Posts from Awesome Folks #131

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

Author

Emily Webber
November 22, 2024

Hello folks,

The word of the week is Bluesky.

I’ve mentioned it before, but the world is talking this week; millions of people fled to the platform this week, and it’s growing. Seeing new and old faces is lovely as we try to regain some of the friendly social networking we had in the past. Who knows how long it will last, but it’s nice for now.

Find me at ewebber.bsky.social; see you there.

Enjoy this week’s posts, and happy Friday.

Emily

People and Culture

Building Human Connection in a Remote World

Jordan Birnbaum

Leaders can build connection with virtual team members by applying different strategies than they’d use in person.

sloanreview.mit.edu/article/building-human-connection-in-a-remote-world

Reframe the Value Proposition of Diversity

Vijay Pendakur

The word diversity appears to trigger a wide variety of emotions from its equally wide array of definitions. And in our current moment of political polarization, it appears to be getting worse. What if we could frame a value proposition for diversity that emphasizes the return on investment for the organization, benefits every individual and team, and is rooted in science and backed by empirical research? We have this at our fingertips: Diverse teams outperform consistently. This model is better suited to our current social tensions and avoids some of the pitfalls of the common value propositions we’ve discussed.

hbr.org/2024/11/reframe-the-value-proposition-of-diversity

4 ways to technically upskill engineers

Dan Abel

Helping your mid-level reports achieve technical fluency will allow them to thrive.

leaddev.com/career-development/4-steps-to-technically-upskill-engineers

When Expressing Gratitude to Employees, Timing Matters

Hooria Jazaieri and Olivia (Mandy) O’Neill

Extensive research has indicated the benefits of showing gratitude to those around you, including your colleagues or employees. However, a new study suggests that the timing of these expressions can make a big difference.

hbr.org/2024/11/when-expressing-gratitude-to-employees-timing-matters

Organisations and Systems

Building Bluesky: a Distributed Social Network (Real-World Engineering Challenges)

Gergely Orosz

Bluesky is built by around 10 engineers, and has amassed 5 million users since publicly launching in February this year. A deep dive into novel design decisions, moving off AWS, and more.

newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/bluesky

Outcomes and Objectives

Getting Started with Outcome Thinking

Christina Wodtke

One of the biggest challenges people face when adopting OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is shifting from output thinking to outcome thinking. You’ve probably seen posts on LinkedIn saying “Outcom…

eleganthack.com/getting-started-with-outcome-thinking

Approaches for Teams

Productivity isn’t always fast 

Cara (Borenstein) Marin

It can often feel like we aren't being productive unless we're working at max speed. But slow productivity is here to subvert that idea.

leaddev.com/velocity/productivity-isnt-always-fast

@soph.workbaby

Meeting anxiety is real 🫣 Why are ‘around the room’ project status updates scarier than they should be…. The way you show up in meetings h... See more

Preventing burnout with restful work

Michelle Bakels

Restful work can be a great way to mitigate a case of burnout. Here's a framework you can follow to implement it into your day-to-day.

leaddev.com/leadership/preventing-burnout-with-restful-work

Other Things

I enjoyed this use of Bluesky from Cameron Loxdale

“A helpful starter pack for divorced men named Geoff but one has been murdered. Please help us find the killer.”