To most, “closing the feedback loop” may sound like nothing more than management jargon. As a matter of fact, it is. But behind every management buzzword, there usually lies a simple truth that we could benefit from paying a little attention to. This is the second of a series of articles related to feedback loops and…
Author: Dexter Sy
Dexter is an engineering manager at Synacy, a co-founder of ATeam Business Software Solutions, and founder of TechManagement.Life. He loves to share his experiences and thoughts on managing software teams and running businesses.
The Reading List: “Managing Humans”
Michael Lopp, also known as Rands from randsinrepose.com, uses sometimes-crude, but strangely elegant, humor to shed light on the way he perceives his work as an engineering manager. Subtitled “Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager”, this book is a collection of posts from his website, organized in a delightful and easy-to-digest way and offers a good overview of the unique perspectives he has on managing software engineers.
A Safe Environment for Feedback
Creating safety is an active effort. When your team, colleagues, and peers are unwilling to give you feedback, it’s probably you, not them.
The Anarchy-Bureaucracy Spectrum
Here are a few quick questions to think about – do you know what you’re supposed to achieve in your organization? Do you know what the people you work with do? Do you feel you and your colleagues have enough information to do what’s expected? And do you feel safe making decisions towards your goals?…
The Impact of Words On Your Work Culture
There’s a usual hesitation to correct the words people use, particularly when there doesn’t seem to be a big difference from what we prefer. We don’t want to sound superficial nor pedantic so we choose to just let it go. I’ve personally had these moments when I hold myself back from correcting terminology. It is…
When Agile Doesn’t Make Sense
When I was teaching software engineering almost a decade ago, I always liked to compare building software to building a house. It was this mindset that differentiated a “programmer” from a “software engineer”, and explains why it’s best to catch a bug early (even before any code is written) as it gets incrementally expensive as…