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August 8 · Issue #104 · View online
Level Up delivers a curated newsletter for leaders in tech. A project by https://patkua.com. Ideal for busy people such as Tech Leads, Engineering Managers, VPs of Engineering, CTOs and more.
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When to carve out roles I had an interesting conversation with a leader in a scale-up this week and we were exploring when is a good time to carve out an explicit role. Their team included people with a mix of experience (from 6 months-10 years) who shared a lot of responsibilities. This leader also recognised a number of responsibilities were starting to slip through on a regular basis and was considering introducing a named role to focus on those that were often neglected. There are many upsides to naming a specific role and its responsibilities such as defining shared expectations about what the role should focus on and who is currently playing the role. Outlining responsibilities turns implicit expectations into more explicit expectations. Highlighting who (or which people) takes on the role avoids the case where everyone assumes “someone else will take care of X” which leads to “no one taking care of X.” Identifying that a person is playing a certain role (and not others) might also give them more explicit time to focus on doing the responsibilities well instead of part-time and part-well. On the flipside, defining a role might increase your lottery factor, encourage less shared ownership (i.e. “that’s not my job”) and potentially increase knowledge silos or hands-offs if poorly handled. I’ve found that as the complexity of task or organisation size grows, it often becomes more useful to carve out roles but all leaders need to watch out for the downsides. A lot of the success comes from how you introduce your roles. Just like decisions where you want buy-in and commitment, make sure you involve people so they understand why these new roles exist and help them understand how they might be affected. Enjoy this week’s newsletter and be sure to pass it on to a friend or colleague. Want to level up your technical leadership skills? Sign up for the online workshop, “Shortcut to Tech Leadership” or take a self-paced course at the http://techlead.academy.
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Carving out a role can help create clarity (but comes with some trade-offs)
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Heuristics for Effective Software Development all leaders in tech should know
Reading time: 3mins
Allen Holub (@allenholub) provides (currently) 22 useful heuristics all leaders in tech should understand since leaders and managers are responsible for the work environment. Each of these heuristics is a useful reminder that what is simple is not always easy.
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How to Design an Amazing Strategy Offsite
Reading time: 8mins (Medium paywall) Great leaders know how important offsites can be. Just like with any meeting, it’s key to prepare well to make the most impact of any gathering. In this article, Dave Bailey (@davesuperman) provides a useful mental framework for planning an effective strategy offsite.
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All I Really Need To Know About Leadership I Learned from Zoom Meetings
Reading time: 2mins
Scott Cochrane (@WScottCochrane) shares 4 simple leadership lessons he’s made from being immersed in a remote world. ( Editor tip: Don’t treat these 4 lessons as really “all you need to know.” Leadership is way more complex 😅)
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Ground-up Re-architecture to Accelerate Uber’s Go/Get Strategy in Fulfilment
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Why is it so hard to decide to buy?
Reading time: 9mins Choosing how (Build vs Buy) you draw on tech is always a challenge so I was pleased to read this article from Camille Fournier (@skamille), author of “ The Manager’s Path.” In this article, she explores some of the reasons why teams might prefer building and the trade-offs you might consider for your context.
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The Human Side of Elixir
Reading time: 13mins I don’t hear of many companies using a lot of Elixir in production, which is why I think this post is interesting for leaders interested in this tech. The human and community side of programming languages are just as important to consider. A great article from Alex Koutmos (@akoutmos) 👏.
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We need to talk about testing
Reading time: 18mins A wonderfully well-written long read from Dan North (@tastapod), who looks at how programmers and testers can work well together This article looks at the common conversation points he frequently encounters, explores what testing is and isn’t and how TDD/BDD fits into that picture.
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China’s era of Big Tech Overwork has ended
Reading time: 13mins Given how big the tech market must be in China, I don’t come across a lot of articles talking about differences in that market which is why I’m including this article from Shen Lu (@shenlulushen). This article highlights a potential shift in company culture typical in this market, which still feels significantly different from what I hear and experience in Europe or the US.
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Measuring Inner-Loop Agility
Reading time: 3mins A fantastic read from Jason Gorman (@jasongorman) that points out different layers of feedback loops. It’s also a great reminder about how a fast path to production doesn’t mean you are actually releasing anything of value.
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I'm feeling lucky: Google, Facebook say workers must be vaccinated before they return to offices
Reading time: 8mins
Katyanna Quach (@katyanna_q) reports that two tech giants have instituted a policy that requires employees to be vaccinated for them to return to the office. I am interested to see if this trend continues to roll out (just like Broadway recently announced)
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@ Few things in tech are as powerful as understanding what problem other people think/thought they’re solving
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Reminds me of the William Gibson quote, “The future is already here, just not evenly distributed.” 15 years 😧
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Patrick Kua, Postfach 58 04 40, 10314, Berlin, Germany
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