Dates covered: June 10-16, 2019 (week 24 of 52)
Business
When Employees Are Using Software That IT Hasn’t Approved (via Harvard Business Review)
Although I haven’t experienced it to the scale of the examples mentioned in the article, there are times where I’ve used outside productivity tools like Trello instead of the tools available via the corporation to get stuff accomplished. This leads to “shadow IT” where there are tools and data completely outside the purview of IT, which can lead to confidentiality, integrity, and availability issues if not properly managed.
Your Workforce Is More Adaptable Than You Think (via Harvard Business Review)
With technology and disruption on the forefront of business, managers and business leaders think their workforce is less adaptable than it really is. Workers want to prepare for future employment. Some steps companies can take: (1) don’t just set up one-and-done training programs — create a learning culture; (2) don’t herd people through transitions — engage them; (3) don’t just look outside for talent — train people already on staff; (4) collaborate with other companies to deepen the pool; (5) find ways to manage chronic uncertainty (e.g., give people the opportunity to work outside their primary job function).
Career
PRO TIPS for devs working at home (via The Software Mentor)
Although I don’t work from home, these tips seem solid, and apply to any person (dev or not) working from home: have a dedicated work space, use professional tools, set boundaries on starting and ending your workday, and develop other healthy habits that work for you.
How to Have a Slow and Boring Successful Career (via The Software Mentor)
Technology and our culture are about more, faster, instant gratification, etc. When it comes to our jobs, we can take time to appreciate our current role instead of never being satisfied.
What Happens When You Lose Your Mentor (via Harvard Business Review)
“Great mentors, I’ve realized, don’t tell you what to do; they find ways bring out the best in you.” This piece touches on several aspects of mentorship and aging that I’m now starting to consider. For example, why are there so few mentors toward the end of our career? How can mentors pass wisdom to those who are already expected to have everything figured out?
Communication
Three Steps to Turn Everyday Get-togethers into Transformative Gatherings (via TED)
We too often follow a template for a gathering (e.g., baby shower, board meeting) without making it meaningful. We also avoid topics such as sex and politics so that we can maximize harmony — but we need “heat” to address what’s really going on and important to us. With changing cultures and unspoken norms, having “pop-up rules” that apply only to a specific gathering helps clarify expectations (e.g., whoever picks up their mobile phone first at dinner pays for the meal).
Culture
Why We Need to Rethink “Employer Brand” (via Harvard Business Review)
Some companies (the names weren’t listed) focus more on being known for their “employer brand” rather than the reason they exist as a business. An unexpected takeaway was a style of phrasing an employee feedback question: Instead of “What’s the worst aspect of our culture,” ask “A survey seems to indicate that half of your colleagues feel they are not encouraged to speak up about problems — why do you think that may be so?”
Scaling Culture in Fast-Growing Companies (via Harvard Business Review)
Although these techniques apply to fast-growing companies, they can be useful in general.
- Define culture in terms of clear, observable behaviors. For instance, what does “respect each other” mean to your business?
- Build an accessible, digital library of learning content. Make it easy for people to “pull” information once the official onboarding is done.
- Use blended learning programs (i.e., online and offline) to scale culture training.
- Ensure managers relentlessly reinforce target behaviors.
Why Every Company Needs a Chief Experience Officer (via Harvard Business Review)
Some companies keep the two roles of Customer Experience (CX) and Employee Experience (EX) separate. There are advantages to combining both so that they don’t compete for resources and are aligned on a common mission. Engaged employees who also connect with the customers they serve end up creating a win-win situation.
Great Developers Are Raised, Not Hired (via Software Lead Weekly)
I could see this applying to any career — not just software developers. There are diamonds in the rough and our hiring and workplace culture is busy looking for polished gems. The power of mentorship and helping people be their best selves cannot be underrated. I’ve been on the receiving and giving side; both are phenomenally rewarding.
Hiring
The Worst Programming Interview Question I’ve Ever Seen! (via The Software Mentor)
The question isn’t as important as the context. Hopefully the days of interviewers asking obtuse memorization questions are numbered. We need to focus on whether the person has the ability and aptitude to perform the job.
Stop Lying to Job Candidates About the Role (via Harvard Business Review)
“The real costs of a hiring mistake are surprisingly significant.” In current times it’s easier to find out the good, bad, and ugly about companies; if you’re dishonest with candidates, they have a much higher likelihood of discovering that. Ask candidates direct questions about some of the aspects of the job that would be less appealing — e.g., would you be willing to continue making high volumes of sales calls in this role?
Leadership
Handling Negative Emotions in a Way that’s Good for Your Team (via Harvard Business Review)
If something negative happens, do you suppress or fully express your feelings? It turns out neither is useful. When suppressing emotions, there are negative outcomes for you (elevated blood pressure, lower satisfaction, poorer memory, etc.) and your team will sense your inauthenticity (he should be upset but isn’t). When expressing them you can destroy confidence and people may end up fearing your response. Instead, reappraise and consider the negative occurrence as a challenge instead of a threat.
Cross-Silo Leadership (via Harvard Business Review)
“In today’s economy everyone knows that finding new ways to combine an organization’s diverse knowledge is a winning strategy for creating lasting value. But it doesn’t happen unless employees have the opportunities and tools to work together productively across silos. To unleash the potential of horizontal collaboration, leaders must equip people to learn and to relate to one another across cultural and logistical divides.”
Software development
Why you need technical leadership, and what happens when you don’t have it. (via The Software Mentor)
I placed this article in the software dev category because most of the article is list of technical essentials for a software project and what happens if you don’t have them in place because of a leadership vacuum. Some example topics are adequate tools, source control, and quality assurance.
Greenfield Software Projects — A Pessimist’s Outlook (via The Software Mentor)
The main topics of language/framework, development methodology, and architecture are places where we tend to gold-plate or use as learning opportunities, when sticking to well-worn paths would be a better choice. My two takeaways were (1) don’t use your client’s projects to learn new shiny tech, and (2) most of us are note Facebook/Apple/Amazon/Netflix/Google and would therefore be wise not to copy their approaches by default.