Tech Leadership Weekly, Issue 16

Lean software development, feedback, and effective management

Jason Vanderhoof
Aug 9, 2017 · 2 min read

This content originally appeared in Tech Leadership Weekly, a weekly email newsletter to help you become a better technical manager.

James Everingham
The Principles of Quantum Team Management

Your seniority can work against you when the team is problem solving. Your suggestions carry excessive weight, and you’ll unwittingly reduce the breadth and depth of potential solutions. Instead, start by outlining the problem and what success looks like. Ask non-leading questions to help a team work through roadblocks. Your questions should empower the team, not give them guidance. Additionally, defining a number of successful outcomes can create milestones, and allow the team to build momentum as they begin to achieve these goals. Clear direction and space to be creative will yield the best outcomes.

Reading Time: 8 minutes


Kelly Waters
7 Key Principles of Lean Software Development

Moving smart, fast, and making fewer mistakes will greatly improve the odds of a software project’s success. Empower individuals on the team to fully execute their roles. Focus on code quality through peer review, tests, automation, rapid releases, and technical debt management to reduce waste and lower risks. Retrospectives provide an opportunity to learn and improve throughout the project. Put off lock-in decisions as long as possible, to insures the team has as much information as possible, when making a final choice. By taking many small steps, constantly improving and optimizing the process, and focusing on quality, you’ll see a happier team that generates better software.

Reading Time: 18 minutes


Slack
Giving better feedback for better performance

Feedback is critical for an individual to grow and improve, but it doesn’t always need to be about bad behavior. Feedback can (and should) be used to support someone’s good behavior. With feedback, it’s important to be purposeful, precise, and timely in how you deliver it. Point to a specific moment and action. Make sure your feedback is personal, not vague. Also, be timely with your feedback. Feedback will have the biggest impact when it’s given in the moment. It helps to write feedback down, to make it permanent, and put it where it can be referenced by both of you in the future. Purposeful, timely, focused feedback is the best kind, whether good or bad.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Tech Leadership Weekly

A curated serving of articles related to management, process, software, and leadership.

Jason Vanderhoof

Written by

Tech Leadership Weekly

A curated serving of articles related to management, process, software, and leadership.

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