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Date
Titre
Durée
05 Mar 2020
Changing How We Change Software with GeePaw Hill
00:47:04
What if we could create a trade culture that allowed for change rather than relying on mechanical thinking? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest, GeePaw Hill, discuss how the doubling rate in the software industry has resulted in a complete lack of trade discipline. Drawing on his 40 years in the software industry, GeePaw’s solution is to develop a thick culture in which certain standards are established across the industry. They also discuss why the industrial model of work is so unsatisfying, the real reason why good workers leave organizations, and the importance of luck.
Show Notes
The doubling rate of makers has resulted in a total lack of culture in the software industry (2:12)
Defining Thick Culture, Thin Culture, and the Frame (4:01)
Using the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) as a model for the kind of frame the trade needs (5:40)
How the doubling rate resulted in a lack of leaders that can develop an industry discipline (6:34)
Why good workers leave organization (18:05)
Developing a common language of change in the trade (24:24)
The real-life challenges leaders face when implementing change in their organizations (31:40)
Why managers and HR are wrong about why employees leave (41:10)
Improve Your Product Management with Ellen Gottesdiener
00:48:51
How do we improve in the area of product management? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest Ellen Gottesdiener, President of EBG Consulting, discuss ways companies can better oversee the development and lifecycle of a product in its entirety. Marcus and Ellen also discuss her Agile Product Planning method, best practices in the area of product management, and effective decision making methods with product management within your organization.
Show Notes
A working definition of product management (1:15)
The product lifecycle (1:45)
Answering the question, “What’s my product?” (8:30)
“Outside-in” thinking over “inside-out” (11:30)
Ways to address product production backlogs (15:33)
Managing the work vs. the product (19:19)
Engaging a product engineering team (21:58)
The role of story in product development (28:35)
Product development without a structured value system (33:47)
The decision making process in product development (40:49)
Finding Career Opportunities Through Experimentation with Josh Doody
00:46:49
Engineers love to experiment, but is experimenting with your career a good idea? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus talks with salary negotiation expert Josh Doody about how this counterintuitive decision can benefit you over the long term. According to Doody, the key is to stop thinking in binary terms of “good” and “bad” outcomes and optimize for learning, instead. Doing so gives us a broader spectrum of results that we can use to decide how to proceed. This will allow us to better calculate risk while also avoiding Old Timer’s Disease and falling victim to loss aversion.
Show Notes
“Decision science” (3:55)
Thinking of outcomes as a spectrum rather than “good” or “bad” (5:13)
Optimize for learning, not outcomes (7:31)
How career experimentation has helped Josh (11:17)
Understanding the long game (16:23)
How to avoid Short-Timer’s Disease (18:53)
Using expected value to calculate risk (23:41)
Loss aversion can impede our ability to accurately calculate risk (27:59)
“Good” and “bad” are subjective terms when it comes to experimentation (32:39)
No Fighting In This (Agile) Dojo with M. David Green
00:47:05
How can we train teams to consistently produce quality code without negatively impacting productivity? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest, M. David Green, discuss Agile Dojos and how they can make teams more effective. Dojos provide a six-week training ground where teams focus on recognizing and replicating value by pairing, mobbing, and swarming. Coaches like Green help them to hone their skills and go through rituals more effectively. The results will be more engaged team members, scrum masters, and a way of working that converts skeptics and naysayers into Agile evangelists.
09 Jul 2020
Bridging the PM Gap with Rich Mironov
00:48:46
Have you ever been told to be more “innovative” with your code? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest, Rich Mironov, discuss the all too common disconnect between developers and those on the marketing side of organizations. According to Rich, this is the result of two very different work cultures existing in the same organization - one that’s collaborative and one that’s highly individualistic. The culture gap can be hard to cross. Thankfully, Rich has spent years coming up with solutions to bridge that gap. It’s not always easy, but Rich believes that it can be done through a better understanding of how the two cultures work along with constant education and communication.
Show Notes
Differences in design principles between product and engineering management (1:35)
Understanding the conflict between makers and marketers (6:22)
How Rich helps marketers/sales develop a more useful frame for engineering (10:01)
The “Innovation” Misconception (15:36)
The culture gap between sales and development/product teams (21:46)
Where does product management fit between sales and development? (26:31)
Helping clients make effective organizational change (32:48)
How do organizations actually work with Agile? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest, Allen Holub, discuss what organizations get wrong about Agile. Allen has been an Agile transformation consultant for nearly 40 years and has seen the best and worst it has to offer. Luckily, he says the worst can be avoided. The challenge lies in company culture and architecture. The Agile way of working can be a shock to an organization’s system. However, those willing to suffer a few growing pains can reap tremendous rewards further down the line!
Show Notes
Why Agile is failing (3:55)
Teams are not Agile, organizations are (7:12)
When Agile works (15:14)
The inspect and adapt loop (26:21)
Obstacles preventing organizations from being Agile (30:27)
Why people can’t imagine work working differently (37:16)
Advice for people realizing that they’re not actually Agile (39:46)
How do we leverage remote work in our businesses and on our teams? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus talks with Rachel Farrer, CEO and founder of Distributing Consulting, about the challenges facing remote workers and their managers. Despite being around for decades, there are still many managers pushing back against remote work. According to Farrer, this is due to myths surrounding it as well as managers not utilizing it effectively. She wants people to know that remote work, when properly understood and executed, can create more productive teams, departments, and companies.
Show Notes
Understanding why isolation is such a challenge for remote workers (2:31)
How managers can spot when isolation is affecting one of their remote workers (6:13)
The disconnect between on-site managers and remote workers (10:00)
Advice for managers wanting to add remote workers to a colocated team (14:34)
Helpful mindset shifts for managers averse to remote workers (18:03)
The challenges facing remote teams that do knowledge work (22:00)
How Core Values Influence Diversity and Inclusion with Kim Crayton
00:50:49
In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest, Kim Crayton, discuss how organizations are shaped by core values, and why values are integral for establishing true diversity and inclusion. Kim dives into some very uncomfortable truths in this episode, pointing out how most organizations are not actually ready for inclusion and diversity, because they are operating with misaligned values that make it impossible for stakeholders to thrive. Kim also explains how businesses can leverage diversity to effectively compete in the information economy, and explains why companies should rethink how they approach risk management.
Show Notes
Why inclusion and diversity must be the bedrocks of an organization — and why they are essential for competing in the information economy. (2:16)
The role that core values play in an organization, and how they are linked to processes, procedures, and policies. (1:43)
Understanding shareholder value versus stakeholder value in an organization. (7:06)
The core values of the #causeascene community: Tech is not neutral, intention without strategy is chaos, lack of inclusion is a risk management issue, and prioritizing the most vulnerable. (9:48)
How most companies lack the diversity to identify the potential for harm — and as a result, they don’t understand harm until it happens. (13:43)
Thinking beyond finance when considering risk management (16:38)
How income sharing agreements (ISAs) often target and harm — instead of prioritize — people in marginalized communities.(18:50)
Defining privilege, underrepresentation, marginalization, variety, and inclusion.(26:56)
Redefining capitalism in a way that doesn’t cause harm to people by default. (34:51)
When you as the manager treat your peers, other managers in the organizations as your first team, it changes your stance. It changes the way you work. It creates intentionally a set of allies you can problem-solve, people problem-solve with, people you can collaborate with. This is a little bit different idea than my first team of the people that work for me. Instead, your first team becomes those other engineering managers, directors, VPs, whatever it is, those peers, those all-important peer relationships that are so, so vital to cross-team, cross-silo and cross-departmental work.
Show Notes
What is a “first team”?
I got trained in a cohort of people that went through together, and that became my first team
Creating a unified management team
There was also really something special about the way my boss created and improved the relationships with the people that he led through the program.
if we go back to the past and we see where companies put people through their own leadership development programs
In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest Jason Wong discuss how one size does not fit all in leadership. They dive into how the traditional leadership model isn't working well and how it could be changed to become more effective. The two also enlighten listeners on a new followership model, and why followership can be just as important as leadership.
Show Notes
The traditional leadership model isn't working well
Great Man Leadership
New model should be less confrontational and more collaborative
Corporations aren't just money and investors, we need to incorporate values
The Chef Incident
We all seek leadership thus everyone is always following someone
Chaleff Model of Followership
Being a leader or a follower isn't a choice, sometimes you could be good at both
Leadership model in which you pass the baton and take turns in the leadership role
Tiger Woods wasn’t born golfing. He did spend time, lots of time, practicing and he became good at it. People have inherent traits but being good at something takes time, effort, and practice. In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus talks about the importance of not solely focusing on things that people are naturally good at. It’s important to branch out of our comfort zones and learn new skills and is it only with practice and learning that we become better at those skills. And through trials and tribulations we ultimately find what we like to do and what we want to do.
Show Notes
If you only focus on things you are good at, you’ll never know what you could be capable of doing.
Get out of the mindset that you only have to do what you’re naturally good at.
Success and failure both give opportunities for people to learn.
Imposter syndrome is feeling like a fake in the role that you already possess.
Laws of relationships should be focused on rather than laws of power.
On this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest, Amitai Schleier, discuss a new project Amitai is working on regarding reviving an old, but useful, open-source program called qmail. Strategy and collaboration on this project as well as how to manage a project of this nature are discussed.
Making Software Development Teams Hum with Ron Lichty
00:45:33
Is your team running so smoothly that it hums? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest, Ron Lichty, discuss what makes high-performance teams versus what makes low-performance teams. Most teams already know which category they fall into, but the solution to a low-performing team isn’t always clear. Drawing on 20 years of Agile experience, Ron narrows down the three root causes of low-performing teams as well as solutions that managers can implement to improve them.
Show Notes
Learning what makes software development teams hum (1:40)
What prevents a team from humming (3:31)
Building effective stand-ups (10:32)
Do < Accomplish (15:43)
The high value of predictability (19:28)
Implement the “fist-to-five” to your stand-up (23:50)
How to observe psychological safety (29:28)
Misunderstanding so-called “introverts” (31:31)
Planning is every team member’s job (36:58)
Providing value for stakeholders is an infinite game, not a finite one (38:44)
We’ve all experienced feedback that was unhelpful - but why was it that way? Supervisors want to motivate us, and bring out our best, but perhaps they don’t always think about the feedback they’re giving. Is it really helpful? Is it addressing the real problem? What’s the context? In this episode, we’ll look at how our perceptions can change how we respond, and why authentic feedback is genuinely helpful.
Show Notes
Sometimes we ascribe motivations that aren’t there, causing us to provide feedback based on incorrect assumptions.
A fundamental human trait is seeing the world with our own biases. You must be aware of your perceptual biases.
Feedback is best when it’s based on tangible things, not just perceptions. Authentic feedback recognizes the difference between sensation and perception.
Objective analysis will yield feedback that takes into account circumstances.
Being Your Own Leader in Times of Transition with Han Yuan
00:40:01
Episode 40 What does it look like to be your own leader in times of professional transition? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus talks with Han Yuan, friend and former Senior Vice President of Engineering at Upwork, about transitioning into entrepreneurship from a traditional job and vice versa. How do you know it’s time to make a transition? Where do you find the support you need? How can you prepare team members for their own transitions? It’s a scary proposition for anyone. Fortunately, Yuan says it can be managed effectively with a combination of objective benchmarks, meaningful relationships, and authenticity.
Show Notes
The dangers of becoming an entrepreneur (2:41)
When it’s time to leave your “good" job (4:00)
How professional managers can help employees think this way through career development (6:30)
Helping team members transition out of the organization (8:37)
Avoid win-lose situations by mentoring people, not professional roles (9:56)
Dealing with uncertainty during transition (15:05)
Connecting activities to outcomes (19:39)
Be authentic when “parachuting” into a new work culture (23:17)
How entrepreneurs can maintain structure and build peer groups outside of traditional work structures (28:37)
Becoming a Better Manager Means Starting with Yourself with Johanna Rothman
00:41:47
To be a modern manager, you must manage yourself first. In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest, Johanna Rothman discuss how you must learn to manage yourself to be effective at managing other people. They will discuss some common mistakes managers make and some important values to instill in yourself that will make you a better manager, such as integrity, vulnerability, and congruence.
Show Notes
If we don't manage ourselves, we don't have the capability of managing other people. @2:42
Micromanagement comes from fear and that fear is out of incongruence. @3:07
Blame cuts off options and relationships. @8:25
Admitting you're afraid and need help and being vulnerable is a sign of strength not a weakness. @13:48
Take small steps in building trust. @15:28
Value-based integrity consists of these 5 values: honesty, fairness, consistency, taking responsibility, and treating people with respect. @18:43
Self-awareness is difficult, but often is as simple as asking people. @25:14
ROTI (Returned on Time Invested) method for a meeting @27:29
A challenge for technical managers is actually knowing how to do the work very well. @30:14
Take control of your schedule to deal with the time pressure. @36:21
How can you build trust as a leader? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest, Michael Lopp discuss the small practices that make a good leader. Listen to learn about building trust, respect, and relationships in a leadership role.
Show Notes
Leadership practices are small things done repetitively over time. @2:29
Leadership is a skill. @3:32
Empathy is a powerful skillset. @5:17
The practice of one on ones is important in connecting to a team. @6:44
Asking for feedback can build trust and relationships. @9:04
Respond to feedback with a thank you and follow up comprehension questions. @11:35
Feedback is a gift. @18:04
It's not personal, it's professional. @21:37
Leadership is an outfit that you choose to wear for others to see. @25:41
Managers tell you where you are, leaders tell you where you're going. @31:55
"There is no substitute for enthusiasm."- Ken Beck @34:20
Have you ever wondered why people can't just be clear and direct? In this episode of the Programming Leadership podcast, we're going to discuss this problem, identify some possible root causes, and learn how we can be more simple and clear in our communications.
Show Notes
When you become a manager, you may find yourself using jargon without much forethought. Don't let yourself go there. You're only puffing yourself up and making your communications less clear.
In conflict, incongruence tends to occur. This is when our insides don't match our outsides. As a solution, communicate clearly with your team what you are processing internally. Talk about what you really mean and use simple language. The other person absolutely deserves it.
When navigating how to break down a work problem for your team, don't just break it up into chunks for them. Together, try a decomposition exercise where you each sit down to talk about the strategy and ways to decompose the problem, then let them solve it. This allows your team to learn, trust you more and take pride in their work.
Are you compassionate? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest, April Wensel discuss compassion in technology and how it affects people. April shares how to become more compassionate as individuals and how we can bring more compassion into our organizations. Dive in to learn about a more compassionate future.
Show Notes
Compassion is about reducing suffering. @1:09
Compassion is what's missing in technology. @1:22
Emotional intelligence ties into compassion. @4:36
We're all hardwired for cruelty and compassion- it's our choice which we choose as humans. @5:44
Everyone has the potential to practice compassion in daily life. @6:25
To practice compassion, you must have empathy. @7:48
Curiosity and inquiry are risks worth taking to show compassion. @8:23
The four pillars of being a compassionate coder are compassion with yourself, with your coding and non-coding coworkers, with users, and with society. @11:58
Organizations contribute to keeping uncompassionate patterns in place (higher pay and special treatment for coders for example). @18:01
Everybody has the capacity to develop compassion; it's about how we direct our energy, time, and effort. @21:29
Pausing, or taking a beat, to think is often the beginning of compassion. @25:20
You need to operate at human speeds rather than machine speeds to be compassionate. @26:53
Environments and working culture need to change in order to allow more compassion. @27:28
Burnout is an indicator that there's been a lack of compassion somewhere in the organization. @27:48
Compassion is important in all relationships, especially with power dynamics. @28:53
Open up to build relationships and communicate to learn what others are thinking and actually going through, instead of making snap judgments. @32:48
Conflict: Uncomfortable, Yet Necessary with Jennifer Jones-Patulli
00:41:09
Episode Description
Is conflict always a bad thing? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest, Jennifer Jones-Patulli, discuss how people tend to think about conflict and how they handle it. Jennifer provides insight and tools to use as leaders to help handle conflict situations within an organization and among staff. Conflict may be uncomfortable, but it is not always bad.
Show Notes
Fight, flight, or freeze reactions
Cultures approach conflict differently
Conflict is not a problem but can become a problem
Time pressure plays into how people handle conflict
People have different triggers that increase their heart rate and it’s important to know your triggers
Scale and interdependent pairs
Tactical vs. strategic
Leaders should have an awareness of how to handle conflict
Pattern spotting questions
Tension provokes uncertainty which can then change dynamics of individuals or even teams
Leadership Strategies from Nature with Dr. Kathleen Allen
00:48:45
What can nature teach us about how to get the most from our organizations? In this episode, Marcus welcomes Dr. Kathleen Allen to discuss changing our perspectives of assigning roles within teams and organizations to what she calls leading a “living systems”. Dr. Allen is the president of her consulting firm, Allen and Associates, and has written many articles and contributed to a variety of books, including The Transforming Leader: New Approaches to Leadership for the Twenty-first Century and Innovation in Environmental Leadership: Critical Perspectives. Her most recent book, Leading from the Roots: Nature-Inspired Leadership Lessons for Today’s World, is available now.
Show Notes
An alternative to reorganization (1:45)
“We are human beings living and working in an environment, and when you have a collection of human beings, then your organization probably isn't an object, either. It's just that we're thinking that it's an object.” Dr. Allen (2:50)
The “living systems” perspective (4:45)
"Living systems are interdependent. They're not separate. And our job descriptions are designed and written to keep us separate from each other." Dr. Allen (9:00)
Strategy comes from patterns rather than details. (13:00)
"So the old leadership question is, what do I need to control? And the new leadership question of a living system is, what do I need to unleash?” Dr. Allen (16:45)
Work with you as opposed to working for you (19:30)
Empowering employees with a common shared goal versus controlling employees through management tactics (28:00)
"Influence, not authority." Marcus (33:00)
"It's the illusion of control and power. And that's what we're selling is the illusion. But nature doesn't have a CEO." Dr. Allen (36:30)
The only constant is change, and Heidi Helfand knows a thing or two about changes in organizations. From reteamining to reorganizations to just shuffling a member or two, in this episode we’ll learn how to think about these inevitable changes and what to do when they happen.
Show Notes
What are some of the kinds of change that a team might undergo?
Dynamic reteaming comes in these five structural patterns
In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest, Camille Fournier discuss some points from her book, The Manager's Path. They discuss the importance of time management and how to effectively manage employee turnover in a leadership role.
Show Notes
A day in the life of a manager varies, but it is a lot of meetings. @3:58
As a manager, you have to be on for all the hours you are in. @5:07
It's important to make time for your "thinking time." @7:14
The big problems are the intersection of technology and people. @10:24
You need a strategy to keep your team focused on the important things. @12:07
Learn how to balance a team's time between basic maintenance work and new things. @14:09
Different managers track time and work in different ways. @19:06
Look for disengagement as a sign that someone is fixing to leave. @20:37
When you notice a difference in a team member's engagement, address their concerns early. @22:41
"Money is rarely the first straw, but it's usually the last straw." @23:54
Employee retention and hiring retention is one of the most important things you have to do as a manager. @24:56
When someone leaves, there should be a conversation between upper management and that person's manager. @25:51
Internal mobility is a great way to keep employees at a company. @29:10
From Engineer to Executive: An Interview with Eric Muntz of MailChimp
00:38:33
If you’ve ever wondered about what it could look like to go from being an engineer to the senior executive level of your company, you won’t want to miss this episode. This week on the Programming Leadership podcast, Marcus interviews Eric Muntz, the Senior Vice President of Engineering at MailChimp. They discuss Eric’s career shifts as well as the challenges and lessons he’s learned along the way.
Show Notes
One of the first lessons Eric learned in management was how to listen well. It’s about waiting to jump in before you speak and being intentional about when you do.
When Eric began moving up in leadership, he asked himself, “What types of things do I need to do to go in and actually be perceived that way from people who don't know me at all?” One step he made was going through the employees’ training and asking them how he could help them do their jobs better.
If you’re looking for a promotion, know that managers are looking for who is helping and who understands the big picture.
Address burnout. Talk about it. Especially with those who are prone to care ‘too much.’
Eric shares that MailChimp’s company motto is, "Listen hard, change fast,” which gives you permission to be wrong — and fosters growth among all involved.
Getting Real. Establishing Realistic Expectations for Yourself and Your Team
00:25:53
It’s a fact of life that people are imperfect, so why do we try as coders to be perfect in our jobs? It’s just not feasible nor rational. This episode of Programming Leadership sheds light on the unrealistic expectations that clients, bosses and ourselves set because we strive to be perfect in an imperfect world. Programmers need to set realistic goals with their bosses, teams and with themselves. It’s only when we get real, do real results happen.
Show Notes
Leadership is creating an environment where everyone can contribute.
We can’t say yes to something until we can truly say no to something.
Look for the good and the bad in the retrospective of a project. Document lessons learned.
Stop trying to be perfect in front of your boss and colleagues. It’s okay to not know the answer and to be imperfect.
Getting to Know You - The Key to Successful Leadership
00:24:10
Good leadership looks like a flock of birds. That doesn’t mean everyone on the team has to dress in feathers, rather it means leadership is dynamic, shifting, and also tight-knit. In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus talks about what it takes to be a good leader and provides real solutions on how to build trust and gain feedback from your team.
Show Notes
Being a young leader over a team with more experience requires emotional intelligence and collaboration in order to build trust and confidence.
Truly get to know your employees. It helps build trust and reduces negative impressions.
“Preconceptions are relationships based on past interactions with people that remind us of someone else.” - Marcus
Followership is not inferior to leadership.
One-on-one meetings should be frequent, consistent and not cancelled.
One-on-one meetings are important for building trust and gaining real feedback.
How Buffer.com Develops Engineering Leadership Skills From Day 1 With Katie Womersley
00:40:55
There is an inherent difference between leaders and managers that is often overlooked. While most think that leaders are “born,” Katie Womersley, VP of Engineering at Buffer, disagrees. Leaders and managers both require skills that can be taught, and developing those employees from within the company can be the most timely and economically efficient way to do so. We also discuss the perception of status, authority, and vulnerability with the workplace.
Show Notes
What is Buffer?
Leaders vs. Managers
Setting expectations for leadership growth
Questions that threaten authority status
Perception management and vulnerability
Levels of career framework
Katie’s journey into management
Transitioning others into management and bumps along the way
The “dark side” of management...is it real?
Developing leaders from within the organization
Katie’s favorite resources on leadership & management
Imagine the Possibilities: How to Break Ties That Hinder Our Potential
00:33:27
Often times people find themselves in a place where they feel trapped or stagnant in their lives. It can be trapped in a job or in a relationship and making a change may not always be the easiest thing to do. Because we are human, we find ourselves in situations where it is hard to leave or change because we are connected to people, systems or organizations.
In this episode of Programming Leadership, Jessica Kerr joins me to talk about the complex topic of moving out of stagnation and into new possibilities. We also cover some mechanisms for people to implement who want to make a change in their lives when it seems almost impossible to do so.
Show Notes
People are connected in many systems and because of those bonds it’s hard to break them and make changes.
In order to make a change you first have to imagine yourself doing something different or get others to help you make those changes.
If you are feeling trapped in your work, conduct some what-if scenarios but don’t impulsively act on those scenarios without first examining how you feel about them.
Don’t picture going somewhere new when you are doing what-if scenarios, better yet picture arriving at your new destination.
Take little steps that can open up new opportunities like blogging or joining a new organization.
Training, done properly, is a specialized type of learning that companies can use as an investment in their personnel or as a box that gets ticked off each year as mandatory practice. What are some of the best practices for training? How can employees prepare to learn?
Show Notes
I think that good training and good learning go hand in hand
Nowadays there's a whole host of different options for every technology.
I think it's also healthy for an organization to say, "We're investing in you. We want you to learn these things even if there's no immediate payoff, even if it's not directly for like helping the company right now, we think that at some point in the next year you're going to be exposed to this. You'll need this, you'll want this."
having these fundamentals really helps you sort of fly through the system and then use it for the purpose you want, which is getting your work done and not spending time on the nonsense.
every company has to sort of decide on these trade-offs because during those days people won't be available as much as you want and you just have to sort of plan for that
Does project work feel like a guessing game? What happens when projects go off track, and how can this affect customer relationships? Better yet, how can we navigate uncertainty when we estimate and plan -- but things still go wrong? Standing in uncertainty, learning to handle it, and living in inquiry are topics of discussion in this episode.
Show Notes
We're going to talk about the idea of being able to hold uncertainty in our mind, start to get comfortable with it, and some mental tools and patterns of how to handle
When we find ourselves uncertain, we oftentimes crave certainty.
Be comfortable holding your plans with an element of uncertainty.
It's really easy for you as a manager to observe generally how people are working.
Product management and prioritization are all about cutting away, they're all about subtracting
I'm going to propose that you get into a habit and create a practice of reestimating and replanning.
I want to focus on this very simple three part steps to something that Human Systems Dynamics calls an adaptive action.
standing in uncertainty, learning to handle uncertainty, living in inquiry
Lessons Learned on the Path to Managing with Amy Phillips and Aaron Randall
00:40:32
In this episode, we’re talking to Amy Phillips and Aaron Randall (CTO of Songkick) about the path from programmer to manager. How did they get there, what did they learn, and what can you learn from their experiences?
Show Notes
What lessons were learned in the early phases of their careers?
How do you change when the industry changes?
The importance of having difficult conversations
You can’t know all the answers
Finding balance
On peers, managers, and building a support network
Managing to Solve An Elegant Puzzle with Will Larson
00:42:06
At Stripe, guest Will Larson received his first official management training by an employer. It taught him about different management styles, problem solving, and more. But most employees don’t get management training, which can cause problems down the road. Marcus and Will discuss this, plus what it takes to handle leadership roles.
Show Notes
Most coders don’t aspire to be managers
“there's that idea that really if you think about the consequences and the kind of statefulness of these human systems that you're working with, you can come to understand them in a way that you can't if you look at them as causal”
“this is where systems thinking is so powerful, which is if you look at it causally you've solved a problem, if you look at it from a systems perspective you've created a problem, and you really have to have the slightly longer term view and just to recognize that you are burying yourself when you take many of the quick easy ways out”
“the joy of senior manager is these problems are really hard to solve but you actually can finesse most problems into like a problem statement where everyone like is happy”
“So I've been thinking about the idea of forced change a lot recently.”
“A lot of incident programs have the same problem where they learn about the gaps but then you have to find the space to improve upon them”
We’re still learning: Most Silicon Valley companies are still very young
“There's still a ton of scarcity for kind of the folks at the top of the market.”
This week on the Programming Leadership podcast, host Marcus Blankenship shares his core beliefs about what it truly means to be a manager. He discusses the differences between the management and leadership and highlights key aspects of leadership that inspires anyone, regardless of job title or natural born talents, to step up and lead with confidence.
Show Notes
It’s important to find out what it takes to be a great leader, even if you never get promoted to manager. And that’s exactly what the the Programming Leadership podcast will help you figure out.
Management is about things and processes, whereas leadership focuses on people — empowering and unleashing others to help them reach their highest potential.
Author Gerald Weinberg describes leadership as, “creating an environment where everyone can participate in solving the most important problems.” Read more from his book, Becoming a Technical Leader.
Two important things to remember about leadership: 1) Leadership is a skill that can be learned and 2) Leadership is about building (high-quality) relationships.
Welcome to the Programming Leadership podcast! In this episode, you’ll meet the host, Marcus Blankenship, as he introduces his passion for helping programmers navigate transitions. After all, most engineers don’t plan on becoming managers. So whether you’re a new programmer, you’re on the management track, or if you’ve been a manager for years, be sure to tune in as Marcus will help prepare you to not become just a manager, but how to truly become a great leader.
Show Notes
For Marcus, his steps of going from programmer to manager, manager to leader, leader to executive and business owner was the hardest journey of his life.
Making the transition from computer-person interaction to person-person interaction is what the Programming Leadership podcast is all about.
Leadership is about developing a set of skills where everyone can contribute to problem-solving.
If a friend asks you to help them move something heavy, like a rock, you probably wouldn’t think twice. But if they asked you to take care of their pet monkey… That’s the beginning of our chat with Matt Greenberg, Vice President of Engineering at Credit Karma, who compares problems of various types and sizes to monkeys and rocks. The goal of effective leaders should be to break down bigger problems into smaller ones, going from monkey-sized problems to smaller, rock-sized ones.
Show Notes
Framing problems as monkeys -- vs rocks
It's not easy once a problem has become a monkey, to shape it back down into a rock.
It might be something like choosing a programming language for a specific problem.
what you're ultimately trying to do is build teams of Michael Jordan's, so that they can do huge impact things, but that they're easy for them
I see most of the challenges with my teams are when people don't have the empathy to see the state from other people's point of view
What motivates your programmers? In this episode, Marcus looks at the various factors that impact motivation, and why one of his engineers just wasn’t grooving on a project. Chances are you’ve got teammates who feel the same way. Guess what? It’s not that they’re lacking in motivation, it’s that they’re no longer motivated by what’s being given to them.
Show Notes
People ARE motivated, that’s why you hired them. They lose some of that when they aren’t given new challenges.
Is it wise to allow risks just so you can keep people motivated?
Problem solving is exciting, and engineers want to do exciting things.
Have you ever wondered why am I doing this? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus discusses his vision for the future and how we can work together to change it. Are you with me?
Show Notes
Consider your why and get on board with mine. @4:02
I want to create a future that's more productive and more valuable. @5:09
This future will have lower turnover and higher productivity. @5:58
Small ideas have to start somewhere and they grow. @6:53
Bad management and leadership comes from somewhere above you with expectations that came into the company a long time ago. @7:43
I feel small with a big idea and I need your help. @8:12
Breaking old habits is hard, but it can start with us. @9:02
Emotional intelligence is essential to good leadership, but many CTO’s stress the importance of IQ instead. To move from contributor to manager, it’s a good idea to invest the time to explore EQ, as well as personality profiles to better understand how to manage people.
Are you a resilient manager? Do you want to become one? In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest, Lara Hogan discuss what it means to be a resilient manager. She will discuss some effective management skills and thought processes. She will also introduce us to the idea of the manager Voltron.
Show Notes
New manager care packages @1:00
Becoming a manager is scary for different reasons for everybody. @5:10
Management skills are the same across the board. @9:15
At every stage of management, you start over with the same new feelings, new fears, and lack of internal barometer of success. @12:06
It's okay to get comfortable and confident in what you know, but remember you're going to encounter new things. @14:01
Build out your manager crew of support, a manager Voltron. @15:19
Your Voltron should include people inside your company and people outside your company. @20:13
Manager dens- where you can experience coaching, mentoring, and a safe space, Vegas rules session. @23:57
Mentoring is sharing advice and perspective; coaching is helping someone come to their own conclusions. @25:56
Coaching is what helps people grow. @26:26
What are you optimizing for? @30:24
Resilient management has to do with making sure your bucket of energy is healthy. @35:01
When thinking about being cut out for management, it's about given the context, responsibility, and people you work with, does this work for you? @36:52
In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest Esther Derby discuss change. They discuss her book, Seven Rules for Positive Productive Change, and how change is viewed and implemented by individuals and organizations.
Show Notes
Change is a core aspect of leaders' and managers' jobs
Change is viewed differently from different people, or different places in an organization
How do people and companies "do change"?
Codifying when we know the least
Forest succession as a metaphor for change
What holds the current pattern in place?
Fundamental attribution error
Missing feedback loop
Possible for people to change, but don't always choose to
This week on the Programming Leadership podcast, we’re diving into the theories and definitions of what leadership means and looks like (and even what it doesn’t look like)! Even if you wouldn’t call yourself a “natural born” leader, Marcus encourages you to remember that leadership is a process, requires learned skills and everyone has the building blocks to become a great leader. So, what are you waiting for? Tune in to find out how you can start building your leadership skills today.
Show Notes
Leadership is a process, something we can improve over time as there’s no ultimate goal or right/wrong way to do it.
Leadership outcomes is not about controlling people, it's about creating an environment that affords everyone the ability to work on solving the most important problem at hand, because we all want to work on solving these problems.
Leader’s don’t have to have the title, “Manager.” They’re often those people on your team who care; who believe that it's better when everyone contributes and that the job gets done smoother.
Marcus breaks down the two camps of leadership theories: entity theories and dyadic theories.
The entity theory asks, makes a leader so great? “It’s the idea that we look up to these leaders, admire them, and if we ever find ourselves in a leadership or management role, let's try and become like them. Let's model them.” [00:13:19 to 00:13:30]
Dyadic theories study the relationship between the leader and the follower. “The quality of relationship that people have with their boss is a predictor of how good their performance is and how satisfied they are.” [00:16:59 to 00:17:07]
Everyone has the building blocks to be a great leader.
If you’re new to a leadership/management role, Marcus suggests to reduce your coding time and increase your people time. In other words, start delegating more.
Time management is one of the most difficult things in the transition from programmer to manager.
Do people really crave feedback? That’s the assumption a lot of managers make, so in this episode we’ll talk about what feedback really means and how you can give it in a meaningful, productive manner.
The Importance of Trust and Communication with Tim Ottinger
00:42:42
On today's episode of Programming Leadership, we dive into what is needed to establish safety in your own organization. Trust is just one of the key pieces that make up the structure of safety in a work environment, along with actual physical measures, active communication, and regular feedback. The people who make up your organization are an integral part of the safety structure. An exchange of ideas and criticisms between subordinates and superiors should be shared, but boundaries must be in place and commonly known in order for these exchanges to occur safely and effectively. Utilizing all of these components, managers can provide a safe environment for their employees to help limit catastrophes from occurring whether in the workplace or in the actual work itself.
Show Notes
Safety is defined by the measures put in place to prevent small problems from turning into big ones, but those are not limited to merely physical measures.
A feeling of safety in the work environment is just as important and necessary to an end product as a software test suite.
Communication involves listening without assumption and questioning with intent so that decisions can be made with the correct desired outcome.
Good intentions and taking risks can be seen as good or bad, depending on who's calling the shots. The reality is - there is no universal safety net.
Trust can be broken, but it's also negotiable. Be willing to admit when too much is too much, and ask for help when you need it rather than take on more than you can handle and risk losing trust altogether.
Learn to recognize a person's limits, and learn to recognize when those limits need to be challenged or reassessed and raised.
Jobs evolve just like people. Evaluating a person’s performance shouldn’t be just about how well someone does in the job they were hired to do. You have to look at how a person has adapted to their work environment and how they have changed it, for better or worse.
Change is hard, unpredictable, and downright complex. Getting people or systems to change is not easy and certainly not done in a vacuum. In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus and his guest Don Gray enlighten listeners regarding the world of software development, the reasons for implementing software changes and why it's not as easy as people may think. And while doing so, the pair attempt to arm their readers with a variety of change literature that will have them thinking of containers, systems and exchanges in a whole new light.
Show Notes
Change is complex
Reasons for change - need for improvement, conformance, changeability
Software development is not linear and not deterministic
A software change is invisible and not physical so it is rather difficult to visualize
Prediction of how things will work is difficult
Retrospective Coherence - looking backwards after a change has been made
Thinking in Systems - people don't tend to think in systems
Containers hold focus
People notice events and plot those events to see trends
Breaking a problem down can help you see it more clearly, and attack the issues wrapped up in that problem more effectively. Sometimes we tackle problems that are large or connected to other issues, and it can be helpful to take a step back, consider other perspectives, get more information, and try breaking things down and solving each issue individually.
Show Notes
There’s always more information.
Consider more sources of information.
Challenge your assumptions, and try to integrate different points of view.
Who are we not talking to? What are we not considering?
Often the solution to one problem reveals other underlying problems that need solving.
The more perspectives, the better.
A four-part approach to systems thinking, DSRP: distinctions, systems, relationships, and perspectives.
This week, we’re talking about the programmer to manager to leader transition. What makes this transition hard? Is it possible to become a manager if you’re lacking good role models? How do you really become the leader you want to be proud of? Tune in to find answers to these questions and more.
Show Notes
Why is the programmer to manager to leader transition hard? For starters, you’re no longer “just” coding, so it feels like you’re leaving something you love. It’s also difficult to envision the transition, especially if you haven't had good role models.
Marcus: “We learn to be a leader, a manager, by being led and being managed.”
Marcus: “...it is very hard to ask yourself, ‘Have I fallen into the habits of doing this in a way that is never what I wanted to be?’ Instead, become the leader you want
Marcus: “...join those of us who want to revolutionize what engineering management and leadership looks like, who believe that leadership is what happens when people of all ranks get together, problem solve, and empower each other.”
Help your boss establish a growth mindset by changing your language. Insist on talking about growth and learning and change. Ask, “Where did you learn that?”
Turnover is a huge problem in our industry. There are many reasons people choose to leave their jobs and in this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus dissects the top reasons software professional decide to seek other employment and ways to prevent future turnover from occurring.
Show Notes
Technology and software have the highest turnover rate of all industries
Managers can affect turnover
Reasons why people leave
Lack of opportunity for advancement
Unsatisfied with leadership of senior management
Unsatisfied with work environment and culture
Want more challenging work
Want to make more money
Unsatisfied with the rewards and recognition for contributions
Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture by Kim S. Cameron and Robert E. Quinn
Performance improvement plans (PIP) are difficult not just for the employee receiving the plan but also for the boss and others in upper management deciding to implement one. It’s easy for the employee to be upset or angry when put on a PIP but if used correctly, they can be a valuable tool for improving performance and building trust. In this episode of Programming Leadership, Marcus talks through a tough human resources topic and provides perspectives from both the employee and management as well as pointers on how to effectively use PIPs.
Show Notes
Performance Improvement Plans (PIP) should be used when you want an employee to improve; don’t use them if you plan to fire the employee regardless of performance.
Understand the real goal when implementing a PIP.
Include upper management when putting someone on a PIP and make sure that everyone is on the same page in terms of desired outcomes from the plan.
Make sure that the employee understands that he/she has to make the decision to improve or leave their position.
Give the employee feedback regularly when using a PIP.
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