🧙‍♂️ Organisational Culture, Self-Reflection, Friction and Drag, Probation Periods, ADRs, Kindness, Good vs Bad Dates: TMW #400

Hello, hello, hello!

So, here we are in issue #400 of Tech Manager Weekly, which means the first issue went out 8 years ago this week. Phew! A massive thank you to all the readers and contributors, the CTO Craft team, and to all the amazing authors and content creators whose work we've included in TMW over the years. I've personally learned a huge amount from all the posts we've collected, and I hope you have too. Here's to another 8 years!

Last week saw our CTO Craft Con series of multi-day events leave British shores and land in Berlin, where 170 senior technology leaders came together, learned from one another, made connections and laughed together. It was another brilliant sold-out event, full of buzz and happiness. We can't wait to come back very soon - thanks so much to everyone who attended.

The next CTO Craft event is a new format for us - CTO Craft Conversations, which will be an afternoon of themed roundtable chats on a variety of topics including project delivery, Gen AI, time management, psychological safety and transforming underperformers. It'll take place in London on November 6th.

Tickets are already flying out, and spaces are extremely limited, so if you'd like to come along, secure your spot now. You'll need an access code to buy a ticket - if you'd like to attend, the details are in Slack, or contact Rachel at rachel@ctocraft.com.

CTO Craft: Conversations

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

CTO Craft: Roundtables

On with the links! See you soon

Andy @ CTO Craft

Reads of the Week

Organizational Culture Eats Developer Autonomy For Breakfast

The harsh reality vs the Agile promise

Ageling on AgileWillem-Jan Ageling

RDEL #61: What subtle micro-inequities do different genders of software engineers experience at work?

This week we evaluate the subtle differences that different genders of software engineers face in their day-to-day work experiences.

Research-Driven Engineering LeadershipLizzie Matusov

CTO Craft Events

CTO Craft Bytes: Next-Gen Engineering: Metrics, Strategies, and GenAI

Explore optimising engineering performance with strategic metrics & GenAI. Discover practical tips to enhance productivity & drive success.

CTO Craft

CTO Craft Con: London 2025

CTO Craft Con will bring together over 500 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 London, May 2024

CTO Craft Con London 2025

Leadership, Strategy & Business

Do Leaders Need to Be Kind? How Kindness Builds Trust and Drives Business

Kindness and leadership aren’t always seen as being related, but Marc Beretta argues that if you’re going to drive success, they should be.

People Managing PeopleMarc Beretta

Leadership Self-Reflection

Integrating the Inner and Outer Worlds of Engineering Leadership

Human-Centric EngineeringJohn Durrant

How to deliver bad news when it’s not your fault

People tend to shoot the messenger. Here’s how to avoid the negative halo of bad news.

Wes Kao's NewsletterWes Kao

Watch your Language: The Hidden Power of Words in the Workplace - Blog

Most leaders are unaware of how much dehumanizing and demeaning language they use in the workplace. In this post, we look at the hidden power of words.

Corporate Rebels

Culture, People & Teams

TBM 312: Comparing Areas of Friction and Drag

A common pattern is that people will surface an issue, but the conversation will taper off quickly. The team doesn’t dig into their assumptions around impact, mid/long term effects, and what it might take to resolve the problem. Meanwhile, product management is spending every waking hour figuring out how to pitch the latest customer-facing hotness.

The Beautiful MessJohn Cutler

A Culture of Good Decision-Making (part 1) - Itamar Gilad

Many organizations struggle with decisions-making: both speed and quality are well below where they need to be. Key contributing factors include: While these challenges are common, slow, bad decisions are not a universal problem. Some organizations are able to make good decisions fast and at scale. In this two-part article series I’ll cover the most […]

Itamar GiladItamar Gilad

Job Probation Period: A Two Way Street For Success

Discover how job probation periods benefit both employers and employees. Learn to maximize this evaluation time for mutual success and informed decision-making.

Leads HorizonsAlvaro Lorente

Avoiding Favoritism in the Workplace: A Leader’s Guide | EWF International

EWF International: Transformational leadership development training for building strong organizations, leadership pipelines, and developing managerial skills.

EWF International

Technology, Operations & Delivery

What does a date actually mean?

And why do we continually shoot ourselves in the foot with them?

The Engineering ManagerJames Stanier

Why I don’t like discussing action items during incident reviews

I’m not a fan of talking about action items during incident reviews. Judging from the incident review meetings I’ve attended throughout my career, this is a minority view, and I wanted …

Surfing ComplexityLorin Hochstein

Decision records, tool which made me more productive over the years

Software industry is filled with lot of options to solve any problem. This was not the case 15 years back when I started career. Mostly we…

MediumDeepti Mittal

This developer tool is 40 years old: can it be improved? - Stack Overflow

Stack OverflowBill Harding

Stress, Wellbeing & Growth

Silent Struggles: How to Talk About Burnout When No One Understands

In a world that celebrates the grind, admitting that you’re burned out can feel like weakness — especially in the Black community, where resilience is often worn as a badge of honor. But the truth is…

MediumCJ Bynum

How to Cultivate Clarity and Kindness in Your Engineering Team

Two essential ingredients for high-performing teams

The Caring Techie NewsletterIrina Stanescu

Don’t Stop Asking Why

Challenge the Status Quo to Drive Meaningful Change

Fish Food for ThoughtMike Fisher

A Self-Care Checklist for Leaders

Research has long shown the importance of self-care — yet many leaders still struggle to put self-care into practice in their own work lives. Before a leader can sustainably practice self-care, several important mindset shifts are necessary to ensure leaders set themselves up for success. This five-part checklist can help leaders make self-care a reality, including strategies such as making a body budget, managing emotional health, identifying choice points, and prioritizing growth and nourishment. Leaders are encouraged to personalize their plan and practice regularly for optimal health and effectiveness as a leader.

Harvard Business ReviewPalena Neale

From our Sponsors

How to choose a software development company for your next project

Scratching your head over software development vendor options? Not sure how to find the perfect match in expertise, engagement scenarios, and cultural fit? Vention has the answers

Read the Exclusive Guide

A huge thanks to all our sponsors and partners, who make Tech Manager Weekly and the CTO Craft community possible:

AWS, Albany Partners, Bucket, Code Climate, Coherence, Damilah, DoIT, Google Cloud, Jellyfish, Plandek, Skiller Whale, Softwire, Sema, Uplevel, Vention, YLD

If you're interested in sponsoring TMW or any of our events, drop us a line at partners@ctocraft.com.

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

Please do remember to share this link if you know of anyone who’d like to receive TMW:

https://techmanagerweekly.com

Have an amazing week!

Andy