Stripe’s Will Larson on Designing a Performance Management System from Scratch

In Engineering, we tend to hold this idea that these people systems—career ladders, performance reviews, calibration—are these evil things that aren’t very valuable. They’re thought of as bureaucracy. But it’s a shame.

Hiring your first 10 engineers

Hiring at startups is easier said than done. Closing your first engineer can feel like an uphill battle. Your lack of profitability will make many pause. Then there’s the fact that that you’re competing with offers from companies with deeper pockets.

Giving Feedback Is Hard. Really Hard

Giving feedback can be scary. We try to avoid it wherever we can. Luckily, there is an easy way to improve your feedback. To make sure it is received well and it influences change.

Is It Ever OK to Lose Your Sh*t? The Joys and Costs of Managing Through Anger.

I recently bumped into someone who had worked for me, decades ago, when we were jamming hard to build a startup. “I was thinking of you”, he said. “You were the only manager I ever had that made me cry”.

Developing Leaders: What To Do When Your Team Grows Too Big

Whether this is a conversation you have in your head, or one that’s happened to you in talking to your boss, you know the hard truth: as your team grows, it becomes geometrically more complex to manage your team.

How to become an effective software engineer

When I first started my journey as a software engineer I quickly noticed the great amount of cognitive load involved when working on enterprise projects. There are many moving targets throughout the execution of a plan.

Internet-era ways of working

An earlier draft of this list, stuck to the PD office door Our definition of digital says: “Applying the culture, processes, business models & technologies of the internet-era to respond to people’s raised expectations.” Once they’ve heard that, the next thing people always ask us is: “OK.

Why Great Managers Matter

Having managers isn’t something we do at Buffer just because it’s what other companies usually do. We’ve always been proud to be different and to follow the path less travelled — even when it comes to people management.

How to Fuel Energy and Explore Possibility

The need for a quick solution prevents leaders from asking powerful questions. What if questions are more powerful than statements?

Answer these 10 questions to understand if you’re a good manager

Something I struggled with as a new manager was finding a sense of accomplishment, and as I’ve moved on to manage managers, I’ve seen this become a challenge for them, too.

17 Essential Hacks Every Scrum Master Should Know

Here is a list of cool tips and tricks for all the tools we love to use as scrum masters and facilitators. If you have any more share them with us at @agileadventures using #ScrumMasterHacks. We will update the list with the best ones as a testament to your ingenuity.

The State of the GitHub Octoverse

Millions of developers use GitHub to share code and build businesses. You’re here to do your job, tinker with new technologies, contribute to open source projects, and so much more. The State of the Octoverse reflects on 2018 so far, teamwork across time zones, and 1.1 billion contributions.

Escape From the Feature Roadmap to Outcome-driven Development

I’ve made a lot of roadmaps in my time. In fact, in the first three years I was at WorldRemit, I counted that I represented our company roadmap in 10 different ways.

7 Code Review Best Practices and Dynamics You Can Identify and Act On: Part 1

A traditional perspective is that code review allows development teams to find bugs before they hit production. While not entirely wrong, we believe that’s a narrow view and there is far more value to be realized within the review process.

You’re Not Managing a Team of Software Engineers, You’re Managing a Team of Writers

I once asked an engineer who I greatly admired, how he started building the system that he (successfully) submitted for his PhD. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but probably something about careful structural design, some deep thinking about architecture, maybe some blinding insight.

Why geeks should speak

As a geek, there's one skill that's helped me level-up professionally more than anything else: public speaking. Whether it's doing product demos, presenting an idea to my team, or being on a podcast, it's a skill I benefit from every day.