Sam
@samdisapproves.bsky.social
Staff Software Engineer + ⛰️🏃♂️🏎️❤️
📩 Newsletter for engineers that care about delivery, business impact, and career growth ➡️ bit.ly/dev-dispatch
📩 Newsletter for engineers that care about delivery, business impact, and career growth ➡️ bit.ly/dev-dispatch
Writing more code may not help. In fact, it might hurt.
For more ideas like this, I write a newsletter each weak focused on business impact & career growth for #SoftwareEngineer s.
devdispatch.beehiiv.com
For more ideas like this, I write a newsletter each weak focused on business impact & career growth for #SoftwareEngineer s.
devdispatch.beehiiv.com
Dev Dispatch
For engineers that focus on what matters 💪. 80/20 for software. Deliver more,🚢 have business impact,💰 and capture value for your career. 📈
devdispatch.beehiiv.com
July 29, 2024 at 6:08 PM
Writing more code may not help. In fact, it might hurt.
For more ideas like this, I write a newsletter each weak focused on business impact & career growth for #SoftwareEngineer s.
devdispatch.beehiiv.com
For more ideas like this, I write a newsletter each weak focused on business impact & career growth for #SoftwareEngineer s.
devdispatch.beehiiv.com
Build trust in others, and upskill them to drive forward the things seen previously as the exclusive responsibility of the high performer.
There is fantastic leverage in upgrading your team. That's the route to the higher levels and what teams should be asking from their best engineers.
There is fantastic leverage in upgrading your team. That's the route to the higher levels and what teams should be asking from their best engineers.
July 29, 2024 at 6:08 PM
Build trust in others, and upskill them to drive forward the things seen previously as the exclusive responsibility of the high performer.
There is fantastic leverage in upgrading your team. That's the route to the higher levels and what teams should be asking from their best engineers.
There is fantastic leverage in upgrading your team. That's the route to the higher levels and what teams should be asking from their best engineers.
The alternative is embracing their speed to complete a natural amount of work sooner, and use their remaining time to increase the velocity of others, through coaching or meta-work.
July 29, 2024 at 6:07 PM
The alternative is embracing their speed to complete a natural amount of work sooner, and use their remaining time to increase the velocity of others, through coaching or meta-work.
The rest of the team feels cut off from so much of what is happening, while these "high performers" by the excessive workload they shoulder.
July 29, 2024 at 6:07 PM
The rest of the team feels cut off from so much of what is happening, while these "high performers" by the excessive workload they shoulder.
Often these engineers will say "If I didn't do it, it wouldn't be done" which stems from a lack of trust in their colleagues. They believe they're helping the team, but this often breeds mutual resentment.
July 29, 2024 at 6:07 PM
Often these engineers will say "If I didn't do it, it wouldn't be done" which stems from a lack of trust in their colleagues. They believe they're helping the team, but this often breeds mutual resentment.
These engineers run ahead of the team, effectively creating tech debt because they alone hold necessary context. They work beyond the team's natural pace, producing more than the team can maintain or support. Consequently, they become the bottleneck to the monster they've created, frustrated &🔥 out.
July 29, 2024 at 6:07 PM
These engineers run ahead of the team, effectively creating tech debt because they alone hold necessary context. They work beyond the team's natural pace, producing more than the team can maintain or support. Consequently, they become the bottleneck to the monster they've created, frustrated &🔥 out.
At the extreme, the mythical "10x dev" builds for themselves a lonely, crumbling castle, and wonders why their team isn't there to help.
July 29, 2024 at 6:06 PM
At the extreme, the mythical "10x dev" builds for themselves a lonely, crumbling castle, and wonders why their team isn't there to help.
Subscribe for free to Dev Dispatch. A weekly newsletter where I break down ways to grow your career by being a business-focused engineer.
devdispatch.beehiiv.com
devdispatch.beehiiv.com
Dev Dispatch
For engineers that focus on what matters 💪. 80/20 for software. Deliver more,🚢 have business impact,💰 and capture value for your career. 📈
devdispatch.beehiiv.com
July 28, 2024 at 2:45 PM
Subscribe for free to Dev Dispatch. A weekly newsletter where I break down ways to grow your career by being a business-focused engineer.
devdispatch.beehiiv.com
devdispatch.beehiiv.com
Being able to communicate those risks & concerns, and prioritise teams around resolving them, is a superpower that few engineers focus on developing.
July 27, 2024 at 2:33 PM
Being able to communicate those risks & concerns, and prioritise teams around resolving them, is a superpower that few engineers focus on developing.
The success of any project comes down to when & how unknowns are surfaced.At more senior levels, the ability to foresee unknowns & uncertainty early, buying the team time to resolve or avoid the hardest problems is the definition of success to a significant degree.
July 27, 2024 at 2:33 PM
The success of any project comes down to when & how unknowns are surfaced.At more senior levels, the ability to foresee unknowns & uncertainty early, buying the team time to resolve or avoid the hardest problems is the definition of success to a significant degree.
It's so important to call out uncertainty now because that's really the whole point of planning.
📩 bit.ly/dev-dispatch
My newsletter this week talks about some creative approaches for turning uncertainty into certainty, and why it's so important.
📩 bit.ly/dev-dispatch
My newsletter this week talks about some creative approaches for turning uncertainty into certainty, and why it's so important.
Dev Dispatch
For engineers that focus on what matters 💪. 80/20 for software. Deliver more,🚢 have business impact,💰 and capture value for your career. 📈
bit.ly
July 26, 2024 at 5:06 PM
It's so important to call out uncertainty now because that's really the whole point of planning.
📩 bit.ly/dev-dispatch
My newsletter this week talks about some creative approaches for turning uncertainty into certainty, and why it's so important.
📩 bit.ly/dev-dispatch
My newsletter this week talks about some creative approaches for turning uncertainty into certainty, and why it's so important.
5) Uncertainty. This is the single most important section. Yet it's probably the most intimidating section. It's a bit scary to say "I don't know yet". Having a culture where this is possible is worth millions in misspent project development time.
July 26, 2024 at 5:04 PM
5) Uncertainty. This is the single most important section. Yet it's probably the most intimidating section. It's a bit scary to say "I don't know yet". Having a culture where this is possible is worth millions in misspent project development time.
4) Core challenges. We don't need to see the full implementation here. You don't need to write out every data model and we certainly don't want to see code. Highlight the difficulties and the non-obvious decisions. If you're doing something unusual, explain why.
July 26, 2024 at 5:03 PM
4) Core challenges. We don't need to see the full implementation here. You don't need to write out every data model and we certainly don't want to see code. Highlight the difficulties and the non-obvious decisions. If you're doing something unusual, explain why.
3) Your proposed solution. Explain how it addresses the business problem, and explain this in terms of the abstract picture you've built.
July 26, 2024 at 5:03 PM
3) Your proposed solution. Explain how it addresses the business problem, and explain this in terms of the abstract picture you've built.
The best test for this is whether a business person could understand your problem statement. The failure case is when your "problem" only has one available solution.
July 26, 2024 at 5:03 PM
The best test for this is whether a business person could understand your problem statement. The failure case is when your "problem" only has one available solution.
2) Explain the problem with this setup. Remember, your problem isn't an absence of a solution, but a business problem costing you money or opportunity.
July 26, 2024 at 5:03 PM
2) Explain the problem with this setup. Remember, your problem isn't an absence of a solution, but a business problem costing you money or opportunity.
If in doubt err on the side of leaving it out, or creating an opaque box to reduce complexity. If questions arise, you can always add it back.
July 26, 2024 at 5:02 PM
If in doubt err on the side of leaving it out, or creating an opaque box to reduce complexity. If questions arise, you can always add it back.
1) Describe in a simple and abstract way the current setup or situation. With abstraction, your goal should be to remove every single detail that won't be relevant for the rest of the doc.
July 26, 2024 at 5:02 PM
1) Describe in a simple and abstract way the current setup or situation. With abstraction, your goal should be to remove every single detail that won't be relevant for the rest of the doc.
Put uncertainty first.
For tips and a story about uncertainty, as well as some other fun things, here's my newsletter from this week.
It's for engineers that recognise that business impact is the best way to approach their jobs & thrive in their careers.
📩 bit.ly/dev-dispatch
For tips and a story about uncertainty, as well as some other fun things, here's my newsletter from this week.
It's for engineers that recognise that business impact is the best way to approach their jobs & thrive in their careers.
📩 bit.ly/dev-dispatch
Dev Dispatch
For engineers that focus on what matters 💪. 80/20 for software. Deliver more,🚢 have business impact,💰 and capture value for your career. 📈
bit.ly
July 25, 2024 at 9:53 PM
Put uncertainty first.
For tips and a story about uncertainty, as well as some other fun things, here's my newsletter from this week.
It's for engineers that recognise that business impact is the best way to approach their jobs & thrive in their careers.
📩 bit.ly/dev-dispatch
For tips and a story about uncertainty, as well as some other fun things, here's my newsletter from this week.
It's for engineers that recognise that business impact is the best way to approach their jobs & thrive in their careers.
📩 bit.ly/dev-dispatch
Do the least certain things first. This gives us the best chance to understand how long things will take. It gives us the best opportunity to realise blockers that we can address early. And it means we have the least sunk cost if we realise it's not worth it and quit.
July 25, 2024 at 9:52 PM
Do the least certain things first. This gives us the best chance to understand how long things will take. It gives us the best opportunity to realise blockers that we can address early. And it means we have the least sunk cost if we realise it's not worth it and quit.
Are we doomed to underestimate and deliver late forever? No, we just need to reorder our priorities.
⬆️ `ORDER BY uncertainty DESC` ⬇️
⬆️ `ORDER BY uncertainty DESC` ⬇️
July 25, 2024 at 9:51 PM
Are we doomed to underestimate and deliver late forever? No, we just need to reorder our priorities.
⬆️ `ORDER BY uncertainty DESC` ⬇️
⬆️ `ORDER BY uncertainty DESC` ⬇️