How to Present a Strategy in 6 Slides
First, please note: a strategy is not a plan. A list of tactics with a timeline attached is a plan. A strategy is much more than that. It’s how you convince your audience that your plan is great so they’ll buy-in to your approach. Think of the tactics as the “what” and the goal as the “why”. The strategy is the “how”. It’s the guiding principle — the elevator pitch for your tactics, backed by research and data whenever possible.
^ADJ: Super helpful article to get you thinking on how you present strategy
What is a developer experience team?
Ask nearly any developer experience team leader what their charter is, and you’ll hear something like, ‘we make software engineering easier at our company.’
^ADJ: This article is focused on the Developer Experience, but what got me thinking was applying the same thinking to all of the team - having a role(s) solely focused on ‘making it easy to work here’. My thinking is that we do not spend enough time or effort on this - and as we grow and scale accumulate baggage that with some smart thinking we could re-work.
It’s not you.. A mental model for addressing burnout
Burnout is about the quality of the work experience, not the quantity of work.
^ADJ: This really resonated with me: “To avoid burnout, you also need to address the higher level needs, or as Herzberg called them “motivation factors”. This means ensuring people feel challenged with their work, that they receive recognition, have increasing responsibility, are able to do something meaningful, and feel agency in how decisions are made.”
Good reminder also on the impact of remote working.
5 Questions Every Manager Needs to Ask Their Direct Reports
If you’re worried that your employees are eyeing the door, it’s time to start having some important career-defining conversations. In this piece, executive coach Susan Peppercorn outlines five questions to start asking your direct reports so that you can get a better sense of how they’re feeling about their positions: 1) How would you like to grow within this organization? 2) Do you feel a sense of purpose in your job? 3) What do you need from me to do your best work? 4) What are we currently not doing as a company that you feel we should do? 5) Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? When managers make checking in with these five questions a regular part of how they interact with their employees, it helps ensure that people feel seen and valued. And when managers help individuals on their teams feel that way, they’re more likely to be rewarded by employees who become advocates for the department and organization, no matter how long they stay.
European Semi-Conductors (an urgent need to invest)
^ADJ: Useful report to understand the eco-system that is critical to our economic prosperity.