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Team Communication
How and Why to Keep Your Team Out of Communication Debt
You’re probably familiar with the notion of technical debt and how it affects the software you’re building. Communication debt is a different beast: it’s all of the knowledge- sharing, messages, and notifications that need your attention, and in some cases, a response. In our latest Team Communication article, we examine the harm that communication debt is having on teams and how you can actively manage the deluge of notifications and messages your team has to absorb.
Three-day no-meeting schedule for engineers
The Product Engineering team at Pinterest recently made the decision to expand their no meeting policy from one day to three. Brian Donohue discusses the overwhelmingly positive results and reactions he has received from his team. How much more could your team get done with three days of uninterrupted time?
Leadership & Management
The Designated Asshole: Lessons from my Dad on Leadership
A Designated Asshole is someone that agrees in advance to take the blame or shield you from unwanted requests. Kathryn Grayson Nanz explains how her Dad taught her the concept when she was young as an option to handle situations of peer pressure. It can be empowering and reassuring to know that you have an "out" if you need it. Now as a leader, Kathryn serves as "Designated Asshole" for her team and encourages us all to look for opportunities to shield other team members in the same way.
How Fucked Up is Your Management?
J Nightingale of Hubba provides a quick quiz to figure out how bad the management situation at your company is. Once you've finished your assessment, review the simple steps needed to make it better. Hint: "if you’re not planning to be the best in the world at something other people already do well, then don’t mess around with implementing your own version of it, use theirs."
People & Culture
Ten Things I Learned from a Job Hunt for a Senior Engineering Role
J. Scott Johnson of Job Hound recounts his recent experience looking for a new Senior Engineering Role, what he discovered, and why the experience caused him to create an entirely new product. If you're considering a move, this article will help you understand what to expect.
Why small teams win
How can we keep people engaged as the size of a team increases? Adrian Zumbrunnen believes it comes down to meaning. When work is meaningful, people truly care about the outcomes. And caring is what makes people work their hardest. The trick is to "scale meaning before we scale teams." If we don't, we open the door to apathy and mediocre results.
Only Slightly Off-Topic
I’m 17 And I Deleted All My Social Media. Here’s What Happened.
What happens when you cut out all social media as a teenager? You’re looked at as weird and stupid. But you also reap the benefits of regaining hours each day to spend improving yourself. In this thoughtful analysis by 17-year-old Corey Simon, he reviews the seven positive changes that have happened in his life since quitting social media three months ago. In short: "Deleting social media has been the best decision I have ever made."
Have you tried Status Hero yet?
Status Hero is a lightweight tool for tracking daily goals, activity, and status updates from your team. It works with your existing tools, like email, Jira, GitHub, Trello, and Slack. Skip costly meetings, map goals to accomplishments, and unearth blocking issues quickly. Status Hero helps you and your team get more done with fast access to the big picture. Check out a live demo).