Things I have learned about Tech Leadership

“I have now been a Software Engineering Team Lead on the BBC Sounds mobile apps team for 4 years. So what have I learned from this once-daunting, now-familiar role?”

• 🚀 Leadership means guiding and empowering, not dictating
• 💬 Collective decision making is more motivating than top-down directives
• 💣 Choose your battles wisely; influence is a currency that needs to be spent carefully
• 🌟 Transform challenging situations into opportunities to rally the team
• 💡 Focus on the most helpful actions as a leader
• 🕰️ Recognize and prevent burnout to maintain productivity
• ❤️ Invest in building strong interpersonal relationships at work
• 🌱 Tech leadership is challenging but rewarding if approached with the right mindset

Help, I see a problem and no one is prioritizing it!

• 💡 Pointing out a problem is not sufficient to get it prioritized
• 🤔 Remind your manager of the problem and explain the impact
• 🚀 Reconcile perspectives with your manager to understand different views
• 👥 Talk to your peers to see if they are bothered by the same problem
• 🎯 Hone the skill of identifying important problems to move up the career ladder

How to give actionable feedback on work output

• 💡 Get "permission" and sell why frequent feedback benefits team members
• 🚀 Explain the "why" behind feedback to provide context and reinforce learning
• 🥪 Avoid the shit sandwich approach and be direct with constructive and positive feedback
• 👍 Share positive feedback to encourage continued effective behavior
• 📌 Aim for being tactical, actionable, concrete, and specific (TACS) in feedback
• 📝 Anytime diagnosing, share what you noticed to enhance understanding
• 🎬 Record screen share videos or voice memos for feedback delivery
• 📸 Annotate screenshots for visual feedback
• 📚 Develop shared language for efficient communication
• 🤔 Mention if feedback is stylistic or a personal preference
• ⚖️ Balance feedback ease for giver and receiver to avoid burnout
• 🚀 By providing detailed feedback, team members learn to think like you and improve their skills
• 🌟 Giving Super Specific Feedback leads to behavior change and higher standards
• 👥 Super Specific Feedback is valuable for both team members and managers

Estimating Software Projects: Breaking Down Tasks

• 💡 Breaking down a project into a well-defined task list is crucial for effective planning
• 📋 Tasks should be sufficiently defined, complete, and deliver change
• 🔄 An iterative process is key in breaking down tasks, starting from a list and expanding on previous steps
• 🧠 Breaking down tasks is a skill that takes practice and experience
• 🛠️ Tasks need to be defined enough for the person working on them to understand the desired change, what "done" looks like, and all the necessary steps
• 📅 The process involves starting with a list of tasks, thinking through steps needed, ensuring tasks are sufficiently defined, and repeating as needed

Parkinson's Law: It's Real, So Use It

“Yes, just set that deadline.”

• 💡 Parkinson's Law states that work expands to fill the time available for completion
• 🎯 Setting challenging deadlines can lead to better results by manipulating the Iron Triangle of scope, resources, and time
• 💬 Deadlines force a clear tempo and cadence, making things happen and driving progress
• 📘 Weekly reporting cadence can reshape how people think about their work and foster progress
• 🚀 When managed with grace and good intentions, deadlines are a powerful tool for growth and fast delivery in organizations

Productive Compliments: Giving, Receiving, Connecting

• 💬 Giving and receiving compliments can be assertions of power
• ✨ Compliments can either be warm fuzzies or naked power plays
• 🤝 Compliments offer an opportunity for connection
• 💭 Compliments should focus on connection rather than judgment
• 🙌 Accepting compliments means accepting the offer of connection
• 🎭 Receiving judgy compliments might hide a desire to connect
• 🧠 Appreciation without an agenda is attractive and genuine compliments get easier with practice

How I build and run behavioral interviews

• 💭 Budget at least 2 hours to build a behavioral interview
• 📝 Think ahead about follow-ups and rubric to assess candidates effectively
• 🎯 Focus on a small number of skills or traits during the interview
• 🚀 Kick off by asking for brief high-level context, problem, and solution
• 🔍 Dig into details by asking for timelines, outcomes, effects, and improvement insights
• 📊 Make yourself a rubric before the interview to evaluate candidates objectively
• 🚩 Watch out for vague platitudes, communication issues, lack of self-improvement mindset, lack of high standards, and scapegoating behavior

That’s all for this week’s edition

I hope you liked it, and you’ve learned something — if you did, don’t forget to give a thumbs-up and share this issue with your friends and network.

See y’all next week 👋