As 2023 comes to a close, I wanted to share some articles and podcasts that have left a lasting impression on me. These cover a range of topics beyond Engineering Leadership & Management. Here’s a brief summary of each article.
- Tackling system complexity with domain-driven design on the ThoughtWorks Podcast
This episode explores how domain-driven design (DDD) can help address system complexity and improve software development practices. If you’ve ever read the blue or red DDD books, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this.
- Things they didn’t teach you about Software Engineering by Vadim Kravcenko
In this article, Vadim shares valuable insights and lessons about software engineering that are often overlooked in traditional education; something I wish I read 10 years ago 😅
- How Duolingo builds Product by Lenny’s Newsletter
Discover the strategies and approaches used by Duolingo to build and improve on their language-learning product. I learned quite a bit here around the usage of “holdout groups” in experiments that measure long term behaviours.
- Speeding up our balance read time: The planning phase by Basma Taha and Nick Ng in Monzo’s Engineering Blog
This post delves into a complex and highly technical project that my colleagues in Monzo pulled off with great success. Gives you a good understanding of the calibre of talent we have here! 🫶
- A New Approach to Measuring Developer Productivity by Abi Noda in Engineering Enablement
I loved this piece by Abi on using three dimensions for DX; Feedback loops, cognitive load, and flow state to measure and improve productivity. Highly recommended whether your company has invested in DX or not.
- Helicopter Management and Other Mistakes by Charity Majors
As always a great contribution by Charity about her experiences and perspectives on management mistakes, shedding light on the type of areas that are typical for new managers - this one resonated a lot with me.
- The Fall of Stack Overflow by Ayhan Fuat Çelik
Honestly this one was mind blowing. For many of us, StackOverflow is synonymous with how we learn to program and unblock ourselves, seeing the metrics drop in relation to the introduction of ChatGPT is shocking 🤯
- Hypergrowth leadership, the pendulum swing and attention management for managers with Phil Calçado by Pat Kua on Managing Managers Podcast
This podcast had many great nuggets, the one I’ll share is the importance of clarifying accountability and responsibility. Phil emphasizes the distinction between accountability (ultimate responsibility for success) and responsibility (doing the work) and the challenges that arise when these roles are not well-defined. 🤝
- The tragedy of the common leader by James Stanier
This post discusses the “tragedy of the commons” in software development, where shared resources suffer due to a lack of ownership. It also highlights how managers often focus upward and downward but not on their peers, leading to competition instead of collaboration. I also liked the usage of magnetism and polarity 🧲
- Why Should You (or anyone) Become an Engineering Manager by Charity Majors
Another thought-provoking article, but I’m going to focus on the examples around valuable life skills, such as self-regulation, self-awareness, and understanding others, that can be honed in a managerial role; things you don’t really think about when deciding if being an EM has been impactful outside the scope of your team and org.
Honourable Mentions
- Agile Rehab: Replacing Process Dogma with Engineering to Achieve True Agility InfoQ Blog by Bryan Finster
Bryan discusses the pitfalls of process dogma in Agile methodologies and proposes an engineering-focused approach for achieving true agility. Really interesting to see this in a large enterprise example, which takes me back to the projects in ThoughtWorks.
- Patterns Mean Progress by Pat Kua
Impact of Generative AI on development, drawing parallels with past technological innovations, such as Agile, Continuous Delivery, and Automated Testing, and highlights the importance of identifying patterns as a sign of progress in technology adoption.
I hope you find these articles as interesting and insightful as I did. Have you read any of these articles/posts? Let me know your thoughts or if you have any reading highlights from 2023 worth sharing.
Happy New Year ✌️🙏 hoping your 2024 is full of learning and growth!
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