stdlib

Find resources to solve your technical leadership challenges

Book

Sooner Safer Happier

Patterns and antipatterns that will help organizations from every industry deliver better value sooner, safer, and happier through high levels of engagement, inclusion, and empowerment.

itrevolution.com
Team performanceBurnout & moraleScaling
Framework

DORA Core

Explore the DORA findings using an interactive diagram: click any item to learn more about why it matters, how to measure it, and how to improve.

dora.dev
Team performanceProcess inefficiencies
Blog Post

How to Influence Politics

Engineers can win influence by aligning technical projects with executive priorities, using high-visibility work and a ready backlog to ride political waves instead of scheming.

seangoedecke.com
CommunicationCross-functional alignmentDecision-making
Blog Post

The beauty of constraints

Constraints are a leader's secret weapon: by deliberately limiting scope, resources, or time you force teams to prioritize, cut waste and spark unexpected innovation.

theengineeringmanager.substack.com
Decision-makingTeam performance
Blog Post

Values to Culture to Everything

Align hiring, career ladders, and processes with the values you actually live, not the aspirational ones, to build a culture that speeds delivery and keeps teams happy.

kevingoldsmith.substack.com
Team performanceBurnout & moraleDecision-making
Blog Post

How to Resolve Team Conflicts Before They Explode

Tech leads stop costly fights by setting clear decision rules and modeling humility early, turning disagreement into focused collaboration and preventing hidden conflicts from blowing up.

growthalgorithm.dev
Conflict resolutionDecision-makingCommunicationTeam performance
Blog Post

Why Smart Engineers Feel Like Shit

Engineers are silently burning out under a relentless optimization culture; the piece shows how high-performers mask fatigue and why leaders must watch for hidden signals to keep teams sustainable.

tahahussain.substack.com
Burnout & morale
Blog Post

How to Be a Leader When the Vibes Are Off

Technical leaders must own the disconnect caused by AI hype, return-to-office mandates and layoffs, openly back company policies while privately validating team concerns and using small flexibilities to keep morale alive.

chaoticgood.management
Burnout & moraleCommunicationRemote work
Blog Post

A Primer on Strategy Choice Chartering

Strategy Choice Chartering lets leaders turn high-level strategy into concrete actions; this piece shows three real Rotman examples-revamping an EMBA program, creating a new financial framework, and turning an alumni magazine into a revenue-generating brand.

rogermartin.medium.com
Decision-making
Blog Post

The ROI for manager training: Why it's best defense against the great resignation

Quantifies how poor managers cost millions in disengagement, turnover, stress and lost productivity, proving that targeted manager training delivers measurable ROI and protects against the Great Resignation.

chieflearningofficer.com
Burnout & moraleTeam performanceCareer development
Blog Post

What Do You Do When a Piece of Your Stack Goes Bad?

Technical leaders must treat SaaS and open-source vendors as supply-chain risks; Dorian outlines a stress-test checklist and why brand-safety, security, and governance matter before you lock in critical services.

buttondown.com
Technical debtProcess inefficiencies
Guide

A11y Coffee

Provides bite-size web accessibility concepts, quick wins for developers, and testing tips framed as coffee metaphors, helping teams embed accessibility early and improve product quality.

a11y.coffee
OnboardingKnowledge sharing
Course

Practical Accessibility Course

A 15+ hour video course that gives frontend developers a step-by-step, actionable curriculum for building accessible web applications, cutting through scattered docs and confusion.

practical-accessibility.today
Knowledge sharingOnboarding
Course

Tech Leaders Launchpad - Online Technology Leadership Learning Platform

Tech Leaders Launchpad teaches new engineering managers practical leadership frameworks, confidence-building techniques, and career-growth tools through video lessons, live Q&A, and worksheets designed by tech leaders.

techleaderslaunchpad.com
Career developmentTeam performanceCommunication
Blog Post

Navigating Change, One Turn at a Time

Small, precise adjustments that respect a team's environment can double engagement and boost delivery without destabilizing the organization.

sahadilip.com
Team performanceBurnout & morale
Blog Post

Lead From the Future

Future-back thinking pushes leaders to envision disruptive possibilities beyond incremental present-forward fixes, using a three-step process to craft vision, translate it into strategy, and embed execution today.

leadershipnow.com
InnovationDecision-making
Blog Post

How do good product metrics look like in 2025

Good product metrics clearly show acquisition, activation, engagement, and retention trends, letting leaders spot real growth levers and avoid vanity numbers.

leahtharin.com
Decision-makingScalingCross-functional alignment
Blog Post

From Reacting to Adjusting

Urgent product requests are leadership auditions; pause, re-scope, communicate, and recover to protect credibility and relationships instead of scrambling.

amycmitchell.substack.com
Decision-makingProcess inefficienciesCommunication
Blog Post

TBM 381: Stop Trying To Make Prioritization Easy

Prioritization must stay hard, forcing leaders to juggle ambition, current capacity, and new investment, otherwise they fall into low-impact traps.

cutlefish.substack.com
Decision-making
Blog Post

Reverse Impostor Syndrome

High performers often know they excel but lack external signals; reverse imposter syndrome explains this perception gap and offers concrete steps to make your work visible and recognized.

newsletter.weskao.com
FeedbackBurnout & moraleCareer development
Blog Post

The $18 million problem hiding in your tech stack

Tool sprawl wastes millions annually and robs engineers of 6-15 hours weekly; mapping the ecosystem and consolidating tools restores focus, cuts context-switching, and boosts team performance.

productparty.us
Process inefficienciesTeam performance
Blog Post

How To Influence Executives: 5 Elements of Persuasive Stories

Storytelling beats raw data when trying to sway executives; mastering narrative lets technical leaders translate complex analysis into compelling decisions.

news.yuezhao.coach
CommunicationDecision-making
Blog Post

Transitioning from CTO to founder

A former CTO shares how emotional stability, transparent doubt, output-focused goals, founder communities and tackling the toughest tasks first helped survive the roller-coaster of early-stage startup life.

dev.to
Career developmentDecision-makingScaling
Blog

Leading Blog - LeadershipNow

A curated preview of the most compelling leadership books launching in January 2026, highlighting practical frameworks for productivity, AI-driven leadership, project-centric organizations, creativity, and excellence.

leadershipnow.com
Team performanceDecision-makingCareer development
Blog Post

The Case for Comment-Driven Development

Comment-driven development treats AI-generated comments as a strategic tool, turning noisy docstrings into high-signal context that reduces technical debt and improves code comprehension for engineering teams.

usetusk.ai
Technical debtOnboardingTeam performance
Blog Post

Distracting software engineers is more harmful than most managers think

Managers think engineers can stay productive in short bursts, but meetings turn deep work into shallow tasks, killing flow and increasing errors-especially as AI tools tempt constant context switching.

workweave.dev
Team performanceBurnout & moraleCommunication
Blog Post

Asked to do something illegal at work? Here's what these software engineers did

Three real cases show how engineers who refuse illegal requests protect themselves, while staying can lead to criminal risk-providing concrete steps for technical leaders facing fraud or unethical directives.

blog.pragmaticengineer.com
Decision-makingConflict resolutionCommunication
Book

Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow

Team Topologies shows how to design team structures and interaction modes that enable fast flow of change, cutting handoffs and bottlenecks for engineering leaders.

amazon.co.uk
ScalingCommunication
Blog Post

Clearer delegation, smoother incidents

Clear delegation levels prevent mismatched expectations during incidents by defining responder autonomy, timeline, and required accuracy.

greatcircle.com
Process inefficienciesCommunication
Blog Post

Strategies for Handling Unplanned Work During Sprint

Unplanned work signals deeper process issues; the article offers concrete tactics-absorb, break up, replace, buffer, improve prioritization and quality-to keep sprint flow and delivery on track.

medium.com
Process inefficienciesDecision-makingProject delays
Blog Post

Engineering Process Is Overvalued

Engineering process is tangible and easy to focus on, which is exactly why it's the wrong place to spend your energy as an engineering manager

blog.benjamin-encz.de
Team performanceHiringProcess inefficiencies
Blog Post

Business Thinking for Tech Executives

Tech leaders must prioritize business outcomes over pure tech output, using bottleneck thinking and cross-functional influence to drive real company momentum.

avivbenyosef.com
CommunicationDecision-makingCross-functional alignment
Blog Post

Do junior devs still have a path to senior roles in an AI age?

AI coding tools are turning junior developer tasks into automated work, prompting hiring cuts and faster turnaround expectations, forcing leaders to rethink onboarding and skill development.

leaddev.com
Career developmentHiringOnboarding
Event

Measuring team performance isn't getting any easier

Engineering leaders still wrestle with choosing effective team performance metrics, and DORA metrics haven't become the standard, while generative AI tools are pushing upskilling and prompting skills to the top of the agenda.

leaddev.com
Team performanceFeedback
Event

The surprising habits of high velocity engineering teams

High-velocity engineering teams win by automating friction, building secure foundations, and measuring outcomes, proving speed doesn't require technical debt.

leaddev.com
Team performanceProcess inefficiencies
Blog Post

How to train your team to say "I was wrong" without drama

Showing mistakes as normal facts and adding low-friction rituals lets teams keep psychological safety high and turn errors into fast learning, not anxiety.

leadthroughmistakes.substack.com
CommunicationConflict resolutionFeedback
Blog Post

Individuals matter

Treating engineers as fungible headcount leads to broken roadmaps, hiring limits, and high attrition; recognizing individual impact improves planning, budgeting, and retention.

danluu.com
Decision-makingHiringProcess inefficiencies
Blog Post

Stop Avoiding Politics

Good technical leadership requires mastering workplace politics - building relationships, framing proposals for stakeholders, and influencing decisions rather than hoping merit alone wins.

terriblesoftware.org
CommunicationDecision-making
Blog Post

Why Over-Engineering Happens

Over-engineering adds needless complexity, costs, and slows delivery; the article shows why teams fall into this trap and how simple, fit-for-purpose architecture wins.

yusufaytas.com
Process inefficienciesTechnical debtDecision-making
Blog Post

Maintenance: Software Isn't Something You Can Be Done With

Neglecting software upkeep leads to costly rebuilds; regular maintenance-like oil changes-keeps systems running, reduces technical debt, and avoids downtime.

spin.atomicobject.com
Technical debtProcess inefficienciesTeam performance
Book

Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results

Atomic Habits shows how tiny 1% improvements and system design, not lofty goals, drive lasting personal and team performance.

jamesclear.com
Team performanceBurnout & moraleCareer development
Blog Post

Mind the Gap Model

The Mind the Gap Model groups nine common obstacles to large-scale change into clarity, ability, and willingness, giving leaders a practical checklist to diagnose and address each barrier.

toolshero.com
Team performanceProcess inefficienciesBurnout & morale
Blog Post

Authority Gradients

Authority gradients let senior voices drown out vital concerns, leading teams to repeat mistakes; the piece shows how aviation crew resource management and AI co-pilots can restore balanced dialogue.

fffej.substack.com
Decision-makingCommunication
Blog Post

Increase Developer Productivity With Generative AI

Gen AI tools like Copilot and ChatGPT can cut developer task time by up to 80%, but require clear prompts, context, and human oversight to avoid hallucinations.

toptal.com
Team performanceProcess inefficiencies
Book

Clean Code Handbook: Software Craftsmanship

Clean Code Handbook shows how disciplined coding habits cut technical debt, speed delivery, and make onboarding new engineers painless, giving leaders a concrete roadmap for higher quality software.

amazon.co.uk
Technical debtOnboarding
Book

The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win

A fictional tale that shows how DevOps principles transform a chaotic IT department into a high-performing engine, teaching leaders how to break silos, prioritize work, and deliver business value.

amazon.co.uk
Team performanceCommunicationProcess inefficiencies
Book

Accelerate: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations

Accelerate shows how elite software teams deliver faster, more reliably, and with higher quality by measuring lead time, deployment frequency, MTTR, and change fail rate, linking these metrics to business performance.

amazon.co.uk
Team performanceProcess inefficienciesScaling
Book

Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation

Continuous Delivery shows how to design automated pipelines that let teams ship reliable software quickly, turning deployment into a routine, low-risk activity.

amazon.co.uk
Process inefficienciesScaling
Showing 193-240 of 1215 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.