When Feedback Loops Disappear in Management
Early on in my engineering management (EM) career, I went around asking other, more experienced EMs for advice. They were happy to oblige, giving me way more than I could have absorbed at the time,...
Management
(Management) Game Respect (Engineering) Game
Software engineers. Most of the time, we're docile and content and easy to please. We write software for big enterprises and tiny startups alike, create our own startups once in a while, and...
Developer Ageism and the Escape into Management
Is the software development industry ageist? For some industries, this is not an unreasonable proposition. Professional athletes peak in their late 20s[1]; professional gamers (e.g., e-sport atheletes) peak even earlier, in their early 20s. If you were to apply for the job of the president of the United States, you are legally required...
The Hard Thing about Hard Things
There aren't that many good articles on management in a technology company, and even less good books that go into much detail[1]. Square's leadership courses reference High Output Management, written...
Tech Leads, Managers, and the Hybrid in Between
The software engineer's career path is pretty straight forward at most companies. Starting at the intern or new grad level, there's essentially a number of levels to progress through, each adding...
Humanizing Teams
On an episode on the Accidental Tech Podcast about "Software Methodologies", it was enlightening to hear the conversation on waterfall versus agile development practices[1] from someone who really doesn't see the need to implement project management because he's worked alone for the past few years. Nothing beats the...