Find resources to solve your technical leadership challenges
The article emphasizes that engineers must provide code that includes proof of its correctness through manual and automated testing, especially when using AI coding agents.
Because sometimes, one pro is worth ten cons.
Looking in control often comes at the expense of seeking truth and thinking clearly. Understand why this happens and consider a wiser way to operate while still managing the optics you must manage.
A six-level engineering-focused competency matrix introduced by Circle CI in 2018 to guide career progression for engineers.
A concise summary of calendar management rules learned from an executive assistant and colleagues.
A personal story about the unseen burnout that can affect developers even when they are passionate about their work.
A concise guide introducing the High Performing Teams framework to help technical leaders build and sustain top-performing engineering groups.
You don't seek feedback because you care. It feels personal. Besides, you already beat yourself down.
This article reframes technical debt as a signal about team health and system issues rather than a moral failing, offering practical advice for engineering leaders.
The article introduces the Operator Engineering Manager role, a new playbook for post-ZIRP engineering management.
The article presents the Decision Triangle, a simple visual model that breaks any decision into a trigger, a desired future, and an action, showing how it can improve decision-making in both everyday and strategic contexts.
A concise guide that presents three frameworks to help software engineers become more strategic in their work.
The article explains the distinction between Engineering Manager and Tech Lead roles, outlines the three core responsibilities of a Tech Lead-architecture, quality, and mentorship-and presents common operating models for technical leadership within software teams.
Labeling the relationships between things brings clarity and helps teams understand dependencies, a practice the author uses daily but many overlook.
A guide listing essential questions managers can ask employees to gather valuable feedback, along with free templates to streamline the process.
The article explains what technical debt is, why extending feedback loops harms agility, and how to manage debt responsibly.
Martin Fowler writes a foreword for the book "Frictionless", highlighting its approach to improving software productivity by identifying and removing friction.
By pulling on the sage advice of Charlie Munger, we can use pessimism to its full advantage, giving us safer planning, estimation and rollout.
How a tiny fern with the world's largest genome illustrates the dangers of incidental complexity in software, why easy solutions accumulate hidden costs, and how teams can stay focused on simplicity to maintain long-term velocity.
A CTO reflects on returning to writing code after years of management, discussing trade-offs, challenges and benefits of manager coding.
Revisiting Manager READMEs reflects on the original critique and offers updated guidance for creating effective manager documentation.
The post explains how AI and tooling are making software development cheaper and faster, creating a tendency for startups to delay building until costs drop further, and the implications for leadership decisions.
This article explains how engineering leaders can increase development speed by systematically preventing unplanned work and focusing on predictable delivery.
The inner album of greatest hits, and 3 frameworks to practice with
The article examines how generative AI is turning software development into a fast-food style industry, highlighting the trade-offs between speed, quality, and the rising value of expert judgment for technical leaders.
Demystifying board meetings from a CTO's perspective, offering practical insights on what to expect and how to prepare.
Interruptions, recovery time, and task size: three numbers that determine if you'll get real work done. Interactive visualizations show the math behind bad days.
Almost no one is productive for 8 hours a day straight! Learn why and how to think about your daily productivity differently.
On rediscovering the joy of being a beginner again
A short guide suggesting that instead of tracking time, technical leaders should track interruptions to improve focus and identify hidden costs of context switching.
A discussion on how new software initiatives inevitably contain bugs and how to manage them to increase velocity and quality.
Difficult people at work can drive you crazy. A clinical psychologist explains the best ways to handle them...
A story about one engineer, one manager, and the quiet ways we manufacture the performance gaps we complain about.
Your teams aren't bad at decisions. They're drowning in them. Here's how to make better decisions, faster.
A simple shift that turns you from problem-solver to leader.
Explores how curiosity beats certainty and how small experiments can make teams stronger.
How winning can shrink your options
A short piece about a manager at a first startup who runs solid, structured one-on-ones but sometimes dominates the conversation, illustrating the fine line between guidance and over-talking.
The article examines the low-trust climate in tech companies and offers authentic leadership techniques to rebuild trust and improve team performance.
A short reflection on why software development speed can drop and what options teams have to address it.
Maximise your product's chances of success by balancing tech debt and architectural improvements: tips from a product manager.
The article explores the concept of a leader's shadow, showing how a leader's mood and behavior can influence the team's energy and performance.
The article argues that mastering a new leadership role takes at least three years, and the time required grows with role complexity.
We all believe in transparency and public conversations until it's time to press Send.
A practical, repeatable framework for running weekly engineering 1:1s using the People, Product, Process structure-with exact scripts, Notion setup, and tips for making them actually useful.
A concise guide sharing advice for new principal engineers, distilled from role models and mentors at Amazon.
An exploration of the common reasons top talent leaves organizations and actionable strategies for technical leaders to improve retention.
A lightweight system for measuring engineering productivity that puts the overhead on managers, not engineers - using changelogs, standups, and visibility over surveillance
The stdlib collection is a community-curated library of practical, immediately useful, battle-tested resources for technical leadership. Each resource is designed to be immediately applicable to your role. New resources are added based on community feedback and emerging best practices.