Knowledge shared by our community

How to Get Your Team Back on Track

When joining a company with a team that was not executing well and slipping deadlines, the author had to build trust and credibility while firefighting. Through 1:1s with the engineering team, they identified patterns of the issues and worked with different stakeholders to address them. The author also worked closely with the quality organization and pushed back against the product management. After 30-60 days, the author had earned the trust of the team and created long-lasting relationships. Lessons learned include focusing on people first, never being afraid to do the right thing, and being open to different perspectives.

Resolving Workplace Conflict

This article discusses the importance of conflict resolution, both within a team and between a manager and their team. It outlines the steps taken to resolve a conflict between two senior engineers of different cultural backgrounds, and how the manager was able to get them to work together. It also discusses the manager's own experience with a peer who was pushing back on her ideas, and how she was able to overcome this by documenting her ideas and presenting them to her colleague before meetings. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding the other person's perspective and picking one's battles.

Achieving Alignment With Male Colleagues

This article discusses the difficulties of being a woman in the tech industry and how the author overcame these challenges. She faced pushback from her male peers and was initially hesitant to raise her voice in meetings. With the help of her director, she gained confidence in her ideas and eventually worked her way up to management. Even then, she faced resistance from her male colleagues, but she stayed calm and tried to make her alliance with them clear. She also started mentoring sessions with other women in the company to help them through similar experiences.

Building the Future in Front of You

The author reflects on their experience as a manager and how they have taken it upon themselves to mentor and empower those around them. They discuss the importance of having a mentor and how it can help shape one's career path. They also share lessons they have learned from their mentees, such as the importance of asking the right questions and validating people in their decision-making process. Finally, the author shares how they are actively involved in mentoring and helping others in their alumni network and other organizations of diversity.

Communicating Effectively

This article discusses the importance of effective communication in the workplace, and how it can be improved. It provides advice on how to be succinct and to-the-point in interviews, as well as how to include empathy and compassion in conversations. It also emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and listening, and suggests taking courses in communication to develop these skills.

Integrating a Team of Offshore Contractors

A team of offshore contractors based in India owned the domain knowledge, but communication between Product and Engineering was not satisfactory. To improve collaboration and transfer domain knowledge, an architect and product people were brought in to build documentation from scratch, and some of the best engineers were brought to the US. This hybrid model improved the development process and enabled the company to expand their business in multiple countries.

Feelings Aside: Handling a Team Layoff

This story is about a first-line manager who had to lay off his team due to changed business circumstances. He was offered to keep his role, but he turned it down and stayed with the company in a different role. He learned to detach his emotions from the task and to consider the offer presented to him if he had to do it all over again. He also learned to adjust to the more ruthless nature of business in the US, and to recognize that layoffs are not done to intentionally harm anyone.

When Solving Problems for Others Is Wrong

This story outlines a situation in which a team was facing a problem caused by a dependency on another team. The team wanted to fix the problem themselves, but this would go against the company's culture of each team being responsible for their own tech debt. The team leader decided to veto the decision and escalate the problem, causing friction between the teams. Eventually, the other team committed to fixing the problem, and the team leader learned the importance of respecting organizational boundaries and standing firm in the face of pressure.

There Is No Commitment Without Disagreement

This article discusses a situation in which a team of eight engineers had to deal with a top performer who was not performing up to their usual standards. The team tried various methods to re-engage the individual, but nothing worked. Eventually, the team leader realized that the individual had to be allowed to express their disagreement with the project direction in front of the team. This allowed them to feel comfortable advocating for their point of view and ultimately led to a successful outcome. The article highlights the importance of allowing team members to express their disagreement and creating an environment where everyone feels safe to do so.

Cultivating Accountability

Leaders need to create an environment where people feel safe to do their work, while still holding them accountable. The goal is to allow people to learn from their mistakes and grow, rather than punishing them for failure. Leaders should foster an environment of honesty and constructive criticism, and be aware of their own emotions and how they impact others. Mutual feedback is key to helping everyone improve.

Easing the Fear of Failure with Guidance

Poor management and a lack of creativity can lead to a company's failure. Leaders should provide context to their teams, share data, and empower their employees to make adult decisions. It is important to have a strategy and vision for the product organization, and to focus on how to make customers' lives better. Developing a sense of ownership and understanding the impact of work is essential for success.

Playing the Father Figure

This article discusses the challenges of managing people and the lessons learned from the experience. It is important to be aware of how you communicate with others and to be clear in what you are asking of your team. It is also important to frame goals in a way that relates to the broader goals of the organization. Good leadership keeps everybody and their work in focus.

Embracing Feedback as an Organization

Feedback is an important part of growth and development, and it is important to establish a culture of trust and open communication within a company. At Expedia, feedback was part of the company's DNA and was expected from peers, team members, and those in leadership positions. It is important to take feedback seriously and use it to improve, even if it is not what you want to hear. Self-reflection and taking time to consider how you could have done something differently is a great practice for improvement. Mentors can also provide a neutral perspective and help you see things more clearly. Asking for feedback from leadership and team members is a great way to build a culture of inquiry and help everyone grow.

Taking a Product from Inception to Market

This is a story of a successful product launch from idea to market in three months. The product was an advertising technology company, a demand-side platform, that allowed customers to buy ad space in real-time bidding exchanges. The team needed to prove to advertisers that the investment was worth it from an ROI perspective, so they studied foot traffic measurements and built a proof-of-concept of their own foot traffic measurement product. After validating the findings, they created training and pitch materials to present to potential clients. They imposed budget constraints to get the ideal volume of use and traffic for their study. Ultimately, they were able to get the product to market before they ran out of resources.

Pleading With Your Executive Team

This story is about a company that specialized in mobile app downloads and wanted to get into programmatic ad-buying. The author was recruited to manage the product and business development, and worked closely with the engineering team to increase the throughput of the system. Despite the author's efforts to optimize the system and acquire users for as little as a dollar, the CEO chose to ignore the data and shut the product down a few months later. The author learned that leaders can make ego-driven decisions, and it can be difficult to disagree with them.

Seeing What’s Out There

A consultant has been working with a fintech company in New York for six months, helping them solve problems and develop strategies. They have been gathering data and researching other companies to come up with their own solutions. The consultant has learned that gathering data is the best way to form an opinion, communication and evangelism are key, and being dynamic and hypothesis-driven is vital to success.

Establishing Yourself in a Market

In 2017, a technologist was inspired to find a way to help with the refugee crisis in Europe. After researching existing apps and services, he realized there was a gap in the market for a Yelp-like service for refugees in need of shelter. He created a deck of material to pitch the idea and reached out to humanitarian groups, entrepreneurs, and hackathon groups. He learned that while many apps had been created, none had acquired any refugee users. He ultimately decided to repurpose his background in adtech/martech to build a humanitarian ad network to connect the supply of apps with the demand of refugees. After 4 years of networking and seeking out funding, he was unable to unlock funds and the project was not pursued.

How to Stay Technical as an Engineer Manager

This article discusses how a manager can stay hands-on and still move up the career ladder. The author shares their experience transitioning from an engineer to a senior engineering manager, and how they managed to stay hands-on while leading a team. They suggest being a generalist rather than a specialist, exploring Dev production tools, bringing new things to the table, and making sure to have time to learn while growing.

Managing a Product Team

As the manager of an engineering group, the author faced the challenge of catering to the development tasks from the formal product management team and the solution architects. To address this, the author connected with the product management team and suggested that requests should go through them for better judgement. The author also implemented a process of allocating a weightage to specific problems and solving them gradually. This process was successful and the stakeholders received positive feedback during the annual review. The author learned that it is important to have a clear and concise problem statement with proposed solutions and to focus on product innovation and streamlining processes.

Scaling Teams Through an Unconventional Approach

The team faced difficulty setting up their front-end development due to a narrow talent pool and lack of experience. To address this, they used unconventional channels to recruit talent, changed the percentages of their existing staff to dedicate more time to front-end development, and leveraged online sources and internship programs. Through these steps, they were able to successfully recruit the right talent and upskill their existing staff. The team learned to anticipate faster and have a mix of specialists and generalists, as well as to facilitate and grow talents with good training.

How to Get Your Team Back on Track

When joining a company with a team that was not executing well and slipping deadlines, the author had to build trust and credibility while firefighting. Through 1:1s with the engineering team, they identified patterns of the issues and worked with different stakeholders to address them. The author also worked closely with the quality organization and pushed back against the product management. After 30-60 days, the author had earned the trust of the team and created long-lasting relationships. Lessons learned include focusing on people first, never being afraid to do the right thing, and being open to different perspectives.

Resolving Workplace Conflict

This article discusses the importance of conflict resolution, both within a team and between a manager and their team. It outlines the steps taken to resolve a conflict between two senior engineers of different cultural backgrounds, and how the manager was able to get them to work together. It also discusses the manager's own experience with a peer who was pushing back on her ideas, and how she was able to overcome this by documenting her ideas and presenting them to her colleague before meetings. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding the other person's perspective and picking one's battles.

Achieving Alignment With Male Colleagues

This article discusses the difficulties of being a woman in the tech industry and how the author overcame these challenges. She faced pushback from her male peers and was initially hesitant to raise her voice in meetings. With the help of her director, she gained confidence in her ideas and eventually worked her way up to management. Even then, she faced resistance from her male colleagues, but she stayed calm and tried to make her alliance with them clear. She also started mentoring sessions with other women in the company to help them through similar experiences.

Building the Future in Front of You

The author reflects on their experience as a manager and how they have taken it upon themselves to mentor and empower those around them. They discuss the importance of having a mentor and how it can help shape one's career path. They also share lessons they have learned from their mentees, such as the importance of asking the right questions and validating people in their decision-making process. Finally, the author shares how they are actively involved in mentoring and helping others in their alumni network and other organizations of diversity.

Communicating Effectively

This article discusses the importance of effective communication in the workplace, and how it can be improved. It provides advice on how to be succinct and to-the-point in interviews, as well as how to include empathy and compassion in conversations. It also emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and listening, and suggests taking courses in communication to develop these skills.

Integrating a Team of Offshore Contractors

A team of offshore contractors based in India owned the domain knowledge, but communication between Product and Engineering was not satisfactory. To improve collaboration and transfer domain knowledge, an architect and product people were brought in to build documentation from scratch, and some of the best engineers were brought to the US. This hybrid model improved the development process and enabled the company to expand their business in multiple countries.

Feelings Aside: Handling a Team Layoff

This story is about a first-line manager who had to lay off his team due to changed business circumstances. He was offered to keep his role, but he turned it down and stayed with the company in a different role. He learned to detach his emotions from the task and to consider the offer presented to him if he had to do it all over again. He also learned to adjust to the more ruthless nature of business in the US, and to recognize that layoffs are not done to intentionally harm anyone.

When Solving Problems for Others Is Wrong

This story outlines a situation in which a team was facing a problem caused by a dependency on another team. The team wanted to fix the problem themselves, but this would go against the company's culture of each team being responsible for their own tech debt. The team leader decided to veto the decision and escalate the problem, causing friction between the teams. Eventually, the other team committed to fixing the problem, and the team leader learned the importance of respecting organizational boundaries and standing firm in the face of pressure.

There Is No Commitment Without Disagreement

This article discusses a situation in which a team of eight engineers had to deal with a top performer who was not performing up to their usual standards. The team tried various methods to re-engage the individual, but nothing worked. Eventually, the team leader realized that the individual had to be allowed to express their disagreement with the project direction in front of the team. This allowed them to feel comfortable advocating for their point of view and ultimately led to a successful outcome. The article highlights the importance of allowing team members to express their disagreement and creating an environment where everyone feels safe to do so.

Cultivating Accountability

Leaders need to create an environment where people feel safe to do their work, while still holding them accountable. The goal is to allow people to learn from their mistakes and grow, rather than punishing them for failure. Leaders should foster an environment of honesty and constructive criticism, and be aware of their own emotions and how they impact others. Mutual feedback is key to helping everyone improve.

Easing the Fear of Failure with Guidance

Poor management and a lack of creativity can lead to a company's failure. Leaders should provide context to their teams, share data, and empower their employees to make adult decisions. It is important to have a strategy and vision for the product organization, and to focus on how to make customers' lives better. Developing a sense of ownership and understanding the impact of work is essential for success.

Playing the Father Figure

This article discusses the challenges of managing people and the lessons learned from the experience. It is important to be aware of how you communicate with others and to be clear in what you are asking of your team. It is also important to frame goals in a way that relates to the broader goals of the organization. Good leadership keeps everybody and their work in focus.

Embracing Feedback as an Organization

Feedback is an important part of growth and development, and it is important to establish a culture of trust and open communication within a company. At Expedia, feedback was part of the company's DNA and was expected from peers, team members, and those in leadership positions. It is important to take feedback seriously and use it to improve, even if it is not what you want to hear. Self-reflection and taking time to consider how you could have done something differently is a great practice for improvement. Mentors can also provide a neutral perspective and help you see things more clearly. Asking for feedback from leadership and team members is a great way to build a culture of inquiry and help everyone grow.

Taking a Product from Inception to Market

This is a story of a successful product launch from idea to market in three months. The product was an advertising technology company, a demand-side platform, that allowed customers to buy ad space in real-time bidding exchanges. The team needed to prove to advertisers that the investment was worth it from an ROI perspective, so they studied foot traffic measurements and built a proof-of-concept of their own foot traffic measurement product. After validating the findings, they created training and pitch materials to present to potential clients. They imposed budget constraints to get the ideal volume of use and traffic for their study. Ultimately, they were able to get the product to market before they ran out of resources.

Pleading With Your Executive Team

This story is about a company that specialized in mobile app downloads and wanted to get into programmatic ad-buying. The author was recruited to manage the product and business development, and worked closely with the engineering team to increase the throughput of the system. Despite the author's efforts to optimize the system and acquire users for as little as a dollar, the CEO chose to ignore the data and shut the product down a few months later. The author learned that leaders can make ego-driven decisions, and it can be difficult to disagree with them.

Seeing What’s Out There

A consultant has been working with a fintech company in New York for six months, helping them solve problems and develop strategies. They have been gathering data and researching other companies to come up with their own solutions. The consultant has learned that gathering data is the best way to form an opinion, communication and evangelism are key, and being dynamic and hypothesis-driven is vital to success.

Establishing Yourself in a Market

In 2017, a technologist was inspired to find a way to help with the refugee crisis in Europe. After researching existing apps and services, he realized there was a gap in the market for a Yelp-like service for refugees in need of shelter. He created a deck of material to pitch the idea and reached out to humanitarian groups, entrepreneurs, and hackathon groups. He learned that while many apps had been created, none had acquired any refugee users. He ultimately decided to repurpose his background in adtech/martech to build a humanitarian ad network to connect the supply of apps with the demand of refugees. After 4 years of networking and seeking out funding, he was unable to unlock funds and the project was not pursued.

How to Stay Technical as an Engineer Manager

This article discusses how a manager can stay hands-on and still move up the career ladder. The author shares their experience transitioning from an engineer to a senior engineering manager, and how they managed to stay hands-on while leading a team. They suggest being a generalist rather than a specialist, exploring Dev production tools, bringing new things to the table, and making sure to have time to learn while growing.

Managing a Product Team

As the manager of an engineering group, the author faced the challenge of catering to the development tasks from the formal product management team and the solution architects. To address this, the author connected with the product management team and suggested that requests should go through them for better judgement. The author also implemented a process of allocating a weightage to specific problems and solving them gradually. This process was successful and the stakeholders received positive feedback during the annual review. The author learned that it is important to have a clear and concise problem statement with proposed solutions and to focus on product innovation and streamlining processes.

Scaling Teams Through an Unconventional Approach

The team faced difficulty setting up their front-end development due to a narrow talent pool and lack of experience. To address this, they used unconventional channels to recruit talent, changed the percentages of their existing staff to dedicate more time to front-end development, and leveraged online sources and internship programs. Through these steps, they were able to successfully recruit the right talent and upskill their existing staff. The team learned to anticipate faster and have a mix of specialists and generalists, as well as to facilitate and grow talents with good training.

How to Get Your Team Back on Track

When joining a company with a team that was not executing well and slipping deadlines, the author had to build trust and credibility while firefighting. Through 1:1s with the engineering team, they identified patterns of the issues and worked with different stakeholders to address them. The author also worked closely with the quality organization and pushed back against the product management. After 30-60 days, the author had earned the trust of the team and created long-lasting relationships. Lessons learned include focusing on people first, never being afraid to do the right thing, and being open to different perspectives.

Resolving Workplace Conflict

This article discusses the importance of conflict resolution, both within a team and between a manager and their team. It outlines the steps taken to resolve a conflict between two senior engineers of different cultural backgrounds, and how the manager was able to get them to work together. It also discusses the manager's own experience with a peer who was pushing back on her ideas, and how she was able to overcome this by documenting her ideas and presenting them to her colleague before meetings. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding the other person's perspective and picking one's battles.

Achieving Alignment With Male Colleagues

This article discusses the difficulties of being a woman in the tech industry and how the author overcame these challenges. She faced pushback from her male peers and was initially hesitant to raise her voice in meetings. With the help of her director, she gained confidence in her ideas and eventually worked her way up to management. Even then, she faced resistance from her male colleagues, but she stayed calm and tried to make her alliance with them clear. She also started mentoring sessions with other women in the company to help them through similar experiences.

Building the Future in Front of You

The author reflects on their experience as a manager and how they have taken it upon themselves to mentor and empower those around them. They discuss the importance of having a mentor and how it can help shape one's career path. They also share lessons they have learned from their mentees, such as the importance of asking the right questions and validating people in their decision-making process. Finally, the author shares how they are actively involved in mentoring and helping others in their alumni network and other organizations of diversity.

Communicating Effectively

This article discusses the importance of effective communication in the workplace, and how it can be improved. It provides advice on how to be succinct and to-the-point in interviews, as well as how to include empathy and compassion in conversations. It also emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and listening, and suggests taking courses in communication to develop these skills.

Integrating a Team of Offshore Contractors

A team of offshore contractors based in India owned the domain knowledge, but communication between Product and Engineering was not satisfactory. To improve collaboration and transfer domain knowledge, an architect and product people were brought in to build documentation from scratch, and some of the best engineers were brought to the US. This hybrid model improved the development process and enabled the company to expand their business in multiple countries.

Feelings Aside: Handling a Team Layoff

This story is about a first-line manager who had to lay off his team due to changed business circumstances. He was offered to keep his role, but he turned it down and stayed with the company in a different role. He learned to detach his emotions from the task and to consider the offer presented to him if he had to do it all over again. He also learned to adjust to the more ruthless nature of business in the US, and to recognize that layoffs are not done to intentionally harm anyone.

When Solving Problems for Others Is Wrong

This story outlines a situation in which a team was facing a problem caused by a dependency on another team. The team wanted to fix the problem themselves, but this would go against the company's culture of each team being responsible for their own tech debt. The team leader decided to veto the decision and escalate the problem, causing friction between the teams. Eventually, the other team committed to fixing the problem, and the team leader learned the importance of respecting organizational boundaries and standing firm in the face of pressure.

There Is No Commitment Without Disagreement

This article discusses a situation in which a team of eight engineers had to deal with a top performer who was not performing up to their usual standards. The team tried various methods to re-engage the individual, but nothing worked. Eventually, the team leader realized that the individual had to be allowed to express their disagreement with the project direction in front of the team. This allowed them to feel comfortable advocating for their point of view and ultimately led to a successful outcome. The article highlights the importance of allowing team members to express their disagreement and creating an environment where everyone feels safe to do so.

Cultivating Accountability

Leaders need to create an environment where people feel safe to do their work, while still holding them accountable. The goal is to allow people to learn from their mistakes and grow, rather than punishing them for failure. Leaders should foster an environment of honesty and constructive criticism, and be aware of their own emotions and how they impact others. Mutual feedback is key to helping everyone improve.

Easing the Fear of Failure with Guidance

Poor management and a lack of creativity can lead to a company's failure. Leaders should provide context to their teams, share data, and empower their employees to make adult decisions. It is important to have a strategy and vision for the product organization, and to focus on how to make customers' lives better. Developing a sense of ownership and understanding the impact of work is essential for success.

Playing the Father Figure

This article discusses the challenges of managing people and the lessons learned from the experience. It is important to be aware of how you communicate with others and to be clear in what you are asking of your team. It is also important to frame goals in a way that relates to the broader goals of the organization. Good leadership keeps everybody and their work in focus.

Embracing Feedback as an Organization

Feedback is an important part of growth and development, and it is important to establish a culture of trust and open communication within a company. At Expedia, feedback was part of the company's DNA and was expected from peers, team members, and those in leadership positions. It is important to take feedback seriously and use it to improve, even if it is not what you want to hear. Self-reflection and taking time to consider how you could have done something differently is a great practice for improvement. Mentors can also provide a neutral perspective and help you see things more clearly. Asking for feedback from leadership and team members is a great way to build a culture of inquiry and help everyone grow.

Taking a Product from Inception to Market

This is a story of a successful product launch from idea to market in three months. The product was an advertising technology company, a demand-side platform, that allowed customers to buy ad space in real-time bidding exchanges. The team needed to prove to advertisers that the investment was worth it from an ROI perspective, so they studied foot traffic measurements and built a proof-of-concept of their own foot traffic measurement product. After validating the findings, they created training and pitch materials to present to potential clients. They imposed budget constraints to get the ideal volume of use and traffic for their study. Ultimately, they were able to get the product to market before they ran out of resources.

Pleading With Your Executive Team

This story is about a company that specialized in mobile app downloads and wanted to get into programmatic ad-buying. The author was recruited to manage the product and business development, and worked closely with the engineering team to increase the throughput of the system. Despite the author's efforts to optimize the system and acquire users for as little as a dollar, the CEO chose to ignore the data and shut the product down a few months later. The author learned that leaders can make ego-driven decisions, and it can be difficult to disagree with them.

Seeing What’s Out There

A consultant has been working with a fintech company in New York for six months, helping them solve problems and develop strategies. They have been gathering data and researching other companies to come up with their own solutions. The consultant has learned that gathering data is the best way to form an opinion, communication and evangelism are key, and being dynamic and hypothesis-driven is vital to success.

Establishing Yourself in a Market

In 2017, a technologist was inspired to find a way to help with the refugee crisis in Europe. After researching existing apps and services, he realized there was a gap in the market for a Yelp-like service for refugees in need of shelter. He created a deck of material to pitch the idea and reached out to humanitarian groups, entrepreneurs, and hackathon groups. He learned that while many apps had been created, none had acquired any refugee users. He ultimately decided to repurpose his background in adtech/martech to build a humanitarian ad network to connect the supply of apps with the demand of refugees. After 4 years of networking and seeking out funding, he was unable to unlock funds and the project was not pursued.

How to Stay Technical as an Engineer Manager

This article discusses how a manager can stay hands-on and still move up the career ladder. The author shares their experience transitioning from an engineer to a senior engineering manager, and how they managed to stay hands-on while leading a team. They suggest being a generalist rather than a specialist, exploring Dev production tools, bringing new things to the table, and making sure to have time to learn while growing.

Managing a Product Team

As the manager of an engineering group, the author faced the challenge of catering to the development tasks from the formal product management team and the solution architects. To address this, the author connected with the product management team and suggested that requests should go through them for better judgement. The author also implemented a process of allocating a weightage to specific problems and solving them gradually. This process was successful and the stakeholders received positive feedback during the annual review. The author learned that it is important to have a clear and concise problem statement with proposed solutions and to focus on product innovation and streamlining processes.

Scaling Teams Through an Unconventional Approach

The team faced difficulty setting up their front-end development due to a narrow talent pool and lack of experience. To address this, they used unconventional channels to recruit talent, changed the percentages of their existing staff to dedicate more time to front-end development, and leveraged online sources and internship programs. Through these steps, they were able to successfully recruit the right talent and upskill their existing staff. The team learned to anticipate faster and have a mix of specialists and generalists, as well as to facilitate and grow talents with good training.

How to Get Your Team Back on Track

When joining a company with a team that was not executing well and slipping deadlines, the author had to build trust and credibility while firefighting. Through 1:1s with the engineering team, they identified patterns of the issues and worked with different stakeholders to address them. The author also worked closely with the quality organization and pushed back against the product management. After 30-60 days, the author had earned the trust of the team and created long-lasting relationships. Lessons learned include focusing on people first, never being afraid to do the right thing, and being open to different perspectives.

Resolving Workplace Conflict

This article discusses the importance of conflict resolution, both within a team and between a manager and their team. It outlines the steps taken to resolve a conflict between two senior engineers of different cultural backgrounds, and how the manager was able to get them to work together. It also discusses the manager's own experience with a peer who was pushing back on her ideas, and how she was able to overcome this by documenting her ideas and presenting them to her colleague before meetings. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding the other person's perspective and picking one's battles.

Achieving Alignment With Male Colleagues

This article discusses the difficulties of being a woman in the tech industry and how the author overcame these challenges. She faced pushback from her male peers and was initially hesitant to raise her voice in meetings. With the help of her director, she gained confidence in her ideas and eventually worked her way up to management. Even then, she faced resistance from her male colleagues, but she stayed calm and tried to make her alliance with them clear. She also started mentoring sessions with other women in the company to help them through similar experiences.

Building the Future in Front of You

The author reflects on their experience as a manager and how they have taken it upon themselves to mentor and empower those around them. They discuss the importance of having a mentor and how it can help shape one's career path. They also share lessons they have learned from their mentees, such as the importance of asking the right questions and validating people in their decision-making process. Finally, the author shares how they are actively involved in mentoring and helping others in their alumni network and other organizations of diversity.

Communicating Effectively

This article discusses the importance of effective communication in the workplace, and how it can be improved. It provides advice on how to be succinct and to-the-point in interviews, as well as how to include empathy and compassion in conversations. It also emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and listening, and suggests taking courses in communication to develop these skills.

Integrating a Team of Offshore Contractors

A team of offshore contractors based in India owned the domain knowledge, but communication between Product and Engineering was not satisfactory. To improve collaboration and transfer domain knowledge, an architect and product people were brought in to build documentation from scratch, and some of the best engineers were brought to the US. This hybrid model improved the development process and enabled the company to expand their business in multiple countries.

Feelings Aside: Handling a Team Layoff

This story is about a first-line manager who had to lay off his team due to changed business circumstances. He was offered to keep his role, but he turned it down and stayed with the company in a different role. He learned to detach his emotions from the task and to consider the offer presented to him if he had to do it all over again. He also learned to adjust to the more ruthless nature of business in the US, and to recognize that layoffs are not done to intentionally harm anyone.

When Solving Problems for Others Is Wrong

This story outlines a situation in which a team was facing a problem caused by a dependency on another team. The team wanted to fix the problem themselves, but this would go against the company's culture of each team being responsible for their own tech debt. The team leader decided to veto the decision and escalate the problem, causing friction between the teams. Eventually, the other team committed to fixing the problem, and the team leader learned the importance of respecting organizational boundaries and standing firm in the face of pressure.

There Is No Commitment Without Disagreement

This article discusses a situation in which a team of eight engineers had to deal with a top performer who was not performing up to their usual standards. The team tried various methods to re-engage the individual, but nothing worked. Eventually, the team leader realized that the individual had to be allowed to express their disagreement with the project direction in front of the team. This allowed them to feel comfortable advocating for their point of view and ultimately led to a successful outcome. The article highlights the importance of allowing team members to express their disagreement and creating an environment where everyone feels safe to do so.

Cultivating Accountability

Leaders need to create an environment where people feel safe to do their work, while still holding them accountable. The goal is to allow people to learn from their mistakes and grow, rather than punishing them for failure. Leaders should foster an environment of honesty and constructive criticism, and be aware of their own emotions and how they impact others. Mutual feedback is key to helping everyone improve.

Easing the Fear of Failure with Guidance

Poor management and a lack of creativity can lead to a company's failure. Leaders should provide context to their teams, share data, and empower their employees to make adult decisions. It is important to have a strategy and vision for the product organization, and to focus on how to make customers' lives better. Developing a sense of ownership and understanding the impact of work is essential for success.

Playing the Father Figure

This article discusses the challenges of managing people and the lessons learned from the experience. It is important to be aware of how you communicate with others and to be clear in what you are asking of your team. It is also important to frame goals in a way that relates to the broader goals of the organization. Good leadership keeps everybody and their work in focus.

Embracing Feedback as an Organization

Feedback is an important part of growth and development, and it is important to establish a culture of trust and open communication within a company. At Expedia, feedback was part of the company's DNA and was expected from peers, team members, and those in leadership positions. It is important to take feedback seriously and use it to improve, even if it is not what you want to hear. Self-reflection and taking time to consider how you could have done something differently is a great practice for improvement. Mentors can also provide a neutral perspective and help you see things more clearly. Asking for feedback from leadership and team members is a great way to build a culture of inquiry and help everyone grow.

Taking a Product from Inception to Market

This is a story of a successful product launch from idea to market in three months. The product was an advertising technology company, a demand-side platform, that allowed customers to buy ad space in real-time bidding exchanges. The team needed to prove to advertisers that the investment was worth it from an ROI perspective, so they studied foot traffic measurements and built a proof-of-concept of their own foot traffic measurement product. After validating the findings, they created training and pitch materials to present to potential clients. They imposed budget constraints to get the ideal volume of use and traffic for their study. Ultimately, they were able to get the product to market before they ran out of resources.

Pleading With Your Executive Team

This story is about a company that specialized in mobile app downloads and wanted to get into programmatic ad-buying. The author was recruited to manage the product and business development, and worked closely with the engineering team to increase the throughput of the system. Despite the author's efforts to optimize the system and acquire users for as little as a dollar, the CEO chose to ignore the data and shut the product down a few months later. The author learned that leaders can make ego-driven decisions, and it can be difficult to disagree with them.

Seeing What’s Out There

A consultant has been working with a fintech company in New York for six months, helping them solve problems and develop strategies. They have been gathering data and researching other companies to come up with their own solutions. The consultant has learned that gathering data is the best way to form an opinion, communication and evangelism are key, and being dynamic and hypothesis-driven is vital to success.

Establishing Yourself in a Market

In 2017, a technologist was inspired to find a way to help with the refugee crisis in Europe. After researching existing apps and services, he realized there was a gap in the market for a Yelp-like service for refugees in need of shelter. He created a deck of material to pitch the idea and reached out to humanitarian groups, entrepreneurs, and hackathon groups. He learned that while many apps had been created, none had acquired any refugee users. He ultimately decided to repurpose his background in adtech/martech to build a humanitarian ad network to connect the supply of apps with the demand of refugees. After 4 years of networking and seeking out funding, he was unable to unlock funds and the project was not pursued.

How to Stay Technical as an Engineer Manager

This article discusses how a manager can stay hands-on and still move up the career ladder. The author shares their experience transitioning from an engineer to a senior engineering manager, and how they managed to stay hands-on while leading a team. They suggest being a generalist rather than a specialist, exploring Dev production tools, bringing new things to the table, and making sure to have time to learn while growing.

Managing a Product Team

As the manager of an engineering group, the author faced the challenge of catering to the development tasks from the formal product management team and the solution architects. To address this, the author connected with the product management team and suggested that requests should go through them for better judgement. The author also implemented a process of allocating a weightage to specific problems and solving them gradually. This process was successful and the stakeholders received positive feedback during the annual review. The author learned that it is important to have a clear and concise problem statement with proposed solutions and to focus on product innovation and streamlining processes.

Scaling Teams Through an Unconventional Approach

The team faced difficulty setting up their front-end development due to a narrow talent pool and lack of experience. To address this, they used unconventional channels to recruit talent, changed the percentages of their existing staff to dedicate more time to front-end development, and leveraged online sources and internship programs. Through these steps, they were able to successfully recruit the right talent and upskill their existing staff. The team learned to anticipate faster and have a mix of specialists and generalists, as well as to facilitate and grow talents with good training.

How to Get Your Team Back on Track

When joining a company with a team that was not executing well and slipping deadlines, the author had to build trust and credibility while firefighting. Through 1:1s with the engineering team, they identified patterns of the issues and worked with different stakeholders to address them. The author also worked closely with the quality organization and pushed back against the product management. After 30-60 days, the author had earned the trust of the team and created long-lasting relationships. Lessons learned include focusing on people first, never being afraid to do the right thing, and being open to different perspectives.

Resolving Workplace Conflict

This article discusses the importance of conflict resolution, both within a team and between a manager and their team. It outlines the steps taken to resolve a conflict between two senior engineers of different cultural backgrounds, and how the manager was able to get them to work together. It also discusses the manager's own experience with a peer who was pushing back on her ideas, and how she was able to overcome this by documenting her ideas and presenting them to her colleague before meetings. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding the other person's perspective and picking one's battles.

Achieving Alignment With Male Colleagues

This article discusses the difficulties of being a woman in the tech industry and how the author overcame these challenges. She faced pushback from her male peers and was initially hesitant to raise her voice in meetings. With the help of her director, she gained confidence in her ideas and eventually worked her way up to management. Even then, she faced resistance from her male colleagues, but she stayed calm and tried to make her alliance with them clear. She also started mentoring sessions with other women in the company to help them through similar experiences.

Building the Future in Front of You

The author reflects on their experience as a manager and how they have taken it upon themselves to mentor and empower those around them. They discuss the importance of having a mentor and how it can help shape one's career path. They also share lessons they have learned from their mentees, such as the importance of asking the right questions and validating people in their decision-making process. Finally, the author shares how they are actively involved in mentoring and helping others in their alumni network and other organizations of diversity.

Communicating Effectively

This article discusses the importance of effective communication in the workplace, and how it can be improved. It provides advice on how to be succinct and to-the-point in interviews, as well as how to include empathy and compassion in conversations. It also emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and listening, and suggests taking courses in communication to develop these skills.

Integrating a Team of Offshore Contractors

A team of offshore contractors based in India owned the domain knowledge, but communication between Product and Engineering was not satisfactory. To improve collaboration and transfer domain knowledge, an architect and product people were brought in to build documentation from scratch, and some of the best engineers were brought to the US. This hybrid model improved the development process and enabled the company to expand their business in multiple countries.

Feelings Aside: Handling a Team Layoff

This story is about a first-line manager who had to lay off his team due to changed business circumstances. He was offered to keep his role, but he turned it down and stayed with the company in a different role. He learned to detach his emotions from the task and to consider the offer presented to him if he had to do it all over again. He also learned to adjust to the more ruthless nature of business in the US, and to recognize that layoffs are not done to intentionally harm anyone.

When Solving Problems for Others Is Wrong

This story outlines a situation in which a team was facing a problem caused by a dependency on another team. The team wanted to fix the problem themselves, but this would go against the company's culture of each team being responsible for their own tech debt. The team leader decided to veto the decision and escalate the problem, causing friction between the teams. Eventually, the other team committed to fixing the problem, and the team leader learned the importance of respecting organizational boundaries and standing firm in the face of pressure.

There Is No Commitment Without Disagreement

This article discusses a situation in which a team of eight engineers had to deal with a top performer who was not performing up to their usual standards. The team tried various methods to re-engage the individual, but nothing worked. Eventually, the team leader realized that the individual had to be allowed to express their disagreement with the project direction in front of the team. This allowed them to feel comfortable advocating for their point of view and ultimately led to a successful outcome. The article highlights the importance of allowing team members to express their disagreement and creating an environment where everyone feels safe to do so.

Cultivating Accountability

Leaders need to create an environment where people feel safe to do their work, while still holding them accountable. The goal is to allow people to learn from their mistakes and grow, rather than punishing them for failure. Leaders should foster an environment of honesty and constructive criticism, and be aware of their own emotions and how they impact others. Mutual feedback is key to helping everyone improve.

Easing the Fear of Failure with Guidance

Poor management and a lack of creativity can lead to a company's failure. Leaders should provide context to their teams, share data, and empower their employees to make adult decisions. It is important to have a strategy and vision for the product organization, and to focus on how to make customers' lives better. Developing a sense of ownership and understanding the impact of work is essential for success.

Playing the Father Figure

This article discusses the challenges of managing people and the lessons learned from the experience. It is important to be aware of how you communicate with others and to be clear in what you are asking of your team. It is also important to frame goals in a way that relates to the broader goals of the organization. Good leadership keeps everybody and their work in focus.

Embracing Feedback as an Organization

Feedback is an important part of growth and development, and it is important to establish a culture of trust and open communication within a company. At Expedia, feedback was part of the company's DNA and was expected from peers, team members, and those in leadership positions. It is important to take feedback seriously and use it to improve, even if it is not what you want to hear. Self-reflection and taking time to consider how you could have done something differently is a great practice for improvement. Mentors can also provide a neutral perspective and help you see things more clearly. Asking for feedback from leadership and team members is a great way to build a culture of inquiry and help everyone grow.

Taking a Product from Inception to Market

This is a story of a successful product launch from idea to market in three months. The product was an advertising technology company, a demand-side platform, that allowed customers to buy ad space in real-time bidding exchanges. The team needed to prove to advertisers that the investment was worth it from an ROI perspective, so they studied foot traffic measurements and built a proof-of-concept of their own foot traffic measurement product. After validating the findings, they created training and pitch materials to present to potential clients. They imposed budget constraints to get the ideal volume of use and traffic for their study. Ultimately, they were able to get the product to market before they ran out of resources.

Pleading With Your Executive Team

This story is about a company that specialized in mobile app downloads and wanted to get into programmatic ad-buying. The author was recruited to manage the product and business development, and worked closely with the engineering team to increase the throughput of the system. Despite the author's efforts to optimize the system and acquire users for as little as a dollar, the CEO chose to ignore the data and shut the product down a few months later. The author learned that leaders can make ego-driven decisions, and it can be difficult to disagree with them.

Seeing What’s Out There

A consultant has been working with a fintech company in New York for six months, helping them solve problems and develop strategies. They have been gathering data and researching other companies to come up with their own solutions. The consultant has learned that gathering data is the best way to form an opinion, communication and evangelism are key, and being dynamic and hypothesis-driven is vital to success.

Establishing Yourself in a Market

In 2017, a technologist was inspired to find a way to help with the refugee crisis in Europe. After researching existing apps and services, he realized there was a gap in the market for a Yelp-like service for refugees in need of shelter. He created a deck of material to pitch the idea and reached out to humanitarian groups, entrepreneurs, and hackathon groups. He learned that while many apps had been created, none had acquired any refugee users. He ultimately decided to repurpose his background in adtech/martech to build a humanitarian ad network to connect the supply of apps with the demand of refugees. After 4 years of networking and seeking out funding, he was unable to unlock funds and the project was not pursued.

How to Stay Technical as an Engineer Manager

This article discusses how a manager can stay hands-on and still move up the career ladder. The author shares their experience transitioning from an engineer to a senior engineering manager, and how they managed to stay hands-on while leading a team. They suggest being a generalist rather than a specialist, exploring Dev production tools, bringing new things to the table, and making sure to have time to learn while growing.

Managing a Product Team

As the manager of an engineering group, the author faced the challenge of catering to the development tasks from the formal product management team and the solution architects. To address this, the author connected with the product management team and suggested that requests should go through them for better judgement. The author also implemented a process of allocating a weightage to specific problems and solving them gradually. This process was successful and the stakeholders received positive feedback during the annual review. The author learned that it is important to have a clear and concise problem statement with proposed solutions and to focus on product innovation and streamlining processes.

Scaling Teams Through an Unconventional Approach

The team faced difficulty setting up their front-end development due to a narrow talent pool and lack of experience. To address this, they used unconventional channels to recruit talent, changed the percentages of their existing staff to dedicate more time to front-end development, and leveraged online sources and internship programs. Through these steps, they were able to successfully recruit the right talent and upskill their existing staff. The team learned to anticipate faster and have a mix of specialists and generalists, as well as to facilitate and grow talents with good training.

How to Get Your Team Back on Track

When joining a company with a team that was not executing well and slipping deadlines, the author had to build trust and credibility while firefighting. Through 1:1s with the engineering team, they identified patterns of the issues and worked with different stakeholders to address them. The author also worked closely with the quality organization and pushed back against the product management. After 30-60 days, the author had earned the trust of the team and created long-lasting relationships. Lessons learned include focusing on people first, never being afraid to do the right thing, and being open to different perspectives.

Resolving Workplace Conflict

This article discusses the importance of conflict resolution, both within a team and between a manager and their team. It outlines the steps taken to resolve a conflict between two senior engineers of different cultural backgrounds, and how the manager was able to get them to work together. It also discusses the manager's own experience with a peer who was pushing back on her ideas, and how she was able to overcome this by documenting her ideas and presenting them to her colleague before meetings. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding the other person's perspective and picking one's battles.

Achieving Alignment With Male Colleagues

This article discusses the difficulties of being a woman in the tech industry and how the author overcame these challenges. She faced pushback from her male peers and was initially hesitant to raise her voice in meetings. With the help of her director, she gained confidence in her ideas and eventually worked her way up to management. Even then, she faced resistance from her male colleagues, but she stayed calm and tried to make her alliance with them clear. She also started mentoring sessions with other women in the company to help them through similar experiences.

Building the Future in Front of You

The author reflects on their experience as a manager and how they have taken it upon themselves to mentor and empower those around them. They discuss the importance of having a mentor and how it can help shape one's career path. They also share lessons they have learned from their mentees, such as the importance of asking the right questions and validating people in their decision-making process. Finally, the author shares how they are actively involved in mentoring and helping others in their alumni network and other organizations of diversity.

Communicating Effectively

This article discusses the importance of effective communication in the workplace, and how it can be improved. It provides advice on how to be succinct and to-the-point in interviews, as well as how to include empathy and compassion in conversations. It also emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and listening, and suggests taking courses in communication to develop these skills.

Integrating a Team of Offshore Contractors

A team of offshore contractors based in India owned the domain knowledge, but communication between Product and Engineering was not satisfactory. To improve collaboration and transfer domain knowledge, an architect and product people were brought in to build documentation from scratch, and some of the best engineers were brought to the US. This hybrid model improved the development process and enabled the company to expand their business in multiple countries.

Feelings Aside: Handling a Team Layoff

This story is about a first-line manager who had to lay off his team due to changed business circumstances. He was offered to keep his role, but he turned it down and stayed with the company in a different role. He learned to detach his emotions from the task and to consider the offer presented to him if he had to do it all over again. He also learned to adjust to the more ruthless nature of business in the US, and to recognize that layoffs are not done to intentionally harm anyone.

When Solving Problems for Others Is Wrong

This story outlines a situation in which a team was facing a problem caused by a dependency on another team. The team wanted to fix the problem themselves, but this would go against the company's culture of each team being responsible for their own tech debt. The team leader decided to veto the decision and escalate the problem, causing friction between the teams. Eventually, the other team committed to fixing the problem, and the team leader learned the importance of respecting organizational boundaries and standing firm in the face of pressure.

There Is No Commitment Without Disagreement

This article discusses a situation in which a team of eight engineers had to deal with a top performer who was not performing up to their usual standards. The team tried various methods to re-engage the individual, but nothing worked. Eventually, the team leader realized that the individual had to be allowed to express their disagreement with the project direction in front of the team. This allowed them to feel comfortable advocating for their point of view and ultimately led to a successful outcome. The article highlights the importance of allowing team members to express their disagreement and creating an environment where everyone feels safe to do so.

Cultivating Accountability

Leaders need to create an environment where people feel safe to do their work, while still holding them accountable. The goal is to allow people to learn from their mistakes and grow, rather than punishing them for failure. Leaders should foster an environment of honesty and constructive criticism, and be aware of their own emotions and how they impact others. Mutual feedback is key to helping everyone improve.

Easing the Fear of Failure with Guidance

Poor management and a lack of creativity can lead to a company's failure. Leaders should provide context to their teams, share data, and empower their employees to make adult decisions. It is important to have a strategy and vision for the product organization, and to focus on how to make customers' lives better. Developing a sense of ownership and understanding the impact of work is essential for success.

Playing the Father Figure

This article discusses the challenges of managing people and the lessons learned from the experience. It is important to be aware of how you communicate with others and to be clear in what you are asking of your team. It is also important to frame goals in a way that relates to the broader goals of the organization. Good leadership keeps everybody and their work in focus.

Embracing Feedback as an Organization

Feedback is an important part of growth and development, and it is important to establish a culture of trust and open communication within a company. At Expedia, feedback was part of the company's DNA and was expected from peers, team members, and those in leadership positions. It is important to take feedback seriously and use it to improve, even if it is not what you want to hear. Self-reflection and taking time to consider how you could have done something differently is a great practice for improvement. Mentors can also provide a neutral perspective and help you see things more clearly. Asking for feedback from leadership and team members is a great way to build a culture of inquiry and help everyone grow.

Taking a Product from Inception to Market

This is a story of a successful product launch from idea to market in three months. The product was an advertising technology company, a demand-side platform, that allowed customers to buy ad space in real-time bidding exchanges. The team needed to prove to advertisers that the investment was worth it from an ROI perspective, so they studied foot traffic measurements and built a proof-of-concept of their own foot traffic measurement product. After validating the findings, they created training and pitch materials to present to potential clients. They imposed budget constraints to get the ideal volume of use and traffic for their study. Ultimately, they were able to get the product to market before they ran out of resources.

Pleading With Your Executive Team

This story is about a company that specialized in mobile app downloads and wanted to get into programmatic ad-buying. The author was recruited to manage the product and business development, and worked closely with the engineering team to increase the throughput of the system. Despite the author's efforts to optimize the system and acquire users for as little as a dollar, the CEO chose to ignore the data and shut the product down a few months later. The author learned that leaders can make ego-driven decisions, and it can be difficult to disagree with them.

Seeing What’s Out There

A consultant has been working with a fintech company in New York for six months, helping them solve problems and develop strategies. They have been gathering data and researching other companies to come up with their own solutions. The consultant has learned that gathering data is the best way to form an opinion, communication and evangelism are key, and being dynamic and hypothesis-driven is vital to success.

Establishing Yourself in a Market

In 2017, a technologist was inspired to find a way to help with the refugee crisis in Europe. After researching existing apps and services, he realized there was a gap in the market for a Yelp-like service for refugees in need of shelter. He created a deck of material to pitch the idea and reached out to humanitarian groups, entrepreneurs, and hackathon groups. He learned that while many apps had been created, none had acquired any refugee users. He ultimately decided to repurpose his background in adtech/martech to build a humanitarian ad network to connect the supply of apps with the demand of refugees. After 4 years of networking and seeking out funding, he was unable to unlock funds and the project was not pursued.

How to Stay Technical as an Engineer Manager

This article discusses how a manager can stay hands-on and still move up the career ladder. The author shares their experience transitioning from an engineer to a senior engineering manager, and how they managed to stay hands-on while leading a team. They suggest being a generalist rather than a specialist, exploring Dev production tools, bringing new things to the table, and making sure to have time to learn while growing.

Managing a Product Team

As the manager of an engineering group, the author faced the challenge of catering to the development tasks from the formal product management team and the solution architects. To address this, the author connected with the product management team and suggested that requests should go through them for better judgement. The author also implemented a process of allocating a weightage to specific problems and solving them gradually. This process was successful and the stakeholders received positive feedback during the annual review. The author learned that it is important to have a clear and concise problem statement with proposed solutions and to focus on product innovation and streamlining processes.

Scaling Teams Through an Unconventional Approach

The team faced difficulty setting up their front-end development due to a narrow talent pool and lack of experience. To address this, they used unconventional channels to recruit talent, changed the percentages of their existing staff to dedicate more time to front-end development, and leveraged online sources and internship programs. Through these steps, they were able to successfully recruit the right talent and upskill their existing staff. The team learned to anticipate faster and have a mix of specialists and generalists, as well as to facilitate and grow talents with good training.