Dates covered: February 25-March 3, 2019 (week 9 of 52)
Business
It’s Time to Ban Hidden Fees (via Harvard Business Review)
When you book a flight, hotel, or concert ticket, there are always extra fees. This bait-and-surcharge “is a blatantly deceptive tactic designed to mask the real price. This practice also makes price comparisons challenging, which restricts competition.”
Career
What I want (and don’t want) to see on your software engineering resume (via The Software Mentor)
As someone who’s been on both sides of the hiring desk, I’m always interested to see what folks are looking for in resumes these days. Every industry/company/interviewer has different preferences (i.e., always do X vs. never do X), so it doesn’t hurt to see dos/don’ts from people who frequently deal with this work.
The Principal Developer (via The Software Mentor)
Being a principal developer isn’t just about coding skills — it’s about mentoring, understanding other departments, working with the business to meet goals. (The post’s comments are worth reading as well, as sometimes these articles need a bit of context. There’s no silver bullet.)
From Software Engineer to Engineering Manager (via Software Lead Weekly)
You’ll find several such posts about this transition, and I find a gem in each one: “If removing blockers, helping others to grow, building alignment across cross-functional teams, and resolving conflict is more fulfilling than writing code and solving technical challenges, then the management track is something you might enjoy.” There’s also good advice about setting priorities, the importance of 1:1s, setting expectations, journaling, and most importantly (in my opinion) getting mentors for your new role.
Communication
Data Science and the Art of Persuasion (via Harvard Business Review)
As data science is becoming more prevalent, there’s a mismatch between the scientists who have valuable insights but can’t “sell them” to management, and management who don’t understand why spending so much money on data science isn’t yielding the results they wanted. This article outlines talents (there’s a convenient matrix as well) for a cross-functional team to have scientific rigor and communicate between all stakeholders. Those talents include project management, data wrangling, data analysis, subject expertise, design, and storytelling.
Why Your Meetings Stink—and What to Do About It (via Harvard Business Review)
In a survey of 1,300 managers, 79% reported that their meetings were extremely or very productive, where 56% said the same about meetings they attended — definitely an “I’m not the problem” attitude. This article has tips of how to assess the meetings you run (or attend), how to prepare, and then facilitate an effective meeting. There’s no one right answer about how to run a meeting, so it’s worth knowing what tools are in your toolbox.
Case Study: When Two Leaders on the Senior Team Hate Each Other (via Harvard Business Review)
I enjoy these case studies. They lay out a tricky situation with (what seems like) no clear solution; the case is followed by at least two industry experts stating their opinion about how to solve the problem. This particular post is about two senior folks who are helping the company perform, but causing some conflict.
Fundamentals of Written Proposals (via Communication for Technologists path)
Proposals are more formal than in-person business pitches and have present unique challenges to ensure they are successful. This course covers the type of arguments to make (and how to make them) when crafting proposals, as well as the necessary sections — e.g., purpose, proposed tasks, budget, timeline, qualifications, executive summary — and what readers should find there. The author also covers the unique requirements for internal proposals (within your company) vs. external proposals.
Culture
Why Is Customer Service So Bad? Because It’s Profitable. (via Harvard Business Review)
The title doesn’t bury the lede. Most companies have a two-tier support system where customers come in at the first tier, where the agents are empowered to do very little. This creates a barrier for people jumping through the last hoop — i.e., the company spending time/resources to keep the customer happy. There are some companies that are big enough that even though they have lousy service (e.g., United Airlines violently bumping a passenger), there’s no impact on their stock price.
The Surprising Power of Simply Asking Coworkers How They’re Doing (via Harvard Business Review)
In one study “…more than 40% of those we surveyed are feeling physically and emotionally isolated in the workplace. This group spanned generations, genders, and ethnicities.” We spend almost a third of our time with coworkers, so having some kind of meaningful engagement is healthy.
Leadership
10 Things You Need To Do When You Become a Manager (via The Software Mentor)
- Assess whether you’re the kind of person who will be a good manager
- Get comfortable with critical conversations and giving feedback
- Have an “I’m your manager!” meeting ASAP
- Have both you and your reports take a personality test to see how you work together
- Schedule 1:1s and avoid cancelling them
- Set clear expectations
- Learn to delegate (and coach)
- Realize you’ll be attending more meetings
- Learn your company’s processes (i.e., HR)
- Take time to recharge, as managing can be draining
The biggest mistakes managers make when managing millennials (via The Software Mentor)
- Misunderstanding why millennials work; it’s about making a difference, not individual success
- Saving feedback for quarterly reviews; use continuous, actionable feedback (and praise)
- Setting vague expectations; unclear goals/expectations cause stress and disengagement
- Lacking flexibility in your work environment; be open to accommodating work styles
- Underinvesting in professional development; investment is a two-way street
How to Talk to an Employee Who Isn’t Meeting Their Goals (via Harvard Business Review)
- Ask before telling; what do they think is expected of them?
- Clarify non-negotiables; ex: “you need to tell me no later than 2 days out whether you’ll miss the deadline”
- Connect to the employee’s goals; ideally you can connect what you need them to do with what they want to achieve
- Describe specific behaviors; instead of “you’re not responsive”, say “You haven’t replied to over half of my emails, and 3 of those emails took you over a week to respond.”
- Craft a plan together
Why Visionary Leadership Fails (via Harvard Business Review)
In short, if middle managers aren’t aligned with top management’s vision, the teams at the bottom are disengaged because they see the disconnect. You can’t just assume that what top managers have as their vision will be carried out; deliberate work and planning is required.
Process
How to Stop Obsessing Over Your Mistakes (via Harvard Business Review)
- Identify specific triggers that cause you to ruminate
- Get some psychological distance (e.g., take a walk, do something else)
- Distinguish between ruminating and problem solving; obsessing over a problem often makes us less effective at solving it
- Train your brain to not get stuck; notice it, then move on to something else
- Check your thinking for errors; coming back to a problem could be useful instead of dealing with it right now
The Mechanical Scrum Pitfalls (via The Software Mentor)
This post covers five example scenarios where Scrum is applied incorrectly because it’s followed as a prescription (e.g., if the sprint is one month, there must be 8 hours of planning). The authors do a solid job of reinforcing that Scrum isn’t a process — it’s a mindset.
How to make your organization attractive to engineering talent (via Software Lead Weekly)
I have mixed opinions on this one. How spoiled have we (as developers / people in tech) become such that unlimited PTO and catered lunches are table stakes for a job offer? Sheesh. I do agree that the most important qualities — permission/encouragement to do my job right, working with/for smart people, making a good career investment — are pretty solid. The author advocates that companies should work on dev tools/libraries, write books, blog, be on podcasts, etc. To do that well (and be differentiated from all the other signal/noise out there) takes a non-zero amount of energy. I’m not saying it’s useless; take the time to consider whether the juice is worth the squeeze. There are several things I could write about but choose not to because I don’t have any value to add — there are people that have already said it better; I’d just be a me-too.
Security
Threats, Attacks, and Vulnerabilities (via CompTIA Security+ SY0-501 path)
(I’m up for renewal on my Security+ cert, so I’m watching some refresher courses.) This course talks about the various types of malware, threat actors, penetration testing concepts, and various types of vulnerabilities.
Technology
The Rise of “No Code” (via The Software Mentor)
With the barriers for entry getting even lower, there are so many tools that allow people to create tech products without being tech-savvy per se. It’s interesting to see where this space will go in the next decade.