There's plenty of hard topics in building software, but if you asked me what's the most challenging one, I'd answer without doubt: scaling (engineering) organizations.Why so?first of all: economies of scale do not work for building software (I've written an article about that few years ago, if you're interested in more details)the role of contextual knowledge is more important than in other industries (people/roles are not so easily replaceable), so learning curve for new people is steeper & adaptation takes them more timeorganizations can grow much faster than the sharpest & most successful people within these…
All posts in organization culture
This blog post is all about: ruling time out of the equation (because it's very deceptive), what happens when Purpose meets Social Contract, what does Autonomy really mean (and why freedom is a minor part of it), whether 50h is better than 40h (or you simply need to go beyond 60h ...), why over-time has nothing in common with seniority and how do all these things correspond to Engineering Culture.Part I of the series can be found here.Where were we? Just about to get into the details of what constitutes a work environment of high achieving where teams truly…
This blog post is all about: a special kind of contract that is almost never written down, comparing rat-race with inspired evangelism or a quest for workplace happiness, what does happen when "social contract" is broken (& why does it happen), why respecting "social contract" (and first - having it at all!) makes such a difference.I've started few series of blog posts - one related to compensation, another to the level of commitment required to achieve the success, but ... I've recently found out that I can't conclude any of those without introducing one important concept (that rarely gets named…
This blog post is all about: what Jack Ma has in common with Elon Musk, whether we always condemn people who sacrifice personal balance to pull over-time (in fact we ... don't), is "up-or-out" culture unfair, how does Cristiano Ronaldo differ from a creator of next-generation Internet start-up ...Some topics seem to be very sensitive in our (Software Engineering) community: female engineers & diversity, crazed job market & salary bubble, hype-train proneness, ... The issue of crunch does belong to this category undoubtedly. Widely condemned, actively opposed by Agile approach to building software (good!), still omni-present in gamedev, but apparently reduced by…
This blog post is all about: the Mother of All Rules; consciousness of assholes; why being an asshole with almost 100% certainty eliminates the possibility of building up sustainable, high-performing team; what's the problem with sarcasm (& how easily it can be solved); How not to be an asshole (it ain't that hard, really ...) Each week I'm trying to share some thoughts & frequently even make some advice to you: about architecture, leadership, technology, management & what not. And still, until this very day I didn't mention THAT. The most important advice. The most valuable rule. The mother of all…
This blog post is all about three particular kinds of issues Airbnb focused on when declaring their way to fix problems in their company culture; why its important to name such issues explicitly; what happens if you ignore them & why it's so important not to do so.Disclaimer: the concept presented in this article is not mine, hereby I take no credit neither for the naming nor the idea itself. The terms come from Airbnb's CPO Joe Gebbia & I've read about them in "The Airbnb Story". I just think they are cool (& useful) enough to get you…
This blog post is all about: why (& how) your workmates are not your families (and not even your friends - first), what's an unwritten "protocol of co-operation", why we're ruining good teams with empathy (& leave disappointed afterwards), how does mutual admiration society apply to professional scenarios.Disclaimer: Before we get into the topic, please consider getting familiar with few of my older posts first, this will help in getting my point (& justify some bold words I'll use to back it up ;P):Praise for Radical CandorScoundrel Leadership: an unexpected (?) praise ofIf you think Agile is not about…
This blog post is all about: Google's 20th birthday, that missionaries do not have to be founders, how does start-up compare to the plane, what does Jack Ma say about the day after tomorrow, what happens when survival is not the only focus anymore ...Google has just turned 20. Amazing, isn't it? At the moment of writing these words: Facebook is 14, Uber is 9, Instagram is 8. Eight or nine years is already quite a long period of time, isn't it? Yet, these companies are notoriously categorised as ... "start-ups". They are worth billions (or multitudes of billions ...), rock-solid, they…