Some Helpful Links for Technical Managers
Mon Sep 09 2024
Recently, I’ve been contemplating the divide between management and technical work found in most organizations. Considering my preference for “lead from the trenches” management, I feel that this distinction is actually counter productive in most cases. But that’s a different blog post.
This post highlights a few links for folks with management responsibilities. Whether a full-time manager or something more practical, I hope you enjoy these pieces as much as I do And I hope you find them useful. .
→ σ-driven project management: when is the optimal time to give up? lays out a statistical case for giving up on a project. It makes some really interesting points and, ultimately, is quite provocative.
→ On the false equivalence of DevOps, vs ITIL’s “standard change” (and why it’s a problem) is one of my favorite pieces to explore why traditional ITIL shops can’t just “accomodate the DevOps way of doing things”. It resonated way too much for comfort.
→ Why deadlines are pointless and what to do instead might be a controversial one, but this piece makes some really solid points. If it makes you uncomfortable, like it first did me, then read it a few more times and think about why it makes you feel that way.
→ The broken promise of re-use does a really good job dissecting the ways in which the dreams of software reuse have failed. It also implies that the abstract dream of “reuse” clouds technical decision making in many scenarios. I really like this piece.
→ The Art of the Awkward 1:1 and its follow up, Awkward 1:1s: How To Get Honest Feedback are two gems for anyone who conducts 1-on-1 meetings. They’re great for both managers and employees alike.
While these are not the only articles which have spoken to me, these are several of the ones to which I continually return. These are the ones which I think about most often and recommend to others most frequently.