/Leadership

Be Plainspoken

- Andrew Bosworth tl;dr: Andrew discusses the superpower of being plainspoken. “Our desire to maintain harmony can cause us to be indirect about uncomfortable truths. Our desire to influence can cause us to pre-emptively address every arcane objection. Our desire to impress can cause us to use more language than necessary. And the expectations we have internalized about corporate communication often cause us to write in a way we never would to our friends.”

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The Next Larger Context

- Camille Fournier tl;dr: For senior engineers who are looking to step up: “When we are looking to do a larger project than the ones we’ve done before, we need to step out of the context that we normally operate in. When you look one context bigger, you will see immediate new opportunities that you can tackle in adjacent areas… That is where you will find your growth.” Camille highlights this advice with real world examples.

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Extract The Kernel

- Will Larson tl;dr: “I’ve started to notice recurring communication challenges between executives and the folks they work with. The most frequent issue I see is when a literal communicator insists on engaging in the details with a less literal executive. I call the remedy, “extracting the kernel.” Focus on the insight or perspective within the question.

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Creating A Culture Of Listening

- Kim Scott tl;dr: Kim contrasts (1) Quiet listening: listening with periods of silence to encourage others to talk with (1) Loud listening: saying things to prompt a reaction from others and have them challenge you. Whether through quiet or loud listening, leaders must create an environment where everyone's ideas are heard, debated, and tested. Embrace diverse perspectives, empower employees to contribute, and establish systems for generating ideas and addressing concerns.

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Cognitive Load Developer's Handbook

- Artem Zakirullin tl;dr: “We spend far more time reading and understanding code than writing it. Therefore, the amount of cognitive load we need to build in our brains in order to understand code is crucial.” This post looks at every decision, every trendy buzzword, and every fancy technology through the lens of cognitive load.”

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DevEx: What Actually Drives Productivity

- Abi Noda tl;dr: The 3 pillars are: (1) Reducing friction: minimizing obstacles, inefficiencies, and complexities in the development process. (2) Optimizing workflows: streamlining processes, automating repetitive tasks, and integrating tools and technologies. (3) Enabling a state of flow: creating an environment that fosters concentration, creativity, and intrinsic motivation.

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Kicking The Can Down The Road (On Hard Decisions)

- Ed Batista tl;dr: “How can you stop kicking the can down the road? A first step is simply being mindful of the factors above and asking whether any of them apply to you. And despite the wide range of possible scenarios, note a theme that runs through all of them: emotions. Fear of the costs. Excessive optimism. Guilt about the past. Overwhelm. Distrust.” The key is identifying your full range of feelings, labeling them accurately, determining which ones are preventing you from making a decision, and asking whether that response is truly justified.

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Alignment Gets Expensive. Don’t Skimp On It

- Jessica Kerr tl;dr: “Alignment gives us the context to make good decisions in our scope. It also lets us question decisions outside our scope, constructively, because we can notice when we learn something inconsistent with our expectations. That catches discrepancies early, and gets us back on track together.”

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10 Years Of Tech Debt Research

- Abi Noda tl;dr: Abi recommends to better communicate and manage tech debt by: (1) Moving away from using the phrase “technical debt.” (2) Defining what the problem really is. He explains why in this post.

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A New Way To Measure Developer Productivity – From The Creators Of DORA And SPACE

- Gergely Orosz tl;dr: The new framework is a “developer-centric approach to developer productivity” illustrating that DevEx is comprised of 3 pillars - flow state, feedback loops and cognitive load. Gergely interviews the team behind this framework presenting their approach and implementation.

featured in #415