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Understanding What is Critical in a Job Position

A personable and willing to learn SQL database administrator was hired, but it was discovered that he panicked in critical situations and made mistakes that had an impact on the business. After a serious conversation and brainstorming to build his confidence, it was decided to terminate his contract. This experience taught the company to be more clear in job descriptions and to test candidates' ability to handle stressful situations during the hiring process.

Gaining trust from a new team

This article discusses the challenges of leading a team of engineers in different locations. The author found that gaining the team's trust was the most important factor in success, and this was achieved through personal connections and clear communication. The author also learned the importance of having a boss who trusts their methods and techniques.

Convincing your executives to increase their hiring budget

This article discusses the challenge of hiring a full backend developer with at least five years of experience. The author had to convince their executives to increase the budget in order to hire a top-notch engineer, and they gathered data to demonstrate that a small budget would result in a loss for the company. They also compared their company's salary to the market price and found that they were offering much lower than the competition. After a month of convincing, the executives agreed to increase the budget, but the perfect candidate had already declined the offer. The author's advice is to bring a lot of data and present it in a way that executives will understand.

To Contractor or not to contractor? Pros and cons of putting off full time hiring.

Rogue Rocket was founded in 2011 with the goal of staying lean and hiring staff on a project-needs basis. They used contractors to fill positions and minimize cash flow risk, and eventually made a few full-time hires. The strategy was to create great products and maximize quality and creativity, but this may not be a wise choice in the current business environment due to the shortage of skilled technical personnel. Companies must decide on the best strategy for their needs.

Learn to Know Whether Your Employee is a Kite or an Airplane

The manager of Trello hired an employee who seemed to be very smart, but he did not produce anything. The manager then set up a performance improvement plan with strict deadlines, but only two of the objectives were accomplished. This led the manager to the conclusion that there are two extremes of personalities to manage, airplanes and kites, and that he should have identified this during the interview process.

How to deal with a layoff

An employee threatened to sue the company when given a one-month warning to improve performance. The CEO terminated his employment after the employee called him and the threat was not followed through. The process of giving employees a chance to improve before termination is fair and in this case, the team is more efficient and happier without the toxic employee.

Managing to change an employee’s bad habit

A new engineer hired at Trello had difficulty adapting to the company's formal communication style, using swear words frequently. The manager addressed the issue with gentle conversation and then used Slack to give instantaneous, discrete feedback whenever the engineer used inappropriate language. This approach enabled the engineer to quickly adjust to the company's culture. The lesson learned is that it is important to address issues with new employees quickly and discretely in order to help them fit in with the company's culture.

Creating and utilizing an engineering career path

A startup realized that their ad-hoc responses to career growth weren't enough and began researching career paths from other companies. After collecting a dozen paths, they created their own with six positions, four qualities per position, and one to three sentences per quality. They received feedback from their most experienced engineers and rolled out the path with a presentation. Lessons learned include understanding the problem, finding a starting point, avoiding "Not Invented Here," training managers and engineers, and working with HR.

A high performing employee threatened by a new hire of his caliber

A Director of Engineering at Twitter had a high performing direct report, Lee, who felt threatened by a new hire. The Director took a step back and asked Lee what his aspirations were and how he wanted to be seen. He wanted to be an architect and in charge of larger systems. The Director then helped Lee to see the new hire as an asset and a succession plan to help him grow in his career. This showed that threats can be turned into opportunities.

Improving your working relationship with your product team

When the Engineering, Product, Operations and Sales teams at a company were not working together well, the Director of Engineering took steps to improve the situation. He wrote down the current process, roles, and responsibilities and discussed it with the Product team, then wrote a document outlining the team's vision, objectives, and roles and responsibilities. This document became an essential tool for getting the teams to work together as one, and the lesson learned was that a team-first approach is necessary for successful products, and that clear goals and regular reviews and updates should be established.

Every employee has different drivers

A manager noticed that one of their high performing engineers lacked motivation. After having a conversation with the engineer, it was revealed that the engineer was primarily motivated by money. The manager then created a plan with specific objectives and financial incentives to help motivate the engineer, which resulted in the engineer's promotion. This experience taught the manager that it is important to understand the motivations of their employees, as they can vary from person to person.

A simple trick to ensure sane and quality remote interactions

This article discusses the challenges of managing remote employees and provides advice on how to maintain the same level of interaction with them. The author suggests making a list of all interactions with local and remote employees, paying extra attention to one-on-ones and team meetings, and making an effort to have informal conversations with remote employees.

Becoming a manager is not a promotion

A direct report asked for a promotion to a managerial position, but the manager had doubts about whether the employee would be happy in that role. Through one-on-one conversations, the manager discovered that the employee was not interested in company politics and would not be satisfied in a managerial role. This experience taught the manager that it is important to provide engineers with growth opportunities beyond a linear path leading to management.

I had to reorganize the way my team worked

The manager of a quickly growing company had difficulty managing 15 direct reports due to the number of projects they had to work on. To address this issue, they prioritized projects, paired engineers according to their expertise and seniority, and elevated some engineers to the role of project lead. This resulted in a more motivated and happier team. The manager learned that it is important to prioritize and reorganize when a company grows, and that it is not beneficial to let members work alone on a project for weeks.

Helping engineer to set priorities

A junior engineer was overconfident in his technical skills and took on a big feature that turned out to be bigger than anticipated, leading to delays. The manager had a conversation with him to help him understand his priorities and to encourage him to communicate when he was facing issues. Through regular check-ins, the engineer's collaboration skills improved over time. The manager learned that one of their main roles is to help the team understand their priorities and to monitor their day-to-day work.

Clear expectation setting and onboarding process to maximize new hire success

This article discusses the importance of setting up a new engineering hire for success. It outlines a process that includes providing access to private GitHub repos, assigning an onboarding buddy, setting expectations for the first two weeks, and checking in frequently with the hire to ensure they are on track. This process has been successful in increasing the confidence of engineers and reducing the time it takes them to begin producing value.

Finding the right balance for meetings

A senior engineer was unable to meet his project's deadline due to too many meetings. After discussing the issue with other senior engineers, a few golden rules were established to make meetings more efficient. Additionally, "No meeting days" were implemented to allow engineers to focus on their work. The manager learned that it is important to take team members' feedback into account when organizing work and to ensure that meetings are necessary and run efficiently.

Hiring a new team is not a part time job

When the engineering manager of Netflix joined, he faced the challenge of having to rebuild a team from scratch. He dedicated 60% of his time to the hiring process and was very selective in the profiles he was looking for. The hiring process took a significant amount of time, but the manager's boss now acknowledges that it was the right thing to do. The lesson learned is that when building a team, it is important to take the time to hire the right person and to make sure the company's management understands it is a priority.

Do the Job before Claiming the Title

When considering a role change, the author learned that instead of asking for a title change first, it is better to try to do the work first. In this case, the author was considering a move into management and was given the opportunity to prove his capabilities by taking ownership of a project and expanding its scope. After successfully doing this, the author was given the confidence to move into a management role.

I had to let go of an employee that I had personally advised the company to hire

When a small start-up hired a QA engineer from a larger company, the engineer was unable to adapt to the new context and the team started to complain about his standard of quality checking. After trying to support him, the engineer had to be let go. The lesson learned was to not underestimate the cultural difference between companies and to take action as soon as a problem is detected. The engineer was given a reference for a job better suited to his skills, where he is now thriving.

Understanding What is Critical in a Job Position

A personable and willing to learn SQL database administrator was hired, but it was discovered that he panicked in critical situations and made mistakes that had an impact on the business. After a serious conversation and brainstorming to build his confidence, it was decided to terminate his contract. This experience taught the company to be more clear in job descriptions and to test candidates' ability to handle stressful situations during the hiring process.

Gaining trust from a new team

This article discusses the challenges of leading a team of engineers in different locations. The author found that gaining the team's trust was the most important factor in success, and this was achieved through personal connections and clear communication. The author also learned the importance of having a boss who trusts their methods and techniques.

Convincing your executives to increase their hiring budget

This article discusses the challenge of hiring a full backend developer with at least five years of experience. The author had to convince their executives to increase the budget in order to hire a top-notch engineer, and they gathered data to demonstrate that a small budget would result in a loss for the company. They also compared their company's salary to the market price and found that they were offering much lower than the competition. After a month of convincing, the executives agreed to increase the budget, but the perfect candidate had already declined the offer. The author's advice is to bring a lot of data and present it in a way that executives will understand.

To Contractor or not to contractor? Pros and cons of putting off full time hiring.

Rogue Rocket was founded in 2011 with the goal of staying lean and hiring staff on a project-needs basis. They used contractors to fill positions and minimize cash flow risk, and eventually made a few full-time hires. The strategy was to create great products and maximize quality and creativity, but this may not be a wise choice in the current business environment due to the shortage of skilled technical personnel. Companies must decide on the best strategy for their needs.

Learn to Know Whether Your Employee is a Kite or an Airplane

The manager of Trello hired an employee who seemed to be very smart, but he did not produce anything. The manager then set up a performance improvement plan with strict deadlines, but only two of the objectives were accomplished. This led the manager to the conclusion that there are two extremes of personalities to manage, airplanes and kites, and that he should have identified this during the interview process.

How to deal with a layoff

An employee threatened to sue the company when given a one-month warning to improve performance. The CEO terminated his employment after the employee called him and the threat was not followed through. The process of giving employees a chance to improve before termination is fair and in this case, the team is more efficient and happier without the toxic employee.

Managing to change an employee’s bad habit

A new engineer hired at Trello had difficulty adapting to the company's formal communication style, using swear words frequently. The manager addressed the issue with gentle conversation and then used Slack to give instantaneous, discrete feedback whenever the engineer used inappropriate language. This approach enabled the engineer to quickly adjust to the company's culture. The lesson learned is that it is important to address issues with new employees quickly and discretely in order to help them fit in with the company's culture.

Creating and utilizing an engineering career path

A startup realized that their ad-hoc responses to career growth weren't enough and began researching career paths from other companies. After collecting a dozen paths, they created their own with six positions, four qualities per position, and one to three sentences per quality. They received feedback from their most experienced engineers and rolled out the path with a presentation. Lessons learned include understanding the problem, finding a starting point, avoiding "Not Invented Here," training managers and engineers, and working with HR.

A high performing employee threatened by a new hire of his caliber

A Director of Engineering at Twitter had a high performing direct report, Lee, who felt threatened by a new hire. The Director took a step back and asked Lee what his aspirations were and how he wanted to be seen. He wanted to be an architect and in charge of larger systems. The Director then helped Lee to see the new hire as an asset and a succession plan to help him grow in his career. This showed that threats can be turned into opportunities.

Improving your working relationship with your product team

When the Engineering, Product, Operations and Sales teams at a company were not working together well, the Director of Engineering took steps to improve the situation. He wrote down the current process, roles, and responsibilities and discussed it with the Product team, then wrote a document outlining the team's vision, objectives, and roles and responsibilities. This document became an essential tool for getting the teams to work together as one, and the lesson learned was that a team-first approach is necessary for successful products, and that clear goals and regular reviews and updates should be established.

Every employee has different drivers

A manager noticed that one of their high performing engineers lacked motivation. After having a conversation with the engineer, it was revealed that the engineer was primarily motivated by money. The manager then created a plan with specific objectives and financial incentives to help motivate the engineer, which resulted in the engineer's promotion. This experience taught the manager that it is important to understand the motivations of their employees, as they can vary from person to person.

A simple trick to ensure sane and quality remote interactions

This article discusses the challenges of managing remote employees and provides advice on how to maintain the same level of interaction with them. The author suggests making a list of all interactions with local and remote employees, paying extra attention to one-on-ones and team meetings, and making an effort to have informal conversations with remote employees.

Becoming a manager is not a promotion

A direct report asked for a promotion to a managerial position, but the manager had doubts about whether the employee would be happy in that role. Through one-on-one conversations, the manager discovered that the employee was not interested in company politics and would not be satisfied in a managerial role. This experience taught the manager that it is important to provide engineers with growth opportunities beyond a linear path leading to management.

I had to reorganize the way my team worked

The manager of a quickly growing company had difficulty managing 15 direct reports due to the number of projects they had to work on. To address this issue, they prioritized projects, paired engineers according to their expertise and seniority, and elevated some engineers to the role of project lead. This resulted in a more motivated and happier team. The manager learned that it is important to prioritize and reorganize when a company grows, and that it is not beneficial to let members work alone on a project for weeks.

Helping engineer to set priorities

A junior engineer was overconfident in his technical skills and took on a big feature that turned out to be bigger than anticipated, leading to delays. The manager had a conversation with him to help him understand his priorities and to encourage him to communicate when he was facing issues. Through regular check-ins, the engineer's collaboration skills improved over time. The manager learned that one of their main roles is to help the team understand their priorities and to monitor their day-to-day work.

Clear expectation setting and onboarding process to maximize new hire success

This article discusses the importance of setting up a new engineering hire for success. It outlines a process that includes providing access to private GitHub repos, assigning an onboarding buddy, setting expectations for the first two weeks, and checking in frequently with the hire to ensure they are on track. This process has been successful in increasing the confidence of engineers and reducing the time it takes them to begin producing value.

Finding the right balance for meetings

A senior engineer was unable to meet his project's deadline due to too many meetings. After discussing the issue with other senior engineers, a few golden rules were established to make meetings more efficient. Additionally, "No meeting days" were implemented to allow engineers to focus on their work. The manager learned that it is important to take team members' feedback into account when organizing work and to ensure that meetings are necessary and run efficiently.

Hiring a new team is not a part time job

When the engineering manager of Netflix joined, he faced the challenge of having to rebuild a team from scratch. He dedicated 60% of his time to the hiring process and was very selective in the profiles he was looking for. The hiring process took a significant amount of time, but the manager's boss now acknowledges that it was the right thing to do. The lesson learned is that when building a team, it is important to take the time to hire the right person and to make sure the company's management understands it is a priority.

Do the Job before Claiming the Title

When considering a role change, the author learned that instead of asking for a title change first, it is better to try to do the work first. In this case, the author was considering a move into management and was given the opportunity to prove his capabilities by taking ownership of a project and expanding its scope. After successfully doing this, the author was given the confidence to move into a management role.

I had to let go of an employee that I had personally advised the company to hire

When a small start-up hired a QA engineer from a larger company, the engineer was unable to adapt to the new context and the team started to complain about his standard of quality checking. After trying to support him, the engineer had to be let go. The lesson learned was to not underestimate the cultural difference between companies and to take action as soon as a problem is detected. The engineer was given a reference for a job better suited to his skills, where he is now thriving.

Understanding What is Critical in a Job Position

A personable and willing to learn SQL database administrator was hired, but it was discovered that he panicked in critical situations and made mistakes that had an impact on the business. After a serious conversation and brainstorming to build his confidence, it was decided to terminate his contract. This experience taught the company to be more clear in job descriptions and to test candidates' ability to handle stressful situations during the hiring process.

Gaining trust from a new team

This article discusses the challenges of leading a team of engineers in different locations. The author found that gaining the team's trust was the most important factor in success, and this was achieved through personal connections and clear communication. The author also learned the importance of having a boss who trusts their methods and techniques.

Convincing your executives to increase their hiring budget

This article discusses the challenge of hiring a full backend developer with at least five years of experience. The author had to convince their executives to increase the budget in order to hire a top-notch engineer, and they gathered data to demonstrate that a small budget would result in a loss for the company. They also compared their company's salary to the market price and found that they were offering much lower than the competition. After a month of convincing, the executives agreed to increase the budget, but the perfect candidate had already declined the offer. The author's advice is to bring a lot of data and present it in a way that executives will understand.

To Contractor or not to contractor? Pros and cons of putting off full time hiring.

Rogue Rocket was founded in 2011 with the goal of staying lean and hiring staff on a project-needs basis. They used contractors to fill positions and minimize cash flow risk, and eventually made a few full-time hires. The strategy was to create great products and maximize quality and creativity, but this may not be a wise choice in the current business environment due to the shortage of skilled technical personnel. Companies must decide on the best strategy for their needs.

Learn to Know Whether Your Employee is a Kite or an Airplane

The manager of Trello hired an employee who seemed to be very smart, but he did not produce anything. The manager then set up a performance improvement plan with strict deadlines, but only two of the objectives were accomplished. This led the manager to the conclusion that there are two extremes of personalities to manage, airplanes and kites, and that he should have identified this during the interview process.

How to deal with a layoff

An employee threatened to sue the company when given a one-month warning to improve performance. The CEO terminated his employment after the employee called him and the threat was not followed through. The process of giving employees a chance to improve before termination is fair and in this case, the team is more efficient and happier without the toxic employee.

Managing to change an employee’s bad habit

A new engineer hired at Trello had difficulty adapting to the company's formal communication style, using swear words frequently. The manager addressed the issue with gentle conversation and then used Slack to give instantaneous, discrete feedback whenever the engineer used inappropriate language. This approach enabled the engineer to quickly adjust to the company's culture. The lesson learned is that it is important to address issues with new employees quickly and discretely in order to help them fit in with the company's culture.

Creating and utilizing an engineering career path

A startup realized that their ad-hoc responses to career growth weren't enough and began researching career paths from other companies. After collecting a dozen paths, they created their own with six positions, four qualities per position, and one to three sentences per quality. They received feedback from their most experienced engineers and rolled out the path with a presentation. Lessons learned include understanding the problem, finding a starting point, avoiding "Not Invented Here," training managers and engineers, and working with HR.

A high performing employee threatened by a new hire of his caliber

A Director of Engineering at Twitter had a high performing direct report, Lee, who felt threatened by a new hire. The Director took a step back and asked Lee what his aspirations were and how he wanted to be seen. He wanted to be an architect and in charge of larger systems. The Director then helped Lee to see the new hire as an asset and a succession plan to help him grow in his career. This showed that threats can be turned into opportunities.

Improving your working relationship with your product team

When the Engineering, Product, Operations and Sales teams at a company were not working together well, the Director of Engineering took steps to improve the situation. He wrote down the current process, roles, and responsibilities and discussed it with the Product team, then wrote a document outlining the team's vision, objectives, and roles and responsibilities. This document became an essential tool for getting the teams to work together as one, and the lesson learned was that a team-first approach is necessary for successful products, and that clear goals and regular reviews and updates should be established.

Every employee has different drivers

A manager noticed that one of their high performing engineers lacked motivation. After having a conversation with the engineer, it was revealed that the engineer was primarily motivated by money. The manager then created a plan with specific objectives and financial incentives to help motivate the engineer, which resulted in the engineer's promotion. This experience taught the manager that it is important to understand the motivations of their employees, as they can vary from person to person.

A simple trick to ensure sane and quality remote interactions

This article discusses the challenges of managing remote employees and provides advice on how to maintain the same level of interaction with them. The author suggests making a list of all interactions with local and remote employees, paying extra attention to one-on-ones and team meetings, and making an effort to have informal conversations with remote employees.

Becoming a manager is not a promotion

A direct report asked for a promotion to a managerial position, but the manager had doubts about whether the employee would be happy in that role. Through one-on-one conversations, the manager discovered that the employee was not interested in company politics and would not be satisfied in a managerial role. This experience taught the manager that it is important to provide engineers with growth opportunities beyond a linear path leading to management.

I had to reorganize the way my team worked

The manager of a quickly growing company had difficulty managing 15 direct reports due to the number of projects they had to work on. To address this issue, they prioritized projects, paired engineers according to their expertise and seniority, and elevated some engineers to the role of project lead. This resulted in a more motivated and happier team. The manager learned that it is important to prioritize and reorganize when a company grows, and that it is not beneficial to let members work alone on a project for weeks.

Helping engineer to set priorities

A junior engineer was overconfident in his technical skills and took on a big feature that turned out to be bigger than anticipated, leading to delays. The manager had a conversation with him to help him understand his priorities and to encourage him to communicate when he was facing issues. Through regular check-ins, the engineer's collaboration skills improved over time. The manager learned that one of their main roles is to help the team understand their priorities and to monitor their day-to-day work.

Clear expectation setting and onboarding process to maximize new hire success

This article discusses the importance of setting up a new engineering hire for success. It outlines a process that includes providing access to private GitHub repos, assigning an onboarding buddy, setting expectations for the first two weeks, and checking in frequently with the hire to ensure they are on track. This process has been successful in increasing the confidence of engineers and reducing the time it takes them to begin producing value.

Finding the right balance for meetings

A senior engineer was unable to meet his project's deadline due to too many meetings. After discussing the issue with other senior engineers, a few golden rules were established to make meetings more efficient. Additionally, "No meeting days" were implemented to allow engineers to focus on their work. The manager learned that it is important to take team members' feedback into account when organizing work and to ensure that meetings are necessary and run efficiently.

Hiring a new team is not a part time job

When the engineering manager of Netflix joined, he faced the challenge of having to rebuild a team from scratch. He dedicated 60% of his time to the hiring process and was very selective in the profiles he was looking for. The hiring process took a significant amount of time, but the manager's boss now acknowledges that it was the right thing to do. The lesson learned is that when building a team, it is important to take the time to hire the right person and to make sure the company's management understands it is a priority.

Do the Job before Claiming the Title

When considering a role change, the author learned that instead of asking for a title change first, it is better to try to do the work first. In this case, the author was considering a move into management and was given the opportunity to prove his capabilities by taking ownership of a project and expanding its scope. After successfully doing this, the author was given the confidence to move into a management role.

I had to let go of an employee that I had personally advised the company to hire

When a small start-up hired a QA engineer from a larger company, the engineer was unable to adapt to the new context and the team started to complain about his standard of quality checking. After trying to support him, the engineer had to be let go. The lesson learned was to not underestimate the cultural difference between companies and to take action as soon as a problem is detected. The engineer was given a reference for a job better suited to his skills, where he is now thriving.

Understanding What is Critical in a Job Position

A personable and willing to learn SQL database administrator was hired, but it was discovered that he panicked in critical situations and made mistakes that had an impact on the business. After a serious conversation and brainstorming to build his confidence, it was decided to terminate his contract. This experience taught the company to be more clear in job descriptions and to test candidates' ability to handle stressful situations during the hiring process.

Gaining trust from a new team

This article discusses the challenges of leading a team of engineers in different locations. The author found that gaining the team's trust was the most important factor in success, and this was achieved through personal connections and clear communication. The author also learned the importance of having a boss who trusts their methods and techniques.

Convincing your executives to increase their hiring budget

This article discusses the challenge of hiring a full backend developer with at least five years of experience. The author had to convince their executives to increase the budget in order to hire a top-notch engineer, and they gathered data to demonstrate that a small budget would result in a loss for the company. They also compared their company's salary to the market price and found that they were offering much lower than the competition. After a month of convincing, the executives agreed to increase the budget, but the perfect candidate had already declined the offer. The author's advice is to bring a lot of data and present it in a way that executives will understand.

To Contractor or not to contractor? Pros and cons of putting off full time hiring.

Rogue Rocket was founded in 2011 with the goal of staying lean and hiring staff on a project-needs basis. They used contractors to fill positions and minimize cash flow risk, and eventually made a few full-time hires. The strategy was to create great products and maximize quality and creativity, but this may not be a wise choice in the current business environment due to the shortage of skilled technical personnel. Companies must decide on the best strategy for their needs.

Learn to Know Whether Your Employee is a Kite or an Airplane

The manager of Trello hired an employee who seemed to be very smart, but he did not produce anything. The manager then set up a performance improvement plan with strict deadlines, but only two of the objectives were accomplished. This led the manager to the conclusion that there are two extremes of personalities to manage, airplanes and kites, and that he should have identified this during the interview process.

How to deal with a layoff

An employee threatened to sue the company when given a one-month warning to improve performance. The CEO terminated his employment after the employee called him and the threat was not followed through. The process of giving employees a chance to improve before termination is fair and in this case, the team is more efficient and happier without the toxic employee.

Managing to change an employee’s bad habit

A new engineer hired at Trello had difficulty adapting to the company's formal communication style, using swear words frequently. The manager addressed the issue with gentle conversation and then used Slack to give instantaneous, discrete feedback whenever the engineer used inappropriate language. This approach enabled the engineer to quickly adjust to the company's culture. The lesson learned is that it is important to address issues with new employees quickly and discretely in order to help them fit in with the company's culture.

Creating and utilizing an engineering career path

A startup realized that their ad-hoc responses to career growth weren't enough and began researching career paths from other companies. After collecting a dozen paths, they created their own with six positions, four qualities per position, and one to three sentences per quality. They received feedback from their most experienced engineers and rolled out the path with a presentation. Lessons learned include understanding the problem, finding a starting point, avoiding "Not Invented Here," training managers and engineers, and working with HR.

A high performing employee threatened by a new hire of his caliber

A Director of Engineering at Twitter had a high performing direct report, Lee, who felt threatened by a new hire. The Director took a step back and asked Lee what his aspirations were and how he wanted to be seen. He wanted to be an architect and in charge of larger systems. The Director then helped Lee to see the new hire as an asset and a succession plan to help him grow in his career. This showed that threats can be turned into opportunities.

Improving your working relationship with your product team

When the Engineering, Product, Operations and Sales teams at a company were not working together well, the Director of Engineering took steps to improve the situation. He wrote down the current process, roles, and responsibilities and discussed it with the Product team, then wrote a document outlining the team's vision, objectives, and roles and responsibilities. This document became an essential tool for getting the teams to work together as one, and the lesson learned was that a team-first approach is necessary for successful products, and that clear goals and regular reviews and updates should be established.

Every employee has different drivers

A manager noticed that one of their high performing engineers lacked motivation. After having a conversation with the engineer, it was revealed that the engineer was primarily motivated by money. The manager then created a plan with specific objectives and financial incentives to help motivate the engineer, which resulted in the engineer's promotion. This experience taught the manager that it is important to understand the motivations of their employees, as they can vary from person to person.

A simple trick to ensure sane and quality remote interactions

This article discusses the challenges of managing remote employees and provides advice on how to maintain the same level of interaction with them. The author suggests making a list of all interactions with local and remote employees, paying extra attention to one-on-ones and team meetings, and making an effort to have informal conversations with remote employees.

Becoming a manager is not a promotion

A direct report asked for a promotion to a managerial position, but the manager had doubts about whether the employee would be happy in that role. Through one-on-one conversations, the manager discovered that the employee was not interested in company politics and would not be satisfied in a managerial role. This experience taught the manager that it is important to provide engineers with growth opportunities beyond a linear path leading to management.

I had to reorganize the way my team worked

The manager of a quickly growing company had difficulty managing 15 direct reports due to the number of projects they had to work on. To address this issue, they prioritized projects, paired engineers according to their expertise and seniority, and elevated some engineers to the role of project lead. This resulted in a more motivated and happier team. The manager learned that it is important to prioritize and reorganize when a company grows, and that it is not beneficial to let members work alone on a project for weeks.

Helping engineer to set priorities

A junior engineer was overconfident in his technical skills and took on a big feature that turned out to be bigger than anticipated, leading to delays. The manager had a conversation with him to help him understand his priorities and to encourage him to communicate when he was facing issues. Through regular check-ins, the engineer's collaboration skills improved over time. The manager learned that one of their main roles is to help the team understand their priorities and to monitor their day-to-day work.

Clear expectation setting and onboarding process to maximize new hire success

This article discusses the importance of setting up a new engineering hire for success. It outlines a process that includes providing access to private GitHub repos, assigning an onboarding buddy, setting expectations for the first two weeks, and checking in frequently with the hire to ensure they are on track. This process has been successful in increasing the confidence of engineers and reducing the time it takes them to begin producing value.

Finding the right balance for meetings

A senior engineer was unable to meet his project's deadline due to too many meetings. After discussing the issue with other senior engineers, a few golden rules were established to make meetings more efficient. Additionally, "No meeting days" were implemented to allow engineers to focus on their work. The manager learned that it is important to take team members' feedback into account when organizing work and to ensure that meetings are necessary and run efficiently.

Hiring a new team is not a part time job

When the engineering manager of Netflix joined, he faced the challenge of having to rebuild a team from scratch. He dedicated 60% of his time to the hiring process and was very selective in the profiles he was looking for. The hiring process took a significant amount of time, but the manager's boss now acknowledges that it was the right thing to do. The lesson learned is that when building a team, it is important to take the time to hire the right person and to make sure the company's management understands it is a priority.

Do the Job before Claiming the Title

When considering a role change, the author learned that instead of asking for a title change first, it is better to try to do the work first. In this case, the author was considering a move into management and was given the opportunity to prove his capabilities by taking ownership of a project and expanding its scope. After successfully doing this, the author was given the confidence to move into a management role.

I had to let go of an employee that I had personally advised the company to hire

When a small start-up hired a QA engineer from a larger company, the engineer was unable to adapt to the new context and the team started to complain about his standard of quality checking. After trying to support him, the engineer had to be let go. The lesson learned was to not underestimate the cultural difference between companies and to take action as soon as a problem is detected. The engineer was given a reference for a job better suited to his skills, where he is now thriving.

Understanding What is Critical in a Job Position

A personable and willing to learn SQL database administrator was hired, but it was discovered that he panicked in critical situations and made mistakes that had an impact on the business. After a serious conversation and brainstorming to build his confidence, it was decided to terminate his contract. This experience taught the company to be more clear in job descriptions and to test candidates' ability to handle stressful situations during the hiring process.

Gaining trust from a new team

This article discusses the challenges of leading a team of engineers in different locations. The author found that gaining the team's trust was the most important factor in success, and this was achieved through personal connections and clear communication. The author also learned the importance of having a boss who trusts their methods and techniques.

Convincing your executives to increase their hiring budget

This article discusses the challenge of hiring a full backend developer with at least five years of experience. The author had to convince their executives to increase the budget in order to hire a top-notch engineer, and they gathered data to demonstrate that a small budget would result in a loss for the company. They also compared their company's salary to the market price and found that they were offering much lower than the competition. After a month of convincing, the executives agreed to increase the budget, but the perfect candidate had already declined the offer. The author's advice is to bring a lot of data and present it in a way that executives will understand.

To Contractor or not to contractor? Pros and cons of putting off full time hiring.

Rogue Rocket was founded in 2011 with the goal of staying lean and hiring staff on a project-needs basis. They used contractors to fill positions and minimize cash flow risk, and eventually made a few full-time hires. The strategy was to create great products and maximize quality and creativity, but this may not be a wise choice in the current business environment due to the shortage of skilled technical personnel. Companies must decide on the best strategy for their needs.

Learn to Know Whether Your Employee is a Kite or an Airplane

The manager of Trello hired an employee who seemed to be very smart, but he did not produce anything. The manager then set up a performance improvement plan with strict deadlines, but only two of the objectives were accomplished. This led the manager to the conclusion that there are two extremes of personalities to manage, airplanes and kites, and that he should have identified this during the interview process.

How to deal with a layoff

An employee threatened to sue the company when given a one-month warning to improve performance. The CEO terminated his employment after the employee called him and the threat was not followed through. The process of giving employees a chance to improve before termination is fair and in this case, the team is more efficient and happier without the toxic employee.

Managing to change an employee’s bad habit

A new engineer hired at Trello had difficulty adapting to the company's formal communication style, using swear words frequently. The manager addressed the issue with gentle conversation and then used Slack to give instantaneous, discrete feedback whenever the engineer used inappropriate language. This approach enabled the engineer to quickly adjust to the company's culture. The lesson learned is that it is important to address issues with new employees quickly and discretely in order to help them fit in with the company's culture.

Creating and utilizing an engineering career path

A startup realized that their ad-hoc responses to career growth weren't enough and began researching career paths from other companies. After collecting a dozen paths, they created their own with six positions, four qualities per position, and one to three sentences per quality. They received feedback from their most experienced engineers and rolled out the path with a presentation. Lessons learned include understanding the problem, finding a starting point, avoiding "Not Invented Here," training managers and engineers, and working with HR.

A high performing employee threatened by a new hire of his caliber

A Director of Engineering at Twitter had a high performing direct report, Lee, who felt threatened by a new hire. The Director took a step back and asked Lee what his aspirations were and how he wanted to be seen. He wanted to be an architect and in charge of larger systems. The Director then helped Lee to see the new hire as an asset and a succession plan to help him grow in his career. This showed that threats can be turned into opportunities.

Improving your working relationship with your product team

When the Engineering, Product, Operations and Sales teams at a company were not working together well, the Director of Engineering took steps to improve the situation. He wrote down the current process, roles, and responsibilities and discussed it with the Product team, then wrote a document outlining the team's vision, objectives, and roles and responsibilities. This document became an essential tool for getting the teams to work together as one, and the lesson learned was that a team-first approach is necessary for successful products, and that clear goals and regular reviews and updates should be established.

Every employee has different drivers

A manager noticed that one of their high performing engineers lacked motivation. After having a conversation with the engineer, it was revealed that the engineer was primarily motivated by money. The manager then created a plan with specific objectives and financial incentives to help motivate the engineer, which resulted in the engineer's promotion. This experience taught the manager that it is important to understand the motivations of their employees, as they can vary from person to person.

A simple trick to ensure sane and quality remote interactions

This article discusses the challenges of managing remote employees and provides advice on how to maintain the same level of interaction with them. The author suggests making a list of all interactions with local and remote employees, paying extra attention to one-on-ones and team meetings, and making an effort to have informal conversations with remote employees.

Becoming a manager is not a promotion

A direct report asked for a promotion to a managerial position, but the manager had doubts about whether the employee would be happy in that role. Through one-on-one conversations, the manager discovered that the employee was not interested in company politics and would not be satisfied in a managerial role. This experience taught the manager that it is important to provide engineers with growth opportunities beyond a linear path leading to management.

I had to reorganize the way my team worked

The manager of a quickly growing company had difficulty managing 15 direct reports due to the number of projects they had to work on. To address this issue, they prioritized projects, paired engineers according to their expertise and seniority, and elevated some engineers to the role of project lead. This resulted in a more motivated and happier team. The manager learned that it is important to prioritize and reorganize when a company grows, and that it is not beneficial to let members work alone on a project for weeks.

Helping engineer to set priorities

A junior engineer was overconfident in his technical skills and took on a big feature that turned out to be bigger than anticipated, leading to delays. The manager had a conversation with him to help him understand his priorities and to encourage him to communicate when he was facing issues. Through regular check-ins, the engineer's collaboration skills improved over time. The manager learned that one of their main roles is to help the team understand their priorities and to monitor their day-to-day work.

Clear expectation setting and onboarding process to maximize new hire success

This article discusses the importance of setting up a new engineering hire for success. It outlines a process that includes providing access to private GitHub repos, assigning an onboarding buddy, setting expectations for the first two weeks, and checking in frequently with the hire to ensure they are on track. This process has been successful in increasing the confidence of engineers and reducing the time it takes them to begin producing value.

Finding the right balance for meetings

A senior engineer was unable to meet his project's deadline due to too many meetings. After discussing the issue with other senior engineers, a few golden rules were established to make meetings more efficient. Additionally, "No meeting days" were implemented to allow engineers to focus on their work. The manager learned that it is important to take team members' feedback into account when organizing work and to ensure that meetings are necessary and run efficiently.

Hiring a new team is not a part time job

When the engineering manager of Netflix joined, he faced the challenge of having to rebuild a team from scratch. He dedicated 60% of his time to the hiring process and was very selective in the profiles he was looking for. The hiring process took a significant amount of time, but the manager's boss now acknowledges that it was the right thing to do. The lesson learned is that when building a team, it is important to take the time to hire the right person and to make sure the company's management understands it is a priority.

Do the Job before Claiming the Title

When considering a role change, the author learned that instead of asking for a title change first, it is better to try to do the work first. In this case, the author was considering a move into management and was given the opportunity to prove his capabilities by taking ownership of a project and expanding its scope. After successfully doing this, the author was given the confidence to move into a management role.

I had to let go of an employee that I had personally advised the company to hire

When a small start-up hired a QA engineer from a larger company, the engineer was unable to adapt to the new context and the team started to complain about his standard of quality checking. After trying to support him, the engineer had to be let go. The lesson learned was to not underestimate the cultural difference between companies and to take action as soon as a problem is detected. The engineer was given a reference for a job better suited to his skills, where he is now thriving.

Understanding What is Critical in a Job Position

A personable and willing to learn SQL database administrator was hired, but it was discovered that he panicked in critical situations and made mistakes that had an impact on the business. After a serious conversation and brainstorming to build his confidence, it was decided to terminate his contract. This experience taught the company to be more clear in job descriptions and to test candidates' ability to handle stressful situations during the hiring process.

Gaining trust from a new team

This article discusses the challenges of leading a team of engineers in different locations. The author found that gaining the team's trust was the most important factor in success, and this was achieved through personal connections and clear communication. The author also learned the importance of having a boss who trusts their methods and techniques.

Convincing your executives to increase their hiring budget

This article discusses the challenge of hiring a full backend developer with at least five years of experience. The author had to convince their executives to increase the budget in order to hire a top-notch engineer, and they gathered data to demonstrate that a small budget would result in a loss for the company. They also compared their company's salary to the market price and found that they were offering much lower than the competition. After a month of convincing, the executives agreed to increase the budget, but the perfect candidate had already declined the offer. The author's advice is to bring a lot of data and present it in a way that executives will understand.

To Contractor or not to contractor? Pros and cons of putting off full time hiring.

Rogue Rocket was founded in 2011 with the goal of staying lean and hiring staff on a project-needs basis. They used contractors to fill positions and minimize cash flow risk, and eventually made a few full-time hires. The strategy was to create great products and maximize quality and creativity, but this may not be a wise choice in the current business environment due to the shortage of skilled technical personnel. Companies must decide on the best strategy for their needs.

Learn to Know Whether Your Employee is a Kite or an Airplane

The manager of Trello hired an employee who seemed to be very smart, but he did not produce anything. The manager then set up a performance improvement plan with strict deadlines, but only two of the objectives were accomplished. This led the manager to the conclusion that there are two extremes of personalities to manage, airplanes and kites, and that he should have identified this during the interview process.

How to deal with a layoff

An employee threatened to sue the company when given a one-month warning to improve performance. The CEO terminated his employment after the employee called him and the threat was not followed through. The process of giving employees a chance to improve before termination is fair and in this case, the team is more efficient and happier without the toxic employee.

Managing to change an employee’s bad habit

A new engineer hired at Trello had difficulty adapting to the company's formal communication style, using swear words frequently. The manager addressed the issue with gentle conversation and then used Slack to give instantaneous, discrete feedback whenever the engineer used inappropriate language. This approach enabled the engineer to quickly adjust to the company's culture. The lesson learned is that it is important to address issues with new employees quickly and discretely in order to help them fit in with the company's culture.

Creating and utilizing an engineering career path

A startup realized that their ad-hoc responses to career growth weren't enough and began researching career paths from other companies. After collecting a dozen paths, they created their own with six positions, four qualities per position, and one to three sentences per quality. They received feedback from their most experienced engineers and rolled out the path with a presentation. Lessons learned include understanding the problem, finding a starting point, avoiding "Not Invented Here," training managers and engineers, and working with HR.

A high performing employee threatened by a new hire of his caliber

A Director of Engineering at Twitter had a high performing direct report, Lee, who felt threatened by a new hire. The Director took a step back and asked Lee what his aspirations were and how he wanted to be seen. He wanted to be an architect and in charge of larger systems. The Director then helped Lee to see the new hire as an asset and a succession plan to help him grow in his career. This showed that threats can be turned into opportunities.

Improving your working relationship with your product team

When the Engineering, Product, Operations and Sales teams at a company were not working together well, the Director of Engineering took steps to improve the situation. He wrote down the current process, roles, and responsibilities and discussed it with the Product team, then wrote a document outlining the team's vision, objectives, and roles and responsibilities. This document became an essential tool for getting the teams to work together as one, and the lesson learned was that a team-first approach is necessary for successful products, and that clear goals and regular reviews and updates should be established.

Every employee has different drivers

A manager noticed that one of their high performing engineers lacked motivation. After having a conversation with the engineer, it was revealed that the engineer was primarily motivated by money. The manager then created a plan with specific objectives and financial incentives to help motivate the engineer, which resulted in the engineer's promotion. This experience taught the manager that it is important to understand the motivations of their employees, as they can vary from person to person.

A simple trick to ensure sane and quality remote interactions

This article discusses the challenges of managing remote employees and provides advice on how to maintain the same level of interaction with them. The author suggests making a list of all interactions with local and remote employees, paying extra attention to one-on-ones and team meetings, and making an effort to have informal conversations with remote employees.

Becoming a manager is not a promotion

A direct report asked for a promotion to a managerial position, but the manager had doubts about whether the employee would be happy in that role. Through one-on-one conversations, the manager discovered that the employee was not interested in company politics and would not be satisfied in a managerial role. This experience taught the manager that it is important to provide engineers with growth opportunities beyond a linear path leading to management.

I had to reorganize the way my team worked

The manager of a quickly growing company had difficulty managing 15 direct reports due to the number of projects they had to work on. To address this issue, they prioritized projects, paired engineers according to their expertise and seniority, and elevated some engineers to the role of project lead. This resulted in a more motivated and happier team. The manager learned that it is important to prioritize and reorganize when a company grows, and that it is not beneficial to let members work alone on a project for weeks.

Helping engineer to set priorities

A junior engineer was overconfident in his technical skills and took on a big feature that turned out to be bigger than anticipated, leading to delays. The manager had a conversation with him to help him understand his priorities and to encourage him to communicate when he was facing issues. Through regular check-ins, the engineer's collaboration skills improved over time. The manager learned that one of their main roles is to help the team understand their priorities and to monitor their day-to-day work.

Clear expectation setting and onboarding process to maximize new hire success

This article discusses the importance of setting up a new engineering hire for success. It outlines a process that includes providing access to private GitHub repos, assigning an onboarding buddy, setting expectations for the first two weeks, and checking in frequently with the hire to ensure they are on track. This process has been successful in increasing the confidence of engineers and reducing the time it takes them to begin producing value.

Finding the right balance for meetings

A senior engineer was unable to meet his project's deadline due to too many meetings. After discussing the issue with other senior engineers, a few golden rules were established to make meetings more efficient. Additionally, "No meeting days" were implemented to allow engineers to focus on their work. The manager learned that it is important to take team members' feedback into account when organizing work and to ensure that meetings are necessary and run efficiently.

Hiring a new team is not a part time job

When the engineering manager of Netflix joined, he faced the challenge of having to rebuild a team from scratch. He dedicated 60% of his time to the hiring process and was very selective in the profiles he was looking for. The hiring process took a significant amount of time, but the manager's boss now acknowledges that it was the right thing to do. The lesson learned is that when building a team, it is important to take the time to hire the right person and to make sure the company's management understands it is a priority.

Do the Job before Claiming the Title

When considering a role change, the author learned that instead of asking for a title change first, it is better to try to do the work first. In this case, the author was considering a move into management and was given the opportunity to prove his capabilities by taking ownership of a project and expanding its scope. After successfully doing this, the author was given the confidence to move into a management role.

I had to let go of an employee that I had personally advised the company to hire

When a small start-up hired a QA engineer from a larger company, the engineer was unable to adapt to the new context and the team started to complain about his standard of quality checking. After trying to support him, the engineer had to be let go. The lesson learned was to not underestimate the cultural difference between companies and to take action as soon as a problem is detected. The engineer was given a reference for a job better suited to his skills, where he is now thriving.