#5 | 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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Why Engineers Hate Their Managers (And What to Do About It)
tl;dr: This article lists five common management mistakes that frustrate engineers - too many short meetings, annual reviews that feel pointless, and more. It suggests blocking long stretches of focus time, keeping technical skills sharp so you can help with code questions, giving feedback right away, and giving praise in team meetings while taking responsibility when things go wrong.
How to delegate while maintaining high standards
tl;dr: If you’ve ever seen work quality drop after handing off a task, this article is for you. Wes Kao explains delegation as a range - from working side by side to full hand-off - and shows how to judge your team’s readiness so you stay as involved as needed without micromanaging. She also says you should give clear context in a short kickoff (5–10 minutes) and spend less time doing individual tasks so you can coach more people.
Frame for Success
tl;dr: This post shows why you need to define a problem clearly before you start. It tells you to list what to focus on and what to ignore, set clear goals, and point out any trade-offs your team should consider. Doing this upfront helps everyone work on the right things and saves time fixing mistakes later.
How has AI impacted engineering leadership in 2025?
tl;dr: Lizzie analyses the 2025 Engineering Leadership Report which found that 60% haven’t seen big productivity gains from AI yet, and half don’t plan to change team size this year. Most teams use coding assistants, but they worry about code quality and training new hires. The advice is to treat AI like any other change: tie it to real problems, run small pilots, gather feedback, and adjust as you go.
Naming Software Teams
tl;dr: A team’s name matters more than you might think. Use names that match what the team does (like “Payments API” instead of “Platform”) so people know who to ask for help. Avoid vague or fancy names. If you need to change it later, that’s fine - clarity helps everyone.
Software engineering with LLMs in 2025: reality check
tl;dr: Gergely reviews how startups and large companies use AI tools. Startups often build their own code-writing agents, while larger companies create internal AI systems. Despite claims of huge productivity boosts, developers report only about 10% time savings. The take-away is to try tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and Cline, but keep your goals realistic.
Most popular from last Sunday
How to Deal With A Toxic Top-Performer
What did you read recently that you would like to share?
Thanks for sharing this great list, Stephane. That "Naming software teams" is timely because I have been thinking about it too. I talked about it in my latest post "Be the salesman your team needs"