stdlib

Find resources to solve your technical leadership challenges

Blog Post

Presentation Zen: Living large: "Takahashi Method" uses king-sized text as a visual

Master the Takahashi Method: using massive text as visuals to create memorable, high-impact presentations without complex graphics

presentationzen.blogs.com
CommunicationMeeting effectiveness
Guide

A Five Minutes Guide to Better Typography

Transform your presentations and documents with 5 simple typography rules that take minutes to learn but make a professional difference

pierrickcalvez.com
CommunicationKnowledge sharing
Article

10 Tips For Using OKRs Effectively

Avoid common OKR pitfalls with 10 battle-tested tips from companies that have successfully scaled with objectives and key results

rushabhdoshi.com
Decision-makingScalingCross-functional alignment
Article

Objectives and Key Results

GitLab's open handbook on OKRs showing how a fully remote company implements and scales objectives and key results transparently

about.gitlab.com
ScalingRemote workCross-functional alignment
Blog Post

Manager OKRs, Maker OKRs: How Early Stage Startups Should Think About Goal-Setting

Hunter Walk's insights on adapting Google's OKR framework for early-stage startups, warning against blindly copying big-company processes

hunterwalk.medium.com
Process inefficienciesScalingDecision-making
Article

OKR Examples (And Tips for Creating Your Own)

50+ real OKR examples across engineering, product, sales, and HR with practical tips for crafting effective objectives and key results

okrexamples.co
Team performanceCross-functional alignment
Article

OKR: The Ultimate Objectives and Key Results Resource

The definitive OKR resource hub with guides, templates, case studies, and tools for successful implementation at any scale

weekdone.com
Team performanceCross-functional alignment
Guide

A Modern Guide to Lean OKRs

Strip away OKR complexity with a lean approach focusing on what truly matters: outcomes over outputs and continuous learning

worldpositive.com
Process inefficienciesTeam performance
Article

How to Make OKRs Actually Work at Your Startup

Angus Davis's strategies from Swipely for implementing OKRs effectively at startups through collaboration, transparency, and separation from performance reviews

firstround.com
Team performanceCommunicationProcess inefficiencies
Blog Post

How to Use OKRs for Quarterly and Annual Planning

Practical guide to implementing OKRs with templates, examples, and a proven framework for quarterly and annual planning cycles

wrike.com
Decision-makingProcess inefficienciesScaling
Article

With Goals, FAST Beats SMART

Replace SMART goals with FAST goals: frequently discussed, ambitious, specific, and transparent for better organizational performance

sloanreview.mit.edu
Team performanceCommunication
Article

Stop inventing product problems; start solving customer problems

Pavel Samsono's insights on why low-performing teams choose problems based on what they'd like to solve rather than what customers actually need

uxdesign.cc
Decision-makingTeam performance
Article

How-to Evaluate a Product Roadmap, for Engineers

Stephen Meszaros's framework for engineers to evaluate product roadmaps through strategic alignment, customer focus, and achievability assessment

stephen.fm
Cross-functional alignmentDecision-making
Article

How to plan?

Kellan Elliott-McCrea's planning principles for engineering leaders, emphasizing fewer things, avoiding pure bottom-up planning, and framework-driven decision making

kellanem.com
Process inefficienciesDecision-makingCross-functional alignment
Article

Leading and Lagging Indicators: How to measure Product OKRs

Framework for using leading and lagging indicators to effectively measure and predict product OKR success

herbig.co
Decision-makingProcess inefficiencies
Article

Measure what matters. Even if you don’t fully control it

Why product teams should be accountable for business outcomes despite having only partial control

madsjohnsen.com
Decision-makingCross-functional alignment
Article

Key Performance Indicators Infographic

Visual guide to understanding and implementing Key Performance Indicators with best practices for data visualization and reporting

news.kpiinstitute.org
Team performanceDecision-making
Article

The practical application of "Rocks, Pebbles, Sand"

Jason Cohen's strategic framework for work prioritization using three levels: transformative Rocks, tactical Pebbles, and quick Sand tasks

longform.asmartbear.com
Decision-makingProcess inefficienciesProject delays
Article

When Everything is Important But Nothing is Getting Done

SharedPhysics' framework for diagnosing and solving organizational overwhelm through strict prioritization and sequential execution

sharedphysics.com
Process inefficienciesDecision-making
Article

Dear PMs, It's Time to Rethink Agile at Enterprise Startups

Strategic framework for adapting agile methodology to enterprise B2B startups with dual-track roadmapping

review.firstround.com
Decision-makingScalingCross-functional alignment
Article

Rituals for hypergrowth: An inside look at how YouTube scaled

Shishir Mehrotra's detailed documentation of YouTube's unique cadence and rituals during 2008-2014 hypergrowth period

coda.io
ScalingMeeting effectivenessDecision-making
Blog Post

“Stories” Don’t Tell a Story: Good Sprint Planning Uses Milestones

Chuck Groom's argument for milestone-focused sprint planning over story backlogs to maintain focus on delivered value

cgroom.medium.com
Process inefficienciesDecision-making
Article

How to measure and improve success in your engineering team

Eric Rabinovich's comprehensive guide to selecting KPIs, setting meaningful goals, and driving team accountability for engineering success

leaddev.com
Team performance
Blog Post

The Fundamentals of Roadmapping

Julia Austin's comprehensive framework for strategic roadmapping with True North, 12-18 month visions, and milestone-driven execution

medium.com
Decision-makingProcess inefficienciesScaling
Article

The Heilmeier Catechism

DARPA's eight strategic questions for evaluating research proposals, forcing clear articulation of objectives, approach, impact, and success metrics

darpa.mil
Decision-makingProcess inefficienciesInnovation
Article

Top 10 Reasons for Slow Velocity

Marty Cagan's analysis of the primary obstacles to product development velocity, from weak ownership to architectural inflexibility

svpg.com
Process inefficienciesTechnical debtDecision-making
Blog Post

How to stop being "terminally online"

Strategies for engineering leaders to reduce excessive online activity and manage digital distractions effectively

nights.bearblog.dev
Burnout & morale
Article

Advice for time management as a manager

Ben Kuhn's practical strategies for managerial time management, emphasizing delegation, prioritization, and managing the shift from IC to leadership

benkuhn.net
Decision-makingMeeting effectivenessBurnout & morale
Blog Post

Your Calendar = Your Priorities

John Cutler's insights on how calendars reveal true organizational priorities versus claimed importance

cutlefish.substack.com
Meeting effectivenessProcess inefficienciesDecision-making
Blog Post

Your non-linear problem of 90% utilization

Jason Cohen's analysis of why high utilization creates system brittleness, context switching overhead, and cascading failures in teams and organizations

blog.asmartbear.com
Burnout & moraleTeam performance
Blog Post

Makers, Don't Let Yourself Be Forced Into the 'Manager Schedule'

Practical strategies for protecting deep work time by avoiding manager schedule interruptions and creating maker-friendly environments

blog.nuclino.com
Meeting effectivenessBurnout & moraleTeam performance
Article

Busy to Death

Barry O'Reilly's examination of how constant busyness undermines productivity and strategic thinking in leadership

barryoreilly.com
Burnout & moraleDecision-makingMeeting effectiveness
Blog Post

Why Are Maker Schedules So Rare?

Cal Newport's analysis of why maker schedules requiring deep, uninterrupted work blocks are rare despite their necessity for productivity

calnewport.com
Meeting effectivenessProcess inefficiencies
Article

Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule

Paul Graham's influential essay on two fundamental scheduling approaches and why makers need uninterrupted time blocks while managers work in meeting intervals

paulgraham.com
Meeting effectivenessBurnout & morale
Article

Zen To Done (ZTD)

Simplified GTD alternative focusing on habit change, essential tasks, and structured routines for sustainable productivity

zenhabits.net
Process inefficienciesBurnout & moraleDecision-making
Article

Zen Habits

Leo Babauta's mindful approach to productivity through intentional living and sustainable habit formation

zenhabits.net
Burnout & moraleTeam performanceDecision-making
Article

Productivity 101: A Primer to the Getting Things Done (GTD) Philosophy

Comprehensive introduction to David Allen's GTD methodology for stress-free productivity and task management

lifehacker.com
Team performanceProcess inefficiencies
Article

Focus by Automation

How mastering tools and automating routine tasks creates deeper concentration for complex problem-solving

myme.no
Process inefficienciesBurnout & morale
Blog Post

How to Be Great? Just Be Good, Repeatably

The power of consistency: achieving greatness through repeated good habits rather than sporadic brilliance

blog.stephsmith.io
Team performanceBurnout & moraleCareer development
Article

Asking questions the right way

Strategic guide to formulating engineering questions that demonstrate effort and get meaningful answers

vadimkravcenko.com
CommunicationKnowledge sharingOnboarding
Blog Post

The Cult of Done Manifesto

A 13-point creative manifesto that champions action over perfection and completion as a catalyst for momentum

medium.com
Team performanceProcess inefficienciesInnovation
Article

Rethinking Best Practices

Why blindly following 'best practices' undermines expertise and contextual decision-making in engineering

willgallego.com
Decision-makingProcess inefficienciesInnovation
Article

Build tools around workflows, not workflows around tools

Linus Lee's philosophy on designing personalized tools that adapt to individual mental models rather than forcing workflows to conform to generic software

thesephist.com
Process inefficienciesInnovation
Article

The Top 9 Productivity Myths That Just Aren't True

Todoist's debunking of common productivity misconceptions including copying successful habits, maximizing every moment, and willpower limitations

todoist.com
Team performanceBurnout & moraleDecision-making
Article

100 Tips for a Better Life

LessWrong community's curated collection of practical life advice covering personal effectiveness, relationships, decision-making, and well-being

lesswrong.com
Decision-makingBurnout & moraleCareer development
Article

Every productivity thought I've ever had, as concisely as possible

Alexey Guzey's comprehensive collection of productivity insights emphasizing flexible systems, intentional environments, and psychological self-awareness

guzey.com
Burnout & moraleTeam performance
Guide

The Complete Guide to Deep Work

Todoist's comprehensive guide to Cal Newport's deep work methodology for achieving distraction-free concentration and cognitive peak performance

todoist.com
Team performanceBurnout & morale
Article

'Touch it once' method for tasks can boost productivity

Nicole Bandes' productivity method where you immediately act on tasks when first encountered to avoid mental debt and repeated handling

cnbc.com
Team performanceProcess inefficiencies
Showing 673-720 of 1110 resources

Aboutstdlib

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.