Career
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Every manager needs the magic of a work BFF
→: Every manager needs the magic of a work BFFRecent piece in Quartz… One of the few pieces of advice I feel good about giving to everyone is this: When your job gets harder, the best thing you can do is make a friend. This is also backed by the data. Gallup research has consistently shown that having a best friend at work leads to better…
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Distributed: How to Build and Strengthen Distributed Engineering Teams
→: Distributed: How to Build and Strengthen Distributed Engineering TeamsI recorded an episode of my boss Matt’s podcast with him, it was really fun and we covered some interesting topics! They also write up a nice piece to go with it, which you can read here. [Transcript] [Apple] [Radio Public][Overcast]
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Sharing the Data: How Technical Women Navigate Their Career
→: Sharing the Data: How Technical Women Navigate Their CareerIn May, Automattic’s engineering hiring team launched a user research study to better understand how our approach to tech hiring resonates with women and non-binary folks who may experience similar gender discrimination in the workplace and are experienced developers. We asked participants questions about how they saw their careers and next opportunities, as well as specifically asking…
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The firm with 900 staff and no office
→: The firm with 900 staff and no officeI did an interview with the BBC on remote working, and how we operate without an office [full article]. Cate Huston believes fully remote working can actually be good for communication. “Remote work makes the problems of work more explicit and then we can set out deliberately to address them. “If you work in the…
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The best thing you can do for your career is learn to be more coachable
→: The best thing you can do for your career is learn to be more coachableMy latest in Quartz… I really hate the “Peter principle“—the idea that people get promoted up to their level of incompetence. The very concept suggests there is a limit to people’s growth. It assumes a fixed mindset on the part of the person stuck in a role they’re not immediately equipped to handle, and a…
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The five types of communication problems that destroy company morale
→: The five types of communication problems that destroy company moraleMy latest in Quartz… There’s a saying in software that all bugs are eventually user interface bugs, because someone has to see them to report them. In organizations, it often seems like all problems are eventually communication problems, because communication is the way we interface with each other—and the way most problems surface. There are…
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The Cost of Fixing Things
→: The Cost of Fixing ThingsIn September, I disappeared in Seoul and caused everyone who cares about me to think I was having some kind of breakdown. I deactivated my Twitter account, and refused to engage with anyone other than my closest friends. I got to the point where I felt I had to drop everything, and then I came…
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After the Toxicity the Toxicity Remains
→: After the Toxicity the Toxicity RemainsEvery so often, the conversation about leaving tech resurfaces, and things I wrote in ~2014 get referenced. I wrote a lot about leaving tech around then. I thought a lot about leaving in tech in 2014. And 2013. And in 2015, I thought a lot about what it had meant to be willing to leave,…
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Interview: How to create momentum on day zero
→: Interview: How to create momentum on day zeroI did an interview with GitPrime about hiring and onboarding. I really like how it came out, and I hope you like it too! “We talk about how engineers hate process,” says Cate Huston, Mobile Lead at Automattic, “but here’s my theory: engineers often love process, but when they love it, they call it culture.” It’s…