Posts from Awesome Folks #123

A weekly round up of blog posts I've been reading

Author

Emily Webber
September 27, 2024

Hello folks,

This week, I’ve been busy catching up on work, running client sessions, and prepping for Agile Cambridge next week. I’m looking forward to running a workshop on building team empathy; more on that soon. If you are going to be there, make sure you say hi.

Enjoy this week’s posts, and Happy Friday.

Emily

People and Culture

Do Leaders Need to Be Kind? How Kindness Builds Trust and Drives Business

Marc Beretta

Kindness and leadership aren't always seen as being related, but Marc Beretta argues that if you're going to drive success, they should be.

peoplemanagingpeople.com/articles/kindness-and-leadership

Diversity in tech, Imposter Syndrome, and Leadership: Meri Williams (CTO, Pleo)

Meri Williams, CTO at Pleo, shares insights on navigating career shifts, overcoming imposter syndrome, and leading technical teams.

www.mindtheproduct.com/diversity-in-tech-imposter-syndrome-and-leadership-meri-williams-cto-pleo

Organisations and Systems

The Anatomy of a Self-Managing Organization: Why Networks Trump Hierarchies

Pim de Morree

Most progressive companies today are tossing org charts in the trash. They operate more like living social networks than static structures.

www.corporate-rebels.com/blog/the-anatomy-of-a-self-managing-organization-why-networks-trump-hierarchies

Agility and Guardrails: What Toyota Learned

Nick van der Meulen

In this short video, learn how corporate guardrails can improve your organization’s agility.

sloanreview.mit.edu/video/agility-and-guardrails-what-toyota-learned

Beware of the Team Doughnut 

Steve Garrett

In modern service delivery, Emily Webber’s Team Onion has become a well-established way of talking about team topologies. The model recognises that a piece of work can be delivered faster, more efficiently and to a higher standard if those involved acknowledge they belong to 1 of 3 layers.

wearesportengland.org/2024/04/12/beware-of-the-team-doughnut

Optimizing teams: A dual perspective on Team Topologies

Elias Lieberich and Petra Wille

Two contrasting viewpoints on Team Topologies, exploring how to optimize team structures for enhanced collaboration and efficiency.

www.mindtheproduct.com/optimizing-teams-a-dual-perspective-on-team-topologies

Facilitation and Decision making

How to Learn from Your Mistakes and Make Better Decisions

Cheryl Strauss Einhorn

We all have scores of decisions to make every day, and we often want to move quickly, telling ourselves that speed equals efficiency. But true efficiency sometimes requires slowing down, being mindful, and especially looking back at the decisions we’ve made that didn’t go as we’d hoped.

hbr.org/2024/09/how-to-learn-from-your-mistakes-and-make-better-decisions

Approaches for Teams

Introducing engineering metrics to your organization

Rebecca Murphey

Picking the right software developer metrics isn't as easy as it sounds.

leaddev.com/process/introducing-engineering-metrics-your-organization

Other Things

This isn’t new, but it is a current unfolding drama in the world of Social psychology, and it poses many questions about honesty, data, and research.

So you’ve found research fraud. Now what?

Harvard dishonesty researcher Francesca Gino faked her research. But she still has a lot to teach us.

www.vox.com/future-perfect/24140581/francesca-gino-research-fraud-dishonesty-meta-science