I prefer not to manage the plan of a project in which I am also responsible for the content and the execution. This is a conflict in responsibilities. F.e. both project manager and solution architect.

When balancing between abstracting complexity away and empowering developers, I ask: What’s their goal? How might we reduce the risk of error? What parts of the current experience do developer enjoy the most? What parts are mundane and tedious?

Get your emotions under control Ask at a good time Do not ambush Be open to where you can grow Avoid it if it’s simply true

Take on new challenges (risks). As I wrote in a recent post, you break in (get more scope) by having significant high-visibility wins that get leaders to believe you are “great.” Just being competent won’t do it. Better to risk losing big and switch companies if that happens than to stay stuck in the middle.

You might step into a mentoring mode when you are sharing your experiences, offering advice and knowledge. If you’re a leader in tech, you likely overindex on mentoring because it’s easy. Because you’re proud of your expertise and you want to share and help. Often, a more appropriate mode is to use a coaching mode. In coaching, you careful listen, ask questions and you help someone uncover their own approach to their own problem/challenge.

Our rule of thumb we settled on in our practice was to do a Google search. If either the abbreviation or acronym for the concept appeared “top of the fold”, we agreed that it was common parlance. Source

The closer you are to the flow of money the more power you have.

Employees are smart enough to know that if a measure is used to evaluate them, then they should optimize that measure. This is captured by Goodhart’s Law: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

Always be ready to reinvent yourself. Stay foolish for as long as you can, always in learning mode. Act immediately when you feel inspired. Take advantage of your mood to act, don’t overthink it. Don’t adjust yourself to please others. Be yourself, follow your own rules, live with the consequences. Be minimal about the things you need. Don’t overspend on things you don’t really need, live a frugal life.

Procrastinators and blockers favor speed and immediacy over accuracy and constancy. Are generally more concerned about trying to manage short-term comfort than long-term effectiveness in solving important problems. So, to control their emotions, they procrastinate and block.