Sign in Subscribe
8 min read

🐔 Strategy Frameworks, Quarterly Planning, Team Health, New Managers, AI-Native Engineering, Healing Burnout: TMW #439

Mentoring Circles spaces available this week!
đŸ”„
Thanks to Blazity for sponsoring this week's issue of TMW - helping organisations architect, optimise, and deploy high-performance Next.js and React applications at scale. Want to sponsor TMW?

Hello again, it's Monday!

We've been seeing some crazy growth in the CTO Craft Slack community, which has just passed 8,500 members, dotted all around the globe - a massive thank you to everyone who's joined the group, and for all your contributions and suggestions, but most of all for being there for each other. The community is absolutely the best, most supportive place to be for anyone leading software teams, and it's free to join - go take a look.

There are a handful of spaces available for our upcoming Mentoring Circles, which are an even better way to grow and thrive in the leadership role. Spots don't open up very often, so if you're interested in finding out more, drop us some details here and we'll arrange a chat:

Ready for a chat about Circles?

That's it, on with the links! See you next Monday

Andy @ CTO Craft

SPONSORED
CTA Image

The Expert Guide to Next.js Performance Optimization 2025 [Ebook]

Download a free ebook covering code splitting, lazy loading, image optimization, rendering strategies, Core Web Vitals, and best practices for building high-performing Next.js apps.

Ten chapters packed with practical techniques, real-world examples, and open-source tools to help you make your Next.js app faster and more user-friendly.

Prepared by the Blazity team.

Download the Ebook

CTO Craft Con - coming soon!

CTO Craft Con: Berlin 2025
CTO Craft Con will bring together over 200 Chief Technology Officers and other senior technology leaders from the most exciting start-ups, scale-ups, unicorns, and big tech companies to elevate their engineering culture in Berlin
CTO Craft Con: Berlin 2025

Here are all the upcoming CTO Craft Con events, along with your exclusive access code for discounted subscriber tickets - see you soon

Reads of the Week

The 5C Strategy Framework: Why Most Companies Suck at Strategy
No Guts, No Strategy - If Your Strategy Doesn’t Scare You, You Don’t Have a Strategy
Maarten’s NewsletterMaarten Dalmijn
Suggestions for first-time managers and the leaders who grow them
Don’t jump in to the deep end with rocks in your pockets at 2AM. Go during regular pool hours when the lifeguard is on duty and take the steps.
Nuts and BoltsNatasha Jaffe

CTO Craft Mixers

CTO Craft Mixer: Leeds 2025
Join our community of CTOs and senior tech leaders for an informal meet-up in Leeds.
CTO Craft
CTO Craft Mixer: Toronto 2025
Join our community of CTOs and senior tech leaders for an informal meet-up in the Toronto area.
CTO Craft
CTO Craft Mixer: Manchester 2025
Join our community of CTOs and senior tech leaders for an informal meet-up in Manchester, and celebrate our second birthday with us!
CTO Craft

Want to meet other TMW subscribers and CTO Craft Community members in your city? See all upcoming Mixers in cities around the world here.

Leadership, Strategy & Business

Aligning product metrics with business goals: A
A practical guide to aligning product metrics with business KPIs — real-world lessons, delivery options, and templates to get you started.
Hyperact LogoDave Baines
You’re doing quarterly planning wrong
Don’t make our mistakes
Product for EngineersIan Vanagas
Bring Me Problems
I’ve seen other leaders state or imply, â€Don’t bring me problems; bring me solutions.” It’s a management approach that sounds empowering and proactive, invok

Coding FearlesslyMindaugas Mozƫras
The Best Leaders Encourage “Spacious Thinking”
There are two modes of attention that people use at work: doing mode , in which they pay narrow attention to a specific task in order to control, predict and get it done efficiently; and spacious mode , in which they pay attention more expansively, without hurry, making them more receptive to relationships, interdependencies, and possibilities. Spacious mode leads to gaining insight into challenges, thinking strategically, spotting opportunities, building relationships, and sparking joy and motivation. In organizations, thought, spacious thinking is often suppressed by the urgency of doing and employees feel it is seen as career limiting. Leaders play a crucial role in making spacious mode more accessible because they can legitimize and encourage it rather than shutting it down. They can do that first by being aware of they ways they might inadvertently discourage it, and then by raising big-picture questions , bringing novelty into meetings, and rewarding spacious thinking.
Harvard Business ReviewMegan Reitz

Culture, People & Teams

Team Health: Moving Beyond Survival Mode
Is your team stuck in survival mode? With AI disruption and poly-crisis pressures hitting teams harder than ever, it’s imperative to sense and respond to team engagement and health.
Andy CleffAndy Cleff
Collaboration Debt with Marcin Aks Grochowina
Listen now | The Hidden Debt Killing Your Team’s Collaboration
Agile State of MindMaria Chec
Thayer Method
How to run large meetings
Fish Food for ThoughtMike Fisher
New advice for aspiring managers
Yes, it’s different. But we still need you.
The Engineering ManagerJames Stanier
CTA Image

Have you taken the Campus Leadership Assessment?

We've created a detailed questionnaire which will help you highlight areas of leading software teams where you'd like to build confidence, including resources and support to fill those gaps, right in Campus. It's free to all Campus members, so go check it out!

Get Access to Campus Now

Technology, Operations & Delivery

In retrospect, DevOps was a bad idea.
We need to talk about DevOps.
Rethinking SoftwareAdam Ard
The AI-Native Software Engineer
A practical playbook for integrating AI into your daily engineering workflow
ElevateAddy Osmani
The Theseus Lens for Agile
How teams can retain their soul during big changes
The Agile ChroniclesDebashish Chakrabarty
The Junior Developer Extinction: We’re All Building the Next Programming Dark Age
In which we discover that the call is coming from inside the house, and we’ve been holding the phone all along
Generative AIKrzyƛ

Stress, Wellbeing & Growth

How to Identify and Heal Burnout from Work
How to avoid burnout by building healthy habits
DEV CommunityJelloeater 👉jelloeater.me
Getting out there can become a good habit
ALSO: Beware of the terrible HBR article slamming hybrid work
Make Work BetterBruce Daisley
Our top 5 books on stress and burnout
Our curated selection of the top five books to help you deal with stress, burnout and pressure at work
Management-Issues.comManagement-Issues
Differentiate with Doable Decisions — The Curious Coffee Club
New Year’s resolutions taught me about objectives. Here’s why. “And what’s your New Year’s resolution?” asked my wife. “I want to be 200% stronger!” I proudly announced. “Didn’t you say that last year? What’re you going to do differently this year?” quizzed my wife. “Err ... be more disciplined?
The Curious Coffee ClubSimon Copsey

That’s it!

If you’d like to be considered for the free CTO Craft Community, fill in your details here, and we’ll be in touch!

https://ctocraft.com/community

Interested in sponsoring TMW or any of our events? Check out some stats here

Please do remember to share this link if you know of anyone who’d like to receive TMW:

https://techmanagerweekly.com

Have an amazing week!

Andy

Published by:

Andy Skipper