The Engineering Leadership & Wellbeing Newsletter 🌱 #14
“HAY” there 👋🏼
Thanks for joining us for this edition of Engineering Leadership & Wellbeing. Here, you’ll find hand-picked articles that I found particularly useful for both new and seasoned engineering leaders. You’ll also get updates and announcements about HAY’s DX platform. At the end of the day, I hope you get something valuable out of it, so thank you for being here!
Keep an eye out for the Effective Engineering Manager Course coming up at the end of June. Get in touch if you’re interested.
Psst! We’re actually more like a workshop! What’s the difference? Click below to read more about how we approach boss ceremonies in engineering leadership👇🏼
Topics for the day: Factors for dev success, Getting buy-in, writing commit messages, A challenge for EMs, Balancing advocacy and inquiry, Why CTO?, Communication across departments, Google for devs, A look at self-confidence.
Two Critical Factors That Determine New Engineers' Success or Struggle
explores the factors that cause engineers to successfully hit the ground running or have a challenging first start. Here are the two critical factors:😕 Role Clarity: 38.5% of engineers reported not knowing what to work on during onboarding, leading to distress and decreased productivity.
🤝 Supportive Management and Team: 74.3% felt their manager was invested in their development, and 85.71% felt their team was supportive.
Getting Buy-In
Effective leadership in tech requires more than just getting agreement on initiatives; it needs genuine buy-in. This article explores how to secure active participation from your team, recognize commitment, and employ strategies to foster collaboration and productivity.
Read more: Getting buy-in to get things done
The Ultimate Guide to Writing Commit Messages
It’s common to feel uncertain when writing commit messages, unsure of how to effectively summarize your changes and the reasons behind them. Developing good commit habits early in your career is crucial. This article provides practical steps to improve your commit messages, which you can start using today.
Read more: Writing commit messages
An Engineering Manager Challenge
You can either hire 1 senior full-stack developer or 2 junior full-stack devs. Which do you choose and why?
Read more: An Engineering Manager Challenge
Stop Advocating, Start Inquiring
Many organizations operate like gladiatorial arenas, with everyone pitching and defending their own positions and agendas. I suppose it’s the corporate way in these competitive cultures. The primary objective is to win by advocating for your own viewpoints. This article offers a unique approach as it discusses the importance of balancing advocacy with inquiry.
Read more: Balancing Advocacy and Inquiry
Are CTOs Overrated?
Vadim’s post addresses the frustrations of many developers - that sometimes, the CTO is just there, contributing little to the company’s technology strategy. He also explores the value a CTO should bring and the pitfalls of having an ineffective one.
Read more: Valueless CTO: High Salary, No Return
Bridging the Communication Gap: Customers, Product, and Business
Each department has its own problems, and uses its own set of symbols to discuss and resolve them. The problem, according to A Smart Bear, is when one department applies their own language to another department that is using a different language. Learn how to navigate the distinct “languages” of customers, product teams, and business executives to enhance communication, alignment, and productivity.
Read more: Disentangling the three languages: customers, product, and the business
Google + AI + Developers
Discover how Google is democratizing AI for all developers by equipping them with the essential tools for innovation.
Read more: Google I/O 2024 recap: Making AI accessible and helpful for every developer
A Look at Self-Confidence
Boost your self-confidence with this comprehensive toolkit by
. 🧰 Discover your strengths and weaknesses, maintain a brag list, practice self-care, focus on finishing tasks, seek positive feedback, and prepare your elevator pitch to elevate your tech leadership skills. 👇🏼
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.