Validating AI Output Is Real Work: How to Get Credit
Validating AI output is some of the most useful work on an engineering team right now, and it is also some of the hardest to point to. I found out what...
Making your work visibleEngineering leadership
Leading engineers and technical teams: design, process, planning, and the work behind the code.
21 posts, newest first
AI Notetakers in 1-on-1s: What They're Actually Costing Your Team's Honesty
Getting consent is the legal minimum, not the fix. A signature does not make someone forget there is a second audience.
1-on-1s and feedbackWhy Pushing Harder Is Sometimes the Problem: The Engineering Manager's Pacing Framework
There is a move that looks exactly like leadership from the outside. You see a gap, you respond.
Engineering leadershipAgentic Workflow Fatigue: Why Your Team Ships More and Enjoys It Less
One of my strongest engineers asked if she could go back to writing a chunk of our test coverage by hand. Not all of it.
Making your work visibleWhy Your Engineering Team Feels More Burned Out After Adopting AI
One of my teams finished its sprint work by Wednesday. That had not happened before.
Burnout and workloadYour QA Engineers Aren't Slowing You Down. Here's What Is.
The complaint I hear about QA is never that the engineers are bad at their jobs. It is that the conversations never get to the right level.
Engineering leadershipWhy Software Engineers Are So Hard to Lead (And What to Do About It)
There is a conversation I have had more times than I can count. An engineer on my team is doing genuinely good work.
Engineering leadershipWhat Your Engineering Manager Job Description Left Out
My boss's boss called me into his office two months after I became a first-level manager. My manager was there too.
Engineering leadershipYou Just Got a Decision from Your Boss: Here's How to Cascade It Without Creating "We vs. They"
TL;DR: In 8 minutes, you'll learn how to stop being the communication bottleneck between senior leadership and your team, own decisions as "we decided"...
Team communicationYour Peer Leader Keeps Blocking Progress. Here's the Real Reason Why.
Poor communication is the number one cause of workplace conflict PR Newswire , according to recent workplace research. But that explanation misses...
Leading people and peersAdaptive Project Planning: Stop Treating Plans as Contracts
TL;DR: In 8 minutes, you'll learn how to stop defending outdated plans and start using adaptive project planning checkpoints to measure progress...
Engineering leadershipHow to Manage Your To-Do List as a Leader: Stop Treating It Like a Completion Checklist
TL;DR: In 7 minutes, you'll learn how to stop treating your to-do list as a completion checklist and start treating it as a decision tool to achieve...
Burnout and workloadYou're Choosing This Job. Now Choose How You'll Work With It: Why Victim Mentality Destroys Technical Careers
TL;DR: Stop treating your job like something happening TO you and start choosing how you work WITH it to reclaim control and accelerate your career...
Getting promotedYour Team's Junk Drawer: Why Process Without Context Creates Organizational Friction
TL;DR: In 7 minutes, you'll learn how to identify which processes are organizational junk drawers and how to replace rigid checklists with clear...
Engineering leadershipThe Observation Framework: How Leaders Get Called Visionary Without Predicting the Future
Visionary leadership isn't about predicting the future. It's about observing the present more carefully than everyone else.
Team communicationWhen Following the Process Means Missing the Goal: Why Engineering Leaders Need Context Over Checklists
TL;DR: In 4 minutes, you'll learn how to stop treating company processes as the goal and start giving your team the context they need to deliver...
Engineering leadershipHow to Get Manager Approval for Engineering Side Projects at Work: A Framework for Getting Buy-in for Technical Improvements
Learn how to get manager approval for engineering side projects at work. A proven framework for getting buy-in for technical improvements that benefit...
Engineering leadershipEngineers love solving problems. That's the problem
At standup, the team made a call. The feature they needed wouldn't be ready in time, but they found an undocumented API that could work.
Engineering leadershipStop Optimizing for The Past
I have had the fortune of learning a lot about development processes and how people approach work. It is always amazing to understand what excites...
Engineering leadershipWhen Candid Communication Isn't Enough
Just about every problem I work through in my role boils down to needing to communicate more and more often. Early on, as an engineering leader, I had...
1-on-1s and feedbackWhat Can We Learn From Ranchers?
Some of my youth was spent around farms and ranches, which has left me with interesting perspectives. I could talk/write about these perspectives for a...
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