Customer experience
Customer Experience in the Age of AI (via HBR)
The company I work for could have been listed in this article, given we’re doing nearly all of the things mentioned here — agile teams, customer focused, personalization.
Documentation
Motivating Developers to Care About Documentation (via Software Lead Weekly)
This article describes what good documentation helps solve and how to build a culture around it being the norm.
Meetings
This Is What Happens When There Are Too Many Meetings (via Software Lead Weekly)
This post had some interesting data from Microsoft about how the pandemic (and maybe remote work in general) made the work day longer, and also introduced an additional increase in late-night work. Synchronous meetings have increased; so the call to action is to consider whether the desired outcome can be achieved asynchronously.
Process
Making operational work more visible (via Software Lead Weekly)
The author shares some stories from Netflix, who uses the “you build it, you own it” mentality to break the tension between developers (incentivized to change systems frequently) and operations (incentivized to minimize changes for stability’s sake). Having a weekly operations meeting to share insights, learnings, and to confirm things that are working is something Lirio has been doing.
Critical Thinking Is About Asking Better Questions (via HBR)
- Write down questions other people mention and then reflect on how/why those were formulated.
- Hold your hypothesis loosely.
- Listen more than you talk.
- Leave your queries open-ended.
- Consider the counterintuitive.
- Stew in a problem.
- Ask the hard follow-up questions.
Talent management
The Real Secret to Retaining Talent (via HBR)
“Rock stars” with a me-first attitude don’t have the ability or motivation to make their orgs great for a sustained period. These talented individuals don’t need to be put on pedestals; however, they do need to feel like valued human beings and not just another employee. Some tips… (1) never dismiss their ideas out of hand, (2) never block their development, and (3) never pass up the chance to give them genuine, specific praise.