Elevate

Elevate by Addy Osmani is a newsletter focused on enhancing productivity, leadership, and personal growth, primarily for developers and engineering managers. It provides actionable advice on cultivating soft skills, embracing a growth mindset, and optimizing for efficiency. The content spans practical tips for software engineering, team leadership, and overcoming common workplace challenges.

Productivity and Focus Professional Development Engineering Management Teamwork and Collaboration Software Engineering Best Practices Personal Growth and Mindset Goal Setting and Execution Workplace Culture and Habits

The hottest Substack posts of Elevate

And their main takeaways

Leading Effective Engineering Teams

1074 implied HN points • 18 Jan 24
💼 Business Team Dynamics Performance Metrics
  1. Google found that psychological safety is crucial for an effective team, along with dependability, structure and clarity, meaningful work, and impact.
  2. Team effectiveness is more about how team members collaborate rather than who is in the team.
  3. Creating a culture of psychological safety where team members feel comfortable taking risks and expressing themselves without fear of repercussion can significantly boost team performance.

High-performance engineering managers

1113 implied HN points • 09 Jan 24
💼 Business Management Leadership Data Analytics Training Employee engagement
  1. Effective managers have key traits that significantly impact employee performance, happiness, and retention, as proven by Google's Project Oxygen.
  2. Soft skills like coaching, communication, and support are more valued than technical expertise by employees, emphasizing the importance of emotional intelligence in management.
  3. Using rigorous people analytics, organizations can identify and develop high-impact management behaviors specific to their unique culture, leading to improved leadership and employee satisfaction.

First do it, then do it right, then do it better.

1153 implied HN points • 24 Dec 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Motivation Personal Development Growth Entrepreneurship Self-Improvement
  1. Just start somewhere - Begin with a simple step to kick off the journey towards success
  2. The Power of Starting - Taking the first step energizes and motivates us, leading to progress and eventual success
  3. First, Do It, Do It Right, Do It Better - Embrace the MVP mindset, refine and correct, and strive for continuous improvement on your journey
Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

Reduce the gap between idea and execution

636 implied HN points • 29 Dec 23
  1. Reduce the gap between idea and execution by taking small steps towards big goals.
  2. Understand the key barriers like fear, lack of resources, perfectionism, procrastination, and psychological obstacles that prevent ideas from becoming reality.
  3. Strategies for overcoming the idea-execution gap include setting micro goals, embracing imperfection, cultivating a growth mindset, leveraging accountability, and continuous learning and adaptation.

It takes 23 mins to recover after an interruption

616 implied HN points • 07 Dec 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Productivity Mental health Workplace culture Time management Self-care
  1. It takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back on track after an interruption, impacting productivity significantly.
  2. Context switching involves more than just changing tasks; it's like asking your brain to switch languages, leading to cognitive drain.
  3. Strategies for managing context switching include understanding task importance, using tech tools wisely, and fostering a workspace culture that respects deep work.

Change what you do, to change where you go.

517 implied HN points • 16 Dec 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Habits Growth mindset Self-Improvement Mindfulness Productivity
  1. Our lives are influenced by patterns and routines, some chosen consciously and others unknowingly. Changing habits can propel us forward or hold us back.
  2. To change where we go, we must change what we do. Setting clear goals, creating action plans, and building support networks are essential for effective change.
  3. Embrace failures as learning opportunities, cultivate a growth mindset, and regularly review and adjust your actions to transform obstacles into stepping stones for growth.

What makes a software engineer effective?

477 implied HN points • 29 Nov 23
🕹 Technology Software Engineering Team Dynamics Communication Personal Development Problem Solving
  1. Effectiveness in software engineering is about focusing on what matters most and delivering value to users, the business, and career with the available time.
  2. Traits that help software engineers be effective include caring about user needs, being a good problem solver, and keeping things simple while prioritizing quality.
  3. To excel as an exceptional software engineer, embrace change, balance technical debt and innovation, and emphasize continuous learning and teamwork.

Good code is like a love letter to the next developer who will maintain it.

258 implied HN points • 21 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Coding Writing AI Collaboration
  1. Good code is a form of communication and should be like a love letter to the next developer maintaining it, personal, sincere, and considerate.
  2. Design patterns and principles in code serve as a shared vocabulary for developers to create scalable, maintainable, and efficient solutions.
  3. Writing good code involves adhering to established best practices like consistent formatting, error handling, testing, and empathy towards other developers.

Growth mindset vs. fixed mindset

218 implied HN points • 21 Nov 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindset Learning Development Relationships Health
  1. Our mindset plays a big role in shaping our lives, influencing how we tackle challenges, learn, and grow.
  2. A fixed mindset hinders growth by viewing abilities as static traits, leading to fear of failure, avoidance of challenges, and jealousy of others' success.
  3. Conversely, a growth mindset empowers individuals, as they believe in their ability to develop skills over time through effort, learning, and perseverance.

Bonus book and sneak peek for Paid Subscribers

39 implied HN points • 03 Dec 23
📚 Literature Newsletter
  1. The author sends a heartfelt message to their first paid subscribers, expressing gratitude and excitement for starting a newsletter.
  2. Paid subscribers receive bonus content and a sneak peek of upcoming work as a token of appreciation for their support.
  3. Readers are encouraged to subscribe for a 7-day free trial to access full post archives and engage with the author's content.

Setting a team vision, mission, and strategy

19 implied HN points • 28 Dec 23
💼 Business Leadership Mission Strategy
  1. Having a clear team vision, mission, and strategy is crucial for guiding the team towards success.
  2. A vision or mission statement provides direction to team members and helps them navigate forward effectively.
  3. A comprehensive mission statement should also include the strategies required to achieve the stated mission.

Stick to boring architecture for as long as possible.

1 HN point • 19 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Innovation Engineering
  1. Stick to well-established, 'boring' technologies at the start of a project and only use new, exciting tech when it significantly adds value.
  2. Avoid the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) in technology decisions - prioritize solutions that solve specific problems and enhance your product.
  3. Focus on delivering value with software by keeping user needs at the forefront, rather than getting lost in the latest tools and technologies.

Leading Effective Teams

0 implied HN points • 06 Dec 23
💼 Business Team Dynamics Productivity Leadership
  1. Psychological safety is crucial for an effective team, according to Google's Project Aristotle.
  2. Other important dynamics for effective teams include dependability, role clarity, meaningful work, and impact.
  3. The topic of leading effective teams will be covered in more detail in upcoming work.