Effective Software Leads

The Effective Software Leads newsletter explores software engineering, leadership, machine learning applications in development and management, and overcoming industry challenges. It includes expert insights on team empowerment, scalable technologies, machine learning innovations, and practical advice for leaders at all levels from managing small teams to strategic decisions for CTOs.

Software Engineering Leadership and Management Machine Learning and AI Team Empowerment and Performance Engineering Challenges and Solutions Product Management and Development Technical Debt and Productivity Organizational Change and Strategy

The hottest Substack posts of Effective Software Leads

And their main takeaways

How to empower your team through autonomy, mastery and purpose

78 implied HN points • 25 Sep 23
💼 Business Leadership Employee Motivation Autonomy Mastery
  1. Empower your team by involving them in decision-making and letting them contribute to the team's goals and projects
  2. Provide your team with autonomy by giving them the freedom to choose how they approach tasks and make decisions
  3. Empower your team by giving them opportunities to work on stretch projects that challenge and help them grow, and by connecting their work to a larger purpose

Newsletter #28: Engineering Manager Building Blocks and More.

39 implied HN points • 01 Jul 22
  1. Develop capabilities in people, technology, product, execution, and branding as an engineering manager.
  2. Take charge of your onboarding experience by identifying gaps, building relationships, and being kind to yourself.
  3. To climb the ladder from engineering manager to director, focus on being a facilitator, not a blocker, and help break through obstacles.
Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

Newsletter #31: Justifying Non-Sexy Product Investments and More.

19 implied HN points • 01 Oct 22
  1. Leaders face challenges in justifying investments in 'non-sexy' projects like developer velocity and technical debt.
  2. Having conversations about personal goals with team members can maximize their motivation at work.
  3. Using simple but powerful phrases can make a big difference in how managers lead their teams.

Newsletter #22: Effective communication is not about what you say

39 implied HN points • 01 Dec 21
  1. Effective communication is about considering what others need to hear for desired outcomes.
  2. Leadership principles are valuable at all levels, just differing in scale and dimension.
  3. Knowledge can hinder communication by assuming others have the same level of information.

Effective Software Leads

98 implied HN points • 30 May 20
  1. Effective Software Leads is a monthly newsletter focusing on software engineering and leadership.
  2. The newsletter provides insights and articles from experts on leading teams and solving software engineering challenges.
  3. Subscribers can learn from others and improve their skills as software engineers, leads, managers, and CTOs.

Newsletter #29: Building Technical Wealth and More.

19 implied HN points • 01 Aug 22
  1. Build technical wealth by paying attention to details in code
  2. Enhance 1:1 meetings to build genuine relationships and impact
  3. Improve collaboration by clarifying ownership and expectations

HubofML #10: Happy New Year

58 implied HN points • 01 Jan 21
  1. Newsletter features various posts from top tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Duolingo on machine learning, software engineering, and tech leadership.
  2. Insights include challenges faced by organizations in scaling data platforms, building computer vision training datasets, improving search intent understanding, and more.
  3. Articles cover topics like building AI trading systems, using AI in language learning apps, scalability in software engineering, and effective leadership in remote culture.

Newsletter #27: Resources for Engineering Directors and more.

19 implied HN points • 01 Jun 22
  1. To foster team execution as a leader, understand what's happening in those teams, add necessary things, and remove obstacles.
  2. As a manager, take responsibility for everything, manage processes and lead people, and make expectations explicit.
  3. Imposing organizational change can be met with resistance, so make changes easy by starting with the problem, proposing a remedy, and socializing the plan.

Newsletter #9

39 implied HN points • 01 Dec 20
  1. Google developed a machine learning system to find songs based on a hummed rendition.
  2. Wix engineers shared how they efficiently store millions of collections in MongoDB.
  3. Structuring teams for software product development is crucial for success in tech leadership.

HubofML - Newsletter #8

39 implied HN points • 01 Nov 20
  1. Tech companies are tackling varied engineering challenges like predicting ad value at Twitter, scaling data platforms at DoorDash, and enabling background features in Google Meet.
  2. Companies like Facebook build systems to handle live streaming for millions of viewers, Uber migrates data at scale with strong consistency, and Linkedin innovates with dark canary clusters for production testing.
  3. Articles cover topics like leadership visibility, team onboarding processes, and expectations from engineering managers.

Newsletter #3: Products, Security, ML Azure Pipelines & More

39 implied HN points • 01 Jun 20
  1. Understanding product requirements is crucial for success in building machine learning products
  2. Applying machine learning can provide a competitive edge in solving business problems
  3. Building repeatable ML workflows with Azure Machine Learning Pipelines can streamline complex processes

HubofML - Newsletter #7

19 implied HN points • 01 Oct 20
  1. ML engineering best practices from Google are shared in a 24-page document.
  2. Facebook developed a system for scalable data classification for security and privacy.
  3. Google's distributed systems debugging process is explained, offering insights into production issue resolution.

Newsletter #4: ML, NLP, CI/CD, Tech Leadership And More

19 implied HN points • 30 Jun 20
  1. Machine Learning topics covered include file prediction at Dropbox and using Docker for data science.
  2. Software Engineering highlights include speeding up a Git Monorepo at Dropbox and automating safe, hands-off deployments at AWS.
  3. Engineering Leadership insights offered include advice on technical leadership development and the importance of actions over titles.

HubofML #21:  VP Engineering And VP Product: How To Create A United Front and More

0 implied HN points • 01 Nov 21
  1. Maintaining a united front between VP Engineering and VP Product is crucial for business success
  2. Transitioning from Lambda to Kappa Architecture at Twitter enabled processing billions of events in real-time with efficiency
  3. Lyft's custom Gradient Boosted-Tree package improved travel-time predictions by treating space and time more efficiently

HubofML #19

0 implied HN points • 03 Sep 21
  1. Minimize coordination between teams by establishing boundaries and clear interfaces.
  2. Make APIs simple and easy to use to drive adoption.
  3. Consider if building a machine learning model is truly necessary for a new product.

Newsletter #23: How to Start a Tech Initiative in Your Company and more

0 implied HN points • 01 Feb 22
  1. When starting a new tech initiative that goes beyond your team, first describe the problem clearly.
  2. Identify stakeholders, break down the solution into milestones, and gain allies before execution.
  3. Stay updated on progress, communicate with relevant people, and start the execution phase.

Newsletter #23: Five valuable lessons for a new tech lead and more

0 implied HN points • 01 Mar 22
  1. Transitioning from an individual contributor to a tech lead involves important tips and pitfalls.
  2. Understanding how to fail as an engineering manager is vital for achieving success in the role.
  3. Supporting your team and enabling them to make decisions are key aspects of effective leadership.

Newsletter #32: Addressing complexity in your product and more.

0 implied HN points • 01 Dec 22
  1. Address complexity in your product as it grows by validating, unbundling, disclosing progressively, segmenting user experiences, and making advanced features discoverable.
  2. To be seen as a senior engineer, focus on increasing scope of ownership, delivery, and impact rather than just technical skills.
  3. Implement error budget policies to balance investment in reliability work and new feature development, ensuring user experience and scaling.

Newsletter #5: ML, MLOps, Scaling Engineering Teams

0 implied HN points • 01 Aug 20
  1. Keeping a list of accomplishments can help you advocate for yourself and improve your resume.
  2. Monitoring machine learning models involves monitoring code, configurations, models, and data.
  3. Lessons learned from scaling engineering teams can be impactful for startups and organizations.

HubofML #20

0 implied HN points • 01 Oct 21
  1. Different companies approach tech projects differently, some using methodologies like Scrum and others opting for what works best for them.
  2. Effective communication in engineering involves adapting based on the audience, rather than being solely concise.
  3. Success in leadership involves developing others to handle your current responsibilities, allowing you to focus on new challenges.

Newsletter #25

0 implied HN points • 01 Apr 22
  1. Handling challenging work situations can impact trust in the workplace.
  2. Building team accountability is crucial for trust and successful outcomes.
  3. Software choices can drive cultural change within an organization.

Newsletter #23: 2021 reCap

0 implied HN points • 01 Jan 22
  1. Newsletter focuses on software engineering and leadership.
  2. Leaders need skills like risk-taking and relationship-building.
  3. Leading without coercive power may require changing people's perspectives.