Leadership

Planning

Problem spaces

One of the most important things you do is to define the problem spaces that others should occupy and solve.

Management debt

While not as trendy as tech debt, management debt will more often lead to horrible outcomes

Tech debt

You've likely heard technologists use the term "technical debt", but it's not clear exactly what it means or how you treat it. And it sounds really bad.

Scope

When work stalls, cut the scope before adding time or people. How small commitments and quick wins build an execution bias.

Aim for clarity

Don’t invent terms. Projects should be called projects.

Brook's law

An outrageous oversimplification that states "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later"

Decide and move on

There isn’t always a best answer. Sometimes the most important thing is to make a decision.

Goldratt's Theory of Constraints

A system's throughput is limited by its bottleneck. Improving anything else does not improve the system.

Goodhart's law

When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure

Keep a manageable backlog

A focused backlog makes it easier to plan cycles and ensures work actually gets done.

Measure progress with actual work

Show the diff. Small tasks make small, reviewable changes.

Reverse Conway Manouver

Say no to busy work

A tool should work for you, not the other way around.

Scope issues to be as small as possible

Break work into small parts so progress is visible every week.

Specify project and issue owners

Every project and issue needs a single named owner.

Organizations measure motion to avoid accountability for progress

There is a dangerous comfort in measuring motion instead of progress. When organizations lose the discipline to judge work by actual systemic effectiveness and performance, metrics become the ultimate refuge from accountability.