Find resources to solve your technical leadership challenges
An interview with a leading machine learning educator discussing the fundamentals, capabilities, and practical considerations of large language models (LLMs) for technical leaders.
An article that explains the concept of information effort and how leaders can manage communication to improve decision-making.
A practical guide on how technical leaders can improve their ability to acquire new skills and knowledge efficiently.
The article outlines five observable signs that indicate unethical behavior in leaders, helping technical managers identify and address such issues.
Turning an anti-pattern into an easily accessible feature makes it worse, not better.
The author reflects on his past dislike of meetings and shares practical advice for making them more effective for developers and technical leaders.
What makes a great team great? We get a lot of bad advice. Here's what the research says about teams that thrive...
This article explores how to communicate directly without coming across as rude, offering practical tips to balance honesty with empathy.
Taking humans completely out of the loop in DevOps is not only reckless, it’s dangerous
A blog post that explores the Antimatter Evo concept and its relevance to technical leaders and engineering managers.
Are you feeling exhausted? Overwhelmed and unmotivated? This article offers practical advice for developers experiencing burnout, helping them regain motivation and a healthier work-life balance.
Scaling OKRs can quickly become messy. This post shares a simple trick to simplify OKRs at scale that aligns with scaled agile initiatives.
A practical look at what an engineering audit entails, using an ISO 13485 medical device quality management system case study.
The article discusses how agile approaches can eliminate the need to meet or enforce fixed deadlines, offering strategies for managing work without rigid date pressures.
If you've found yourself on someone's bad side, what strategies can you use to turn things around?
Professional AI development requires discipline, not demos. The article explains why "vibe coding" fails in enterprise environments and outlines the need for training, governance, and security practices for production-ready AI.
A true story dilemma: Who do you hire? The seasoned expert with deep domain knowledge who is hesitant about AI, or the junior, AI-native enthusiast who may lack fundamental skills?
Prompting is a question, context engineering is the conversation.
The article explains how the author implemented a level framework within an engineering organization while maintaining morale and productivity.
A new shiny for your manager toolbox
MIT researchers report that roughly 95% of generative AI research output is produced by a small group of dominant companies, highlighting a high concentration of innovation within the industry.
When splitting large teams into two smaller teams, avoid making yourself redundant and follow this advice to stay impactful.
The article discusses how AWS has evolved over two decades, highlighting common misconceptions and recent changes that technical leaders need to know.
Yearly software development plans are flawed; the article explains why they fail and offers alternative approaches for building useful, profitable products.
This article explores how excessive hype can undermine true velocity in software teams, offering practical strategies for leaders to focus on sustainable delivery.
This week, we're diving into a leadership skill that's often underestimated - storytelling.
When it comes to career advice, a common recommendation is you'll need to work on your leadership to become more senior. In previous times "leadership skills" may have been code for "become a manager", but nowadays even in hands-on/individual contributor roles leadership skills are becoming increasingly sought after.
The author shares his experience of being made redundant and outlines five practical steps he took to navigate the transition.
As a generalist, how do I tread conceptual water in conversations with award-winning experts and industry leaders? By using mental models.
A collection of frequently asked questions and insights gathered from coaching engineering leadership, covering topics such as CTO vs VPE, team productivity, hiring, squad structures, culture, and more.
OR: Rickets, please!
Warning: extreme levels of cynicism
An article discussing how Spotify uses squad health checks to improve team performance, summarizing insights from a talk by Justin Kotzé and Fiona Siseman.
Master the art of problem-solving and ascend through the five levels of mastery.
Starting a new job? This is how to set yourself up for success.
A brief reflection on why focusing on other teams' metrics can be counterproductive for technical leaders.
A guide for technical leaders on how to communicate uncertainty and avoid false estimates when discussing future work with managers.
Master a 3-month onboarding process to build high-performing teams. Learn how strategic onboarding boosts engagement, productivity, and retention.
LLMs make it easier to write code, but understanding, reviewing, and maintaining it still takes time, trust, and good judgment.
An article exploring the Wabi-Sabi philosophy applied to people and leadership, encouraging tech leaders to embrace imperfections in themselves and their teams.
An article that explores the nature of software development, highlighting its challenges and best practices for technical leaders.
A brief list of reading recommendations from the author after a summer break.
A concise overview of the engineering manager role, its responsibilities, and its importance within technical teams.
CTO of the Scale Factory Jon Topper tells CTO Craft about his experiences as a new technology leader, the skills he had to develop, what works for him now and where he's headed over the next five years
A story about how a simple harbour painting mistake illustrates the need to record the why behind processes and prune unnecessary procedures.
How Boom Supersonic uses software engineering to accelerate hardware development while maintaining safety-critical standards.
The article examines how AI tools are exposing skill gaps among developers and the implications for technical leaders.
Succession planning is the process of identifying key roles on your team and determining how you'll fill them when they're left vacant. Here's how to do it right.
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.