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March 27 · Issue #137 · 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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Dealing with “complainers” In one of my workshops this week, the topic of “complainers” on teams came up and how to deal with them. Technologists, particularly software engineers, tend to view things with a binary perspective (good/bad, working/not working). Combined with poor communication skills, someone might come across as a “complainer” when things aren’t perfect. Here’s some advice we ended up discussing in our groups:
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Take time to listen - Frustration sometimes might come up because they see an issue and don’t understand have an outlet to address it. Listening is the first step for great communicators. Listen to understand the heart of the issue. Ask questions to confirm what the issue is.
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Identify if this is something either of you can influence - While expressing frustration is a normal habit, doing so repeatedly on topics that neither of you can influence will lead to even more frustration in the future. If you realise you both can’t influence it (e.g. maybe it’s caused by a law, or something you can’t immediately influence like a company-wide policy), help them reframe this as a constraint.
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Discuss small steps - One reason people might complain if they don’t see immediate change. If you’ve ever lead change, you know that change doesn’t happen overnight and work with them to see if there’s a small action that shows a little improvement. Seeing even a small change might help shift some of their frustration.
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Share responsibility - As a leader or manager, you might want to “fix” the problem but you also need to avoid establishing a vicious cycle where people bring complaints to you expecting you to solve all of them as that is neither sustainable nor realistic. Each situation is different but I always like to find ways that the person who might be expressing frustration takes responsibility (with your support) to initiative the improvement. This might be as small as starting a conversation, doing some research and coming back with options. I like this because great leaders help their team remember they can take action (and not just throw complaints into the air) as well.
What are your tips on dealing with “complainers”? Drop me an email and let me know. Stay safe out there 💙💛. If you enjoy this week’s newsletter, please pass it on to a friend or colleague who might benefit.
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Dealing with complainers
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New Study: Engineering Metrics Benchmarks A study of 1,971 dev teams and 847k branches produced the first new industry standard for engineering metrics since DORA released its report in 2014
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People and Product Focused Engineering Leadership with Happy Wang
Podcast: 36mins + Transcript I really enjoyed this interview from Manager’s Club with Happy Wang. I also had no idea about Everbridge (fascinating domain!) and can only imagine the challenges they have as a company. Happy shares great points for new managers and good book recommendations.
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Staff Engineering at Carta
Reading time: 7mins I enjoyed this read from Dan Fike and Eric Vogl about what the technical leadership path at Carta looks like. It’s also a great example of an implementation of the Trident Model of Career Development!
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The Most Influential People in Data - DataIQ100 2022 Edition
Reading time: 8mins I’m including this article this week as I personally don’t often come across many lists of leaders in the data space. You can create a free account to read an interview with each person or the first paragraph otherwise. They could have improved a lot like making it easier to find each person on Twitter/LinkedIn and rephrase the horrible question, “What has been your path to power?” 🤷♂️ Still, you might find some interesting role models and new people to follow as I did.
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Feel like you don't have enough time? Find out how to manage time better with this self-guided online course
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A Standardized, Specification-Driven API Lifecycle
Reading time: 15mins
Kin Lane (@kinlane) presents a dense but succinct article about API specifications touching lightly on the history, why they are useful and how to get the most out of them. A really great read if you’re interesting in publishing or consuming APIs (most people in tech 😅)
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A big bet to kill the password for good
Reading time: 4mins
Lily Hay Newman (@lilyhnewman) reports that the FIDO alliance (an industry alliance with a mission to find and promote authentication standards to help reduce the world’s over-reliance on passwords) has found the missing piece on the path to a password-free future.
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Edge Computing vs Cloud Computing: What are the Key Differences?
Reading time: 5mins This article from Aminu Abdullahi compares two tech concepts in a short and succinct way and a conclusion about where each concept best fits.
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Run This Diagnostic to Thoughtfully Build (and Evaluate) Your Startup’s Culture
Reading time: 28mins Although this article is long, First Round (@firstround) provides a practical and pretty comprehensive guide to assessing, shaping and deliberating guiding culture. Please note this is aimed at early stage companies, so YMMV.
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How Many Manager Levels?
Reading time: 5mins A short but useful answer from Tom Foster (@FosterLearning) to the question above that makes you reflect on organisational design. Unfortunately, most leaders in tech forget about the principle he emphasises, “ Don’t organize the work around the people, organize the people around the work.”
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Refactor → Organisation: Changing the organisation — to build the technology right
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"If you focus too much on technology and technical skills, you'll end up as a senior engineer and a junior human being." — @
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Blackberry had its best year a full 4 YEARS after the iPhone was released. Then the company collapsed.
A good reminder that the product that will kill your company may already be in the market. https://t.co/li9lGqQwSW
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Patrick Kua, Postfach 58 04 40, 10314, Berlin, Germany
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