🏓 Leadership Anti-Patterns, Cargo Cults, Feedback, Bottleneck Teams, Deadlines, Razors, Imposters: TMW #383

Hello, hello, hello! It's Monday!

An engineering leader's success really does hinge on having a strong network. It offers a wellspring of knowledge – peers who've tackled similar challenges and industry trends keeping you ahead of the curve. But a network isn't enough. Joining a Community of Practice focused on engineering leadership provides even deeper benefits - leaders can delve into specific challenges, compare approaches with peers to improve their teams, and find a safe and private space for support and shared understanding.

CTO Craft's Mentoring Circles are a Community of Practice designed for exactly that purpose - we bring together groups of 6 - 8 technology leaders to meet once a month with an experienced CTO Coach to discuss the issues they're currently facing. Hundreds of Circle members have benefitted from having a private space and a group of trusted peers to discuss what they find tough about the role.

Drop us a line if you'd like to discuss Circles or would like to join one of the upcoming groups!

On with the links....

Andy @ CTO Craft

CTO Craft Events

CTO Craft Con: Berlin | 24th - 25th September 2024

CTO Craft Con will bring together hundreds of Chief Technology Officers and other senior technology leaders from the most exciting start-ups, scale-ups, unicorns, and big tech companies to elevate their engineering culture in Berlin, Sep 2024

CTO Craft Con: Berlin 2024

CTO Craft Roundtables: London

Welcome to the launch of our newest event: CTO Craft Roundtables! Join us for a half-day of engaging discussions and networking opportunities designed specifically for CTOs and engineering leaders

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CTO Craft Bytes: Investing in AI - Opportunities and Pitfalls for Leaders

Over the course of the evening, we will delve into strategic investment opportunities across industries, discuss risk management strategies to navigate potential pitfalls, and share insights on future-proofing your AI investments in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Eventspipctocraft

See all our upcoming Mixer events in a city near you: CTO Craft Mixers

Reads of the Week

Unexpected Anti-Patterns for Engineering Leaders

Will Larson, a veteran engineering leader and the CTO at Carta, holds three conventional engineering management “anti-patterns” up to the light for a closer look.

First Round ReviewFirst Round Staff

You are a CTO, not an expensive Copilot

How I use a silly accounting exercise to help first-time CTOs overcome the dilemma of not being able to code any longer as part of their job.

Sudo Make Me a CTOSergio Visinoni

From our Sponsors

[From Sema] Managing the risks and capturing the benefits from using GenAI coding tools in the SDLC

Understanding the amount of GenAI code in the codebase mitigates risks and supports appropriate adoption. You can try out Sema’s AI Code Monitor for free here. CTO Craft members get a discount on their first three months, post-pilot.

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AWS, Albany Partners, Code Climate, Coherence, HeadChannel, Google Cloud, Jellyfish, Polly, Skiller Whale, Softwire, Sema, Unblocked, Uplevel, Vention, YLD, 101 Ways

Leadership, Strategy & Business

The Hagakure #83: Don’t Copy/Paste From Other Companies

Back in late 2015, my boss, colleagues and I decided a re-org was a good idea. Too many dependencies across the different functional teams. The pace of development was grinding to a halt. A good headache to have as this was a result from the enormous business and team growth we were experiencing.

The HagakurePaulo André

Debugging Management

A recurring theme I’ve seen lately is executives being unhappy with the performance of their management teams. Unsurprisingly, with most startups slamming the brakes on hypergrowth, leaders have no…

Aviv Ben-Yosef

Management Theater - Yaniv Preiss

Management theater is holding us back from higher performance

Yaniv PreissYaniv Preiss

How To Give Feedback at Work? Getting the Basics Right

We have overcomplicated the issue

Management MattersAnil Karamchandani

Culture, People & Teams

Writing Useful Performance Reviews: Making A Raise Recommendation

Ahoj Světe! (“Hello World!” in Czech) Hello again, everyone! It is amazing to think that we are already at 11 newsletters. Thank you for your continued support of this newsletter, the podcast, and the book! If you haven’t had a chance to learn more about the book,

It Depends / Nimble AutonomyKevin Goldsmith

Most Engineering Hiring Processes Are Broken

Explore effective strategies for streamlining the hiring process in the tech industry. Learn how simplifying the evaluation process and reducing feedback loops can help you attract top-tier talent faster and more efficiently.

Leads HorizonsAlvaro Lorente

The Four Stages of Psychological Safety | Management 3.0

Explore the four stages of psychological safety in teams for fostering trust, collaboration, and innovation.

Management 3.0nadine

Jade Rubick - Managing a bottleneck team

Feel like your team is the bottleneck? Learn how to address the challenges of managing a bottleneck team.

LazywillEngineering Leadership Weekly

Technology, Operations & Delivery

Deadlines are not so bad, I’ll tell you why

Simplifying the solutions and adjusting the scope is the way to go!

Engineering LeadershipGregor Ojstersek

Success pattern: Aligning CapEx and OpEx to Agile models | Agile Alliance

Aligning CapEx and OpEx funding with Agile principles enables companies to enhance flexibility, innovation, and efficiency, ultimately driving sustainable growth and competitive advantage.

Agile Alliance |David Luke

Stripe’s monorepo developer environment - Made of Bugs

Made of BugsNelson Elhage

Stress, Wellbeing & Growth

11 Philosophical Razors to Simplify Your Life

A collection of eleven philosophical razors; principles that can simplify your life by getting rid of useless or unlikely explanations.

The Mind CollectionChris Meyer

Overwhelmed at Work? How to Express Your Stress and Get the Help You Need

Strategies to help you speak up and get the support you need when you’re feeling overwhelmed at work. Powerful phrases to get some help.

Let's Grow LeadersKarin Hurt

The Price of Perfection: Why Imposters Fail - Leadership Freak

Imposters are consumed by what others think of them. The weight of keeping up appearances is constant stress. When you pretend you have it all together you end up falling apart. How to help imposters find authenticity…

Leadership FreakDan Rockwell

Why Hiring for Cultural Fit is the New Ageism in Disguise

Understanding the benign guise

FWDmotionBrian Fink

That’s it!

If you’d like to be considered for the free CTO Craft Community, fill in your details here, and we’ll be in touch!

https://ctocraft.com/community

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Have an amazing week!

Andy