obvious Traits of Winners (Thread)
5 minutes read.

Another excellent thread by Sahil Bloom. The insights in it are far from trivial. Some of my favorites: "They identify their unique edge relative to the world. They play games that favor that edge—they exploit it, over and over again," "Imagine your emotional state as a wave—with ups and downs above and below a baseline. The amplitude of the wave is the measure of the peak swings vs. the baseline. Winners find a way to reduce the amplitude," "Want to get ahead in life? Start genuinely rooting for others to succeed. The most successful people have realized: When one of us wins, we all win—winning spreads. If you adopt that mentality, you’ll become a magnet for the highest quality people."

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


11 Promises From a Manager
3 minutes read.

This should be like the "Manager Oath". Each point there by Matthew Rechs is so simple and yet so powerful.

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

And finally, inspiring tweets...

@gdb: A debugging technique I've been perfecting recently: when it's late at night and I've been banging my head on some bug (but have my mind fully wrapped around the symptoms), go to sleep. In the morning, usually solve it within 15 minutes. Subconscious really knows what it's doing.

@alexwestco: Ask people for their advice and they'll give your their lottery numbers.



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.