Aug 18, 2025 7 min read

🦍 Leader Narcissism vs Empathy, Managing Senior Devs, Less Stressful Tech Tests, Disposable Code, Remote Manager Burnout: TMW #444

Isolation is a career-killer - let's get out of the weeds

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Thanks to Plandek for sponsoring this week's issue of TMW - AI driven analytics, intelligence and mitigations to optimise the end-to-end SDLC in the new era of AI-augmented engineering.
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Hello there, welcome to the week!

Staving off Isolation and Burnout

I know from personal experience how easy it is to become entrenched in business-as-usual, and how isolating that can be - it's also one of the key factors in CTO burnout that I've seen among those I've coached but also across the CTO Craft community in general. This is especially true in our now remote-first post-Covid reality, and as leaders we need to make sure we have outlets for meeting and socialising outside of the work environment.

Our local Mixer networking events continue to grow and grow in cities all around the world - we know how vital it is as leaders to build connections and get out of the weeds to compare notes, and these informal events really are a great way to do that. We have Mixer events coming up in Manchester, Atlanta, London, NYC, Bristol, Berlin, Dublin and Paris, plus online gatherings like Women in Tech Leadership - you can see all the ways you can get involved here.

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

Andy @ CTO Craft

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CTO Craft Con - Dates for Your Diary

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

CTO Craft Con: Berlin (23 – 24 Sep) Access code: Community-Berlin-25
CTO Craft Con: The Finance Edition (18 – 19 Nov in London) Access code: Community-Finance-25
CTO Craft Con: London 2026 (10 – 11 March 2026) Access code: Community-Spring-26

Reads of the Week

Leadership, Strategy & Business

Culture, People & Teams

The Extra Load We Carry - Annie Vella

When I came across a recent Harvard Business Review article on the hidden penalty of using AI at work, it wasn’t the AI part that stood out to me, even though I’m studying this very topic as part of my Master’s of Engineering. Yes, the AI findings were interesting, but what stopped me in my tracks was something else: the “competence penalty” women pay. The research put numbers to it: The competence penalty was more than twice as severe for female engineers, who faced a 13% reduction compared to 6% for male engineers. The experiment was simple: engineers reviewed the exact same piece of Python code, with the only difference being whether they were told it had been written with the assistance of AI. Turns out women are essentially carrying a heavier burden of doubt for the same contributions.

Annie VellaAnnie Vella

Technology, Operations & Delivery

Stress, Wellbeing & Growth

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!

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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