TeamCraft

TeamCraft focuses on technical team management within data and AI environments, offering strategies for profit generation, effective team dynamics, and leadership approaches. It emphasizes data integrity, team autonomy, and the balance of technical and managerial skills for leading technical teams in software engineering contexts.

Data & AI Strategy Technical Team Management Leadership and Career Development Product and Engineering Dynamics Data Governance and Culture Managerial Skills and Challenges Measurement and ROI in Data Initiatives Organizational Growth and Metrics

The hottest Substack posts of TeamCraft

And their main takeaways

Data & AI Strategy: Running a Profit Centre

26 implied HN points • 02 Oct 23
💼 Business Data Strategy AI Team Management Leadership
  1. Data functions are often cost centers in companies due to various reasons like unnecessary scale or lack of impactful outcomes.
  2. Running a data department as a support unit can be challenging, especially because of the high costs involved.
  3. To transform a data unit into a profit center, collaborate with leadership to align on priorities and focus on delivering visible ROI while working on transformative projects.

Uniting Data Fiefdoms Under Your Banner

13 implied HN points • 30 Oct 23
💼 Business Data Management Company Culture Business strategy Team Management
  1. Uniting data fiefdoms under one banner can be challenging due to siloed incentives and data fragmentation.
  2. Data functions often lack proprietary data but have access to all data, highlighting the importance of understanding data context.
  3. Creating a Single Customer View can be a game-changer for businesses, enabling better attribution and decision-making based on a holistic customer journey.
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On the Limits of One Mind

6 implied HN points • 20 Nov 23
💼 Business Management Leadership Startups Technology Product
  1. When a CTO takes over as a CPO, it can lead to negative outcomes for both engineering and product functions.
  2. Expecting one individual to excel in both technology and product domains can be detrimental due to cognitive limits and lack of focus.
  3. A dual CTO/CPO role can result in a lack of product thinking, bias towards technical solutions, strategic edge loss, communication challenges, and difficulty in balancing responsibilities.

Welcome to TeamCraft

19 implied HN points • 12 Jun 23
💼 Business Management Leadership Books Blogging Newsletter
  1. TeamCraft is a weekly newsletter on technical team management.
  2. Transitioning to a manager involves setting baselines and exceeding low expectations by simply being a normal human being.
  3. Starting a newsletter offers opportunities to understand the audience, share content sooner, and serve as a potential book precursor.

AI: Make or Build

6 implied HN points • 13 Nov 23
🕹 Technology Data Analytics Culture
  1. Focus on a few high-impact AI projects aligned with core company objectives.
  2. Apply AI to your core value proposition for strategic value.
  3. Prioritize building AI capabilities around high strategic value and core value propositions.

Cross-Pollination is also Cross-Pollution

6 implied HN points • 06 Nov 23
💼 Business Management Tech Leadership
  1. Cross-functional dependencies can make middle manager's life difficult.
  2. Tech middle managers in cross-functional tech companies may lack clear objectives and authority.
  3. Middle managers in cross-functional teams must navigate limited authority and negotiate to influence change.

Breaking into Industry as a Social Scientist

6 implied HN points • 09 Oct 23
🚌 Education Career development Communication Problem Solving Research
  1. In industry jobs, social scientists are valuable for their ability to work with messy human data, a common scenario in most companies.
  2. Social scientists applying to industry jobs should highlight skills like problem-solving, meeting deadlines, and working with constraints, rather than just academic achievements.
  3. It's important for social scientists to market themselves effectively in job applications by focusing on what they bring to the table in a language that hiring managers can appreciate.

Valid Concerns of Middle Management

6 implied HN points • 04 Sep 23
💼 Business Management Leadership Power Dynamics Career progression Team Dynamics
  1. Middle managers face challenges in being sandwiched between executives and individual contributors.
  2. Sharing power as a middle manager can be difficult, especially when dealing with power dynamics and responsibilities.
  3. Being an effective interface between executives and teams is crucial for middle managers, requiring transparency about their power and educating teams on company operations.

Antilibrary: The Secret of the Humble Manager

0 implied HN points • 31 Jul 23
🚌 Education Professional development Critical Thinking Reading habits
  1. Managers in tech often fear being seen as frauds, leading to a lack of humility.
  2. Building an antilibrary can help foster humility and curiosity by seeking out books outside your expertise and challenging viewpoints.
  3. Utilize your antilibrary as an intuition pump by exploring unread books and letting your imagination create diverse meanings and messages.

How to Measure Anything

0 implied HN points • 21 Aug 23
🚌 Education Measurement Uncertainty Observation Data
  1. The ability to measure anything can greatly increase your ability to estimate ROI on data initiatives and reduce uncertainty for informed decision-making.
  2. Rethink measurement by understanding that you only need to reduce uncertainty to a manageable level, not eliminate it completely.
  3. Techniques like the Rule of Five, decomposition, and challenging false assumptions about data can help in measuring intangible aspects effectively.