Currencies (On Motivating Different People)
- Ed Batista tl;dr: Ed dicusses conventional approaches to motivation, referred to as "kicks in the ass" or KITA. These can be both negative (i.e. criticism) or positive (i.e. rewards). While rewards might induce “movement” or compliance, they don't necessarily equate to genuine motivation e.g. increasing compensation. Leadership experts introduce the concept of "currencies" as resources that can be exchanged to “gain influence.” Examples of these currencies include inspiration-related ones like "Vision" and "Values," task-related ones such as "Resources" and "Challenge," and personal ones like "Gratitude" and "Comfort." Ed emphasizes that while these currencies can be powerful tools, it's essential to discern if they lead to compliance or deeper commitment.featured in #449
4 Engineering Slides CEOs Love
tl;dr: The article shows the layout of four key slides, designed for an audience of non-engineering CEOs, presenting: (1) Overall Health Update - Snapshot of the team's production pipeline, efficiency, and developer experience compared to industry benchmarks. (2) Engineering Investment Strategy - Impact and execution health of ongoing projects, guiding resource allocation decisions. (3) Engineering Investment Updates - Highlights key project investments, detailing headcount, budget, business impact, and execution scores. (4) Engineering Health Update - Review of engineering metrics related to operational stability and bug tracking.featured in #448
The Ultimate Guide To Developer Counter-Productivity
- John Cutler tl;dr: John highlights 20+ specific areas where developers often lose productivity, including: (1) Reactive, unplanned work. (2) Context switching and startup costs. (3) Non-value-adding admin & compliance work. (5) Ineffective planning. (6) Dependency management overhead. (7) Ineffective meetings and communication. (8) Redundant manager briefing & orientation. (9) Consensus seeking and decision-making drag. (10) Ineffective collaboration arrangements. And more.featured in #448
CSV Import Solutions: A Build Vs Buy Analysis
tl;dr: Deciding between building or buying a CSV import tool? We surveyed companies on their top considerations when building or evaluating a data import solution, and put together an analysis to help you make the best decision for your team. Get the guide.featured in #448
The Journey To Staff Engineer: Main Takeaways
tl;dr: These takeaways are a roadmap for engineers aspiring to reach higher levels in their careers, based off of a conversation with several staff engineers at larger tech companies: (1) Make your work visible: It's essential not just to do the work but to ensure that others are aware of it. (2) Build relationships within and outside of your team. (3) Learn to lead: Staff engineers often influence without having the direct power of a manager. (4) Work on high-impact and complex technical projects, ideally, with others. (5) Promotion timelines vary and not everyone gets promoted quickly.featured in #447
Engineering Unblocked — Interviews With Leaders From Grammarly, Stripe, Webflow And More
tl;dr: A lot of academic research has gone into software engineering productivity. But unblocking organizations and teams in practice takes much more than theoretical knowledge. That’s why Engineering Unblocked brings you interviews with software leaders who have first-hand experience in navigating the challenges of scale, complexity, and growth.featured in #447
Performance & Compensation (For Eng Execs)
- Will Larson tl;dr: Will discusses: (1) The conflicting goals between those designing, operating, and participating in performance and compensation processes. (2) How to run performance processes, including calibrations, and their challenges. (3) How to participate in a compensation process effectively. (4) How often you should run performance and compensation cycles. (5) Why your goal should be an effective process rather than a perfect one.featured in #446
On Sizing Your Engineering Organizations
- Kellan Elliot-McCrea tl;dr: Kellan discusses the intricacies of determining optimal team sizes in organizations. He emphasizes that growth should address specific challenges not just increase numbers. Effective software development is best achieved by small, focused teams, which serve as units of concurrency. As teams expand, upgraded organizational infrastructure becomes essential. Kellan highlights the impacts of turnover, plan changes, and onboarding processes and suggests that a clear goal-setting approach, rather than arbitrary growth, leads to better outcomes.featured in #446
Building Meta’s Threads App (Real-World Engineering Challenges)
- Gergely Orosz tl;dr: “Building Threads was a whirlwind. We started in January 2023 and launched in June 2023. Five months from zero to one of the fastest-growing apps ever,” which saw 100M downloads within five days of its launch. Gergely covers": (1) Building Threads. (2) Technology choices and engineering approaches. (3) Planning for launch. (4) The launch. (5) Learnings and next steps.featured in #446
featured in #446