#15 | Sunday reads for EMs
My favourite reads of the week to make your Sunday a little more inspiring.
👋 Hey, it’s Stephane. This is a new series in which every Sunday I share with you my favourite reads of the week. To accelerate your growth see: 50 Notion Templates | The EM’s Field Guide | CodeCrafters | Get Hired as an EM | 1:1 Coaching
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How Culture Scales (or Doesn't)
tl;dr: Most companies try to "grow" culture by having more training programs and offsites, but you actually need to "scale" it through deliberate systems, and feedback loops. Great advice on what rituals work well (blameless postmortems, decision frameworks) versus what’s not (founder osmosis, organic bonding).
Agentic AI Has Changed My Career
tl;dr: An engineering director went from never coding to becoming a top-5 contributor by evolving from basic AI-assisted coding to full agentic workflows. This progression from shows how managers can actually contribute meaningful code.
How Tech Companies Measure the Impact of AI on Software Development
tl;dr: This research from 18 companies (GitHub, Google, Dropbox, etc.) clearly shows that measuring AI impact isn't through counting lines of code, but tracking speed AND quality metrics together. The most interesting insight: companies that can't measure developer productivity struggle to measure AI impact, and you need both system data and self-reported metrics to get the full picture.
Quiet Influence: A Guide to Nemawashi in Engineering
tl;dr: Nemawashi, the Japanese practice of pre-alignment through one-on-one conversations, transforms how you get architectural changes approved. By the time you're in the decision meeting, the decision should already be made.
No Pain, No Gain
tl;dr: Companies that shield managers from the emotional weight of firing and shield engineers from customer impact of bugs create weaker leaders and lower quality standards. The trauma of seeing consequences firsthand is what builds conviction to hire better and ship better code.
7 Phrases I Use to Make Giving Feedback Easier
tl;dr: Specific language patterns that make feedback conversations more effective: "This is a great start" (acknowledges effort without endorsing final product), "I noticed" (makes feedback objective), "Even more" (perfect for giving feedback upward).
Most popular from last Sunday
How can I deal with a team member who is always complaining?
What did you read recently that you would like to share?