This is a running list of articles and books that I’ve found useful and refer back to.

• Articles
  • Managing yourself
  • Managing People
  • Managing Teams
  • Organizational Structure
  • Reliability and Resiliency
  • Technical Decision Making
  • Prioritization
  • Other Resources
• Books
  • Bookshop.org Library
  • The Agile Culture
• Newsletters

Articles

Managing yourself

• Brag Documents - This is probably the one article I recommend more than any other.
• Surviving the organizational side quest - One of the key skills of Staff+ engineers and managers alike!
• Career Narratives
• Four Steps to Identifying Your New Role - A simple framework to get clear about what you need from your next role.

Managing People

• Begin with Trust - High performance starts with trust and vulnerability.
• Core needs: BICEPS Model - A very useful model from Paloma Medina.
• Being Glue - What is glue work, how to get credit for it, and how to prioritize the other things more important than glue.
• Questions for BICEPS core needs - Getting deeper on core needs
• One on One Format
• Managing High Performers
• Confrontation Obligation (Hard Conversations)
• Finding the Right Distance as a Manager
• Staff+ Archetypes - A classic for a reason.
• Selecting project leads
• Beyond Staff Engineer - A good insight into Sr Staff and Principal level roles.

Managing Teams

• To Build a Top-Performing Team, Ask for 85% Effort - Why you should never optimize for utilization.
• Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development - Important dynamics to understand at each stage of growth for a team with clear guidance for leaders.
• The Art of the Tick Tock Doc - How to effectively communicate change to your team.

Organizational Structure

• Conway’s Law in Team Topologies: Did You Really Get It? - It’s about relationships not team structure.
• Your AI Team is Slowing Down Your Company

Reliability and Resiliency

• The Myth of the Sufficiently Smart Engineer - How embracing the Humble Learner archetype creates humane culture and better technology.
• Root Cause - John Allspaw on root cause

Technical Decision Making

• I’ve Been Thinking About Tradeoffs All Wrong
• Tech Debt is Necessary
• Tools for Systems Thinkers: The 6 Fundamental Concepts of Systems Thinking

Prioritization

• AI Work
• BAU Work
• Tech Debt Day

Other Resources

• 10 Must Reads for Engineering Leaders

Books

Bookshop.org Library

I keep a list of my favorite managerial and engineering books on Bookshop.org. Full disclosure I get a small commission for any books purchased through my storefront.

The Agile Culture

Pixton, Gibson, & Nickolaisen

One of my absolute favorites! This book outlines ways of creating high performing teams by building a culture of high ownership and high trust.

I haven’t been able to find this one on Boookshop.org, but you can buy it from their website.

Newsletters

• Software Lead Weekly

Photo by Iñaki del Olmo on Unsplash