Dates covered: March 18-24, 2019 (week 12 of 52)
Business
Sales Teams Aren’t Great at Forecasting. Here’s How to Fix That. (via Harvard Business Review)
The most harmful behaviors are (1) withholding bad news, (2) maintaining two sets of books, (3) hoping cold deals will revive, (4) using conveniently fuzzy definitions, and (5) failing to ask obvious questions. To address these, companies can…
- Personalize and benchmark decisions
- Provide adjustable algorithms
- Continuously track (and adjust) probabilities
- Look at the time between deal stages
- Detect who’s gaming the system
- Reward accuracy
Career
4 Reasons Talented Employees Don’t Reach Their Potential (via Harvard Business Review)
- Poor fit — “the degree of alignment between a person’s attitudes, values, abilities, and dispositions on the one hand, and the characteristics of the job, role, and organization on the other.”
- Disengagement — “You can’t just suddenly decide to replace your boss with a better leader — someone who inspires and mentors you, provides objective and constructive feedback on your performance, and gets you excited about work when you wake up every morning.” Finding time to learn or simply telling your boss you’re disengaged can help.
- Organizational politics
- Personal circumstances — we all bring our whole selves to work
How to Get Booked as a Podcast Guest (via Harvard Business Review)
- Identify what podcasts to target; find other people doing similar topics and see what podcasts they’ve been on
- Search for warm leads; look through the list of past guests and see if you know anyone that could make an introduction
- Create a short pitch email; a few paragraphs with as much credibility as possible
5 Ways to Leave Your Work Stress at Work (via Harvard Business Review)
- Communicate to others about what’s going on (e.g., I’ll have to take more work-related calls at home for the next 3 months)
- Transition before you get home (e.g., take a few minutes to breathe and shift your mind before getting out of the car)
- Share the wealth (e.g., don’t unload all your problems on your family)
- Set a day aside
- Count your blessings
How to Feel Less Overwhelmed as a Developer (via Software Lead Weekly)
- Mindset… Understand the problem (why do you feel this way)? Recognize you can’t do everything. Know there’s no “right” way. Figure out your goal.
- Learning… Structure your learning. Establish your core resources. Schedule time for learning.
- Social pressure… Lots of people write bad code. People only talk about the good stuff (dream job, latest tech, happy paths). People have different priorities. There’s lots of noise. Job postings exaggerate. Make sure management knows you’re overwhelmed.
- Toolset… Spend time on core skills (problem solving, critical thinking, testing). Use proper management tools. Minimize duplicate work. Get fresh air, exercise, and conversation. Ask for help.
Culture
The New Results-Oriented Workplace (via Jon Kruger)
There are multiple ways to take this post… My vibe was “your job is not safe, even in IT.” There’s no time to rest on your laurels; the world is coming to eat your lunch at an exponential rate. The post suggests focusing your energy on bringing results, getting good at skills machines (currently) can’t do (or do well), and always be learning. I believe this will be the challenge of our generation — what will come of people/culture at the peak of the information revolution? I fear for what this will mean for the US and other Western societies that have a love affair with capitalism.
Diversity
Advice for Men Who Are Nervous About Mentoring Women (via Harvard Business Review)
- Intentionally seek out women mentees.
- Be transparent in your developmental practices.
- Listen with empathy to ask good questions.
- Acknowledge gender issues exist.
- Actively sponsor her and help her connect with other sponsors.
Leadership
How to Help Your Team with Burnout When You’re Burned Out Yourself (via Harvard Business Review)
- Make your own health a priority
- Tackle the problem as a group (ask others on the team for input)
- Exhibit compassion; people are doing their best
- Set a good example (e.g., don’t email the team at midnight, take breaks yourself)
- Focus on the why (what are you driven to accomplish?)
- Advocate for your team (e.g., ask your boss for a reprieve)
- Be a source of optimism
The Future of Leadership Development (via Harvard Business Review)
There’s a non-trivial amount of money spent on leadership training that is not really paying off, meaning that traditional approaches no longer meet the needs of companies or individuals. A few reasons… (1) companies that pay for the training get less out of it than the individuals, (2) many organizations need skills like communication and working effectively with others, (3) it’s often difficult to apply what’s learned in training to the real world. There are several online courses, platforms, and tools that are helping to close the gaps.
The Essential Questions That Have Powered This Top Silicon Valley Manager’s Career (via Software Lead Weekly)
This is basically a promotion/summary of Julie Zhou’s book that describes her management path through Facebook. It covers the basics… leadership != management, questions are essential so have regular 1:1s, questions to ask during 1:1s, the importance of feedback to manage expectations and determine skill gaps.
Productivity
Stop Letting Push Notifications Ruin Your Productivity (via Harvard Business Review)
What most people think is multitasking is actually context switching, which is disruptive to flow. Tech designers knowingly develop devices and apps that pull our attention away, knowing that “…humans are hard-wired to follow the path of least resistance, and that our brains trick us into believing that the low-hanging fruit is the ripest.” This article has suggestions and recommended tools for helping minimize interruptions. There are also tips for leaders to help build an environment where these things are the norm.
Productivity for Precious Snowflakes (via Software Lead Weekly)
“I will argue that the fundamental driver of creative work today is not values, goals, or processes, but unique states of mind.” This is a longer-than-usual essay about how states of mind influence our productivity. It’s a bit difficult to describe, as it has aspects of culture, motivation, and existentialism. It was an interesting read, though.
Security
Technologies and Tools for CompTIA Security+ SY0-501
Part of my Security+ refresher… This course covers installing and configuring network components, assessing security posture, troubleshooting common security issues, analyzing and interpreting output from security tools, secure deployment of mobile devices, and the common secure protocols (e.g., LDAPS).
Technology
A Big Step Toward Giving Patients Control Over Their Health Care Data (via Harvard Business Review)
There are some potential changes on the horizon that would open up patient healthcare information to the patients themselves, presumably enabling them to make more informed decisions with that data. Personally I believe the industry needs change and improved outcomes for patients (read: human beings). I’m dubious about the interim approach. So long as there’s money to be made, the patient will never come first. I predict a cottage industry will arise to help process all the data and package it up for the consumers. Several big tech giants are already making plans to do so.