Reflections on software engineering leadership

What

This is a place to keep my reflections on software engineering leadership.

Why

I lead teams of software engineers and I find reflecting on the subject can help clarify the purpose of my role and how to be effective in it. Ultimately, I find that taking time to reflect on what I do makes me better at actually doing it.

These reflections are primarily for myself, but I make them public to drive a higher level of quality. I think it's unlikely that anyone else will find these reflections useful, however, if you do find anything useful here then give me a star or write an issue. All feedback welcome.

How

If you're interested in seeing when new reflections are added you can watch the repo.

Contents

• On leadership
• What is the job of a software engineering leader?
• Facts and stories
• Decisions
• Focus
• On measuring productivity
• Types of waste
• Little's law
• Positivity
• Parkinson's law
• Bravery
• Delegation and deputization
• Delivery estimates and precision
• Success
• Prioritizing technical debt
• On impact
• Work-life balance
• Productivity again