Process Has Value; Focus On Process Drives Mediocrity“No plan of operations can with any certainty reach beyond the first encounter with the enemy” — Helmuth von Moltke the ElderFeb 17, 2023Feb 17, 2023
The Problem with Performance RatingsOne of the hallmarks of any performance management system is the performance rating — a single descriptor summing up what the company…Sep 1, 2022Sep 1, 2022
How Staff+ Engineers Frustrate Their ManagersManaging Staff/Principal engineers, or those aspiring to be so, is genuinely a joy. They autonomously solve problems, want to be given…Aug 25, 2022Aug 25, 2022
Interviewing for Conflict ResolutionA friend recently asked me how I interview leaders, especially senior+ engineering managers, on conflict resolution and management. I…Aug 18, 2022Aug 18, 2022
Reward Difficulty, not ComplexityA recurring conversation in performance reviews and calibrations is: “this is good work, but is it <Level> scope?”.Aug 11, 2022Aug 11, 2022
Make performance reviews more useful with written evaluationsIf you’re a manager at a company larger than a seed-stage startup, you probably have to deal with a regular performance management cycle…Aug 5, 20223Aug 5, 20223
Message Crafting for software engineersOne of the key insights for staff/principal engineers is that the job is at least as much about people as it is about tech, increasingly so…Nov 16, 2021Nov 16, 2021
