Newsletter

The Manager's Guide – #89

Weekly Hand-Picked Collection Edition

19 Aug 2024 — 2 min read

Ask for Advice, Not Permission

🤝 Getting buy-in is different from getting agreement and is crucial for leadership roles
🎯 Buy-in leads to active work toward goals, not just verbal agreement
🔍 Signals of buy-in include making suggestions, giving up something, and having concrete plans
🚫 Lack of pushback or saying “no” might indicate simple agreement rather than buy-in
📢 Explaining the problem, listening, and clarifying the “why” are key strategies for getting buy-in
🤔 Helping clarify trade-offs and figuring out concrete plans together can increase buy-in
🌱 Building trust over time is essential for easier buy-in in the future

🧠 Learning fundamentals is more valuable than chasing specific technologies
🔄 It's impossible to keep up with all new tech, focus on building a strong foundation instead
🏗️ Design patterns are useful fundamental concepts that apply across many technologies
🧮 Functional programming abstractions like monads and functors are broadly applicable
📊 SQL is a stable and universally useful skill to learn
🌐 Understanding HTTP at a low level is valuable for web development
💻 Shell scripting and command line skills are widely applicable
🧩 Knowledge of algorithms and data structures helps solve many problems
📚 Continuous learning of fundamentals is a lifelong process for programmers

🚪 No Wrong Door policies aim to provide help even if individuals approach the wrong agency
🏢 Technology organizations can sometimes operate like complex bureaucracies
🔄 Adopting a No Wrong Door approach can improve inter-team communication and support
🤝 Initiating three-way conversations is an effective way to implement No Wrong Door
📚 Educating colleagues about proper processes becomes easier with this approach
🌟 No Wrong Door creates positive relationships across organizations
🧭 It helps identify areas of ambiguous ownership more clearly

🚀 The Trident Model of Career Development offers three distinct career tracks in tech: Management, Technical Leadership, and True Individual Contributor.
📊 Traditional two-track career ladders (Management and IC) can be limiting and may not accurately represent technical leadership roles.
👥 The Management track focuses on leading people and managing structures, with 70-80% of time spent on management activities.
💡 The Technical Leadership track emphasizes leading people on technical topics, requiring both technical skills and leadership abilities.
🔧 The True Individual Contributor track is for those who spend most of their time (70-80%) on execution and specialized tasks.
🏢 Real-world examples of companies implementing similar models include Carta, Netconomy, and Shopify.
🧠 The Trident Model can be useful for personal development, building career ladders, and explaining role differences in organizations.

🔄 Peer evaluations and 360-degree feedback are becoming more popular in organizations to address limitations of manager-only reviews
🎭 People tend to adjust how they evaluate others strategically when peer reviews are transparent
🧠 Individuals are less likely to negatively evaluate active colleagues or provide pivotal feedback to avoid potential backlash
📊 Strategic use of peer evaluations can increase one's chances of receiving positive reviews and career advancement
🔍 Even with anonymity, some degree of transparency in peer reviews can lead to strategic behavior
⚖️ Organizations need to recognize peer evaluations as platforms for influence and implement safeguards to mitigate biases

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See y’all next week 👋