Effective communication is hard. Yet it's one of the main skills technical leaders *must* have to do
| |
|
|
February 23 · Issue #28 · View online
Level Up delivers a curated newsletter for leaders in tech. A project by http://patkua.com. Ideal for busy people such as Tech Leads, Engineering Managers, VPs of Engineering, CTOs and more.
|
|
|
Effective communication is hard. Yet it’s one of the main skills technical leaders *must* have to do a good job. This week I had a conversation with a leader who received feedback that they felt was abusive. How do you handle this conversation? “When you receive terribly formed feedback that feels abusive, remind yourself it reflects the state of mind of the person sending it… not you, who is receiving it” One person asked a good question, what do you do about it? One person suggested giving feedback on the feedback. Without more context, it’s hard to give good advice. Consider:
- Was this a faceless stranger on the internet where there is no pre-existing relationship?
- If you engage, how will it escalate?
- Is this coming from your manager?
- Is this coming from a peer? or;
- Maybe someone on your team?
- Was this the first time, or the Nth occasion?
All of these details matter. From my personal experiences, giving feedback on the feedback if emotions are running high is likely to escalate the situation. If this is a repeat interaction and you don’t feel safe, you may want to consider more formal support (e.g. HR team, escalate to a manager of a manager, or even consider talking to the police/legal options). If you have had a good relationship with the person in the past, I find giving them space is a good step. Invite them to join a private safe space to talk less about the content of the message, but about the tone. In a work environment, you can and should set expectations and boundaries about what is appropriate and not appropriate. Three books that are very helpful include, “ Thanks for the Feedback”, “ Crucial Confrontations” and “ Radical Candor”. Apologies for the rather long introductions this time. I hope you still enjoy this week’s content. If you find it useful, please forward to someone else and send me feedback. |
|
Dealing with difficult feedback
|
|
|
Confessions of a Recovering Jerk Programmer
Reading time: 9mins Last week I mentioned how self-awareness and EQ is a key leadership skill. Thank you to April Wensel (@aprilwensel) for this very personal journey that sharing this lesson for everyone. Essential reading for developers looking to step into leadership roles. |
Exploring the skills problem – From a tech lead’s perspective
Reading time: 3 mins This post from Greg Fullard (@devskilldojo) shares his perspective on how a skills shortage affects Tech Leads. He also used a phrase I’d never come across before, Sophie’s Choice - a difficult decision where no outcome is preferable to the other. He considers two options as result. |
Larry Tesler, the Apple employee who invented cut, copy, paste, dies at 74
Reading time: 6mins In the world of technology, all it takes to lead is sometimes inventing a tool, practice or design approach that changes the world. Where would we be today with cut, copy and paste? Larry Tesler, the employee who invented these concepts just passed away. Read this article to find out more about him.
|
|
|
Spotify Unwrapped: How we brought you a decade of data
Reading time: 8mins I love receiving end of year summaries from companies. It helps me reflect on the year, reminisce and feel grateful for the experiences I’ve had. In this article, Bindia Kalra, Catie Edwards and Zoe Tiet from Spotify Engineering (@SpotifyEng) share their design approach of how they go about building their yearly summary. |
Docker Images : Part I - Reducing Image Size
Reading time: 16mins The tech world seems to have adopted Docker as the default deployment unit. One problem many teams have is an exploding dependency and image size so this series from Jérôme Petazzoni (@jpetazzo) gives practical tips on why and how to do so. |
(Tool) Git Explorer (@gitexplorer)
I know enough Git to get by. I’m definitely not a Git expert and know when I’m in a weird, inconsistent state, it’s easier for me to reset everything and start my changes again. This tool built by Summit Tech ( @SummitechNG) makes discovering git command easy! ( And no, this isn’t a sponsored post) |
|
|
Kickstarter Employees Win Historic Union Election
Reading time: 5mins I think this is huge news for the tech industry as I can’t think of any big companies that are known for having a union, at least in the US. Will this trigger a wave of union-forming groups across US tech companies? Who knows but I’m sure we’ll find out soon.
|
LendingClub buys Radius Bank for $185 million in first fintech takeover of a regulated US bank
Reading time: 4mins Some of you know that I used to work for a Fintech so my news feed still taps into this part of the tech industry. You normally hear of big, established banks buying smaller Fintech companies but this is the first time I’ve come across where a Fintech is buying an established bank. Interesting times ahead.
|
Onboarding Class for Your New Job
Reading time: 12mins This very comprehensive list of 45 tips share some very good practices for all people looking to be more productive, be a good co-worker and an sight into some of the environments article author Steven Hoober (@shoobe01) has worked in. Some of these are definitely a 😅 reading moment. |
|
|
This tweet reminds me of Belbin Team Role Inventories. It describes typical roles that emerge within a team. We tried the Belbin model once for a team and I found it useful at building empathy and understanding. |
|
|
|
1 Proposed: In any successful team, four roles show up over and over again, no matter what the project. Every effective team includes an Inspiration, an Organizer, a Questioner, and a Peacemaker. Thread >>
|
|
|
|
This is great wisdom from Cap Watkins below being careful not to sub-optimise for a part of the value chain, but for the whole of the system. 🙌
|
|
|
|
Now that I'm managing Engineering + Design + Product, setting team-wide KPIs is so much nicer. When I was running just design, I generally resisted setting design-specific KPIs, since I always thought the goals should be shared across the disciplines working together.
|
|
|
|
Click through to watch this amazing 3D wallpaper 😱
|
|
|
|
|
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please send me feedback and share with others! |
|
Did you enjoy this issue?
|
|
|
|
If you don't want these updates anymore, please unsubscribe here.
If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe here.
|
|
|
|
Patrick Kua, Postfach 58 04 40, 10314, Berlin, Germany
|
