The Engineering Leadership & Wellbeing Newsletter 🌱 #9
Your expertise is undeniable — it's likely what catapulted you into this leadership role, right? Yet, as you further embrace your leadership identity — and as your team finally conducts code reviews the way you want 😂 — you recognize the need to improve the small details that could have a huge impact.
For me, this type of "fine-tuning" involved intense self-reflection, fueled by meticulous note-taking. Today, I'm all about empowering my team, ensuring they too excel in their roles. That's the inspiration behind the topics chosen for this newsletter.
I hope you find it insightful!
Tomek
Topics for the day: Performance self-review, On writing well, Prioritizing problems, Super specific feedback, Effective listening, Leader as a facilitator, Building a culture of excellence.
Writing a Performance Self-Review
Self-assessments during performance reviews can be challenging. I've worked with many developers and leaders who find it difficult to acknowledge their successes while admitting to significant slip-ups. The key is to approach it with some soul-searching and honesty. Check out more insights in our featured post. We even include a sample self-assessment for you to see how your self-evaluations compare.
Read more: Writing a Performance Self-Review in Software Development
Good Managers Write Well
Piggybacking on the above post about writing self-reviews, it’s also crucial for managers to possess strong writing skills. The delicate balance of managing people and technology requires significant self-reflection. As Stay SaaSy puts it, 'writing is thinking,' a statement that holds especially true in engineering leadership, where deep thinking is essential. Injecting some humanity and clear reasoning into the daily challenges you face can undoubtedly make a difference.
Picking Which Problems to Prioritize
The impact of problems should be emphasized instead of the problems themselves. In this post in technically a blog, Nicole makes an interesting point about trying to see problems from her manager's perspective. However, I would argue that it's not just about choosing your problems, like choosing your battles; every problem needs to be addressed before it escalates. Moreover, if your manager doesn’t perceive it as a problem, then that in itself is a problem.
Read more: "Help, I see a problem and no one is prioritizing it!"
Giving Actionable Feedback on Work Output
Work output is crucial, which is why we've developed our latest DX platform around this vital concept — it's set to launch in April!
In this post, Wes highlights the importance of providing specific, concrete feedback regularly, rather than the macro, behavioral feedback typically offered quarterly or annually during performance reviews.
Read more: How to Give POSITIVE Feedback to Your Software Developers
Read more: How to Give NEGATIVE Feedback to Your Software Developers
Are You a Good Listener?
Listening isn't just about silence but involves engaging, validating emotions, and asking questions that promote self-reflection and empathy. If that's the case, why are we so bad at listening?
In this post, Molly Brodak shares practical advice for becoming a better listener: allowing people to express their feelings, managing your own reactions, communicating respectfully, and encouraging open dialogue through thoughtful questioning, among other tips.
Read more: How To Be A Good Listener
Leadership Isn’t Telling People What to Do
Polly McEldowney, a Team Lead for the BBC Sounds mobile apps team, emphasizes that leadership is more about facilitating than dictating. She mentions these key lessons:
🤝 Empowering Autonomy: Mature individuals can manage their own workloads, negating the need for micromanagement.
🧠 Collective Decision-Making: It’s important to involve the team in strategy and task breakdown, fostering a shared vision over dictatorial directives.
⚖️ Choosing Battles Wisely: Picking significant issues to address, reminiscent of the adage "pick your battles."
🌀 Transforming Challenges: Drawing from the Rumpelstiltskin fairytale, Polly suggests turning seemingly negative tasks into positive opportunities to keep the team engaged.
🛠️ Servant Leadership: The concept of serving the team by being attuned to their needs, removing obstacles, and prioritizing their welfare to ensure productivity and morale.
🔥 Managing Burnout: Acknowledging the personal and observed effects of burnout and the importance of recognizing and addressing it early.
💬 Fostering Relationships: Underlining the value of investing time in building relationships for a supportive and collaborative work environment.
Read more: Things I have learned about Tech Leadership
Building a Culture of Excellence
In this podcast, Elizabeth Stone, the Chief Technology Officer at Netflix, gives her insights on career progression, the distinctive high-performance culture at Netflix, and the company's commitment to maintaining excellence. She also shares her approaches to intentional leadership, fostering an "open door" policy within teams, the implementation of the Keeper Test to uphold high standards, and the importance of transparent communication in achieving success.
Did you like this edition of ENGINEERING LEADERSHIP & WELLBEING 🌱?
If you're looking for a specific subject to read about or maybe would like to collaborate on a project, reach out to me at tomek@howareyou.work.