#18 | Sunday reads for EMs
My favourite reads of the week to make your Sunday a little more inspiring.
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How I Provide Technical Clarity to Non-Technical Leaders
tl;dr: Most staff engineers miss their highest-leverage opportunity: becoming the technical translator for leadership. If you’ve ever wondered why some engineers get promoted without trying, it’s because they perfect the art of giving VPs clear “yes/no” answers while keeping their technical paranoia to themselves.
What Are the Seven Team Profiles of Engineering Delivery Performance?
tl;dr: DORA’s new research shows that identical metrics can mask completely different dysfunction patterns across seven team archetypes (from “Legacy Bottleneck” to “Harmonious High-Achiever”). The speed-versus-stability tradeoff is officially dead, best teams achieve both simultaneously.
Scaling Engineering Teams: Lessons from Google, Facebook, and Netflix
tl;dr: Three pillars that make thriving teams: structured goal-setting (Google’s 70% OKR rule), ruthless code quality (Facebook’s every-line review culture), and intentional culture building (Netflix’s “keeper test”).
5 Things Managers Do That Leaders Never Would, According to Simon Sinek
tl;dr: Managers hoard information and weaponize policy while leaders overshare context and bend rules for people. The most actionable distinction: when someone challenges you in a meeting, say “Thank you, tell me more” instead of getting defensive. Leaders actively reward dissent because that’s how teams get better, but this requires genuine courage to hear uncomfortable truths.
Self Actualization (Facebook Bootcamp Story)
tl;dr: When starting Facebook’s engineering bootcamp, the Boz (CTO at Meta) didn’t teach culture as it was, he taught culture as he wished it were. Within a year, over half the engineering team had learned from him, and his aspirational narrative became the actual culture.
Most popular from last Sunday
What did you read recently that you would like to share?