Willy XiaoDaily Priority ListProblem: You have way too many requests coming in “from the side.” A customer support agent tags you on a Jira for an update on Monday, an…May 1May 1
Willy XiaoIdentify, Prioritize, ExecuteSometimes as an engineer, you’re given a higher level initiative that you’re asked to solve, for instance:Oct 20, 2023Oct 20, 2023
Willy XiaoForget staging, just use Tactical Logging in production.At fast-paced companies, often you can just observe production directly.Oct 6, 2023Oct 6, 2023
Willy XiaoIn the face of demanding roadmaps, use “pay-as-you-go” to invest in tech improvementsHave you ever thought?Aug 23, 2023Aug 23, 2023
Willy XiaoOne of your jobs as a technical leader is to “shift the curve” of impact v. effort.In general, for every team there’s some “primary” flow of business value that it is the team’s job to deliver.Aug 20, 2023Aug 20, 2023
Willy XiaoYou’ve heard of the 5 whys, but what about the “But 4s”?Most software engineers who have gone through a post-mortem process have heard of the famous “5 whys”.Jul 31, 2023Jul 31, 2023
Willy XiaoMost of the time, consensus is NOT the goal.As a tech-lead at Facebook coaching mid-level engineers, I often found that they would search for consensus when starting to lead or drive…May 29, 2023May 29, 2023
Willy XiaoHow OfficeTogether ships features in < 2 weeks.OfficeTogether’s median “Lead Time” is 14 days. We define “Lead Time” for any individual feature as:Aug 4, 2022Aug 4, 2022
Willy XiaoAs an engineer, stay in flow with “demandAck()”DemandAck is a coding abstraction that allows software engineers to handle the potentially destructive implications of user actions. It…Jul 19, 2022Jul 19, 2022
Willy XiaoI left Facebook to join a seed-stage startup, here’s how my life changed…People often ask me: “What’s it like moving from Big Tech to startup life?”Feb 1, 2022Feb 1, 2022