Posts from Awesome Folks #146

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

Author

Emily Webber
March 28, 2025

Hello folks,

This week, I’ve been fully immersed in Communities of Practice; I ran a Masterclass last Friday with LEAP, a summarised version of the online self-paced course I’m very close to launching, and spent a lot of time polishing the slides for the course. I have also been enjoying what I can do with Keynote animations - apparently a lot… maybe too much!

And if you were back to find out what happened with the garden landscaper, he quit our job, leaving us with a half pulled up garden and a driveway full of massive bags of stuff. All because he’d overbooked himself and didn’t want to do this small job anymore. Thanks for nothing, mate. Looks like we are building the garden now.

Enjoy this week’s posts, and happy Friday.

Emily

People and Culture

What engineers get wrong about communication

Ian Vanagas

The do's and don'ts of effective communication for product engineers

newsletter.posthog.com/p/what-engineers-get-wrong-about-communication

The Essentials: Asking Purposeful Questions

Advice from a conversation expert on showing up with curiosity and confidence.

hbr.org/podcast/2025/03/the-essentials-asking-purposeful-questions

When Team Accountability is Low: Four Hard Questions for Leaders

Melissa Swift

Want more accountability from your team? Ask yourself what’s in their way, starting with four likely obstacles.

sloanreview.mit.edu/article/when-team-accountability-is-low-four-hard-questions-for-leaders

How employee wellbeing can save UK businesses

Lauren Berkemeyer

Understand what the hidden cost of poor workplace wellbeing will be to your team, in partnership with YouGov and Yulife

www.charliehr.com/blog/expert-edit-employee-wellbeing-problem

10 Years of Engineering Ladders

On March 26, 2015, I posted a short blog post to the Rent the Runway engineering blog, Sharing Our Engineering Ladder, with a quick intro…

skamille.medium.com/10-years-of-engineering-ladders-329d309000cd

Organisations and Systems

The Death of the CEO: How Basetis Rewrote the Rules of Work

Emma de Blok

Basetis removed its CEO, ditched hierarchy, and let employees set salaries. Here’s how they made it work and what they're planning next.

www.corporate-rebels.com/blog/the-death-of-the-ceo-how-basetis-rewrote-the-rules-of-work

2025 Retention Report

Unlock workforce strategies with insights from exit interviews. Join exclusive webinars designed for HR and C-Suite leaders in mid-sized companies.

info.workinstitute.com/2025-retention-report

Outcomes and Objectives

Help Others Say No by Changing Questions About Cost to Questions About Value -

Johanna Rothman

This is the March 2025 Pragmatic Manager Newsletter, from Johanna Rothman. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Susan, a product leader, has a big problem. One of the senior managers, Tim, often wants to know the cost (or time) required for a new feature or a new product. So he asks […]

www.jrothman.com/newsletter/2025/03/help-others-say-no-by-changing-questions-about-cost-to-questions-about-value

Approaches for Teams

7 principles for balancing agility and durability

Maxime Najim

Engineering is a game of trade-offs – move fast and break things, or build slow and last forever? Know when to do which.

leaddev.com/technical-direction/7-principles-balancing-agility-durability