Oct 9, 2022Configuration Should Be Treated Like CodeAmazon.com 2007 — My introduction to “servware” “Configuration is Code” was a rant I wrote in late 2007 after I had been at Amazon 18 months. Before that I had been doing embedded development — where everything you shipped you had to accept it could never be changed. Whereas Amazon was my first experience in a “you…9 min read9 min read
Oct 6, 20227 Areas Software Dev Manager Annual Review TemplateFor the last 5 years, I have been using the 7 areas of software management as a rubric for how I do annual performance reviews of engineering managers, at all levels — from line managers to VPs. …Engineering Mangement12 min readEngineering Mangement12 min read
Aug 30, 2022Dear Ex-Bigco New to SmallcoWe are excited to have you here! We put a lot of emphasis in our interviewing for what people bring to the table in taking us to the next level. Your experiences while at a BigCo are a large part of that. …5 min read5 min read
Jan 18, 2021Managing Systems Engineers(or devops engineers, or production engineers, or systems development engineers, or SRE-SE, or cloud engineers, etc) 1. Introduction The purpose of this post is to talk about how I have learned to appreciate the need for Systems Engineers, and what I have learned in terms of managing them well (both hiring and…Systems Engineering14 min readSystems Engineering14 min read
Jan 12, 2021Minimize Functional Hierarchies in Agile Software DevelopmentTLDR: Each functional hierarchy costs you agility at the square of total count, and there is a lot of functions in agile devops software development. 1. Overview Over the last 20 years, the software development industry has faced two independent, similar but sometimes conflicting revolutions fundamentally about bringing together different functional expertises…Software Development13 min readSoftware Development13 min read
Jun 23, 2020Fortnightly Updates FAQWhat is a fortnight? — (noun) BRITISH a period of two weeks Used as “biweekly” is ambiguous. What is the TLDR? Every 2 weeks we walk up the org tree, writing a short number of bullet points of wins and challenges for the last 2 weeks. …3 min read3 min read
Aug 20, 2019Management Area 4: People — Managing to MotivationsWhy optimizing for business value is not the right thing for the business — (Part Four, subpart two, of The Seven Areas Of Software Management) Introduction The last post introduced why understanding your team’s motivations was fundamental to people management. That turns to the next problem, which is what motivates your team members is sometimes/usually different to what business needs would immediately have them do…Engineering Mangement8 min readEngineering Mangement8 min read
Aug 7, 2019Management Area 4: People — Understanding MotivationsIt’s all about having authentically honest 1:1s — (Part Four, subpart one, of The Seven Areas Of Software Management) “If I want to say to the world ‘eating people is wrong’, and that’s what I have to say — I might as well not say it. …Management9 min readManagement9 min read
May 12, 2019Management Area 3: OperationsIs the built thing going to keep running? — (Part Three of The Seven Areas Of Software Management) Overview When I entered the industry at the turn of the millennium, it was for a company doing “boxed software” drops twice a year, for which there was little operational burden — staffing a “tier 3 support” email rotation to triage field…DevOps14 min readDevOps14 min read
Apr 29, 2019Management Area 2: Execution(Part Two of The Seven Areas Of Software Management) Overview This is the second easiest area to get on top for new managers, as it’s usually one of the reasons they are made a manager: the ability to get groups of people to coordinate to execute and deliver. …Agile6 min readAgile6 min read
