🦜 New Leaders, Culture Formula, OKRs at Scale, Bad 5 Whys, "I Don't Know!", OOPS Write-ups: TMW #244 by CTO Craft
Hello again, welcome to the week!
This week's Bytes session will be with the brilliant Suzan Bond, who coaches leaders around the world - she'll be chatting with us on Thursday at 6pm UK time about ways to support brand new leaders - worth watching if you're promoting ICs into leadership and management positions, or if you're about to make the leap yourself. Don't worry if you can't make it - all Bytes sessions are recorded and available on Crowdcast immediately afterwards: https://crowdcast.io/ctocraft
After CTO Craft Con a couple of weeks ago, several attendees reached out having watched the sessions on the final day, which was focused on Burnout and Stress; it's been a horrific time in our industry, pressures are high, trust is low, good talent is scarce and expensive, and even though we're almost two years in, working fully or partly remotely still isn't settled and natural for many of us. I'll be meeting some of those that reached out this week for a chat.
If you're struggling at the moment, reach out to me, either on Slack or by replying to this email; I'm happy to help if I can
Until next week!
Andy @ CTO Craft
CTO Craft Bytes
Helping New Leaders Succeed, Thu 2 Dec 2021 at 18:00 GMT
When new leaders fail the impact is felt by everyone. Side chatter increases, morale dips, work slows, and eventually, critical goals are in jeopardy. Suzan Bond will draw upon her experiences as a former COO, executive coach and leadership consultant and explore why new leaders fail and what we can do to support them.
Reads of the Week
Exceptional Off-Cycle Compensation Adjustments for Software Engineers in 2021
The data is in: many companies have taken a drastic step to adjust compensation during the year, responding to a beyond heated tech hiring market and attrition numbers for senior engineers rarely seen before.
Software development pushes us to get better as people
Have you ever been on a really good software team? There’s this feeling of connectedness, of shared purpose. We know what we’re building, and we are skilled at building it together. This kind of team can grow some amazing software.
About our Partners
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Culture & People
The Culture Formula
Good innovation culture isn’t measured in foosball tables or beer fridges. It can’t just be painted on like an afterthought. Your company culture is made up of all the existing habits and norms that each person brings to work with them every day.
The Managers Driving the Great Resignation
Business leaders everywhere are grappling with the causes of the Great Resignation. Employees across the country are departing their jobs for many different reasons and rethinking where they want to work, how they want to work, and when they want to work.
Engineering Teams Are Just Networks
To be a great hiring manager don’t be distracted by rockstar engineers, study up on network theory. As a manager I like to build teams out of spare parts.
Interviewing Best Practices for Engineering Leaders
Advice for engineering leaders on how to source and hire talented engineering candidates. Includes insights on interviewing, DE&I and more.
My team is going in circles. Help!
Oof, yes, I’ve been there! The team has a clear roadmap with well-defined projects and deadlines. Maybe you even have OKRs, and the team has enough folks to do the work. But despite knowing what needs to get done, something isn’t clicking.
Leadership & Self-management
OKRs at Scale
Scrum is always described at the team level but agile at scale is a problem that continues to plague companies to this day. The audience member asked Mary how to solve for aligning and coordinating many teams running sprints at the same time. While she didn’t purport to have a silver bullet for agile at scale, Mary shared one approach that worked for her over her storied career: give multiple teams the same goal to achieve.
You Are Using the ‘5 Whys’ Wrong. Here’s How to Improve.
The practice of “5 Whys” was pioneered by Toyota, and is practiced by designers worldwide. It is a research technique meant to get to the bottom of things.
3 Times When Saying, “I Don’t Know” Is A Terrible Leadership Response
When a leader responds to a question by saying, “I don’t know”, it can reveal transparency and authenticity. But sometimes, “I don’t know” is the very worst thing you could say as a leader.
5 Signs of (Management) Burnout
Have you ever felt not entirely in your skin but did not know what it was? Burnout comes secretly and acts at first without you noticing. It is slowly destroying the base on which we stand. Ignoring the first signs can be fatal and lead to long-term problems.
How to Succeed Quickly in a New Role
A role transition—whether a promotion, a move to a new organization, or a fresh challenge in your existing job—can be a huge boost to your career and a chance for you to blossom and thrive.
Agile, Engineering & Product
OOPS writeups
A couple of people have asked me to share how I structure my OOPS write-ups. Here’s what they look like when I write them. This structure in this post is based on the OOPS template that has evolved over time inside of Netflix, with contributions from current and former members of the CORE team.
How GitLab automates engineering management
As an engineer, figuring out how to automate your work becomes an important aspect of your job. From writing powerful dotfiles, to customizing bash scripts, to writing robust and rigorous tests, engineers regularly look for ways to automate their repetitive work.
Agility ≠ Speed
I was changing a lightbulb this morning and was struck by a shift that has occurred in recent years. Lightbulbs used to be sold according to their power consumption.
That’s it!
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Have an amazing week!
Andy