Build libraries, not vaults: minimizing private channels in Slack & Teams

You’re at lunch with some coworkers, and you hear someone mention a conversation happening in Slack that has implications for your work, so you ask them to send you a link to the conversation. When you get back to your desk, you open Slack, and immediately facepalm. You now face a dilemma. Do you demand … Continue reading Build libraries, not vaults: minimizing private channels in Slack & Teams

Don’t confuse “bias for activity” with “bias for action”

If you haven't seen the famous TED talk about how kindergarten kids outperform business school graduates in a team challenge, it's worth 5 minutes of your time. (Spoiler: collaboration that leads to iteration and learning is far superior to up-front planning.) In many teams, however, heavy up-front planning is expected and incentivized. Even if a … Continue reading Don’t confuse “bias for activity” with “bias for action”

How to keep engineers out of meeting hell

Why are most meetings hell for engineers? Meetings aren't as interesting as coding Most attendees aren't needed to contribute for the whole time An engineer's impact during a meeting is less tangible compared to coding Meetings are interruptions that cause context switches As an engineering manager, you will need meetings to get some things done. … Continue reading How to keep engineers out of meeting hell

The “3 standup questions” are terrible and need to die

How did we end up in this place? Thousands - maybe millions? - of developers sit in standup meetings daily and answer the same 3 questions ("What did you do yesterday?", "What are you going to do today?", "Any blockers?"). Managers around the world blindly adopt the same standup meeting format, without critical thought to … Continue reading The “3 standup questions” are terrible and need to die

Want to write better user stories? Stop using “can”.

Feature Factories are dangerous things. You might even work in one and don't realize it yet. Here's a test: if your team built something 6 months ago and you've no idea if anyone is using it, or if anyone even finds it valuable, you may well work in a Feature Factory. If a new hotel … Continue reading Want to write better user stories? Stop using “can”.